Property Management Companies Greatly Enhance HOA Management

Written by George Mitchell

Published by: ArticlesBase

our HOA is designed to aid and also take care of the motivations of its neighborhood. Nevertheless, several HOAs are ill-equipped to cope with the demands of a community which gets numerous solutions, has intricate property laws, and contains programs pertaining to continuing development. When this is the case, an HOA should look at working with a community supervision company to manage the logistical facets of the community’s maintenance and development. Firms that carry out HOA management present different types of services. But in every circumstance, they provide the subsequent three benefits that HOA board members alone often can’t.

Knowledge of Community Development

An HOA offers two basic goals: a) to conserve and develop the financial value and b) the societal appeal of a residential area. Community advancement calls for employing regulations and providers that satisfy the community’s residents. It also involves understanding what varieties of regulations and products and services are best for the community within the long-term – something that board members and inhabitants may have problems figuring out.

Property management businesses make use of their own expertise in community advancement to help organizations generate plans which meet current and long term targets. By means of conversing with board members and inhabitants regarding the needed direction of your neighborhood, they could establish a policy for moving this in the suitable direction on a project-by-project basis.

Expertise in Management

A weak point of lots of HOA boards is their not enough instruction and experience with community supervision. Nevertheless, their ability to field residents’ feelings and considerations in ways that a administration firm couldn’t is necessary to the management process. Therein is the particular importance of finding a property administration company: it helps board members to serve within their ideal capacity: as reps of their particular community’s concerns, not as business managers which might be taken up largely with the managerial aspects of the neighborhood.

Full-Time Supervision Focus

Even when they have the appropriate instruction as well as know-how, several board members can not invest in the actual management functionality. On most boards, board associates function in an chosen, yet volunteer basis, and also keep an additional career. There’re part-time staff with the HOA, and do not have the continuity of concentration which is necessary to run a plethora of considerations that exist continuously.

A continuity of concentration that may be aimed at handling multiple issues that exist at the same time is exactly what community association administration offers. The cash committed to their products and services ought to be considered as a direct financial commitment inside the community, for they deal with its finances plus produce their real estate investmentprofile.

Bottom Line

The majority of HOAs don’t go through a major occasion that triggers these to pick community association administration. Rather, the degree of administration that residents be expecting – and the caliber of solutions which it guarantees – decline so much that evaluation service fees have nominal worth beyond paying for basic services – a scenario in which the HOA loses appeal in the eyes of brand-new house buyers. If the community’s solutions are declining, and the concern is a lack of resources in the board level, the next step is to prevent the decrease by just implementing new managerial alternatives.

See article here:

http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/property-management-companies-greatly-enhance-hoa-management-5554239.html

Marcus and Millichap Investment Real Estate Video

Marcus and Millichap Investment Real Estate Video. Great insight into the market today.

Please follow the link below to watch.

http://www.marcusmillichap.com/Video/fox_122911.asp

Mercer Mess could get messier

WRITTEN BY: by JIM FORMAN / KING 5 News

PUBLISHED BY: KING 5 NEWS

 

SEATTLE – If weather cooperates, in two weeks, commuters who rely on Mercer St. for their commute will be noticing some big changes. Traffic will be shifted into newly completed lanes to allow for the next phase of construction of the two-way Mercer St. project.

To complete the changeover the Interstate 5 on and off ramps at Mercer will have to close. The full weekend closure is expected to happen on January 13th through the 16th. Bad weather could postpone the work.

A City news release outlined the changes:

On January 16, Stage 2 of the Mercer East Project will begin and eastbound traffic on Mercer St. will be re-routed onto the new Mercer St. lanes north of the existing lanes. Three lanes of traffic will continue eastbound on Mercer St. with access to the I-5 on-ramps and Fairview Ave. N.

This traffic shift will result in access restrictions to Mercer St. from the south, as access to Mercer St. via Boren, Terry, and Westlake Avenues will be concurrently closed at Republican St. Alternate routes should be used to reach Eastlake Ave. E and Capitol Hill (i.e. Dexter Ave. N to Republican St.).

Director of the project, Angela Brady of the Seattle Department of Transportation says, “It is going to be rough.” The first few days after the switch will have commuters searching for the easiest way to navigate out of South Lake Union.

Pedestrian and Bike paths will still flow north out of the area, but no cars or trucks.

The entire project is scheduled to wrap up late this year, and these traffic revisions will remain in place until then.

 

See article here: http://www.king5.com/news/Mercer-Mess-could-get-messier-136864838.html

KingCo 4A shuffling Crown/Crest alignment

Written by Mason Kelley

Published by: The Seattle Times

 

KingCo 4A will have a new look next season after the league’s two divisions — the Crest and the Crown — were recently shuffled.

Here is a look at the new alignment.

Crown

Bothell
Woodinville
Inglemoor
Redmond
Eastlake

Crest

Skyline
Issaquah
Newport
Garfield
Roosevelt
Ballard

The Northshore and Lake Washington school districts have been paired in the Crown, while the schools in the Issaquah School District and Seattle Public Schools were placed together in the Crest.

Newport, the league’s only member out of the Bellevue School District, was placed into the Crest.

When I found out about this Tuesday, the one thing I noticed is that Skyline and Eastlake — longtime rivals located down the street from one another — will no longer meet in football every year.

It sounds like part of the reason for the shift was to ease travel for the Seattle Public Schools.

 

see article here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/highschoolsportsblog/2017206335_kingco_4a_shuffling_crowncrest.html

SLU’s New Starbucks Serves Up the Unexpected

WRITTEN and PUBLISHED BY: DiscoverSouthLake Union.com

There’s something different about the new Starbucks at Terry and Republican.

It certainly looks different, with its exposed steel beams stretching across the ceiling, distressed leather lining cozy booths, and dramatic velvet curtains framing the windows.

Even its drink menu will be different. In the spring, it is set to become one of the few Starbucks stores in the world to serve wine and beer.

“Starbucks’ newest store is a wonderful addition to our neighborhood’s many unique places to meet,” said Jodie King, the new executive director of the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce. “Our neighbors are abuzz with excitement over this creative gathering space. It brings much more to the neighborhood than just a great cup of Joe.”

At this location, baristas have swapped the usual green aprons for slick black ones. Customers sit on plush gray armchairs under lanterns with trendy mesh shades, typing away on laptops and drinking specialty “Clover” coffee. Brewed by the cup, the Clover drip is only available at select locations. It’s deeper, fancier stuff.

Since 2009, Starbucks has experimented with a new type of store – one-of-a-kind hangouts that mirror the personality of the neighborhood and feature a small selection of wine and beer. Granted, these special Starbucks stores are very rare. Of its 17,000 stores worldwide, Starbucks only has six that serve beer and wine right now. Five of those are in the Seattle area and one is in Portland.

“We’ve seen a really positive response from our Seattle customers from this concept, and we’ve heard from them that they want to see more of these kinds of stores in Seattle,” said Starbucks spokesman Alan Hilowitz.

The community’s delighted reaction suggests South Lake Union was just the right location for the new store.

“It’s popular,” one customer said about the store as he waited for his morning latte. He works at Amazon and his office looks down on the new Starbucks. “I get to see a long line all day.”

Lee Schoentrup, who works in South Lake Union at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, says she’s glad to have another Starbucks so close to her office. “The bonus is having another place for an after-work drink in the neighborhood,” she said.

Hilowitz from Starbucks said the company plans to serve wine and beer there soon, and will likely start in the spring. The stores that currently sell wine and beer usually do so after 2 p.m., and also offer small food plates, like bread with dip or cured meats. Some have live music or other entertainment.

Although the beer and wine stores account for only a sliver of Starbucks’ inventory, the number is going up. In December, Starbucks announced it plans to open five to seven of these stores in Chicago.

“So far, we are pleased with the response of our customers to the introduction of wine and beer in the stores where it is served and we are excited to see how the concept translates to new locations,” said Hilowitz.

Want to know the exact moment you can go grab a glass of Merlot there? The store has set up its own Twitter handle, where you can get updates: @StarbucksTandR

 

See article here:  http://www.discoverslu.com/features/slus-new-starbucks-serves-up-the-unexpected/

U.S. Apartment Vacancies Decline to a Decade Low, Rents Climb

WRITTEN BY:  Hui-yong Yu

PUBLISHED BY: BloombergBusinessWeek

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — U.S. apartment vacancies dropped to a 10-year low in the fourth quarter, allowing for rent increases that are likely to continue this year, Reis Inc. said.

The vacancy rate fell to 5.2 percent, the lowest since the end of 2001, the New York-based property research firm said in a report today. It was 5.6 percent in the previous three months and 6.6 percent a year earlier. The average monthly effective rent, or what tenants paid after landlord giveaways, climbed 2.3 percent from a year earlier to $1,009, Reis said.

Rising foreclosures and stricter mortgage-lending standards have helped make rental housing the best-performing segment of commercial real estate for the past two years. The vacancy rate has fallen for seven straight quarters from a three-decade high of 8 percent at the end of 2009, according to Reis.

“With the strong occupancy we had this year, we were really able to push rents,” said Lori Mason Curran, director of real estate investment strategy for the property arm of Seattle- based Vulcan Inc., which owns more than 500 units in the city that are more than 97 percent leased.

Hiring by local employers including Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. drove tenant demand, enabling Vulcan to increase leasing fees 6 percent to 8 percent in 2011, Mason Curran said. Seattle’s average effective rent rose 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to Reis.

‘Optimistic’ Landlord

Vulcan was started by Paul Allen, the billionaire co- founder of Microsoft. It is preparing to break ground on almost 500 units in Seattle this quarter, Mason Curran said.

“We’re pretty optimistic about the apartment market,” she said in a telephone interview. Seattle’s rents may climb 5 percent to 7 percent this year, according to Mason Curran.

U.S. landlords’ asking rents rose to $1,064 from $1,043 on average a year earlier and $1,059 in the previous three months, according to the Reis report. Effective rents were little changed from the third quarter’s $1,004.

“The implicit demand for rental units will remain high as long as the for-sale housing market remains on the ropes,” Victor Calanog, head of research and economics for Reis, said in the report.

Rent growth may stall starting next year as a wave of new apartment development brings new projects to the market, Calanog said. Multifamily construction is rebounding from a 50-year low reached in 2009, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

New Construction

“The sector is benefiting from some of the lowest figures for new construction on record,” Calanog said. “By 2013, the influx of new units may begin eroding any benefit the sector derives from tight supply conditions.”

A total of 8,865 new units became available in the fourth quarter, the second-fewest for any three-month period in Reis records dating to 1999. The first quarter of 2011 had the fewest units, at 7,473.

For all of 2011, 37,678 units were completed, the lowest annual total in 31 years of Reis data. The previous record was 49,303 in 1993 during the savings and loan crisis.

Landlords saw a net gain in occupied space of 50,559 units in the fourth quarter, down from 58,238 units a year earlier and up from 36,818 units in the previous three months.

“The fourth quarter tends to be a weaker leasing period, given that most households make moving decisions in the second and third quarters, but the apartment sector exceeded expectations once again,” Calanog said.

Lowest Vacancies

New Haven, Connecticut, home to Yale University, had the nation’s lowest vacancy rate, followed by New York; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; and San Jose, California, according to Reis.

Effective rents rose the most for the year in San Francisco and San Jose, which have had a resurgence in hiring by technology companies. Chattanooga, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; and New York followed.

“The fact that New York City does not top the list either in terms of tightest vacancies or the strongest rent growth reflects how one of the largest rental markets in the U.S. has been buffeted by economic headwinds,” Calanog said. With job cuts by financial firms during the second half and the nation’s highest average effective rent, $2,876, “even New York landlords are finding it difficult to raise rents further,” he said.

–Editors: Christine Maurus, Daniel Taub

To contact the reporter on this story: Hui-yong Yu in Seattle at hyu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net

 

See article here: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-05/u-s-apartment-vacancies-decline-to-a-decade-low-rents-climb.html

 

Residential Utility Billing System or “RUBS”

Written by John M. Barr, RHA Member

Published by: RHA Monthly Newsletter June 2011

“Utility Back or “RUBS” (Residential Utility Billing System) is a great way to reduce expenses–frequently $40 to $60 per unit per month. “RUBS” is a program approved by the city of Seattle that lets you bill your tenants up to 90% of the cost of your utilities. No metering or technology, just simple formulas. Take the total cost of sewer, water and garbage for your building, the landlord pays 10%. The rest can be billed back to your tenants based on an allocation system depending upon the number of residents in each unit. For more informational go to Chapter 6, page 259, in the RHA Washington State Law Book or, the City of Seattle Municipal Code 7.25.040.”