Segmented Property Management Training Fits Better In A Busy Multifamily Professional’s Day

September 26, 2018

The Grace Hill training tip of the week to help owners, landlords and property managers with online property management training information. Let’s break it down.

By Ellen Clark

Think for a moment about all the ways you break things down to make them more manageable, or even possible.

So what is segmenting information and how does it work?

- You don’t tackle a major project in a single day. Instead, you break it down into a project plan with weekly tasks.

- You don’t save for retirement all in one year. Rather, you set aside money over time.

- You don’t eat a bar of fancy chocolate in one bite. Instead, you use the handy pre-cut squares to savor it piece-by-piece.

Segmenting information in order to process it better and recall it more easily is similar.

Think about training content in a similar way

It is beneficial to break content up, let the learner take a piece, digest it, and come back for more when he or she is ready.

This is called segmenting. It sounds fancy, but segmenting just means presenting material in manageable chunks.

What are the benefits of segmenting property management training content?

- Smaller pieces let learners process and understand one thing before tackling the next. This makes the learner’s cognitive workload more manageable, which frees up space to put things into long-term memory.

- As trainers, long-term memory is just where we want that content to go. Practically speaking, segmenting helps learners fit training into a busy schedule.

- A series of 15-minute trainings are generally easier to fit into a busy multifamily professional’s schedule than sitting for a two-hour course.

There are lots of opportunities to segment content.

Breaking information into modules helps it to be more easily understood and recalled later.

Break courses into modules. Think of these as mini-courses.

Consider using a standard structure:

- An overview with clear learning objectives

- Content

- Practice

- A quiz

A key thing is to make each module feel coherent, with a clear beginning and end.

Break modules into topics or sections. Like chapters in a book, these are simple, logical groupings of the module content. This allows the learner to get the lay of the land (like a table of contents) and progress through the module content in manageable pieces.

In lessons, break complex demonstrations or explanations into shorter parts. Rather than show a two-minute demonstration on closing the sale straight through, break it up into bite-size parts. Show one strategy in each part, then let the learner pause, reflect, review and move to the next part when he or she is ready.

How big is a manageable chunk?

Right now, there isn’t much research on how large or small a segment should be. Simply use your judgement and experience. The point is to break down complex things into smaller parts to lighten the load on the learner.

It is hard to learn when feeling overwhelmed, or like the training is moving faster than our brains or schedules can handle.

Segmenting, at many levels of training, can help break things down and free up the space to let real learning happen.

Read Ellen’s blog post here.

About the author:

Ellen Clark is the Director of Assessment at Grace Hill. Her work has spanned the entire learner lifecycle, from elementary school through professional education. She spent over 10 years working with K12 Inc.’s network of online charter schools – measuring learning, developing learning improvement plans using evidence-based strategies, and conducting learning studies. Later, at Kaplan Inc., she worked in the vocational education and job training divisions, improving online, blended and face-to-face training programs, and working directly with business leadership and trainers to improve learner outcomes and job performance. Ellen lives and works in Maryland, where she was born and raised.

Photo credit Scyther5 via istockphoto.com

Seattle Landlords Lose As Judge Says Move-In Fees Are Not Rent

By The Editors

September 24, 2018

Seattle Landlords Lose As Judge Says Move-In Fees Are Not Rent

Seattle landlords have lost after a judge has upheld the city ordinance that limits deposits and nonrefundable move-in fees to one month’s rent, and allows renters to pay the costs over six months, according to reports.

The City of Seattle limits the amount of money that a landlord can charge a renter to move in to a rental. The ordinance regulates security deposits, move-in fees, last month’s rent, and pet deposits. It also allows renters to make these payments in installments.

King County Superior Court Judge Susan Amini ruled in favor of the city, saying the city was free to regulate move-in fees because they are different than rent. She cited the dictionary definition of the word “rent” and the language of the state rent control ban, which refers to rent as “periodic payments.”

“Other payments that a landlord may require from a tenant, such as one-time payments to secure move-in rights or as a security deposit, do not fall under the meaning of ‘rent,’” Amini wrote in her 12-page ruling, according to the Seattle Times.

“The City Council sought to aid renters by limiting upfront payments and allowing payment plans to help more people access apartments that might otherwise be out of reach,” City Attorney Pete Holmes said in a statement. “I’m gratified the judge looked at this complicated legal terrain and agreed the City remained well within its bounds when taking these steps to protect Seattle’s tenants.”

Sean Martin, executive director of the Rental Housing Association of Washington, told the newspaper the group hasn’t decided yet whether to appeal and had no comment on the ruling.

The Rental Housing Association of Washington(RHAWA), with more than 5,000 members, filed suit in King County Superior Court to overturn Seattle’s ordinance regulating tenant move-in fees and requiring landlords to extend payment plans to tenants, according to a release.

Sean Flynn, board president of the RHAWA, said his organization set the standards for ethics and best practices in the industry, “Yet, this city council has never missed the chance to lambaste, demonize, and hold landlords responsible for problems they did not create,” according to published reports.

Tenant advocates were celebrating the win

“This win comes at a critical moment in Seattle’s history. We are in the midst of a regional housing crisis that is hitting poor tenants and people of color hardest,” Washington CAN Political Director Xochitl Maykovich said in a statement.

“This win affirms what Washington CAN members have been arguing since the beginning of our campaign to pass Move-In Fee legislation: Common-sense regulations can win in city councils, and they can also hold up against the landlord lobby’s lawsuits, no matter how much money landlords invest in these anti-tenant efforts.

“ I hope lawmakers throughout King County can be heartened by this decision, knowing that legislation to ease the financial burden renters face is legally and ethically sound policy,” Maykovich said in the statement.

Resources:

Judge upholds Seattle cap on move-in fees for renters

Court upholds Seattle Move-in fee legislation, marking major win for tenant protections

Landlords Sue Seattle Over Tenant Move-In Fees Ordinance

Landlord Shot In Head Serving Eviction Notice At Apartment In Suburban Seattle

John Triplett

September 20, 2018

Landlord Shot In Head Serving Eviction Notice At Apartment In Suburban Seattle

A landlord serving an eviction notice on a tenant in her fourplex was shot in the head and critically injured at a Renton, Washington, apartment complex when the home’s occupant began firing at her, according to reports.

The woman, 40, was listed in satisfactory condition in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Police arrested Joshua Gasperich, 31, according to police reports on Twitter. The shooting occurred at 2700 N.E. Ninth St.

Renton police arrested Gasperich after he returned to the area near the shooting and drove past officers, Renton police spokesman David Leibman told the Seattle Times. Officers pulled Gasperich over “and he gave up without any incident,” Leibman told the newspaper. Officers do not know why he returned to the area, Leibman said. He was arrested on investigation of felony assault, Leibman said.

The woman told Renton police when she tried to serve the eviction notice, the suspect greeted her at the door of his apartment with a long gun, according to KIRO. He fired three times, striking her once in the head. She sought refuge at an auto detail shop next door.

A worker at the auto repair shop told KIRO, “We saw the lady come out from the apartments,” Omar Tellez, told KIRO. “Her face was like full of blood and she asked for help.” He called 911.

Resources:

Woman shot while serving eviction notice in Renton; suspect in custody

Woman critically injured in Renton shooting

Woman serving eviction notice shot in the head

Rents Declined The Most In Portland Year-Over-Year

By The Editors

September 20, 2018

Rents Declined The Most In Portland Year-Over-Year

Rents declined the most in Portland, Ore., where the $1,834 median is 1.8 percent lower than in August 2017.

For the first time since 2012, rents nationwide remained at the same level as they were a year earlier, with a median rent of $1,440, according to a new report.

The median rent fell on an annual basis in 19 of the 35 largest markets

The typical rent is growing fastest in Riverside, Calif., where it rose 3.7 percent over the past year to $1,899.

The annual rent appreciation has slowed for six straight months, according to the August Zillow® Real Estate Market Report^i. Rent appreciation has remained below 3 percent annual increase for the past 27 months after growing as fast as 6.6 percent in July 2015.

Here are highlights of the report:

The median rent is lower than it was a year ago in 19 of the nation’s 35 largest housing markets
The median rent nationwide is $1,440, unchanged from a year ago.
Annual rent appreciation peaked at 6.6 percent in July 2015.
The median U.S. home is worth $216,700, up 6.5 percent over the past year.
The number of homes for sale declined 3.6 percent from August 2017.

It’s not only rent appreciation that slowed in August: Home value appreciation is at its slowest pace in two years.

Home appreciation now slowing in many markets

Nationally, home values rose 6.5 percent over the past year to a median value of $216,700, down from a peak post-recession annual appreciation rate of 8.2 percent in March 2018. In August 2017, home values were increasing 7.4 percent annually.

San Jose is seeing the fastest home value appreciation, up 22.7 percent since August 2017. Las Vegas and Atlanta are the only other two large markets where home values grew at a double-digit pace, up 12.0 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.

“Earlier this year, the housing market was a story of diverging paths, with rents steadily cooling and home values picking up speed. Normally rents and home values are tied together, but strong apartment construction and a surge of young homebuyers contributed to this historical anomaly. As summer turns to fall, the more typical pattern is reemerging, as rents and home values are both slowing in unison,” Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas said in the release.

“The feverish housing crunch of the past few years seems to be cracking. Slower rent growth means that renters may feel less urgency to buy. While home values continue to grow at double their historic pace, the speed of appreciation is down sharply from its spring highs.”

In August, there were 3.6 percent fewer homes for sale than the year before. The lack of available homes has been a defining characteristic of the housing market for several years, but this trend is easing. Inventory has fallen on an annual basis for 43 consecutive months, but the speed of its decline has slowed substantially. A year ago, inventory was down 13.1 percent from the previous year.

Among the largest U.S. housing markets, the biggest inventory declines are in Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Columbus, where inventory is falling at a double-digit pace.

The number of available homes on a given day is on the rise in more than half of the nation’s largest markets, but they are returning from very low levels. Inventory is at its lowest point since 2015 in nearly every large market.

Mortgage rates on Zillowⁱⁱ ended August at 4.32 percent. Rates were highest at the beginning of the month, when they were at 4.43 percent. Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgages site and reflect the most recent changes in the market.

Metropolitan Area	Zillow Home Value Index, August 2018	ZHVI Year- over- Year Change	Zillow Rent Index, August 2018	ZRI Year- over-Year Change	Inventory Year-over- Year Change
United States	$ 216,700	6.5%	$ 1,440	0.0%	-3.6%
New York / Northern New Jersey	$ 426,300	4.4%	$ 2,371	-1.3%	3.3%
Los Angeles, CA	$ 641,800	5.2%	$ 2,751	1.3%	21.6% ⁱⁱⁱ
Chicago, IL	$ 219,100	4.2%	$ 1,636	-1.4%	2.0%
Dallas, TX	$ 229,400	9.7%	$ 1,594	-0.3%	N/A
Philadelphia, PA	$ 227,200	4.2%	$ 1,566	-1.4%	-9.5%
Houston, TX	$ 198,500	5.3%	$ 1,548	0.3%	-4.3%
Washington, DC	$ 397,800	3.2%	$ 2,133	-0.6%	0.1%
Miami, FL	$ 274,000	7.0%	$ 1,856	0.3%	3.4%
Atlanta, GA	$ 204,600	10.4%	$ 1,394	1.5%	-11.8%
Boston, MA	$ 451,500	5.2%	$ 2,366	-1.3%	9.6%
San Francisco, CA	$ 947,700	9.0%	$ 3,399	-0.2%	22.2%
Detroit, MI	$ 153,900	7.4%	$ 1,194	1.3%	4.6%
Riverside, CA	$ 356,600	5.5%	$ 1,899	3.7%	18.5%
Phoenix, AZ	$ 254,400	6.3%	$ 1,359	0.9%	-8.0%
Seattle, WA	$ 486,800	8.2%	$ 2,171	-1.1%	32.9%
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	$ 258,900	5.4%	$ 1,638	1.0%	1.2%
San Diego, CA	$ 580,500	4.9%	$ 2,541	0.3%	41.9%
St. Louis, MO	$ 161,200	4.6%	$ 1,139	-0.9%	-5.3%
Tampa, FL	$ 205,000	8.9%	$ 1,390	1.7%	0.9%
Baltimore, MD	$ 263,300	3.9%	$ 1,740	-0.1%	-1.2%
Denver, CO	$ 396,200	6.2%	$ 2,054	0.4%	-1.7%
Pittsburgh, PA	$ 140,200	6.1%	$ 1,084	-1.1%	-14.7%
Portland, OR	$ 387,900	4.2%	$ 1,834	-1.8%	14.8%
Charlotte, NC	$ 195,000	8.8%	$ 1,293	0.4%	3.1%
Sacramento, CA	$ 397,100	4.3%	$ 1,842	3.1%	7.8%
San Antonio, TX	$ 184,600	4.4%	$ 1,331	-0.8%	12.5%
Orlando, FL	$ 226,300	7.9%	$ 1,449	1.4%	-7.7%
Cincinnati, OH	$ 161,000	5.4%	$ 1,277	-0.1%	-4.7%
Cleveland, OH	$ 140,400	5.2%	$ 1,140	-0.7%	-7.4%
Kansas City, MO	$ 181,300	7.5%	$ 1,264	-1.3%	-0.6%
Las Vegas, NV	$ 263,300	12.0%	$ 1,306	2.3%	N/A
Columbus, OH	$ 180,700	6.5%	$ 1,336	0.8%	-11.1%
Indianapolis, IN	$ 152,700	8.1%	$ 1,195	-0.6%	N/A
San Jose, CA	$ 1,281,100	22.7%	$ 3,499	-0.4%	87.7%
Austin, TX	$ 296,300	5.3%	$ 1,682	-1.7%	1.2%

Zillow

Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with great real estate professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow Group’s Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG), and headquartered in Seattle.

Try An Overview – Such As One On Fair Housing – In Your Next Training

the-editors

September 18, 2018

Grace Hill training tip of the week to help landlords and property managers with online property management training information

By Ellen Clark

How often do you go on a long road trip without pulling up a navigation app on your phone?

These days, probably not often. It is uncomfortable to not know where you are going or where you are in relation to the world around you.

Also think for a moment about what gets you in the car for that road trip. What makes you power through fatigue or bad weather? Usually, it is knowing that something important or fun is at the end of your journey.

These ideas also apply to learners. They are likely to feel more comfortable with a map showing what lies ahead, and orienting them to the big picture. And, when they understand the importance of the destination, or the learning opportunity before them, they are more likely to invest the effort to start and complete training.

What is an overview in property management training?

This is where the overview comes in. It is a powerful learning tool that can get your learners ready to learn, and motivate them to persist even when training is… less than exciting.

An overview is a short introduction with the components shown below. It doesn’t have to be complicated. The examples show simple ways you might approach each component for a course on Fair Housing Law.

Connects the upcoming content to the big picture. “Fair housing is not just another set of rules, it is essential to the expansion of civil rights in the United States.”

Activates relevant prior knowledge. “Remember the seven protected classes under the FHA? They are race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability status.”

Explains why achieving the learning objectives will benefit the learner. “Discriminating against a person based on their membership in a protected class is unlawful. Learning how to avoid discriminatory practices can keep you and your community out of legal trouble, and will make your community a welcoming place for all customers.”

Clarifies the learning goals. “In this course, you will learn the forms of discrimination that are prohibited by law and strategies to perform your job consistently with the laws.”

Outlines the learner experience. “This course should take about 30 minutes. At the end, you will take a 10-question quiz. You must view all the content and pass the quiz to pass the course. You can exit the course any time and resume where you left off when you return.”

Overviews are your “hook.”

Be creative and jazz them up!

Consider simple motion graphics or animation. There are free animation tools for novices available – give one a try. Or, use a live video to make a personal connection with learners. Consider telling a story, having an important person in your company co-present, or make it interactive and ask learners to share relevant experiences.

Try an overview in the next training you develop or deliver. You just might find it helps your learners get where they need to go.

Read Ellen’s full blog post here.

About the author:

Photo credit BartekSzewczyk via istockphoto.com

3 Low-Cost Incentives To Gain Property Management Training Completion

the-editors

September 12, 2018

This week we start a regular multifamily training tip of the week from the folks at Grace Hill to help landlords and property managers with online property management training information to help increase competency and reduce operational risk.

By Ellen Clark

We all know the value of training. For companies, it can reduce risk and increase the bottom line. For employees, it provides valuable job skills and opportunities for career advancement. For customers, good employee training improves their experience and overall satisfaction.

But human nature is a funny thing. Even when we know something is good for us, we don’t always make the time or effort to do it. Did you eat five servings of fruits and vegetables yesterday? Did you get the recommended amount of exercise last week? Understanding the benefits of healthy habits doesn’t make it easier to fit them into our busy lives.

The same goes for training. As with diet and exercise, https://livingwellnessmedicalcenter.com/phentermine-online/ some people are naturally motivated to do what’s good for them. In the training world, these are your superstars – the people you never have to beg to complete training. And then there are the rest of us, who need an external nudge to complete training on time (or maybe at all).

Incentives can be an effective way to get employees to move training to the top of their priority list. When you hear “incentives,” you might see dollar signs. The reality is that most of us don’t have the budget for, or even the authority to spend money on, incentives. However, things with monetary value aren’t the only way to incentivize people. Here are some low-cost incentives that can help increase your property management training participation rates.

No. 1 – Create competition

Set up a simple leaderboard on the intranet, in your LMS, or even through email.

You might be surprised what a little healthy competition can do.

No. 2 – Publicly acknowledge accomplishments

Send a company-wide email, write a newsletter blurb, or say a few words at a team meeting congratulating people who completed training or attained a certain score.

No. 3 – Praise effort in property management training

Don’t forget the people who completed training a day late, or failed their first attempt.

Praising their effort in a handwritten note, a personal email, or swinging by to encourage them face-to-face can be just the motivation they need to keep going.

As you put together a low-cost incentive plan, here are some additional things to keep in mind:

- What people need to do to get on a leaderboard or be acknowledged should be attainable. Creating too many hoops to jump through may negatively impact motivation.

- Update leaderboards often, and don’t wait for the annual retreat to acknowledge people. Too much time between meeting the goal and getting the reward could lessen the impact of the incentive.

- Finally, resist the urge to try a whole bunch of new incentives at once. Rather, try one at a time, use the strategy for a while, then look at data to see if it seems to have impacted training rates.

Being as systematic as possible will help you find which low-cost strategies work so you can spend your time and effort on things that really make a difference in property management training.

Read Ellen’s full blog post here.

About the author:

the vocational education and job training divisions, improving online, blended and face-to-face training programs, and working directly with business leadership and trainers to improve learner outcomes and job performance. Ellen lives and works in Maryland, where she was born and raised.

Raccoon Attack Leads To Lawsuit Against Portland Apartment Complex

By The Editors

September 11, 2018

Raccoon Attack Leads To Lawsuit Against Portland Apartment Complex

A tenant in a Portland apartment complex has filed suit after she was bitten by a raccoon on the property while she was walking her dogs, according to reports.

The tenant, Heidi Schultz, filed suit Aug. 31 against Prime Wimbledon SPE, LLC, doing business as the Wimbledon Square and Gardens Apartments, according to Multnomah County Circuit Court records.

Earlier this year a jury has found the same Portland apartment complex failed to make proper repairs to a walkway and awarded $20 million to a man who fell through the walkway.

“I saw something fuzzy under one of the cars,” Schultz told OregonLive.com. “I thought it was a cat. The next thing I know, this thing is launching itself at me and wrapped around my leg.”

Raccoon attack caused bleeding

The raccoon attacked and bit her leg and the back of her knee and held on until a neighbor came to help and hit the raccoon with a bag, according to reports.

“My whole leg was bleeding,” Schultz told Willamette week. “There was blood in my shoes. It was gross. You could see the mouth print on the back of my leg where it had latched on.”

Schultz lawsuit asks for $151,000 for medical bills and the companies’ failure to maintain its property. She argues the apartments’ owners knew the complex had a trash problem that could attract vermin like raccoons.

Kafoury & McDougal, which represents Schultz, cites a dumpster fire weeks earlier as evidence of the complex’s longstanding trash problem.

“This place had insects, rodents, raccoons, running around because they had trash everywhere,” attorney Jason Kafoury told Katu.com. “Tenants complained, employees complained up the chain and Prime wouldn’t do anything to clean it up.”

There was no comment from the apartment complex owners.

The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association told the Oregonian it’s been more than half a century since a raccoon in Oregon has tested positive for rabies. Schultz said emergency room staff didn’t take any chances and administered immune globulin shots around each of the many scratches and bites on her legs.

Resources:

A tenant’s horror story turns into the latest lawsuit against a Southeast Portland apartment complex

Portland woman sues landlord over raccoon attack

Woman attacked by raccoon sues landlords: ‘This thing is … wrapped around my leg

Man Awarded $20 Million After Fall Through Portland Apartment Walkway

My No.1 Mistake In Property Management

Larry Arth

September 5, 2018

My No. 1 mistake in property management was not hearing about successes but hearing about failures.

By Larry Arth

Hearing about peoples failures is the fast track to learning.

When you hear of and understand where people have made mistakes you can use their lessons to your advantage and avoid duplicating that mistake.

Most true real estate investors invest in the best locations and therefore use a property managers to run their business.

A property manager is to your investment as your engine is to your car.

As these property managers are the bridge between you and the investment it is imperative to choose them wisely.

I speak from personal experience when I say they can make or break your investments.

My No. 1 mistake in property management

Not actually hiring a property manager may be your biggest mistake. It was mine. It was my No. 1 mistake in property management.

Being a true investor requires focus on the business building aspect of investing. This process can easily be distracted by managing the tenants. Hiring a property manager and letting them do what they do best, property management, will allow you to do what you do best -invest in sustainable investments.

Think of a property manager as the engine to your vehicle

A finely tuned car will get you to your destination, trouble free. Your property manager should do the same and get you to your Investment destination trouble free.

Over the years I have been able to hone the craft of hiring great property management. So to help you avoid some of my painful experiences, here are some serious questions you may want to ask about your property management.

Questions should be broad based and focused on finding great tenants, then onto property management and finally tenant management

- What is your portfolios vacancy rate and how does that compare to the markets average?

- What is average length of time to fill a vacancy?

- Is this average time getting longer or shorter?

- Do you use your website to keep tenants informed and to attract new tenants?

- How do you market your rentals?

- What factors would make you reject a tenant?

- What tenant qualifications are most important to you?

- What screening method do you use?

- How do you collect rents?

- What is your late rent policy?

- What rules do you set for tenants?

- What percent of tenants do you have to evict?

- How do tenants contact you?

- What is your eviction process and what are the fees involved?

- What maintenance issues do you handle in house and which do you hire out?

- Do you simply pass on the bills or do you have price mark ups and if so how much?

- How many quotes do you get for jobs?

- What are the rules for contractors being inside the units?

- Who are your preferred contractors?

- How long have you been a property manager?

- Do you have any certifications?

- Does your locality require any licenses or permits to run landlord tenant housing?

- Do you personally invest in real estate in this area?

- What is your fee structure?

- Are your reports web based?

- How long of notice do you give before terminating a contract?

There are a number of questions you can ask.

Ultimately you want to learn as much as you can to ascertain their knowledge and experience in the land lording business.

Another thing to do is to look for telltale signs of professionalism and organization.

How messy and cluttered is their desk?

How hard it to reach this person and do they respond to your calls quickly?

Visit Larry’s Website Here

About the Author:

Larry Arth is the founder and CEO of Equity Builders Group, a Florida based Real Estate investment Group. As a 36 year veteran to real estate investing, Larry understands that we are now in a global economy and as times have changed, investment strategies must change as well. Larry is an international recognized consultant and speaker and assists hundreds of investors per year, both foreign and domestic to realize their investment potential. He analyzes locations across the country for economic strength and the locations that yield the largest most sustainable return on investment. Within these locations he seeks out and gathers the best teams to deliver sound, high performing and most importantly sustainable turnkey investment. He works with investors to ride the wave of each area-specific market surge. Larry’s primary focus is offering (Non Listed) safe and sustainable turnkey investments to the passive investor.

Do You Know The 5 Questions Landlord Hank Asks Tenants When They Call?

97 Percent Of Property Management Companies Have Experienced Fraud

the-editors

September 5, 2018

A new report from Forrester Consulting shows that in the last two years alone 97% of property management decision makers have experienced fraud in the properties they manage.

On top of that, 83 percent of property management companies have experienced fraud 20 times or more in the past two years, according to a release from TransUnion which commissioned the survey and interviews with 153 property management decision makers.

59 percent of rental applications now online opening up property management to potential fraud

“Property managers responsible for managing thousands of units, particularly in urban corridors, have moved the rental application process online to cater to customer preferences for digital interactions.

“But as a consequence, they have opened the flood gates to savvy fraudsters who constantly evolve their tactics to stay one step ahead. Now rental management teams can’t verify application validity as easily, so they unknowingly accept fraudulent applicants. Even if 1% of applicants were fraudulent, the consequences would be severe. To avoid wasting thousands of dollars, damaging their reputation and losing customer trust, property managers have to think about how to avoid this situation,” the report says.

Key findings on how fraud is becoming an operational headache for property management

- Rental fraud is growing. The rise of online rental applications has increased the amount of fraud that property management companies are experiencing, leaving them unprotected and scrambling to react to constantly evolving fraudsters.

- Fraud prevention today is reactive, not proactive. Most experience fraud after move-in — an indication that the damage could have been prevented if companies had the right tools in place. But most rely on manual processes to identify and prevent fraud, leaving gaps in protection and creating a largely reactionary strategy. And what makes matters worse is that firms don’t have a clear understanding of the differences between the applicant screening process and fraud mitigation; conducting a background check or scanning a driver’s license does not equate to fraud prevention.

- Property management companies need tools that are advanced enough to proactively mitigate the aftermath of a determined fraudster. Property management decision makers told us they need a fraud technology solution that is easy to use, enables advanced analytics, and integrates well with other systems. A solution like this would have a notable and positive impact on preventing bad reputation and debt, evictions, and vacancies. The director of real estate for a property management company said, “If you cannot point to a robust solution to prevent and identify fraud, you’re not going to have a good sales pitch to a client,” according to the survey.

TransUnion commissioned Forrester to conduct the August 2018 study that explored fraud in the single and multifamily rental industry. The research study, titled, “Misunderstanding and Inconsistency: The State of Fraud in the Rental Housing Industry,” is available for download here. Rental industry executives can also register for TransUnion’s Property Management Summit to learn more about this research.

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 153 multifamily and single-family property management organizations in the U.S. to evaluate fraud in the rental industry. Survey participants included decision makers in the organizations and was completed in August 2018.

“Working closely with property management companies for the last few decades, it was apparent to us that the prevalence of fraud was rising in the rental industry. The Forrester study confirms this,” Mike Doherty, senior vice president in TransUnion’s rental screening business, said in the release.

“In the last two years, virtually all of the property managers surveyed have experienced fraud, and the research highlights that this is a costly problem from both a fiscal and reputational standpoint.”

The study found that the advent of online rental applications is a primary driver for the fraud that exists in the rental housing industry today. Online applications are now outpacing those that are submitted in-person, with nearly 59% of applications taking place online. As a result, more than half of property management companies surveyed identify online applicant-based fraud as a critical or near-critical issue.

3 types of fraud property management is facing in rental housing

To mitigate fraud risk in the rental industry, property managers must be aware of the key forms of fraud taking place – synthetic fraud, digital fraud and true name fraud.

- Synthetic fraud has become a new weapon of choice for sophisticated fraudsters in which the “applicant” is nothing more than a manufactured identity. In the rental industry, these fraudulent identities are used during the application process, and if approved, the fraudster now has access to an address for the purpose of establishing credit. While the fraudster is running up high balances or maxing out credit cards under this false identity, property managers are left with a resident that does not exist. As a result, property managers are unable to collect rent.

- Digital fraud is also increasing due to the use of manufactured identities. Often, these backroom operations are running a variety of IDs and credit cards to find a potential “match.” Spoofed IP addresses are used to indicate the applicant is local, even if the operation is taking place across the country. Unless sophisticated technology is in place to flag suspicious information as part of the verification process, the fraud may not be realized until months after approval.

- True name fraud is another problem facing the rental industry and occurs when a victim’s personal information is fraudulently used in an application. Fraudsters may obtain pieces of information such as a name, date of birth or social security number in hopes of getting an application approved. If the property management company is unable to flag these inaccuracies at the time of application, the fraudster may succeed in getting approved as a tenant while the victim is on the hook for an apartment they never applied for.

“In all of these cases of fraud, a property manager will find that the resident they may try to evict does not actually exist or is not the person in their rental unit. As a result, the property management company can lose thousands of dollars of potential income and impact their hard-earned reputation,” Doherty said.

In the study, 95% of property managers admitted to experiencing difficulties identifying, mitigating or preventing fraud. A significant problem that was acknowledged was the timeframe in which the incidence of fraud was first recognized. Three out of four property managers identified fraud after move-in, with more than one-quarter discovering the fraud much later into their lease – seven months or later.

“Skipped” rent payments are usually what tips off property managers that a fraudulent issue is at hand. According to the study, turnover occurs during the lease cycle, costing property managers thousands of dollars.

How long after move-in were you able to identify the fraud?

Timeframe

Percentage

More than 12 months after move-in

7 to 12 months after move-in

20%

2 to 6 months after move-in

48%

Within 2 months after move-in

24%

*Base: 108 asset management decision-makers at US residential real estate/ property management companies

This can quickly become an expensive problem as TransUnion’s ResidentCredit has found that the average eviction or skip balance owed is approximately $4,215. It can take anywhere from 90-150 days to evict a tenant, and additional expenses such as lost rent, back rent, and leasing and marketing costs can also pile up.

Discovering Fraud and Preventing it in the Future – Keeping up with the Sophistication of Fraudsters

A common misconception surrounding fraud prevention is the distinction between applicant screening and fraud mitigation. About 55% of property managers indicated that background checks were what triggered a fraud alert.

However, conducting a background check is not the same as applying fraud detection before move-in. It was also noted that many property managers assumed that a driver’s license scan was an effective fraud prevention measure; however, this tactic does not protect against the full scope of fraud that is prevalent today.

“Many property managers do not realize that true fraud mitigation should take multiple factors into account for a comprehensive solution,” said Doherty. “Property managers are in need of better technology so they may flag fraud at the first warning sign. Once they are more effective in getting the right renters, they will reduce the involuntary turnover cost, impact to reputation and become more cost efficient.”

Study participants seem to understand this. Nearly all (94%) of property management decision-makers surveyed believe there will be severe implications to not investing in a fraud technology solution.

“With fraud proliferating in the rental industry, property owners and managers can only keep up by radically transforming their approach to preventing and managing rental fraud,” concluded Doherty.

To learn more about the Forrester Fraud Study, please click here.

About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)

Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide.

https://www.transunion.com/business

Top 3 Training Needs For Property Managers

John Triplett

August 29, 2018

Training property managers and leasing agents in Fair Housing compliance issues continues to be a top issue in the multifamily housing industry, according to a new annual study.

Compliance with Fair Housing to reduce risk is the main way property management measures training success today, according to 66 percent of those in the study. The study was the annual Multifamily Training Benchmark Report from Grace Hill, a leader in online training for the property management industry.

“Compliance with Fair Housing is what keeps our entire industry up at night,” Dru Armstrong, CEO of Grace Hill, told Rental Housing Journal in an interview.

“When you talk to CEOS and property management companies, it does not really matter the size of the operation,” she said. “Compliance with Fair Housing and being able to keep pace with the evolving federal, state and local Fair Housing laws is of most importance to them in their business performance,”

Top 3 training needs for property managers and leasing agents

Fast, easy, effective on-boarding training
Content specifically tailored to employees’ needs
Engaging, compelling and relevant content

The report states, “Given employees’ varying training needs, companies are looking for more tailored and relevant training content that specifically matches the needs of employee groups. They want the training to be both compelling and engaging, and are looking for new, innovative platforms to deliver that content.

“Most companies use a mix of electronic and face-to-face training, but are still reluctant to increase mobile training due to a disbelief in efficacy and potential expenses (over-time, device costs),” according to the report.

How management evaluates training

“You can see in the report that compliance remains the top way a lot of our clients evaluate the effectiveness of their training programs,” Armstrong said. “One of the things we have done at Grace Hill is to be the gold standard in compliance training for the past two decades.”

She said with high turnover in the industry, hiring new leasing managers and property managers is an on-going issue. She said a frequent comment that property managers have told Grace Hill is, “I am constantly on-boarding people. How do I make sure the minute they start out actually leasing my units they are not a liability, but they are an asset?“

Armstrong said the report “really speaks to that as one of the core metrics for success for any training program and frankly for any property manager in our industry. “

Staying on top of ever-changing laws

“We view it as our job to stay on top of the federal laws which are evolving every day and being implemented across the country in different ways and in interpreted in different ways by different courts,” Armstrong said. “So we launched our compliance plus program where we do monthly updates for all of our clients and actually write questions based on real case law. Then their students are learning how courts are actually deciding some of these issues.”

“For every business there is going to be the law, and then there is going to be their own policies and procedures, and how they interpret that law. What we have done in our Vision X platform is giving them the opportunity to take our core courses and incorporate their own training that captures that.

“We don’t claim to be the expert on local Fair Housing laws in Seattle, or Portland or San Francisco – instead what we do is we give our clients a course that allows them to incorporate those local laws and train really consistently on those laws.”

Mobile enabled training for property managers is a growing need

“Mobile is really interesting because if you think about who a leasing professional is today, in general they are in their 20s and they are at work on site, they are active in the community there. They are moving around the property and mobile is a perfect vehicle for training.

“You want them to be able to answer questions as they come up. Do training when they have a spare moment. On the flip side, we know that there are real business barriers to having as much mobile training as our clients would like.

“There is the cost of providing those devices. So what we see ourselves doing is really enabling mobile access. All of our courseware is mobile friendly, our platform is mobile accessible and we see ourselves starting to help our clients solve how to really have a mobile training solution.

“One of the things we are looking to solve is how you measure the risk around overtime. How do you make the content so good that people want to access it from their mobile devices and it is dynamic.

“We know it’s really important. And we know we need to help some of our clients solve their business challenges around it,” she said.

3 issues to consider in budgeting training cost

No. 1 – Risk management: “A lot of our clients view us as a necessity and not an option. Regardless of the economic climate they still have to make sure all of their employees and all of their properties are in compliance with the federal Fair Housing laws, drug free workplace,. So we make sure our clients understand how essential having great training is to protect their business from risk.

No. 2 – Showing cost effective and scalable way to grow their business: “So much of what the digital transformation is about is realizing cost efficiency. So a lot of what we help our clients do is put in place really cost-effective, scalable training programs. So when you are looking at ‘where do I economize,’ the fact that you have a technology-enabled course that you have trained every employee across the country in a cost-effective way is really compelling. So our system does provide efficiency and cost savings for our clients vs. doing on-site training, off-site training or in-person training.

No. 3 – Helping them connect the dots between training and business performance: “We are in a people-driven industry. We talk about how a great training program really does help you out perform your competitors. So much of it is giving people the right training at the right time. Our clients will tell you the number one factor in minimizing employee churn is having the right on-boarding program which is all built around training,” Armstrong said.

Get the full 2017 Grace Hill Multifamily Training Benchmark Report here.

About Dru Armstrong:

Dru Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer of Grace Hill, joined Grace Hill in 2015 after consulting on major strategic initiatives in partnership with the company’s CTO Robert Gettys and the leadership team. Her ability to quickly identify opportunities and execute strategically with its people, partners, and products has positioned Grace Hill for unprecedented growth and success.

About Grace Hill:

Grace Hill is the leader in eLearning for the multifamily industry. Combining property management’s best-in-class professional skills and compliance courseware with an industry-leading learning management system and renowned level of customer service, Grace Hill paves the way for innovative, engaging, and performance-driven education for every level of the business. For more information, call toll free (866) GRACEHILL (866-472-2344) or visit www.gracehill.com

Photo credit Daviles via istockphoto.com

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