News
Firefighters don’t just put out fires.
Published on: Thursday, December 22nd, 2016
Just another December day at the office running a company and putting out my own kind of fires when my assistant chimes in with “firefighters on the phone for you.” And just to frame the tone a bit, when a company like ours who manage >1000 homes hears that sentence the default physical and emotional response is nerve wracking, especially considering a recent event we suffered as a company; the loss of Clara Bender. But a couple seconds into that call and any worry was quickly supplanted with more than just a feeling of being at ease, but even better. My reaction … More
Reframe Change, it’s not what you think.
Published on: Sunday, December 18th, 2016
Change management is a complicated endeavor. The stress of it, all the time it takes, the seemingly endless steps that go into doing it right; and that it sometimes fails… The whole thing, it seems, is just about not worth the hassle. We end up “why bothering” ourselves into paralysis and stagnation. The reason small businesses fail isn’t all that often attributable to changes the company undertook, but rather that the leadership or their staff was weary to change at all. And frankly the word “change” pierces a layer of comfort we’d prefer in our daily lives. ‘Change’ contributes to an … More
Investment Expectations for Single Family Homes
Published on: Tuesday, July 12th, 2016
Being in this business as long as we have it is easy to recall some pretty amazing things that happen; anything from watching newlyweds get their first home to finding dead bodies, from funny late excuses to sad and legitimate reasons people can’t pay their bills. We, property managers, see it all. One of the more common problems we have with a particular subset of investors is that they may not have gotten into the business for the investment, but rather of necessity. For instance maybe a divorce renders a home useless to the family unit and maybe they can’t … More
Cheap Equals Cheap
Published on: Monday, May 2nd, 2016
The allure of investment properties is this: buy an investment property with little or no money down and have a tenant pay rent, which will generate enough cash flow to cover the mortgage payment. At the end of the mortgage term, your property will have paid for itself and you have a very valuable asset! In theory, this is exactly how an investment property should work. The problem comes when an investor buys a “cheap” property due to the low upfront cost. Surprisingly, this mistake is quite easy to make. The owner has a little extra money saved up and … More
Disparate Impact and it’s Affect on Our Industry
Published on: Monday, April 11th, 2016
HUD has recently released their guidelines on disparate impact and how it will be applied to housing. The premise of the new rules are that the judicial system has churned out disproportionate disadvantages that fall along racial lines. And so, HUD now has in their purview, and will undertake, cases that may show housing screening methods that are inherently biased, wittingly or NOT. Regardless of what we think about this, we as purveyors of residential property need to adjust our procedures to protect ourselves, and ultimately protect those who may be impacted by the outcomes of an unjust legal system. A lot of … More
Selling your Multi-Family Property in Omaha
Published on: Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016
Everyone, Sales Prices of Multi-Family Properties are on the rise in Omaha. Many outside firms are flocking to Omaha for Multi-Family Real Estate opportunities. If you would like to find out more, please contact me at 402-312-8953. Thanks, Doug
Our new office
Published on: Monday, March 14th, 2016
Over the course of our 10 years in existence I’ve heard different versions of “You guys need to buy a building, it’s better to own than it is to rent.” Granted most of these comments come from real estate agents, but it’s pretty much something that is assumed to be true, which I take issue with. First of all it’s important to analyze a company’s ability to even purchase a building. Generally speaking 20% down is a minimum amount to have to fork over, and frankly a small or new business may be in a position to use that capital … More
The Cost of Ideas.
Published on: Tuesday, January 19th, 2016
You’ve heard the adage “there’s no such thing as a bad idea.” Well, and we all know this, it just isn’t true. If there really is no such thing as a ‘bad idea’ how would be express a sentiment that an idea just didn’t work out, that it wasn’t good, or that it ended up being ruinous? We say it pretty much to get people who would otherwise not feel comfortable going out on a limb to, well, walk out on that limb. We know there is something about the phrase that works logically, but what is it? The United … More
A Season for Reflection
Published on: Saturday, December 19th, 2015
As a parent of young children the holidays are typically a festive affair. Certainly stressful in a first world kind of way, but joyful none the less. However this Christmas season I couldn’t help but be a little reserved in my mood because a family in our tight knit community had a terminally ill child and I was bracing myself for the worst. In the silent moments late at night when I check in with my soul while folding little socks or cleaning up Cheerios off the kitchen floor I would think about this family. I would think about what … More
Active Shooter
Published on: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015
As sad as it is, active killer scenarios are part of today’s reality. As members of the business community it is important that we are aware of how to handle these scenarios and how to train our staff to handle them as well. Reach out to your local police department to see if they have an outreach program where they can send an officer to your company to give training. They can provide you with life saving knowledge and information for how to survive one of these horrific situations. Here are seven tips to remember how to respond: 1. Figure … More
