Team Reba Real Estate

I am on the email list for Sound Transit to get updates as they complete the much anticipated Link light rail system.  It should be going live in 2009 and tours are set up regularly for anyone interested in seeing the progress of the construction. Notes below come straight from the emails I receive:

 Ride the Lunch Bus Take a guided tour of Link light rail construction on Sound Transit’s Lunch Bus. Tour the Link light rail initial segment followed by lunch at a local eating establishment. You are responsible for buying your own lunch.   Tours depart and return at the southwest corner of 5th Ave S & S King Street in the International District. Tours depart at 11:30 a.m. sharp and return by 3 p.m. Next tours: Saturday, October 25th and Friday October 31st  2008 SODO, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley, Tukwila and Airport To RSVP or for more information please contact Wilbert Santos at 206-398-5300 or via e-mail: linkconstruction@soundtransit.org To me, it’s a great way to look at how light rail might impact a property’s value since more and more people are becoming interested in being near to mass transit.  If you have an apartment building, condo, or single family home knowing how close your property sits to this transit option as well as buses because it will be a bigger factor as the years go by.  Those communities in Seattle that initially were a little put off by being placed near the above ground sections will likely see a nice build up of demand for housing near to the light rail system for these reasons. It will likely alter the literal landscape tremendously over the coming years as new development springs up around these neighborhoods.  Some is already there as witnessed by the Othello Station and New Holly developments and more is coming.  Are you ready for it?Cheap Procardia
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This article from REALTOR.com Magazine is a bit disturbing when you read that people who owned vacation properties were coming to their abodes and finding strangers living in the houses.  It seems a supposed real estate agent (yet to hear if it was verified) and his assistant were renting out people’s places without their knowledge utilizing the well known Craigslist to advertise the openings.  I’m wondering if the agent was the guy who sold the properties to these owners to begin with and this is perhaps how someone knew for certain that these were only part-time homes for the owners.

A lot of people buy 2nd homes but don’t always have a method of checking in on their place while they are away.  Case in point, a good way to put in a monitor came from Eric Aasness (one of our co-contributers) who has some cabins out on Hood Canal that he ended up having to put remote cameras on when he and his wife noticed that some of their wine and food was going missing.  Seems they had an errant plumber on their hands - they dubbed him “the hot tub bandit.”

Perhaps remote property management - even if a stepped down version of what rental property management people handle - is a line of business someone could take up and do well in markets where lots of 2nd homes exist?  Especially if there is no rental pool or short term rental aspect to handle.

As an associate member of RHA, I get a chance to meet a lot of really great local professionals. One of them is Chris Benis, a local attorney who I have much regard and respect for in the Seattle area.  He is teaching an upcoming class for RHA that anyone who is a landlord should consider attending to bone up on issues that could impact them down the road.  You never know when a difficult tenant situation could arise, and the best plan is to have tools and information on your side when it happens.  Info on the upcoming class is noted below.   If you are considering getting into the landlord arena, this and many other RHA classes are items you should check out!

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A client of ours works at the local Almvigs appliance and design center in the Roosevelt area. While they have loads of gorgeous bath and kitchen items to drool over they are also carrying a product I’d like to see more available (and more affordable) in this area…. LED lighting.

These fantastic little, yet hyper-bright, lights are the up and coming favorite for lowering our energy needs in the USA when it comes to lighting a home.  Incandescent lights burn up a lot of energy and even CFL’s, while better, don’t match up to LEDs (light emitting diodes) because of energy needs, limitations on use, and concerns about mercury when being disposed (they should be recycled).  We’ve had LEDs around for years and they are being used in traditionally manufactured commercial products and auto manufacturing for use in car lights.

If you’re a homeowner, renter, or landlord who is trying to lower your electric bills this is one way to start doing that as well as providing a mercury free lighting source.

Frequently I am contacted by  clients and real estate agents asking for help with finding property management companies in Wichita, KS or the Seattle area.  I currently own 2 properties in Wichita, a 4-plex and a duplex, and right now my brother manages them for me. In Kansas you don’t have to have a real estate license to manage property as long as it is 4 units or fewer in number. In Washington, if you are managing another person’s property, that is not a family member, you must be licensed to receive compensation.

Anyhow, an agent asked me if I had a firm I could recommend in Wichita since she had read the less than flattering review of another company that I used previously. I sent her an Excel spreadsheet that I had my assistant put together for me with a list of questions that I gave her to use to pre-qualify the companies she found online.  Here is the list of questions I used; perhaps you will find them useful too.  These are by no means a comprehensive or exhaustive list of everything you should ask, but it’s a start and can lead to additional information you may want regarding the company you’re considering hiring. These questions are reasonable for both in-town and out-of-town landlords to ask a management firm.

1. What are your management fees on a monthly basis?  Are the fees charged before or after expenses are paid for the month?

2. What are your “lease up” fees for getting a new tenant?

3. Is the cost of advertising wrapped into the lease up fee or is the owner charged separately for these costs?

4. What advertising methods do you use?  Do you do a combination of print and online advertising?  Is advertising on-going or only as vacancies arise?  Do you pool fees from multiple clients to do annual on-going advertising?

5. What are your reporting methods for financial data?  Will I get an annual statement at the end of the year besides monthly statements?

6. Do you offer annual maintenance agreements or other methods to check-up on the properties under your management?

7. How is maintenance handled on an ad-hoc basis?  Do you have your own maintenance staff or do you hire out?

8. How do you handle the move-in/move-out checklist for tenants? Are digital photos taken during the move-in/move-out periods to help augment checklists to secure deposits and to handle charging for damages above normal wear and tear on a unit? 

9. Do you require the use of your own leases or do you allow other leases to be used on properties your company manages? And, if you use your own lease, will you provide a copy for me to review prior to signing up with your firm? Has your lease been reviewed by an attorney?

10. If an out of state owner wants or needs work done can your firm help to manage the work, and what is the cost to manage it?  If I have a preferred company to use for a certain type of work (eg. plumber, electrician) will you work with them as well?

11. Does your firm also sell property?  If so, will you require me to use your services to sell my property when I am ready to sell, or is that negotiable if I already have my own agent that I prefer to use? Will the decision to use another agent raise the cost of the fees you will charge me?

12. Will you provide a list of references including other out-of-state owners that I may contact?

13. If I have a large number of units or buildings to manage, is there a discount applied or available to negotiate if I turn them over to you for management?

14.  What is your coverage area for property?  Do you limit your business geographically or to certain types or sizes of property?

15. How do you handle doing background and credit checks on rental applicants?  Do you do full criminal background checks and, if so, how far do you search (eg. local, state, national).  Does your background check include registered sex offenders?  If not currently, will you consider doing it for my business?

16. Do you track local market information regarding rent levels, vacancies, etc and do you share that information with your clients?

17. How do you handle notices and evictions with tenants? Have you ever had to appear in court on tenant related issues? What was the outcome of any such court action?

18. Do you belong to any professional organizations for property management? Does your staff have on-going training or educational opportunities related to your field of expertise?

19. Are you licensed? Do you have a copy of local landlord/tenant laws in your office for reference? How do you handle or deliver necessary disclosure forms for tenants?

20. How do you handle Fair Housing requirements in your area? Do you use the same process for each applicant?  Have you ever had a Fair Housing complaint made against you or any of your clients? How do you handle section 8 tenants and the yearly reviews that are required?

These questions aren’t listed in any particular order but you may find them useful.  Even if you’re looking to manage your own property you might consider asking yourself these questions to determine how you’ll handle these things on your own.

For those readers/landlords in the Seattle and surrounding area I would suggest getting to know the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound too.  They are a great resource for information, forms, education and more. Check them out at http://www.rha-ps.org

Just released on April 26th, the new HOV Hot Lanes on State Route 167 (SR 167) are making solo drivers “good to go” if they purchase one of the electronic transponders for paying tolls to use the HOV lanes.  For those newer to our area, HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicles.  Yes, this means that we’re letting individuals pay for the privilege of using the carpool lane.

You can learn much more about the project by checking out this link where you’ll find a PowerPoint presentation put together by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

We’ve been watching a lot of what goes on in the Wichita marketplace because we’re taking some of our Team Reba investment/commercial business down there with the help of my real estate mom, Myrna Haas.  I’ve been writing regular updates when I travel there, which is very frequently now, and we’ve also been keeping an eye on what is happening in the business sector.  We’re big fans of the investment potential of this area for our clients so when something like this story comes up, we pay attention.

High Touch Inc is a technology firm in business since 1984.  Having had their offices in the area near my mom’s house in the Twin Lakes center for roughly 10 years they’ve decided now to move to the downtown area and across from a very cool historic sandstone building.  It’s these kinds of changes that keep me believing that the location of my 4-plex investment will pay off over the long term.  Keep the company moves comin’ into downtown!

Do you remember this line from Pretty in Pink?  It almost seemed to be the way that the Seattle marketplace was considered for all of about 1 or 2 years.  It’s funny, back 5 years ago Seattle didn’t register on the list of top 20 places for home appreciation and then when all the other spots like Phoenix, San Diego, Miami and others dropped off the map we suddenly got out day in the sun.  Yes, I said Seattle was in the sun… it happens… for about 3 months in summer. 

Anyway, back to my post…  We received about 1-2 years of high praise in the media and then when the mortgage bust hit, although it’s really not THAT much of a bust - look at interest rates, they’re still really good, suddenly everyone was talking of gloom and doom.  I’ve posted several articles on this blog (Dec 26, Jan 10, Feb 29, March 27, March 31, April 11) to show that we aren’t in the horrible spot that the media would like you to believe.  Overall, we have a strong local economy and a diverse range of businesses that support our workers.  This, along with in-migration, continues to keep our housing prices strong even if we aren’t getting the runaway appreciation that occurred for a few years in the early part of the 2000’s. 

Well, we continue to be considered a strong market regardless.  Here are some of the headlines that keep on proving that we’re still considered “hot stuff”.  Even when you see some of the negative comments of the articles you’ll still see info on Seattle that is positive.

http://www.housingpredictor.com/top25.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004012642_realtor14.html

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/realestatenews/archives/125867.asp

Now, there will be some that believe I’m just parroting back the commentary and that there is no basis for Seattle to still be considered a strong market.  Well, feel free to have your own opinion.  This area has a strong and diverse work force (aviation, medical research/biotech, technology, ports, military bases), good trading partners (Asia-Pacific Rim), and many corporate headquarters (Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia, etc) here as well as strong local schools (like the UW, Seattle U, etc).  Each of these segments are incremental in building an economic powerhouse that provides stability for our housing market.

Tomorrow I’ll be reviewing a 4-plex in Wichita that is for sale by owner for a whopping (I’m kidding) $76,000.  I’m interested to see the condition of it since the outside is okay, but not great, but it’s near a place that I own in town.  I’m hoping a client will be interested in perhaps picking it up as an investment in Wichita. 

I’ll post more later once I get a chance to check it out and to learn more about it.  According to records my mom and I pulled the guy has only owned it a year so I’ll be curious to learn why he’s selling already.  When I spoke to him the other day he told me it’s because he has 3 small kids, a wife, a full time job and he’s coaching his kid’s soccer team.  Maybe that’s it, maybe he’s in a pickle with financing and can’t handle the payments now. 

One other interesting element is that his property is zoned commercial and is on the edge of the revitalization area of downtown Wichita.  I’m interested in helping investors sweep up property in this area to benefit from the long term change in the area and to work on continually improving the quality of the tenant base in the area and perhaps looking at an even longer term idea of turning these 4-plexes into rowhouse condos.

In the meantime, anyone interested?  Give me a call or email.

If you’re considering buying a condo - I recommend this book.  If you already live in a condo and have discovered it has more going on (arguments, lawsuits, assessments, hassle) than you expected when you bought it - I recommend this book.  If you are considering joining the board of a condo association you belong to and want to know what to expect - I recommend this book.  If you are already on a board and a big issue has just come up and you have to deal with it - I recommend this book.

So, have you figured it out yet?  I recommend this book.  And, I’m not being paid to recommend it, although for full disclosure I will say the company that published it (Sphinx Publishing/Sourcebooks) contacted me several weeks ago and sent me a free copy of Condo Owners Answer Book to read, with a request that I write a review.  I get asked to do stuff all the time, and more commonly, I am asked to BUY things all the time - so to have a company ask me to read something and comment was slightly new and I have to say that reading is one of my major pasttimes so this was an easy request for me.   

For those that are considering a purchase of this book, the relatively inexpensive amount of money that it would take to buy, considering all of the issues that you can be confronted with as a condo owner, makes it worth every penny.

I’ve been selling real estate for 5 years and I’ve owned several properties for about 12 years.  Given that I am in the midst of property, property contracts, and clients every day I was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned in reading this book.  That’s right, the attorney who wrote it is one sharp cookie! :)  Her name is Beth A. Grimm and she’s worked in condo law for quite some time.  She’s got a fun website called: www.CaliforniaCondoGuru.com that’s worth checking out, particularly if you’re in California, where Ms. Grimm holds her license to practice law.

Some of the elements that she put into the book (some I knew and some are new to me) are things such as being sure to ask for minutes from a board prior to purchase and to have that as part of your document review.  Many telling items are covered in board meeting minutes and you’ll learn a lot about the property you’re about to move into by reading them.  Such as, is there an ongoing dispute among owners or the board?  Is there a pending lawsuit?  Are there safety issues in the building?  Is a large assessment being considered?  The list can go on and on.  The importance of getting these during a purchase review period is large because these aren’t public documents and they must be requested by the owner of the unit - buyers aren’t allowed to ask the board for non-public documents but members of the association (the seller) may have copies of them, actually, they have a right to them.

A website that she points out, that I wasn’t familiar with before, is www.condocerts.com.  Some associations will post their meeting minutes here - but it’s not a requirement.

I like also that Ms. Grimm takes a very no nonsense, practical approach and she doesn’t gloss over the pitfalls of ownership in condos. There is strong coverage of each topic and all are explained in simple terms.  Additional items I liked were the appendix sections at the end of the book.  In fact, I wish Appendix B would have come in earlier since there are likely people who miss it when reading the book and getting to the end think that these are just boring references sections or part of the Glossary that precedes them.  Appendix B lists national and international sites that are quite useful resources for condo owners.  Groups such as Community Associations Network, Community Associations Institute (CAI), National Association of Housing Cooperatives (NAHC), and even The Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI).  There are others listed as well but I’ll let you buy her book to get them.  If you like what you read from this book there are other books that she has authored  or recommended as well that you might want to check out.

I want to point out too that for those of you out there that think any ole’ real estate attorney will suffice if you’re in need of help in a condo association - you’re wrong.  Condominium laws are an animal almost unto themselves so if you’ve got an issue you should go to an attorney that knows your local state condo laws inside and out.  Most general real estate attorneys do not know the intricacies of condo law and statutes.  If you’ve ever read a condo CC&R, bylaws, and other documents as well as condo law legislation you’ll understand why it’s so complicated and a section of real estate all on its own.  A recent example came up with a client of mine who owns a unit as an investor but he sits as President on the small HOA board.  A unit in the building is potentially under foreclosure because of a loan default and the unit owner is also in arrears of his HOA dues.  My client was asking me about how to place a lien on the unit in the event the unit is sold - which may be imminent - and I directed him to a condo attorney as well as advising him to read his regulating documents for his association.  He was hoping that the process would be simple, much like when he puts liens on his client’s properties (he’s a contractor) but my concern was that he wouldn’t complete the process correctly and that it would be key for him to get proper advice on how to move forward.