Power Tools for Property Managers

Corporate America is becoming more diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender as the number of minorities increases in the U.S. Corporate leaders are beginning to follow this trend by employing a diverse workforce; however, the real estate sector is lagging behind. According to a recent article in the Journal of Property Management , "less than 1% of the more than 100,000 people employed in the real estate industry are black."

As a result, brokerages such as CB Richard Ellis and Cushman & Wakefield are implementing proactive recruiting efforts to attract minority candidates and keep them. Internal recruitment efforts, outreach to minority professional organizations, as well as mentor programs are just some of the approaches that are being used.

Posted on February 27 at 12:31 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

The condo market boom of 2001 is slowing down . One telltale sign of this trend is the "mass exodus by investors and developers who initially bought rental apartments to convert to condos." From August 2005 to August 2006, condominium prices fell 2.4% nationwide. This oversupply could lead to business opportunities for real estate managers since rental apartments once destined for condo conversion are switching back to rental units.

According to NAR's Lawrence Yun, the condominium slump is more pronounced than other housing slumps due to investors fleeing the sector so quickly. "The investors- not owner occupiers- evidently artificially raised condo demand during the housing market boom," Yun says. "They were buying in hopes of cashing out at a higher appreciation. With appreciation not coming around now, that artificial demand has disappeared."

Posted on February 7 at 01:38 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Home owners who have a difficult time selling their homes are seeking out property managers to rent them in the meantime. This can be a good financial move if equity to purchase another home is not immediately needed. Property managers are being hired for a fee of 6-12% of the rent to find and screen tenants, collect security deposits, negotiate leases, make sure that owners comply with landlord- tenant laws, and deal with those 3 a.m. fix-it calls.

Posted on February 1 at 10:46 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)