Wood Floors Got Soaked - What Now?

Q: During our remodel, our existing wood floors got soaked during an unexpected rainstorm in the spring. They were refinished in September. I’ve noticed some gaps between the lengths of the boards, maybe 1/16 inch wide.

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Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.05.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum

Poor Economy Compelling Squatters to Use Rentals Illegally in Sacramento

by James Safonov, HomePointe Property Management

In this tough economy some opportunists are breaking into vacant rentals for a variety of reasons.

The vacancy is a beacon of warmth for those without housing.

People are finding vacancies by driving through neighborhoods, searching the Internet and reading the paper.

Once inside the home they use the heater, bathrooms, etc and often conduct illegal activities while the owner is away.

Once comfortable they may also sell the appliances and other portions of the property–I have seen carpet and tile pulled up and sold as well as copper piping, doors, windows , etc.  Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.04.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

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Top Reasons Property Won`t Sell

by Dian Hymer, Inman News

It’s a challenging home sale market for sellers in many areas around the country.

Sellers who are having difficulty selling have several options.The first goal is to find out why your home isn’t selling.

Ask your listing agent for information about listings similar to yours in your neighborhood that sold within the last three to six weeks.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.04.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum, Financing

Future of Mortgage Finance

by Tom Kelly, Inman News

Editor’s note: Inman News has embarked on a Roadmap to Recovery editorial project that focuses on a future path for the real estate industry (click here for details). In this piece, columnist Tom Kelly explores possible changes in store for the residential mortgage sector.

Will the lessons learned from the real estate slowdown spark genuine creativity in marketing and lending to push more sales?

What are the chances that the residential mortgages bought and sold in the secondary markets will revert to the conservative portfolio business that existed before the first securitizations in the early 1980s?

The real estate industry will recover, but it will be different.

The “when” obviously depends on the “how,” and a variety of options will be discussed and debated before some are required through regulation, while others will be voluntary — at least on the surface.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.04.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum, Financing

Land Planning Project Offers Heart and Soul to Communities

by Louisa May

The Orton Family Foundation is changing the way communities approach land planning, and they’re doing it with heart and soul.  

Founded in 1995 by Noel Fritzinger of Weston, Vermont and Lyman Orton, proprietor of mail- order business The Vermont Country Store, the foundation helps small cities and towns look with more than hope to the future. Citizens and their leaders are given tools, research, guidance and capital. The idea is to promote inclusive decision making and land use planning by getting people to talk about what’s important to them in their communities.

The essence of this process, and this is where the heart and soul conversation takes center stage, is to ask three questions of every person in the community and the community as a whole:  Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.01.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum, Going Green

Should Seniors Pay Off Mortgage

by Jack Guttentag, Inman News

The financial crisis has torpedoed the retirement planning of many seniors.

Those foolish enough to have followed the advice of investment advisors who preached that homeowners should convert all their home equity into investments, now find that their home equity is negative because of declining home prices.

At the same time, the value of any common stock they purchased by mortgaging their houses up to the hilt is probably way down because of the sharp decline in stock prices.We can’t undo the past, but we can make better decisions in the future. This is a guide on how to make decisions about mortgage repayment. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.01.2009. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum, Financing

No High-Def Wiring? Landlord Must Allow Tenant`s Dish

by Janet Portman, Inman News

Q: I live in an old apartment complex. I would like to purchase a big new flat-screen TV for my living room, but have encountered a stumbling block.

The landlord has referred me to the DIRECTV agent who services our buildings, but he says he can’t give me high definition until the owners improve the wiring. And when I ask the manager, I get the runaround.

My unit has a large private deck where I could easily mount a satellite dish and run wires directly into my apartment, thus bypassing the present wiring. I heard a year or two back about a law that should apply to a situation like mine — permitting a tenant to independently contract for individual cable or satellite television despite any exclusive arrangements by the apartment ownership. Could you provide me a citation to this statute or ordinance and give any clarification of my options? –Jim A.

A: Your memory has served you well — just about a year ago, the Federal Communications Commission issued a final regulation that forbade owners of multi-unit residential buildings from entering into “exclusive” deals with audio and video providers. The theory behind the rule, which was opposed by apartment industry lobbying groups, was that exclusive arrangements kept healthy competition from flourishing, thereby making it more expensive for tenants to receive their programs. The apartment industry argued to the contrary, claiming that exclusive deals resulted in more competition, for the exclusive deal itself, and that the price savings would be passed on to the tenants. Importantly, the regulation decreed that any existing exclusive arrangements would no longer be enforceable.But here is where your situation and the regulation you remember part ways. Your wish — to receive high-def TV — wouldn’t necessarily be solved by invoking the FCC rule and calling a different cable provider (whom your landlord wouldn’t necessarily have to let into his building — the ban on exclusive contracts didn’t mean that every cable company has the right to enter the building). You’d still face the roadblock of the antique wiring. You have, instead, hit upon a different solution, which is to rely on your right to receive satellite transmissions independent of any wiring in the building or existing cable deals between the owner and a cable company, exclusive or not. Since 1996, the year the Federal Telecommunications Act was passed, landlords cannot unreasonably interfere with tenants’ rights to mount an antenna within their exclusive rented space. You can learn the specifics of this rule by going to the FCC Web site (www.fcc.gov) and typing “Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule” in the search box

.Janet Portman is an attorney and managing editor at Nolo. She specializes in landlord/tenant law and is co-author of “Every Landlord’s Legal Guide” and “Every Tenant’s Legal Guide.” She can be reached at janet@inman.com.

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

Copyright 2008 Janet Portman

See Janet Portman’s feature, Sex Offenders Have Legal Rights, Too.

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

Tags: apartment+owners, landlords, tenant+background+checks, real+estate+forms, direct+tv, satellite+dish+in+apartments

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 01.01.2009. 2 Comments »

Filed under: AAOA Forum

New Property Management Software Makes Tax Prep a Breeze

If your New Year’s Resolutions include being more organized come tax time, then you have to hook up with SimplifyEm.com Property Management Software.

• Instant Money Savings with a comprehensive list of commonly overlooked write-offs

• Easy setup gets you up and running in less than a minute  

• Less than five minutes a month to maintain property income and expenses 

• Tax Time is a breeze with one-click Schedule E 

• Automatically record recurring transactions and eliminate repetitive data entry

• View Tenant Payment History and Collect Rent on time with automatic rent reminders

• Increase lease renewals by monitoring lease information and renewing leases before expiration 

• Organize transactions - attach notes and store unlimited supporting documents

• Free email and phone support

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.  

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 12.29.2008. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum

Military Tenant Not Off the Hook for Rent

by Janet Portman, Inman News

Q: I am a landlord and had a tenant who is in the Army Reserves. He received mobilization orders in February, directing him to appear in June, several months away.

My tenant just gave me a verbal notice seven days before he left.

He claims he is entitled to a full refund of his deposit because the Army gives some rights to their personnel when they have to be mobilized.

I would like to know if this is true and what my options are. –Robert S. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Kim Ezzell on 12.29.2008. CLICK to Leave a Comment »

Filed under: AAOA Forum

Telltale Signs Water Heater, Furnace Will Soon Die

by Kevin and Bill Burnett, Inman News

Q: After reading your column on noisy water heaters I was left with a question that has been worrying me since I was widowed and no longer able to depend on my husband to know such things. The issue that sparked my attention was your estimated life span of water heaters as determined by their warranties.

I know my furnace was new, and I think the water heater was too, when I purchased this house in 1973. I am haunted by the idea of one of them suddenly breaking down, but also would hate to replace an appliance that I have found to be so reliable. Are there estimated life spans for such things? Or warning signs of demise? If so, what are they? Somehow furnaces and water heaters are much more mysterious to me than my kitchen appliances. Read the rest of this entry »