Magazine Articles

Hello everyone.  Nearly all members of the Apartment Owners Association own or manage one or more apartment buildings.  Many of them, as well as non-member readers of AOA magazine, own commercial property, or at least aspire to own non-residential investment property. For those who are involved with commercial real estate, my column this month will…

Q:  What is the different between an assignment of a lease or rental agreement and subletting? If a tenant assigns his right to rent a unit he is transferring all his rights to the new tenant.  If a tenant decides to sublet his right to rent, he is basically agreeing to let someone else rent…

There are too many contractors out there (everywhere) who are notorious for underperforming and making your life very unpleasant. I’ve been a licensed contractor in the state ofMassachusettsfor over 18 years now. I got my start investing in real estate by doing

Can a person’s behavior and values really determine if they will be a future SuperStar for your property management company?  If you knew the formula for hiring SuperStars and could cut your recruiting costs in half, would you start today?  This article outlines three simple but critical steps for adding structure to your hiring process…

It’s been said that taking a dollar from a bureaucrat — and a politician too, for that matter — is like taking a piece of raw meat from a hyena — a lot of shrieking ensues. The howls coming from Washington, D.C. over spending cuts required by sequestration, could cause the uninformed to believe that…

Question 1: I bought a house in San Francisco so my son could live there. My son invited his friend to live there and help with the rent. No formal rental agreements were signed with the tenant who moved in late 2010. Our son has moved but his

Question One: My tenant has lived in my unit for over a year and is currently on a month to month tenancy. Recently, he brought in a dog, which is in violation of his lease agreement. I served a 3-Day Notice to Perform or Quit. The notice has expired and the dog remains. Am I…

San Francisco is the nation’s top destination for travelers of all ages. Our city’s attributes, within tight geographical boundaries, make for hotel rates that exceed those of many other cities, thereby creating an incentive for visitors to seek alternatives to pricey hotels. The short-term rental is a form of lodging that is very attractive to…

A version of this article first appeared on February 7, 2013 in the Daily Crux, published by Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, an independent investment research firm.  You can visit them at www.stansberryresearch.com. From PragCap If you’re looking for things I’ve been wrong about recently you can chalk housing up on the list  Last year…

There is a clear seasonal pattern for house prices, and earlier this year I predicted that the Case-Shiller indexes would turn negative month-to-month in October 2012 on a Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) basis.  That is the normal seasonal pattern. Also I expected smaller month-to-month declines this winter than for the same months last year. Sure enough,…