Sunrise Management & Consulting Appoints Sheldrick HOA/COA Community Property Manager

Latham, NY – April 28, 2010 – Sunrise Management & Consulting has appointed Jodi Sheldrick as Community Property Manager for its Homeowners and Condominium Association Division.

As Community Property Manager, Sheldrick is responsible for the day-to-day operations for the Homeowner and Condominium Associations under Sunrise management.  She brings over 12 years of combined retail, commercial and residential property management experience in the Capital Region to the position.  Formerly with BBL Management, Sheldrick resides with her family in Rensselaer County.

Sunrise Management & Consulting AMO, creator of the Property Coach™ program, a systemized method for efficiently managing rental properties, is an innovative third-party property management company that provides performance-driven management solutions, property analysis and training services to real estate operations.

For information see www.sunrisemc.com

5 Amazing Mobile Apps for Property Management

Property management is not often an industry on the cutting edge of technology. However, more and more property managers are making use of smartphones in their daily activities.

So, Software Advice has put together a list of smartphone apps we’d like to see developed for property management. Most of the technology already exists in property management software and other mobile apps, it just needs to be mashed up for our use. Some of these save time. Others save money. And some of them are just plain cool.

1) Augmented

105 Jay St., City Hall, Room 111

Schenectady, NY 12305-1938

(518) 382 – 5000

Fax : (518) 382-5272

mayor@nycap.rr.com

Brian U.  Stratton

Mayor

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

CITY OF SCHENECTADY

NEW YORK

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Mayor’s Office

Monday, November 9, 2009

518-382-5000

Mayor Announces Pilot Program to Assist and Train Schenectady Landlords

G.R.O.W. Program Aims to Improve Neighborhood Stability

By Training Schenectady Investment Property Owners

SCHENECTADY – Mayor Brian U. Stratton today announced a new city program to improve the quality of life in Schenectady neighborhoods and throughout the city by helping investment property owners become more responsible landlords through professional guidance, education and training.

The G.R.O.W. Schenectady Initiative, which stands for “Guidance Responsible

Owners Want,” will begin as a pilot program next year.  It is a public/private partnership between Sunrise Management & Consulting of Latham, NY and the City of Schenectady, designed to provide property management evaluation and training for the city’s investment property owners.

“The City of Schenectady recognizes that as a municipality we have a significant stake in the success of our investment property owners,” Mayor Stratton said. “If our investment property owners take better care of their investment, and strive to educate tenants of their responsibilities, it helps to improve the quality our neighborhoods.  Then, everyone wins.”

The G.R.O.W. Schenectady Pilot Initiative has been jointly developed by Sunrise Management & Consulting, the City of Schenectady Department of Development and the Schenectady Housing Development Fund Corporation.  This first-of-its kind program will utilize property evaluations, management audits, one-on-one consulting, and management training workshops to help owners enhance the operational performance of their City of Schenectady investment properties.

Mayor Stratton said the addition of the G.R.O.W. initiative will also support efforts already underway by his Administration to increase code enforcement throughout the City of Schenectady and to provide regular technical and legal training and instruction to the city’s code enforcement officers.

“Our goal is not only to ensure that the city’s building codes are enforced for safety, stability and aesthetic purposes, but to ensure that our code enforcement team is working together with investment property owners whenever possible. We have trained our code enforcement teams and now we are offering training to landlords and property owners as well,” Mayor Stratton added.

Jesse Holland, President of Sunrise Management & Consulting, said “Well-managed residential, retail and commercial properties are critical to a city’s economic growth and stability. We are pleased to be working with the City of Schenectady to roll out this growth and stability initiative.”

The G.R.O.W. Schenectady Pilot program will provide free evaluation, education and training to both small property owners and owners of retail/office and large multifamily properties.

Small property owners, those who own 4-20 unit residential housing buildings, will receive help with performance assessment, operational procedures, fiscal management and property maintenance programs.

Selected owners of retail, office and large multifamily properties will receive free property evaluation and management audits to assess operational performance issues.  The results of the audits will be reviewed with participating property owners in two 2-hour consulting sessions.

Participants in the GROW Schenectady Pilot program will be selected within the program parameters on a first come, first served basis.  Schenectady Property Owners interested in participating should contact Sunrise Management & Consulting at 518-389-2700.

About Sunrise Management & Consulting

Sunrise Management & Consulting, headquartered in Latham, NY, is an innovative third party property management company that provides performance-driven management, consulting and market information services for owners and investors in residential and commercial real estate.

Sunrise Management & Consulting offers a systemized program of property management to efficiently operate and manage investment properties.  Sunrise Management & Consulting offers training, workshops, and consulting to property owners, managers and investors.

They also offer a program of investment property evaluation and management audits to assess and mediate operational performance issues that provides investors and funding sources a scoring and assessment system to forecast and manage commercial investment property default risk.

Time to Shine

Now is our time.  Our competition is hunkering down for the winter.  There is less leasing activity, less ads in the paper.  Tenants don’t want work being done in their apartments.  It is cold out.

This time is what separates the men from the boys.  While everybody else is taking it easy, we need to step up our efforts.  We can easily outdistance our competition by doing several things:

Go back to the basics- we know what works, lets make sure we do it right.
Pay attention to the details – if you do a great job painting the apartment but leave paint in the sink all that will be remembered is the paint in the sink.
Smile and be pleasant – this season can be stressful on everyone.  Be the shining star in somebody’s day.
Focus – give the person you are taking care of your full attention.
Customer Service is key – our competition has a very similar product to offer.  It is our commitment to customer service that sets us apart.

Keep up the good work – you make the company what it is.

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Off to the big time

Lookout world – here we come.  Our first ever New York Statewide rental survey is complete and will be released at the National Association of Home Builders Regional show in Atlantic City next month.  Nobody else has it but us.

Plans are now underway for the next survey.  Hold on to your hat Maryland to Maine – coming October 1.

May 9 and 10 is our first ever Sunrise Corporate Convention.  Since we can’t bring everybody to a national show we are bringing the national show to us.  Our featured speaker will be Jon Barett from Tampa Florida.  This will be an exciting and fun opportunity to learn what is going on in our industry, and put it to use.

Listings, Listings, Listings.  Our in house broker – Jon Romano- has scored his first major listing.  29 acres in Rennselear for $1,900,000.  Way to go Jon.

New Apartments.  Howard has received the first needed approval for the Berkshire Reserve Apartments to be built in Albany.  Stay tuned for more information on the 180 unit High end Apartment complex soon to be managed by Sunrise.

New Employee Handbook.  Our new employee handbook is complete.  Look for your copy soon.

New Benefits.  Tom Norris is working on some new supplemental benefits through AFLAC Insurance.  Look for information in the near future on personal disability, accident and cancer benefit plans.

Multifamily Property Management – Customer Service – It’s not just important, It’s the difference.

Is your customer service program up to snuff?  In today’s fast paced, high tech world you have to make sure your apartments can compete, and not just with the guy down the road.

Take a typical tenant, let’s call him Joe.  Joe has a good job, makes plenty of money, has good credit and good references and has no problem paying the first month and security before he moves in.  Joe is busy trying to find a new apartment.

First however he is going to send out an overnight package by FEDEX.  He calls FEDEX and the phone is answered within two rings.  The account executive is pleasant and is quickly able to find Joe’s company’s account information.  She gives him a couple of alternatives with different prices.  Schedules the pickup, (which later in the evening comes on time – in a clean uniform), and he can track his package over the internet, and see that it is delivered on time and who signed for it.

Next he starts calling advertisements for an apartment.  He likes your ad so he calls you.  Your not available so he has to leave a message.  You get around to calling him back two days later, but low and behold he is still looking for an apartment.  You give him the basics – 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, $650.00 plus utilities.   You don’t know the square footage, what restaurants or other important community things are nearby, or even an approximately  what the utilities would run.  He sets an appointment to take a look ( he must be pretty desperate because you didn’t give him a whole lot of info).

You show up ten minutes late.  The keys don’t work, so you go in through a back window.  The lawn is not mowed and there is garbage blowing around.  You never cleaned out the refrigerator from the last tenant, so there is a bit of an odor.  The walls need painting and the carpet is stained.  And you wonder why he says “no thank you”, and why the market is so “depressed ” in your area.

Our tenants not only compare us to each other, but also to every other experience they have in there economic life.  WE are absolutely in competition with companies like FEDEX, because they have established the standard of how our customer wants to be treated.

So lets look how we might compete with a giant like FEDEX.

Joe calls the phone number in your ad.  Maybe you have it answered by an answering service that is available 24hrs a day and can provide him with some basic information.  Then find out when the best time to call him back would be.  Or you put your cell phone number in the ad (you carry it with you anyway) and are able to answer his call yourself.  You give him detailed information about the neighborhood, amenities and square footage of your apartment.  Then set the appointment.  Your lawn is always mowed because you have hired a reliable contractor, and you check it at least once a week anyway.  You arrive 15 minutes early to pickup any garbage that might be blowing around.  You use your well marked keys to gain entry to the freshly painted apartment, where the carpets were cleaned prior to your showing it to anybody.  You turn on some lights and open a couple of windows so the apartment doesn’t smell dank or musty.  You have an application and pen with you, and it clearly explains your procedure for renting.  It is a fresh copy that is easy to read.  Joe sees that you take good care  of your building and your apartment.  You value his time by showing up early, and have efficiently handled the tasks that need to be done.  Joe happily rents your apartment because you have given him an experience that rivals any top quality company.  You have showed him that you care about him and your property, and that you are a professional.

While none of these things is hard, it does take some practice and training to really implement a true customer service program.

The Power of Questions:
Things that create and/or influence your mental and emotional state fall into two categories. The first category is made up of forces created by your physiology (the way you move, what you eat, how healthy you are, etc.). The second category is made up of things that affect what you focus on. We all know you can change how you feel by changing what you focus on. In other words, if you think positive thoughts, you’ll be in a better state and you’ll get better results.
One of the easiest ways to change your thought process (what you focus on) is to change the habitual questions you ask yourself. Your thought process is a series of questions & answers. Unfortunately, most people have the habit of asking poor questions of themselves and therefore they spend their time focusing on lousy things. The result is a poor attitude, which leads to poor behaviors and poor results. Simply changing the habitual questions you ask yourself can change all this.
I have a friend who created a list of positive questions that he could rehearse every morning in the shower. They were simple questions like, “What am I most excited about?” and, “What are my goals?” He had the list laminated with a title that read, “Shower Power”. Each morning he read each question on the list and answered it. Some of the impact was immediate –– He felt much better after asking and answering the questions. But the most important benefit of his morning ritual was not immediate. The most important benefit was the habit that formed by asking and answering the questions every day. It didn’t take long before the habitual questions my friend was asking himself were those on the list. His habitual focus was much more positive than it had been. His attitude changed and it wasn’t long before he was experiencing much better results professionally.
Another example of this can be found with Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton mutual funds, one of the greatest investors of our time, and one of our world’s self-made billionaires. In an interview I was present for, Mr. Templeton stated that he attributes much of his success to a little game that he and his wife played for 50+ years. The game consisted of asking each other the same question every morning and not allowing one another to leave the house until the question was answered five new ways. The question was “What are you grateful for?” He said with tremendous certainty, “I believe that the foundation of wealth is gratitude. If you habitually ask and answer the question ‘What am I grateful for?’ you feel wealthy. When you feel wealthy, you make decisions that lead you to wealth.”
What would happen if you created a list of positive questions and made sure that these questions became the habitual questions you ask on a daily basis?

Jason McComb <newsletter@tdogs.com>

Multifamily Property Management –
Customer Service – It’s not just important, It’s the difference.
By Jesse Holland, president, Sunrise Management & Consulting

Is your customer service program up to snuff?  In today’s fast paced, high tech world you have to make sure your apartments can compete, and not just with the property down the road.

Let’s look at a typical multifamily property tenant, Jane Business.  Jane has a good job, impressive salary, good credit and good references.  She has no problem paying the first month rent and security.  And Jane is very busy, busy at work, and busy at looking for an apartment.

She has a major report due in two days, and an apartment she needs to find by the end of the month.  Her day is filled with transactions and decisions that are impacted by customer service.

Jane has a software glitch that is causing her headaches in finishing the report.  She calls into her support tech center, and while online, the tech dials into her system, downloads a patch, and she is up and running.  Finishing the report she emails it to her local graphic company for 50 bound copies.  It is delivered several hours later, with a bag of fresh baked cookies.  While enjoying a cookie, she calls FEDEX and her call is answered on the second ring.  The rep looks up her account information and schedules a pick-up in a matter of minutes.  Before she leaves at the end of the day her report is out the door.

While she is doing these things, she is also scanning the local paper looking for an apartment in a multifamily property.  Is her experience, typically, going to be as ‘customer service’ friendly?

Typically, she will call several ads that look appealing to her.  Three are answered by a machine with a message to leave her information and someone will get back to her.  She leaves messages on all of them.  She connects with one, and the leasing agent provides her with basic information, a two bedroom apartment, $650 plus utilities.  The agent doesn’t know the square footage, or what the utilities run for that apartment.  More importantly, the agent does not give her any reasons to come look at the apartment.

Still, she asks to make an appointment that evening.  Sorry, but it will have to be before 6pm, or the next day.  As Jane is busy presenting her report the next day, she takes the appointment that day, leaving work early to make it.  Once there the agent is 10 minutes late for the appointment, and is just finishing up with someone else.  The lawns haven’t been mowed recently, and the lot has papers blowing around.  Twenty minutes later the agent shows up, and, unable to get the key to work, has to go back to the office for the correct key.  Once in the apartment Jane finds it hasn’t been cleaned from the last tenant yet, but is reassured that it will all be taken care of.

At the end of the day she has not been called back by the three properties she left messages at, and she realizes finding an apartment is going to be a very time consuming task.

Our tenants not only compare us to each other, but also to every other experience they have in their economic life.  Multifamily property managers are absolutely in competition with companies like FEDEX, because they have established the standard of how our customer wants to be treated.

Customer service is a universal principle of good business.  It can set you apart from the majority, and directly impact the performance of your property.  First impressions are critical.  That first contact with a potential tenant will establish how they view the property, and the property management.

Jane’s customer service experience with a properly managed multifamily property will include:

A return call immediately, if only to schedule a time to speak
Detailed information about the neighborhood, amenities, utilities and square footage
Appointments scheduled to her convenience
A friendly leasing agent who is there before she is
A clean apartment to look at
Applications and paperwork available at the meeting
Professional treatment that tells her that the property management cares, about the property, and about her

And customer service extends beyond the leasing agent.  How much more does it cost you to fill a vacancy than it does to retain a resident?

We should regularly evaluate the customer service our property management frontline provides.  While customer service is not hard to deliver, it does take training and focus to really implement a true customer service program.  If your staff is not up to snuff, provide them the training and direction they need to succeed.

Financial models don’t rent apartments

Multifamily real estate investment isn’t about the sticks and the bricks, or the financing.  Computing or  understanding cash flow models, net present value, or internal rate of return doesn’t make for profitable investments.  Financial statements don’t predict the future – only tell the story of the past.

Multifamily real estate investment is about people.  Tenants are people, management and maintenance staff are people.  Owners are people.  Each has their own needs, concerns, desires and emotions.  None of which are a numerical entry in a financial model.

The most important people are the ones who pay the bills.  Without tenants real estate is worthless.  Unless someone is willing to occupy the space and pay the rent all the rest is meaningless.  They are our customer and we need to remember that we are here for them, not the other way around.  All of our policies and procedures must be designed around the concept “the customer is king” .  While we fulfill one of the most basic needs of Shelter, we have evolved much farther than that.  Beyond safety and security comes tastes and desires, amenities, and service.  It’s not just someplace to live, but the entire experience of living.  A 15 minute chat in the clubhouse will tell you more about the economy, rental market, competition, staff and attitudes than any model, chart or market report.  Google has become the champion of listening to their customer.  Detroit and the car industry has crashed because they don’t.

Our front line staff is the next on the list.  We expect everything to run perfectly.  Seven days a week , twenty four hours a day and 365 days a year.  And if people were perfect it would.  Typically front line staff is not well paid, younger and barely trained.  Yet we expect them to run multi-million dollar assets to perfection.  These people need our support and appreciation.  They get hit with the problems first hand.  They are screamed at by the irate tenant, deal with rude and obnoxious people, Deal with endless details and problems. And often, barely asked their opinion, no less thanked.  Unless we properly support and care for our front line staff, the apartments won’t get rented. The work orders won’t get written or fixed.  The accounting won’t get done.  The financial models won’t compute.

Last is the Ownership.  Which is often the toughest pill to swallow.  Investors want their returns.  Auditors want their reports.  Lenders want their payments.  Everybody wants something.  When you’re the guy putting up millions of dollars and taking the risk it’s easy to feel you should come first.  But ultimately this has lead to our undoing.  Wall streets collapse, huge foreclosure numbers  401ks that are now 201ks.  The customer has spoken – they won’t pay the bill.

Capitalism works fine – we have just stopped focusing on what’s good for our customers and those who do will be rewarded in these tough times with stability and affluence.  Those who don’t will perish.

Property Management- not just collecting rent and fixing toilets

Property management is easy, right?  Collect the rent, pay the bills and fix the toilets.  Like driving a car is easy, just turn the key and step on the gas, right?  Wrong!  Both need proactively managed systems to get you where you want to be,   efficiently and safely.
For today’s investor, property management may be one of the single most important factors in the success of a real estate investment.  The proper property management team will bring organization, expertise, experience and consistent systems to the operation of your real estate.  Yesterday’s “Collect the rent & fix the toilet” type of property manager can bring the investment financial problems, liability issues, customer service nightmares and all out disaster.
Today’s property management team needs to be experts on many management systems, such as investments, finance, risk, customers, facilities and human resources.
Investment management.  Investment in real estate is rewarded by consistent, predictable cash flows that meet ROI objectives.  If your manager doesn’t understand how it’s supposed to work and how operations impact returns, then the value of your asset is at risk.  Today’s property manager understands investment objectives and works to assure stable income and value growth.
Financial management.  Information is power, and financial information is critical for success.  A 200 unit apartment complex may have upwards of 1000 transactions per month.  Being able to create accurate financial statements is key to making proper managerial decisions.  If you don’t have proper accounting and reporting systems you are managing blindly.  Hand ledgers are a thing of the past.  Today’s property management team uses computerized financial management systems that deliver full monthly statements and supporting schedules.
Web-based advertising, effective communications (email), record keeping, materials ordering, and tenant screening are all systems that are efficiently managed on computer-based programs. Larger firms include payroll, scheduling, cash flow analysis, work order tracking, and emergency dispatch on computer-based systems.
Risk Management.  Liability is everywhere; you can be sued for both what you know, and what you do not know.  The same is true for government regulations.  Fair Housing Law, Civil Rights Law, HUD Regulations, State Building Code, Local Building Code, Environmental law, Title X Lead Paint regulations, Air Quality Standards, 
Rent Control, Rent Stabilization, and the list goes on.
And don’t forget the insurance company. Today’s manager needs to know about insurance requirements and processes. Just understanding how the insurance industry prices and sells their products allowed a client to save $50,000 in one year.  A properly handled claim can mean thousands of dollars difference in your pocket.
Then there is disaster planning – and recovery.  Natural and man-made events happen, regularly.  How do you handle a flood, a fire, an accident, heaven forbid another terrorist event.  Today’s property manager has contingency plans when something happens.
Customer Management. The customer (tenant) is the most important piece of the puzzle.  In no other industry can the customer be treated with such animosity by a service provider.  Where other industries will bend over backward to make a client feel important, yesterday’s property manager treats your tenants as a number – 3b has another problem.
Today’s customers don’t just buy products, they buy experiences.  Your residents are no different.  They want to feel good about renting, they want to be part of a community, not just an apartment number.  Today’s property managers are trained in customer service and focus on retaining happy and satisfied tenants.
Facility Management.  The physical asset is the foundation of the investment.  Poor maintenance procedures impact your ability to attract and retain quality residents.  Poor preventive maintenance and poorly executed capital projects drive up costs, and impact the bottom line.  Today’s property manager is trained to get the most out of maintenance dollars to keep tenants happy and build property value.

Human Resource Management.  People make a difference.  Staff that is well trained and rewarded will take good care of your tenants.  Hiring and training is the key.  Today’s property manager utilizes human resource systems to hire great people and keep them producing top results.

Not just Collecting Rent.  So how do you make sure that all of these things are happening with your real estate investment?  The key is having a management system.  The most difficult thing in property management is consistency.  What investors are looking for is a consistent cash flow.  By having a system of planning, executing and evaluating the results you can achieve that goal.  Today’s property management teams combine tried and true procedures, best practices, state of the art technology and training in a management system that delivers long term success.