What Happened to 80 Degrees!!!?

Last week in Idaho Falls and Pocatello it was literally 80 degrees.  Yesterday a snowstorm struck.  The storm beat us down all day Thursday and into the evening.  The suddenness of winter seems to strike every year.  Many times early in the spring and late in the fall when the temperature is scarcely cold enough to freeze the rain, the snow clings especially tight to the tree limbs.  The weight of the wet snow challenges the strength of the limbs and sometimes wins out.  Broken limbs and power outages adorned the gloom of the day.  Though weather wove poem-like picturesque, the weight of the day struck with reality. 

Thanks to local 8 news for the picture.
The property management version of this story includes some minor mayhem, damage to yards, cars, and insurance claims.  The question of insurance always piques the interest of many.

In the case of a normal limb breaking and falling onto an automobile, who covers the damage?  The landlord policy does not cover the damage.  The "Act of God" line protects the insurance company in this particular case.  The insurance policy the tenant carries on the car will pay for the claim with a deductible.  In this case the deductible was $500.  There is no apparent way around this.  Renter's insurance does not help. 
The power outages riddled Jill, our office manager, throughout the day on Thursday.  The question for tomorrow is, "who covers a fence damaged by a fallen tree."  I suspect the insurance company will be on the hook for the fence damage, but not the tree removal.

Though there some challenges to overcome and some new things to learn, the best part of the day came with a cup of chocolate, a sugar cookie and a cozy fire with the family. 
Written by http://www.jacobgrant.com

Deck repair at fairway

Marketing Rentals

Marketing Update:

Jacob Grant Property Management works to select the strongest ways to market your vacancies.  Please consider the data:

·         40% of leases come from craigslist

·         20-30% come from marketing at other websites

·         5-10% world wide web searches

·         10-15% newspaper

·         5-10% from yard sign

Idaho Falls property management is an unusual market because there are still leases coming from the newspaper.  I was at a property management conference (NARPM) and they asked all of the people still using the newspaper to advertise vacancies, raise their hand.  Out of about 50 property managers nationwide, MY HAND WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WAS UP! 

                You can understand my frustration at the Post Register’s email last week telling me that their rates are going up.

                Based on the new information, Jacob Grant Property Management is making a change to marketing policy.  Consider our complete marketing policy:

·         We offer an after-hours phone service so working people can view vacancies on weekends and after 6pm.

·         List on website with pictures and video when possible.

·         We list vacancies on craigslist at least once per week (usually twice).  Days and times listed are based on traffic data.  For example, Monday is the highest traffic day of the week, so listing on Monday is imperative.

·         Our website shoots listings to other websites including hotpads.com and oodles.com.

·         Yard sign.

·         Newspaper ad (billed to owner)

We are considering removing the automatic newspaper, and we will be beginning a webservice called rentalhomespro.com.  This will greatly increase exposure for web searches for rental properties.  This will also include cutting edge technologies including a text feature, so prospective tenants can send a text and receive more listing information.  Based on our research and the continual shift in technology we believe this service will lease out your properties sooner.  The fee for this service will be $35/month (only while vacant).  The fee for the newspaper will continue to be approximately $50 while vacant.

The best justification for this is a reduction in days vacant.  If your rental rate is $800/month the daily rate is $26/day.  If we can reduce the days vacant by 4 days your marketing is paid for.  If we reduce it by a week or more then the marketing investment will bear returns.  I believe this marketing will put money in your pocket.

Thanks

Jake

New drop down ceiling at 403 maple. Looking good

Rent Optimization

As a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management, we are ethically required to charge as much rent as the market will bear.  In a property management class geared toward marketing, property managers learned about setting rents according to competitive analysis, rent optimization and rent retention.  The rent optimization caught my attention.  At Jacob Grant Property Management we have always optimized rent, but it has been intuitive rather than using finite data to set the rents.  Common sense suggests, using objective data along with some subjective intuition is going to raise overall effective rent.
When there are several unit complexes there are different features that make a property more desirable to a potential resident.  Examples include a patio, upper floor, new appliances, new carpet, and paint.  The interesting part of this is assigning a value to each item.  It is very subjective in nature, but with experience a property manager can start to set these amounts with some effectiveness.  Other contributing factors include, property condition and age, updating, tenancy, area, and consumer price index.  These additional variables add another layer of complexity to rent setting.
Jacob Grant Property Management is doing some serious interior renovations on a multi-family property in Pocatello.  Market response to the condos has been overwhelmingly positive.  Market rents started at 525 and go up according to the following factors: 

• counter top refinish   $4
• new carpet               $7
• kitchen vinyl             $3
• bathroom vinyl         $3
• stove                       $5
• fridge                      $5
• patio                       $11
• upper floor              $3
• midfloor                  $2
• new paint                $3
• master bath             $35
• laundry hookups     $35

The next step in this research process is to test it out.  The price changes make sense, but may need some adjustment according to market response.
Other factors property manager will consider:

• What is the overall feel of the property?
• Will ground level condos be more attractive to some because there is no elevator?
• How will rent incentives affect success?
• How will seasonal nature of college town affect success?
• How much will rent hikes affect vacancy?  What is the cost to overall effective rents?

A ramification of this research will be rent optimization on other multi-family properties in Eastern Idaho.  Would it be possible to generalize these numbers?  It could be reasonably expected that these numbers would fluctuate according to other property amenities, overall rent, local consumer price index and concessions being offered. 
The Institute of Real Estate Management has given us some exciting rabbits to chase in the property management industry.  We are excited to see where this research leads and if we can generalize according to the data!

Renters Insurance

At Jacob Grant Property Management we have begun a new program in which we require all new leases to have a certificate of renters insurance.  We have secured a third party vendor to provide insurance in the case that either the tenant doesn't have renters insurance or our third party is more cost effective.  When we decided to start the program we had some concern about push back from lessors.  Renters insurance is a benefit for all parties.  For specific coverages and deductibles speak to a qualified insurance agent.
Benefits to tenant:

Protects the personal property of the tenant in the case of a catastrophic event.  This is typical.  To understand specific coverages you may discuss with your insurance agent.

1. If the rental unit burns down, the owners insurance, or the property management company will not cover any personal property.
2. If the freezer stops working and a tenant loses frozen food this will not be covered by a typical owners policy.
3. Theft or break in of a car or home.

Typically provides a liability policy.  The minimum that Jacob Grant Property Management requires is 100,000.

1. If tenant is found to have been purposefully or accidentally negligent and it causes damage to another person's property.  Examples could include starting a grease fire that burns down a building, or having a babysitter slip and fall on wet flooring.

For approximately $15/month it is easy for tenants and landlords to see the benefits of requiring insurance.  If you are a current tenant with Jacob Grant Property Management you can secure renters insurance in less than 5 minutes.  If you are interested in more information go to epremiuminsurance.com

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