Vantage Property Management

7 Tips to Save Water Outside

Written by Jennifer Gravely.  Published Friday, June 26, 2015 on Trulia.

Tend to your yard with little to no water waste.

Brown grass, dead shrubs, puny gardens — they’re an eyesore for sure. But keeping your yard in pristine shape can be quite a burden, especially in the summer heat, when drought conditions are rampant.

Here are seven tips to keep your yard looking its best, without wasting water.

1. Be sprinkler savvy

Your automatic sprinkler can be a huge help when it comes to keeping your yard looking its best, but it can also be a huge water — and money — waster.

First, make sure your sprinklers are watering your lawn, not the driveway or road, and frequently check the system for leaks. Consider installing rain and/or moisture sensors that will turn sprinklers off if it’s raining or if the ground is already saturated.

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Tenant Star Bill Signed Into Law

 Written by Mike Toner.  Published on May 18, 2015 on IREM.org.

When Congress is mentioned in the news these days, the focus is usually “What are they arguing about today?” It can be easy to get caught up in the partisan shenanigans surrounding some of the issues that dominate the headlines, such as international trade, or negotiations with Iran.

Luckily for the property management industry, our issues consistently revolve around common sense, and legislators are generally in agreement about the importance of the real estate management industry to the economy.

So, believe it or not, the 114th Congress was able to pass a crucial energy efficiency bill that the previous Congress wasn’t.

On April 30th, President Obama signed into law the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, which contains provisions establishing the voluntary Tenant Star program. As one of IREM’s 2015 Public Policy Priorities, the Tenant Star program has been a central issue in IREM’s advocacy efforts, and its passage represents a victory for the property management and commercial real estate industry. IREM has advocated for passage of Tenant Star legislation, along with nearly 50 other stakeholders, as part of a coalition.

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Is Your Office As Green As It Could Be?

Written by Mary Girsch-Bock.  Published on May 19, 2015 on PropertyManager.com.

While many property managers have consciously made changes in their daily habits to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint, are you doing as much as you can to make your office a little greener?

If you feel like you’d like to make a greater environmental impact, here are some suggestions to try in your office:

Regulate the temperature. By keeping the thermostat a little lower in the winter or a little higher in the summer, you can save energy and money. Rather than using space heaters in the winter, which consume a great deal of electricity, simply keep a sweater handy. You may also want to close the vents in offices that aren’t being used – forcing the heat and air conditioning into the offices that are occupied.Make use of window coverings. For those in a cooler climate, leaving the blinds open can help heat the office naturally, reducing the amount of heat needed. For those in warmer climates, keeping the blinds closed, particularly in the afternoon, will help keep offices cooler.Turn fluorescent lights off if you leave the room for more than a minute. For areas such as the lunchroom, copier room, and meeting room, consider installing motion sensors that will turn on when someone enters the room, and turn off once motion is no longer detected in the area. The cost of the sensors is minimal, but can produce significant energy savings.Get serious about recycling. Most of us recycle cans, but make sure and recycle paper products as well. I know one office that keeps old reports and other printed materials next to the copier. That paper is then used for printing personal print jobs or for jobs that others will not see.Handle garbage more efficiently. Keep a main receptacle in the break room or kitchen for food trash, and reuse trash can liners, reducing waste.Consider using document management software to keep a handle on the extraordinary amount of paper created in the typical property management office. Using document management software will also help to eliminate lost documents, and eliminate time-consuming filing.Use as many recycled products as possible – including copy paper, paper towels, and toilet tissue.Consider using hand dryers instead of paper towels in the bathroom. It’s more hygienic, and will reduce paper use considerably.Make sure that items such as copiers are turned off before leaving.

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Four Tips For Implementing Dog-Friendly Landscaping

Written by Karen Kazmierczak.  Published May 4, 2015 on IREM.com.

According to Multi-Housing News, pet-friendly apartment communities are quickly becoming the norm. Pet-friendly workplaces are a growing trend too, says Fast Company. So if you manage an apartment community or office building that welcomes animal companions, how do you maintain your building’s appearance and curb appeal?

The best solution is to design your landscaping in a way that accommodates the special needs (and potential wear-and-tear) of dogs. Here are four things to keep in mind:

The number one eyesore caused by dogs is urine stains on grass lawns. Avoid the problem entirely by minimizing grassy areas and instead covering the ground with mulch, river stone or pea gravel, patios, hardy groundcovers like clover, or even astroturf! Tall perennial grasses can soften hardscapes and provide a lush look, yet are hardy enough to handle pet activity (and many are drought-tolerant).

Small cedar chips are an ideal mulch because they are soft enough for a dog’s foot but not so small that the chips get tracked everywhere. Avoid cocoa mulch, as it contains the same ingredients in chocolate that are toxic to dogs. 

If you do choose to maintain a grass-covered lawn, choose hardy grass strains like Bermuda grass in warmer climates and Kentucky bluegrass for cooler seasons. Watering the lawn frequently to dilute urine can also help prevent stains and burned patches.

Offer a fully fenced area and limit access to other, more delicate plantings. A secure fence that keeps pets safe will encourage owners to use that area. If you do have fencing, create a traffic-friendly track inside the fence line rather than planting shrubs or other plants immediately adjacent to the fence. Some dogs like to patrol fences, so plan for this in advance or watch your plantings get trampled.

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Coefficient of Variation: A New Way to Define Investment Risk

Written by David Wegman.  Published on November 10, 2014 on Property Management Insider. 

When the topic of risk management comes up, executives immediately think about business risk, while investors consider risk-adjusted returns. But few ever contextualize risk management as a tool to efficiently allocate capital. The foundation of risk management – the way in which risk is measured – is a calculation surrounding the spectrum of possible results. After all, an investment’s risk potential is defined by the volatility of the results. We can measure risk in absolute terms (standard deviation) or relative terms (beta). But there’s another way, too. For the sake of this piece, we’re going to discuss risk by using a lesser known metric: the coefficient of variation.

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How to Plant Trees to Boost Property Value and “Curb Appeal”

Written by Caitlin Burgess.  Published on August 19, 2014 on Buildium Blog.

It’s no coincidence that one of the first items renters add to their apartments is a plant. Having something living and growing in a rental unit can transform it from a generic living space into a home. It’s no surprise, then, that planting trees around your buildings can create curb appeal and make them more attractive to potential renters.

In addition to the beauty they provide, trees also provide shade that can keep homes cooler in warmer months, saving owners and renters on air conditioning, and act as buffers against freezing winds in winter, reducing heating costs.

Trees also add tremendous value to a property, according to the results of studies compiled by the Arbor Day Foundation. Benefits include:

• Mature trees have a “‘strong or moderate impact’ on the saleability of homes listed for under $150,000; on homes over $250,000, this perception increases to 98%,” 83% of realtors said in a study by Arbor National Mortgage & American Forests.
• According to the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, “A mature tree can often have an appraised value of between $1,000 and $10,000.”
• A Management Information Services/ICMA study says, “Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent.”

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Insider’s Guide To Picking A Security Company For Your Property

Written by Sarah Glover.  Published on September 4, 2014 on Buildium.

A lot can go wrong when the wrong private security company is on the job. Just ask the New York Port Authority and the company hired to watch over the new 1 World Trade Center building in Manhattan. In March of 2016, they found themselves at the center of a controversy after a teenager snuck by guards into the tallest building in New York, climbed to the top, and broadcast his stunt to the world. 

In the end, no one was hurt, and the boy was convicted and sentenced to community service, time already served. So, no harm, no foul, right? Actually, no, far from it: safety and security were compromised at a site where such breaches, given what happened in 2001, should be unthinkable. Had more research been done to choose the right private security company and review its staff and standard operating procedures (SOPs), this embarrassing — and potentially lethal — incident could have been avoided.

As an owner of a background check and screening company, Gold Shield, and as a former law enforcement officer and private investigator, I’ve seen security breaches like this one too many times. With some basic research and foresight, you can hire the right private security company and rest easily at night knowing that your domain is safe.

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Why Do I Need a Property Manager?

 Written by Reggan Scrivner on September 22, 2014.

You have just bought your first commercial property.  Congratulations you are now the landlord of a multi-tenant commercial building.  What do you do now?  Do you self-manage? Do you hire a property management company?  A good property management company is much more valuable than the fee they are paid each month.  They are the liaison between tenant and landlord.  They are a buffer between an angry tenant with an emergency in the middle night and the landlord who prefers not to be awoken at 2:00 am.  Property management is much more than pacifying difficult or persistent tenants, they are a TEAM.  A good property management team should have a minimum of an accounting department, marketing department, communications department, property manager, broker, and an assistant property manager. Property management manages your asset, collects from tenants, creates property and tenant budgets, assesses property liability risk, site management, lease administration, tenant retention, tenant screening, vendor maintenance, expense minimization, marketing your tenants businesses, marketing vacancies, brokerage, CAM Reconciliations, and so much more. They do all this so the landlord can enjoy the ease of “out of sight out of mind” experience. 

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