News
Dealing with a new law, again.
Published on: Sunday, November 29th, 2015
Recently the City of Omaha passed an ordinance with a name that should make property investors cringe, the “City of Omaha Vacant and Abandoned Property Ordinance.” To anyone in the business this can sound a lot like…REGULATION, which, of course, lends itself to crony capitalism, higher prices/costs and usually lower quality services. I was completely against it at first. My initial reaction as a Republican is to fight it, but, I think, fortunately my Localitarian bent got the better of me and I reached out to the stakeholders. First, the City. Being on the Zoning Board of Appeals has exposed me … More
Customer Service in a hostile situation
Published on: Sunday, November 29th, 2015
Over the years customer service at the legacy air carriers seems to have dropped off precipitously. Maybe that isn’t a surprise to anyone, but today on my way to Atlanta there was a perfectly bad situation happening right next to me and it serves to demonstrate how a disconnected mission can muddle up an already bad situation. We’re boarding US5253 from Omaha to Charlotte and the all-too-familiar PA announcement “We are in an oversold situation and are looking for 2 passengers to give up their seats. We will give you $250 of travel vouchers.” Then the same announcement 5 minutes … More
The Customer Service Experience
Published on: Tuesday, November 10th, 2015
Everybody loves to get a kudos from the people they work with and for; so it’s especially nice to have a reputable organization recognize our employee’s efforts. The Better Business Bureau has placed us on their Honor Roll for Customer Service and it couldn’t have come at a better time because we’ve been reorganizing to enhance our customer’s experience. About two month’s ago Gwenn Aspen came on board and is converting our already very capable Customer Service (we call it Customer Solutions actually) department into a customer service-centric company. Everything we do is being changed so that the customer experience … More
Carbon Monoxide Law, Good, Bad & the Ugly
Published on: Tuesday, October 6th, 2015
On some other blogs, radio and TV I’ve railed against plenty of legislation, especially when it affects our industry. Generally the theme is that regulation is bad and that laws rarely attain their stated objectives (if they are stated at all). However, there are times that it either isn’t worth fighting against, or…on the rare occasion, it happens to be a good idea. The Carbon Monoxide Safety Act (LB 34) is one of those laws that I’d consider is both very likely to pass (just read the name) and a decent idea. But let me step back for a moment. … More
Get ready for winter
Published on: Sunday, October 4th, 2015
5 Easy Steps to a Winter-Ready Your Property After a hot and humid summer there is nothing better than welcoming in the crisp, cool and dry air of autumn. It’s also a great time to get your house ready for the upcoming winter. But you don’t have to set aside an entire weekend for this. A few hours on a Saturday afternoon should get the job done. By putting in a little work now you can safeguard your property against the hazards cold weather can bring. Here are 5 quick ways to get your house in order this fall: Mow … More
WSJ’s take on Single Family Homes
Published on: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015
The Wall Street Journal had a very interesting article about the single-family home market in the United States. The gist of it is that home ownership is down (63%), renting is up (from 9% to 13% of housing stock). This has been trending like this since the housing crash and large players in the single-family home industry are betting that this won’t change anytime soon, largely because of more strict lending, but also because at some point in the future the cost of money will have to go up which will add to the difficulty of buying a home. This … More
Shiny Real Estate and how it effects the future.
Published on: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015
If you are buying the newest, shiniest technological advancement you know you’re paying a premium for it. It’s the way it works. For instance, a 20″ flat screen television in 1999 cost $1,200 and today you can get it for $84. And it is interesting to note that during that same timeframe the size of televisions has grown 800%. The residential rental market works the same way. In the Omaha market construction has been remarkable. The new units that have been brought on board has steadily increased the past few years peaking at 1,650 permits in 2015. This year the … More
Apartment Prices on the rise
Published on: Saturday, September 19th, 2015
One and two Bedroom apartments have increased over 10% in the past 12 months in the Omaha Area as of May 2015. Homeownership is at its lowest level since the 1960’s which was in a period of extreme growth of apartment building in the Omaha Area. It is no wonder that new apartments are currently under construction in Omaha at a fevered pace in 2015.
Legacy Flats, Cheers!
Published on: Sunday, September 6th, 2015
Admit it, you’d love to walk into bar where everyone knows your name. You wear the bar like fitted pajamas, it’s where you’re comfortable, it’s where you’re the “Norm.” And that’s what people are looking for more and more. The suburbia lifestyle of the last 20-30 years is becoming less and less attractive (or maybe less affordable) especially for the younger and hipper amongst us. It is too sterile, too cookie-cutter for the life that they’re looking for. Having a place to live where the neighbors aren’t just the people in your building but also the people right outside your … More
Midtown Duplexes
Published on: Tuesday, August 18th, 2015
Hey Everyone, Lots of recent activity on sales of Duplexes in Midtown. Anyone have thoughts as to why this is happening?
