Sacramento Property Management

We are happy to announce that our first class was successful and we received good reviews. My wife Judy and I have been asked back by the Learning Exchange in Sacramento Ca.

We will repeat the class on May 26th, 2010. We follow the guides in my book and included will be an autographed copy of my book. The second half of the class Judy will discuss the basics of property management.

As a bonus we will give a e-book by Christian Ramsey on exit strategies for real estate.  The name Land Rich Cash Poor.   See you there

We will discuss new laws from time to time. These laws are of interest and con concern to investors, property managers, realtors, landlords

1. The first is about air conditioning. R-22  refrigerant will be phased out during 2010. What does this mean? If a service call is required because the refrigerant is low, the tech will have to remove the R-22 and replace with a new product. The good news – no retrofitting with expensive add-ons.

2. All houses built prior to 1978 had lead based paint.  Beginning April 2010 all work required inside that will require work involving six squaare feet or more will required a certified contractor trained to work with lead based paint. If the work is outside and is over 20 squire feet than a certified contractor will be required.
We have discontined comments section. If you would like to contact me Lambertmunz@frontier.com

In these hard times tenants and owners are filing bankruptcy. According to legal counsel this is what happens when tenant files bankruptcy. In a bankruptcy the tenant is exempt from  paying rent or other creditors. A bankruptcy may run a year or more to sort out. This proved too much of a hardship on landlords. The tenant enjoying use of the rental without paying rent for over a year.

A law was passed -I don’t know when- to give landlords relief. You may petition the court for bankruptcy relief. You must hire an attorney that performs this service. It will cost $1000 more or less. In about six weeks you should be granted relief from the bankruptcy. Then you can start an eviction.

What happens when an owner files bankruptcy?  The lease is not cancelled and the tenant must continue to pay rent. Property managers can still manage the property. They may be dealing with the referee rather than the owner.

We are not accepting comments by email only.  Propertymanager@arbourpm.com

Welcome back from the wonderful holidays. Saw all family and grandkids.

Now it is back to work. It has been a challenging year with all the foreclosures. Lots of new buyers for the investment properties. I might mention that investors especially from out of town hire a buyer’s agent rather than a seller’s agent. The seller’s agent must represent the seller. The buyer’s agent represents your interests.  I have written a book that will be available soon that guides buyers on what not to buy. A friend of mine that is a mortgage banker has partnered with buyers of short sales. However, they will not buy condos. In my book one of the investments I recommend against is condos for rentals. Experienced renters avoid them because associations don’t like renters. The renters feel like they are being spied upon. If they are coming from apartment living condos remind them of apartments. They are looking for detached living such as a home.

I am cancelling my comments service. Too many fruitcakes and I received fruitcake for Christmas. However, you can email me at propertymanager@arbourpm.com

Happy day! Old year is coming to an end. We lost many accounts because of foreclosures. Our clients owed more than the property was worth. They felt it would take years for values to equal mortgage amount.

You can’t blame them from quiting to drag a dead horse.

I did read some good news for Sacramento Ca. The organization that recurits new business to locate here announced that they have more inquires from companies exploring the possiblility of locating in Sacramento then at any other time. Two new companies are close to making the decision to locate here.    This means jobs. Sacramento lost more than 45,000 jobs during this great recession.

I feel 2010 will be better so- HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

FORECLOSURE SUSPENSION

Good news for those facing foreclosure.

Citigroup is suspending foreclosures from Dec 18 to Jan 17

Freddie Mac and Mae are also suspending foreclosures from Dec 19 to Jan 3

Perhaps these bankers  had a visit from Christmas past which thawed out their hearts.

I have discontinued the comments plug in. Too many fruitcakes (the reason may be the season)  with nothing constructive to add. However, you may comment  by email  at propertymanager@arbourpm.com

A big help in the operation of the home is operating manuals. Not all appliances operate in the same way. Very few people have been educated about home operation. Especially young people. They don’t teach this in school. We cannot expect people to operate a strange home, without some basic instructions. If they are coming from an apartment, most things were taken care of for them. We have to point out that onsite maintenance is no longer available.

I have had some thoughtful owners prepare an instruction manual on the operation of the home. I ask owners to do this for us now for us.

TIPS AND MARKET UPDATES DECEMBER 2009

By Lambert Munz MPM, RMP  Arbour Real Estate Management, Inc

TIPS

Here is a guide to file and have available for easy reference

“Wear and Tear” or “Damage”

This is a guide to show you the difference between normal wear and tear, which a tenant does not have to pay for, and damage, which comes out of your deposit. This list does not cover all situations, but it gives you a good sense of the difference between the two.

Visit our web site www. arbourpm.com   Click on NEW and read Chapter One of our new book soon to be published  HOUSE INVESTORS’ MANUAL

I will use my blog to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. I am a blessed man with a super wife, successful children, 8 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild. Our business has been challenged because of our client’s foreclosure problems, but we are doing OK. My wife and I were remarking about the cost of turkeys. We paid .89 a pound.  I recognize that we are paying for a lot of bone, but turkey servings per pound is cheap compared to beef or pork. Thanks to everyone who we do business, our tenants, owners, vendors and agents.

I usually post my blogs on Thursday and Fridays, but I will be enjoying the holiday. So early posts for the week.

Most of my blogs are of business and serious stuff. Please allow me to post a true story that shows how the typical bureaucracy works.

I was going through a divorce and was living in an apartment that I co-developed.

The parking area close to our apartment had a curb cut that was a short distance from the corner of the street. If a car parked next to the curb cut a driver coming from the corner would be blinded from anyone coming onto the street from the parking area. One of the kids on a bike living in the apartment came out of the park area onto the street one day  and at the same time a car approacing from the corner hit him because a parked car blined his vision. Fortuntually no one was hurt.

Latter, I decided to ask the City to paint the curb red. This was small northern California farm town and I though it would be easy. They told me that I would have to present the request to the City council and then if approved would send it a traffic committee for study.

I was the co-owner of the apartment  decided that I would handle the problem myself and instructed the property manager to paint the curb red. They painted the red zone and I thought that would be the end of the matter.

One morning I was headed to work and notice a car parked in the red zone, but I also notice a parking ticket under the wiper on the windshield. The City was enforing our painted red zone.

That is not the end of the story. One year later the City maintance crews re-painted the curb. They were not only enforcing the law they were maintaining the zone.

The message here is to don’t deal with the bureaucracy otherwise it will never get done. The other message is the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing.