American Apartment's Blog

Arnold Schwarzenegger Puts Muscle Behind Renewable Energy

2008-12-04T10:47:07Z

If all goes well, an Executive Order signed by Governor Schwarzenegger will not only advance California's transition to clean energy but boost the economy as well.

According to an economic study conducted by the University of California at Berkeley and Next 10, California's policies will create as many as 403,000 jobs in the next twelve years and household incomes will increase by 48 billion dollars.

Governor Tired of the Red Tape

Citigroup to Rescue 500,000 Homeowners NOT in Foreclosure

2008-11-17T10:41:38Z

Citigroup, Inc announced last week that it plans to accelerate its Homeowner Assistance Program by reaching out to as many as 500,000 customers who are not in foreclosure, but are at high risk given economic indicators.

These ‘preemptive initiatives' are designed with loss mitigation in mind. To date, Citi's efforts to reformulate mortgage loans have prevented as many as 370,000 foreclosures, which would have represented $35 billion in loans over the last eighteen months of the program. For every one foreclosure, renegotiation has prevented four others.

The program is two-fold: Read more.

See more Real Estate Financing.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Bicycle Friendly Communities Earn Awards

2008-11-17T10:36:52Z

The League of American Bicyclists has announced the winners of this year's most bike-friendly communities.

These awards go to communities that have made measurable efforts to integrate bicycles into their communities. Ninety-six communities have been awarded in thirty two states. There are five categories that local and national reviewers look at:

Education: Does the community have systems in place to train children and adult bicyclists?

Engineering: Are bicycles included in the city's transportation plan?

Encouragement: Does the community participate in Bike Month, bike rodeos, host community bike rides, or therwise encourage cycling?

Enforcement: Do police officers understand and enforce bicyclists' rights and responsibilities?

Evaluation: Does the community have methods in place to ensure their bicycle programs are making a difference?

League President Andy Clarke believes, "It's important to recognize communities as they begin to build bicycle friendliness into their network, but a community must have established records in two or more of the five categories in order to earn Bicycle Friendly Community designation."

See if your community is on the list. Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum.

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This Growing Liability Has Landlords Scared

2008-10-31T09:21:57Z

Focus on Liability Management and Preventative Maintenance: Bats

by Michael Koski

Here's a maintenance issue you might not have considered - preventing bat infestation!

Bat infestations are more common than one might think, especially with bats continued displacement as their natural territories diminish. Fortunately there are simple steps property owners and managers can take to lessen the likelihood of a bat invasion.

Bats are incredibly useful animals, arguably one of the most beneficial species on earth, but they can cause horrific damage to your property. Their droppings, or guano, are surprisingly caustic, known to actually eat away at wood and drywall. The accumulation of urine and guano will eventually saturate most building materials and severely devalue any structure they accumulate in.

Bats in the property may also increase property owners and managers exposure to litigation. Imagine the disputes that could arise after a tenant wakes up to discover their sleeping child has shared a room with a bat, or a group of curious kids play with a bat they find on the property and it tests positive for rabies. Recently in Stevensville, Montana ninety or so elementary school kids had to be given anti-rabies vaccinations after handling a rabid bat, ironically brought in by a parent. The cost of the treatment for these children? It could possibly exceed $150,000 (the cost of a series of rabies vaccinations varies, but currently averages around $2,000 to $3,500). Knowing what steps to take to prevent a bat infestation and how to handle the situation, should it ever occur, will save you time, money and can reduce your overall exposure to liability.

Click here for more, including Fast Bat Facts.

About the Author: Michael Koski is an author, Bat Exclusion Professional and owner of Get Bats Out- a nationwide bat exclusion company. Get Bats Out specializes in commercial and residential bat exclusion and guano clean up. His book,The Home Owner's Essential Guide to Bat Removal is available on his website atwww.getbatsout.com. He can be reached at 877-264-2287 for any and all bat questions.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection,tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Bicycle Commuter Provision Included in “Bailout Bill”

2008-10-29T15:39:00Z

A transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters is tucked neatly into the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act that was signed into law October 3, 2008.

Keep scrolling, you'll find it ( House Resolution 1424, Section 211, for you die-hard readers of legislation).

The passing of this act into law is a big win for cyclists who commute to work, offering tax fairness, and the financial benefit might give more people an incentive to try it.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum.

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How Savvy Investors Do Property Insurance

2008-10-29T15:35:29Z

"For investors with a portfolio of properties, greater opportunities exist to save on premiums, and thereby increase your investment income, by purchasing insurance on the portfolio, just like insurance carriers do on their portfolios as a whole," according to Patrick Nugent, CCIM, JD with Commercial Insurance Solutions in Dallas. Read more.

See a related feature, Over-insuring is Killing Your Profits.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including REAL ESTATE FORMS, tenant debt collection,tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

See info on Renters Insurance.

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Angry Sheriff Says NO to Evictions

2008-10-10T13:33:11Z

In the spirit of maverick lawmen like Wyatt Earp, Chicago's Sheriff has said "no" to enforcing eviction orders against renters when the landlord's property is foreclosed.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart held a press conference Wednesday to announce that he has ordered his deputies to halt evictions in Chicago and some outlying areas, because the Sheriff's Department will no longer "be a party to destroying people's lives."

Evictions are already a "gut-wrenching" experience for his deputies, Dart explained, but when tenants have been paying rent and are unaware that the property is subject to foreclosure, evicting them rises to the level of "injustice". Read more.

For more see Are Your Tenants Screening You?

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Is Over-Insuring Killing Your Profits?

2008-10-06T22:29:46Z

How One Landlord Saved $86,000 in Premiums

Insuring the Market Value Wastes Your Money

"What property owners need to understand it that there's a big difference between market value that lenders use and the replacement cost carriers use," says Patrick Nugent, CCIM, JD, with Commercial Insurance Solutions out of Dallas.

"A property insurance policy is intended to make an insured whole and will not act as a profit center."

With that in mind, Nugent recommends that a property owner take a hard look at the insurable values with an eye toward replacement costs because this will lower premiums. Read more.

See info on Renters Insurance.

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It's a Party-It's a Forum-It's Green Festival!

2008-10-06T20:43:56Z

So, where's the party? On November 8th and 9th, 2008, the Washington D.C. Convention Center will open its doors to Green Festival. Over 350 eco-friendly businesses will be attending.

Scrolling down the list of vendors, I was surprised to see an entrepreneur from my own home place, Boulder, Colorado. Heather English was floating down Boulder Creek in an inner tube, thinking she needed a new handbag, when she came up with the idea for her new business, English Retreads. She designed her first handbag using reclaimed truck inner tubes.The fabric lining is made from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. Local truck stops supply her with inner tubes, and many of these tubes have traveled over 60,000 miles. She's found a great way to make reclaimed rubber into a fashion statement. Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum for more articles by feature writer Louisa May.

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Bank Vows to Slow Foreclosures

2008-10-06T20:40:09Z

One of the world's largest financial institutions, Bank of America, announced this weekend that it has settled the massive litigation brought by eleven states against it's Countrywide loan portfolio.

The bank purchased Countrywide's loans over the summer subject to the claims for predatory lending practices.

Many experts have viewed such lending practices and the resulting eruption of foreclosures as the catalyst for the current financial ‘bailout' plan just approved by Congress and signed into law last week.

The bank has promised to spend as much as $8.4 billion dollars for what it deems a "home retention" program, with the goal of slowing or preventing as many foreclosures as possible of the remaining Countrywide loans which could include nearly half a million customers. How will they do it? Read more.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

See more on Real Estate Financing.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Property's Value

2008-09-24T14:50:01Z

Money spent on kitchen upgrades has remained a good investment for your rental property. But with the housing market is flux, saving money on kitchen upgrades makes even more sense.

There are three easy ways to add big impact in the kitchen without the bloated price tag of an overhaul: Read more.

See our related feature Resurface Old Countertops for Less.

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Ladies' Night and the New Green 'Party'

2008-09-16T10:35:36Z

Women's Voices for the Earth, a national environmental health group is on a mission to remove an insidious health threat hiding under your kitchen sink: the chemicals you use to clean.

Daily exposure to these popular household cleaning products has been linked to a myriad of health problems, from short-term problems like skin irritation, to chronic conditions including loss of fertility, asthma and cancers. Their solution: throw a party! Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Transform Old Countertops for Less

2008-09-15T15:30:58Z

So, your renters are not interested in looking at those old coffee stains or lovely series of stripes from years of not using a cutting board on the formica countertops? Hmmm.

Why not consider an easy, cost effective solution - overlay countertops? Several types of materials can be used right on top of your old countertop with many advantages: Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

California Passes Stringent New Building Restrictions

2008-09-12T15:19:50Z

California lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 375, the first bill to link housing, land use, and transportation funding in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and stop urban sprawl.

The California League of Conservation Voters(CLCV) and the Natural Resources Defense Council co-sponsored the bill. Tom Adams, President of CLCV says, "We will never achieve our greenhouse gas reduction goals or energy independence unless we stop encouraging sprawl and start locating housing closer to jobs. Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum to see more articles by our green feature writer Louisa May.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Plant a Popular Alternative to Chlorine in Pools

2008-09-02T12:58:03Z

Is chlorine in swimming pools hazardous to your health?

Chlorine is commonly used in swimming pools to provide disinfection in the water, but it's a known respiratory irritant to mucous membranes and lungs.

There are now healthy alternatives. This chlorine alternative is totally renewable, hasn't been processed, and when you're done using it you can put it in your garden. What is it? Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum to see more articles by our green feature writer Louisa May.

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Could You Get Stuck With Tenant's Gas Bill?

2008-08-26T16:47:07Z

If you believe that your tenant is always liable for utilities, you might want to think again.

Philadelphia Gas Works, in the 165 years that it's powered our sixth largest city, has grown weary of the financial drain caused by deadbeat tenants who skip out on the bills.

Now, it will look to landlords to do something about it.

The rationale: Why pass the cost on to all of Philly's customers, when it's the landlords who benefit from the access to gas service on their properties. Read more.

What do you think? Please share you insights below.

Interested in submetering? Find out how it can force your tenants to conserve gas, electricity and water. Click here for more.

Did you know there is an inexpensive device that can help save electricity and reduce your bills without having to replace expensive appliances? Click here for more.

Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

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Train Tenants to Protect Your Carpet

2008-08-22T10:07:05Z

Leaving Shoes at the Door Saves Money!

Since replacing the carpet yearly is not really on option, ongoing carpet care is one of the best ways to protect a major investment in your properties.

As a landlord, protective and preventative maintenance is really the best tactic, rather than trying to clean up messes afterwards.

Basic necessary steps to ensure carpet cleanliness are: Read more.

Click to see Cheap Carpet Cleaning Tips to Transform Your Apartment.

Click to see Flooring For the Future.

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Hansel and Gretel's Town Forced to "Go Green"

2008-08-22T10:02:49Z

Marburg, Germany, a peaceful Renaissance city on a hill, has long been a tourist destination. Its medieval attractions, dating back to the 1200's, include a castle and the Gothic shrine of St. Elizabeth, a sacred treasure of the Elizabeth Church. The Brothers Grimm studied at the University of Marburg, a school founded in 1527, making it the oldest Protestant university in the world. And Rapunzel's tower is on the other side of the forest- in fact, many of the Grimm fairy tales were collected here. So, why is this picturesque place suddenly a hotbed of environmental ordinance hostility?

Franz Kahle is deputy mayor of Marburg. He knows that many of Marburg's 80,000 residents were shocked and dismayed by a new law approved by the town council on June 20, 2008. Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum to see more articles by our green feature writer Louisa May.

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Lower Your Electric Bill Now

2008-08-12T11:17:59Z

Every time you start up an appliance that runs on a motor, electricity is drawn into your home. Your meter spins, tracking usage, and your bill is calculated on that amount. But not all of the electricity that is metered is actually used.

A lot of it is wasted. You've paid for it, but it never gets used in your home or business.

However, there is a cost-effective technology that changes all that. Available from FreeEasyGreen.com, the "Power-Save" is a little gray box that mounts neatly beside your electrical panel, and increases that power factor in most cases to .97 or .98, thus increasing the effective use of your electricity and lowering your usage.

What does that mean? An immediate reduction in your electric bill.

The Power-Save reduces the amount of power drawn from the utility by storing in its capacitors otherwise lost electricity caused by the inductive motors in your home - things like air conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, pool pumps, vacuum cleaners, furnace blower motors, and fans. Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum.

Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

26 Million to Use One Big Classified Section

2008-08-08T12:28:07Z

In 2008, there will be, at the absolute minimum, almost 26 million people looking for an apartment online.

If 26 million people are using online resources to inform their decisions and choose apartments, it is absolutely necessary for apartment management companies to have user-friendly, updated and effective websites.

Recognizing and living by this, MyNewPlace offers a website solutions product called MyNewSite, which has been gaining popularity amongst apartment management companies. Read more.

MyNewPlace.com is an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder to search its database of over six million listings.

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Granite Countertops Get Fifteen Minutes of Fame

2008-08-08T12:23:36Z

Andy Warhol would have loved this. The late American artist coined the phrase, "fifteen minutes of fame." He was referring to the fleeting condition of celebrity that attaches itself to an object of media attention briefly until our collective short attention span moves on to something new.

The last week of July, our attention was focused on the dangers of radon gas seeping from granite kitchen countertops. It started with a New York Times newspaper article appearing in the July 24, 2008 Home and Garden section titled, " What's Lurking in Your Countertop?" Read more.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum to see more articles by our green feature writer Louisa May.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

Avoid This Debt Collection Nightmare

2008-08-01T14:55:43Z

Tenant debt collection expert Bill Gray is seeing a disturbing trend:

"We are getting more and more collection requests from owners who inherited the existing tenants from the seller," Bill explains.

"Problem is, all they have is the lease. They don't have the information we need for collection. Sometimes they don't even have the debtor's Social Security Number."

The demand for tenant debt collection is growing, and you need to be one step ahead, especially if you are shopping for an investment property that is subject to a tenant lease. Read more.

In need of tenant debt collection? Call 303-938-8280 or send an email to collections@joinaaoa.org. Write the word "COLLECTION" in the subject line.

Premium and Premium Plus members receive discounts on debt collection. Sign up now, or upgrade your membership to enjoy the savings.

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Economic Stimulus Act to Benefit Apartment Owners, Environment

2008-08-01T14:52:44Z

by Matt DiChiara, MyNewPlace

An aspect of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, one that you most likely did not hear the talking heads and pundits discussing, is an incentive designed to increase commercial real estate construction.

A potential upshot of this ignored section could be the most cost-effective way for apartment owners to retrofit, improve or construct their apartment buildings and reap the benefits of environmentally-friendly buildings. Read more.

MyNewPlace.com is an online marketplace for apartment rentals, featuring a free-to-use apartment finder to search its database of over six million listings.

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12 Eviction Mistakes That Can Sink You

2008-07-29T15:08:27Z

Time is money when it comes to evictions, and mistakes can cost a landlord both.

These common misconceptions not only slow down your eviction, they can cost you in court: Read more.

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Court Decision Strengthens Wetlands Protection

2008-07-29T15:02:25Z

I'm often reminded that there are many versions of the truth, and the widely differing points of view highlighted in this lawsuit offer no exception. Sometimes, too, it takes a judge to protect us from each other's "good" intentions.

On May 27, 2008, U.S District Judge B. Avant Edenfield ruled in favor of Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, a citizen based non- profit organization, in a lawsuit filed back in November of 2006 against the U.S Army Corps of Engineers.

This ruling is being hailed as a landmark win for environmentalists. At the very least, the ruling will help protect thousands of wetlands along the Georgia coast and prevent destructive tree harvesting in forested wetlands across the country. Read more.

Click here for our related feature Myth and Madness Surround Cypress Garden Mulch.

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum to see more articles by our green feature writer Louisa May.

Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.