May 29, 2012
Management Team
I recently attended a 2 day class on developing a management team. While I found the class to be very interesting and full of wonderful ideas, I am struggling with the best way to make it all work. While at the class with 3 other people from the office we all talked a good talk about how we are going to implement what we learned and be team leaders, take charge and get things done. As of yet I haven't seen any changes. But I have no room to talk. There were several issues last week that did not look so good for the company so this should be a great place to start. So as a promise to myself and my commitment to the company I plan on putting what I have learned into play. Not sure what the outcome will be but I won't know until I try.
May 24, 2012
Landmark Group Athlete of the Year
I get into sports. Not just watching but doing. I love almost any sport. Especially the ones with running and doing something for a long period of time. The members of the Landmark Group Endurance Team often compare their athletic abilities. Sometimes our conversations get heated. I love making a contest out of things, so we are going to start taking nominations for the Landmark Group Athlete of the Year. You can nominate anyone or yourself. Some things that we will consider:
Passion for the sport.
God given natural athletic ability.
Desire to be great.
What kind of improvements they have made during the year
Do they have a lot going on in their life other than being an athlete?
Some of the races, games or events they have been in and their performance.
What are they doing to be a team player.
Why you think they should be the Landmark Group Athlete of the Year.
Send us your nominations
Passion for the sport.
God given natural athletic ability.
Desire to be great.
What kind of improvements they have made during the year
Do they have a lot going on in their life other than being an athlete?
Some of the races, games or events they have been in and their performance.
What are they doing to be a team player.
Why you think they should be the Landmark Group Athlete of the Year.
Send us your nominations
On my last post I talked about internet security. One of the most important aspects of internet security is to keep everything up to date. This is especially true of programs which access the internet. I have our computers set to automatic update of Windows. I pay attention when I receive a notice of updates for Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Apple Quick Time, or any other software that is in use. Malware writers look for weaknesses in these software packages and when one is found they try to exploit it. The software writes fix their software with patches to stop the exploit. But unpatched software is a leading contributor to many of the attacks and problems which occur.
Also be aware that some people used to say that it was Windows products you had to worry about because they were the target of attacks. But with the growing popularity of Linux and Apple software they are increasingly coming under attack also. Make sure you are running with daily updates of your anti-virus software. It is estimated that there are about 70,000 new viruses found every day! (Check out here) And if you click on this link you are violating one of the rules for safe surfing. This is a safe link. But many times you may find an unsafe link. To get to this page safely copy and past this info into your browser http://eugene.kaspersky.com/2011/10/28/number-of-the-month-70k-per-day/ and you will know you are going to a safe spot. Before you click on a link check out where it is going and if you are not sure, do not click.
Here is to up to date and safer browsing.
Also be aware that some people used to say that it was Windows products you had to worry about because they were the target of attacks. But with the growing popularity of Linux and Apple software they are increasingly coming under attack also. Make sure you are running with daily updates of your anti-virus software. It is estimated that there are about 70,000 new viruses found every day! (Check out here) And if you click on this link you are violating one of the rules for safe surfing. This is a safe link. But many times you may find an unsafe link. To get to this page safely copy and past this info into your browser http://eugene.kaspersky.com/2011/10/28/number-of-the-month-70k-per-day/ and you will know you are going to a safe spot. Before you click on a link check out where it is going and if you are not sure, do not click.
Here is to up to date and safer browsing.
May 21, 2012
Warm Weather Decorating Ideas for Your Rental Home
As you spend more time out-of-doors, it’s only natural you’d like your home to reflect the bright, blooming colors you see out there. We’ve got some fresh decorating ideas to help you bring a little sunshine inside.
Bring in the greenPlants and flowers can instantly spruce up your home. Purchase bouquets, decorative plants, or create mini-greenhouses in your sunny windows to sprout a home garden of herbs and space-efficient vegetables.
Lighten the linensFrom blankets and comforters to window treatments, summertime requires lighter, brighter fabrics. Trade out heavier bedding for lighter coverings in bright shades and patterns. If practical in your rental home, replace heavy curtains with light, airy versions.
Brighten the wallsYou don’t have to repaint your entire interior to freshen up your décor. Check with your landlord about painting a single wall, door, or trim with a vibrant shade to enliven your space. Hanging pictures or posters featuring flowers, plants, trees, birds or butterflies also helps bring the outdoors inside.
Choose cool colors
Whatever your decorating style, you can create cool contrast when you choose soothing hues inside your home. Choose throw pillows, centerpieces or other easily-changeable decorative accents to add an impression of cool indoors.
Whatever your decorating style, you can create cool contrast when you choose soothing hues inside your home. Choose throw pillows, centerpieces or other easily-changeable decorative accents to add an impression of cool indoors.
Use natural elementsTry incorporating natural materials in your décor, such as sprigs of lavender, rocks, branches, twigs and bird’s nests. Baskets and carpets of natural fiber also help bring wild elements into your home.
May 17, 2012
Omaha Landlord Newbie - Step 1, to buy or not to buy?
This Post and subsequent Posts will be my experiences becoming a Landlord. "Landlord" there is something about that word that has a kind of "predatory" connotation. I guess it is my experiences in years past as tenant that did not turn out so well that lead me to have that word feeling. I remember having been treated somewhat unfairly by one or two rental landlords in my college and young married life years. If I do become a landlord, I will not be like “them”.
The "deal" seemed pretty good while sitting at the dining table. It was one of those conversations that lead up to finding out about a rental house a friend of mine from high school wanted to get out from under owning. We discussed the home, the location and the numbers seemed to make sense. I was interested. It was an older 2 bedroom home in North Omaha that needed fixing up. It has been vacant for 2 years because the seller had moved and was unable to keep up with the repairs, clean up and maintenance needed to maintain tenants. He had gone through a divorce and bankruptcy and the motivations to maintain a rental home investment disappeared for him. While passing the mash potatoes he said he would let it go for under $20,000. Hmmmm. I thought about it that night and decided to go online and check it out. The home is assessed at $31,500 currently, my friend had purchased the home in 2000 for $18,000. The picture on the website was not that good, but it looked OK. The Assessors webpage gave me all the basic information about the home that I needed. Such as square feet; type of home, age; and the materials used in the construction of the home. Everything so far seemed to be checking out, it was time to run the idea by my significant other. The reaction I received was not what I would call encouraging. She was completely against the idea of me purchasing a home and spending all my time and money getting it rent ready. This did not discourage me, but I listen her thoughts and keep them in mind. I figured at this point I have nothing to lose, so I decided to drive by the address and check out the home.
Well “fixer upper” is a relative term. Yes it does need to be fixed up, starting with the soccer ball sized hole in the roof over the kitchen area, a hole big enough that a raccoon can easily find a way inside. Since the home has not been lived in for 2 years, it has a musky wet smell, humidity is high due to the hole in the roof. Rain has damaged some cabinets in the kitchen area. Mold is visible on much of the wood molding in the home. Copper thieves had broken into the home at some point stealing all the copper plumbing. The bathroom was pretty much wrecked with the shower head wall being torn out to remove the copper. Overlooking these flaws though, the home has some character! Wood floors throughout, walls, windows and doors look to be in decent shape, the foundation is solid. The home also has a 2-car garage which is a nice feature in this part of town, (needs painting bad though) In summary after looking things over I believe the potential upside offsets the investment outlay. Am I crazy!, I don't know. I guess I just see things differently, viewing the flaws as being fixable.
I decided that professional advice from the Pros is needed. My employer is a property manager and he owns and manages several rentals in the City. I work on new construction projects, so my personal experience is not sufficient regarding rental housing investment decisions. When i mentioned the home to him and gave him the address, he immediately knew the address, the neighborhood and was somewhat familiar with the home values in the area. I told him the details of my home visit, the problems and the cool stuff about the home. Surprisingly he said that based on what I told him, and the neighborhood he would not offer more than $3,000!. Wow I thought, that is cheap, but he was serious. Well at this point I was convinced my friend was not going accept anything close to this low of an offer. The deal was pretty much not going to happen in my mind. Nevertheless I emailed my friend and told him I had it checked out and the highest I would offer on the home was $3,000. 2 days later he wrote back and agreed and was willing to accept it. WOW!, now I was really getting nervous.
It was the point where a decision needed to be made, was I going to go through with this “idea” of purchasing a rental home or was I going to let it slip away. While my girlfriend had her opinion of the investment I was beginning to get comfortable with the title of being a big city Landlord. Was it really going to be this simple, just purchase a house for as little as $3,000. I knew something was not going to be quite right with this perfect rental purchase. I suspected there were back taxes owed to the county treasurer. I was right, the Treasurer told me there were over $6,000 in past due taxes and special assessments against the property. Whew!, a good deal can evaporate in a hurry that much is certain. When you add $6300 to the $3,000 asking price for the home, this good deal was becoming complicated. I like the way my property manager boss put it, “ This deal is beginning to grow some Hair on it”
I really wanted to walk at this point, if the Pro thinks the house is worth about $3,000- $5,000, then this good deal is no longer a good deal with an investment outlay of nearly $10,000.
Oh I forgot to mention, I don’t have any cash to buy this house! That means whatever I would decide to do I would have get a loan from my bank. A loan I was confidant I could get, but still a loan at most likely higher short term rate.
My property manager boss did a drive by of the property and walk around the property, called me and said this home is worth more than he first stated. It had potential as a good rental, being in a relatively nice part of north Omaha. He thought the home would have no trouble renting for $550 or $600. Keeping it rented would be the key factor in making it work. He encouraged me to contact the seller again.
The seller, my friend, was under the impression he could sell the home and pay off the back taxes. This turned out to not quite be the case. The tax certificates had already been purchased by an investor. This meant a 3rd party was involved. My friend was not in a position to pay off the investor and then sell to me, neither was I inclined to pay $10,000 to buy it from him.
Contacting the investor it was determined, he only wanted to get out of the property without losing money. He was willing to sell for the amount of money he had in the property. The seller and the investor spoke and then the Seller called me to propose another deal. He would sell me the home for a $1, through a quit claim deed. Then I would or could work directly with the investor to pay him off. This deal would move my friend out of the picture completely.
Something about this did not sound right or safe. I have to admit I did not understand exactly what was being proposed. When I don’t understand it completely then I don’t like it. It seemed risky to me. I was concerned I would be exposed to some as yet unknown liability with the home. My boss the property manager did not think this was a good option for me. Instead he directed me to pursue this purchase through a Title company. The title company would do the background research and determine all the outstanding liabilities against the property.
The seller and I signed a purchase agreement to sell the home for $5.00. All the paperwork was provided by the Title Company. The completed Agreement and other support paperwork was returned to the Title Company. About 10 days later I received a call from the Title company asking me when I wanted to close on the home. They forwarded to me a Purchaser’s Closing Statement. This was informative! There are indeed a few liability and surprises. All total, including back taxes, current tax, title company fees, State stamps/ tax on deed, Title insurance, plus a couple special “assessments” to the City of Omaha, the closing statement grand total was $7,700.
It has all come down to this step, to this decision. The original deal of $3,000 has more than doubled to a $7,700 dollar deal. If I go for it I will own the home with clear title. My boss, the property manager thinks it is still a good deal. I have not quite made up my mind yet. I will post this blog now. Stay tuned. I will be posting another blog in the coming days.
The "deal" seemed pretty good while sitting at the dining table. It was one of those conversations that lead up to finding out about a rental house a friend of mine from high school wanted to get out from under owning. We discussed the home, the location and the numbers seemed to make sense. I was interested. It was an older 2 bedroom home in North Omaha that needed fixing up. It has been vacant for 2 years because the seller had moved and was unable to keep up with the repairs, clean up and maintenance needed to maintain tenants. He had gone through a divorce and bankruptcy and the motivations to maintain a rental home investment disappeared for him. While passing the mash potatoes he said he would let it go for under $20,000. Hmmmm. I thought about it that night and decided to go online and check it out. The home is assessed at $31,500 currently, my friend had purchased the home in 2000 for $18,000. The picture on the website was not that good, but it looked OK. The Assessors webpage gave me all the basic information about the home that I needed. Such as square feet; type of home, age; and the materials used in the construction of the home. Everything so far seemed to be checking out, it was time to run the idea by my significant other. The reaction I received was not what I would call encouraging. She was completely against the idea of me purchasing a home and spending all my time and money getting it rent ready. This did not discourage me, but I listen her thoughts and keep them in mind. I figured at this point I have nothing to lose, so I decided to drive by the address and check out the home.
Well “fixer upper” is a relative term. Yes it does need to be fixed up, starting with the soccer ball sized hole in the roof over the kitchen area, a hole big enough that a raccoon can easily find a way inside. Since the home has not been lived in for 2 years, it has a musky wet smell, humidity is high due to the hole in the roof. Rain has damaged some cabinets in the kitchen area. Mold is visible on much of the wood molding in the home. Copper thieves had broken into the home at some point stealing all the copper plumbing. The bathroom was pretty much wrecked with the shower head wall being torn out to remove the copper. Overlooking these flaws though, the home has some character! Wood floors throughout, walls, windows and doors look to be in decent shape, the foundation is solid. The home also has a 2-car garage which is a nice feature in this part of town, (needs painting bad though) In summary after looking things over I believe the potential upside offsets the investment outlay. Am I crazy!, I don't know. I guess I just see things differently, viewing the flaws as being fixable.
I decided that professional advice from the Pros is needed. My employer is a property manager and he owns and manages several rentals in the City. I work on new construction projects, so my personal experience is not sufficient regarding rental housing investment decisions. When i mentioned the home to him and gave him the address, he immediately knew the address, the neighborhood and was somewhat familiar with the home values in the area. I told him the details of my home visit, the problems and the cool stuff about the home. Surprisingly he said that based on what I told him, and the neighborhood he would not offer more than $3,000!. Wow I thought, that is cheap, but he was serious. Well at this point I was convinced my friend was not going accept anything close to this low of an offer. The deal was pretty much not going to happen in my mind. Nevertheless I emailed my friend and told him I had it checked out and the highest I would offer on the home was $3,000. 2 days later he wrote back and agreed and was willing to accept it. WOW!, now I was really getting nervous.
It was the point where a decision needed to be made, was I going to go through with this “idea” of purchasing a rental home or was I going to let it slip away. While my girlfriend had her opinion of the investment I was beginning to get comfortable with the title of being a big city Landlord. Was it really going to be this simple, just purchase a house for as little as $3,000. I knew something was not going to be quite right with this perfect rental purchase. I suspected there were back taxes owed to the county treasurer. I was right, the Treasurer told me there were over $6,000 in past due taxes and special assessments against the property. Whew!, a good deal can evaporate in a hurry that much is certain. When you add $6300 to the $3,000 asking price for the home, this good deal was becoming complicated. I like the way my property manager boss put it, “ This deal is beginning to grow some Hair on it”
I really wanted to walk at this point, if the Pro thinks the house is worth about $3,000- $5,000, then this good deal is no longer a good deal with an investment outlay of nearly $10,000.
Oh I forgot to mention, I don’t have any cash to buy this house! That means whatever I would decide to do I would have get a loan from my bank. A loan I was confidant I could get, but still a loan at most likely higher short term rate.
My property manager boss did a drive by of the property and walk around the property, called me and said this home is worth more than he first stated. It had potential as a good rental, being in a relatively nice part of north Omaha. He thought the home would have no trouble renting for $550 or $600. Keeping it rented would be the key factor in making it work. He encouraged me to contact the seller again.
The seller, my friend, was under the impression he could sell the home and pay off the back taxes. This turned out to not quite be the case. The tax certificates had already been purchased by an investor. This meant a 3rd party was involved. My friend was not in a position to pay off the investor and then sell to me, neither was I inclined to pay $10,000 to buy it from him.
Contacting the investor it was determined, he only wanted to get out of the property without losing money. He was willing to sell for the amount of money he had in the property. The seller and the investor spoke and then the Seller called me to propose another deal. He would sell me the home for a $1, through a quit claim deed. Then I would or could work directly with the investor to pay him off. This deal would move my friend out of the picture completely.
Something about this did not sound right or safe. I have to admit I did not understand exactly what was being proposed. When I don’t understand it completely then I don’t like it. It seemed risky to me. I was concerned I would be exposed to some as yet unknown liability with the home. My boss the property manager did not think this was a good option for me. Instead he directed me to pursue this purchase through a Title company. The title company would do the background research and determine all the outstanding liabilities against the property.
The seller and I signed a purchase agreement to sell the home for $5.00. All the paperwork was provided by the Title Company. The completed Agreement and other support paperwork was returned to the Title Company. About 10 days later I received a call from the Title company asking me when I wanted to close on the home. They forwarded to me a Purchaser’s Closing Statement. This was informative! There are indeed a few liability and surprises. All total, including back taxes, current tax, title company fees, State stamps/ tax on deed, Title insurance, plus a couple special “assessments” to the City of Omaha, the closing statement grand total was $7,700.
It has all come down to this step, to this decision. The original deal of $3,000 has more than doubled to a $7,700 dollar deal. If I go for it I will own the home with clear title. My boss, the property manager thinks it is still a good deal. I have not quite made up my mind yet. I will post this blog now. Stay tuned. I will be posting another blog in the coming days.
Public Transportation
Now that spring and summer is here - and more importantly - because gas is getting close to $4.00 per gallon - I have decided to ride the bus to work at least one day a week. Most of the major cities I have visited (DC, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco) have amazing public transportation. Omaha certainly lacks in that category. The city has done studies to improve our public transportation and the cost seems astronomical but as the city continues to grow - it would be well worth the expense. Now to my bus riding experiences - convenience is certainly not a factor in my neighborhood. Although it is better than it was - I still need to walk and/or bike approximately one mile to get to a bus stop. The buses only run every hour so planning is definitely a necessity. The cost is $1.25 each way so it is cheaper than driving (for me anyway) and although the bus wasn't full - there were more riders than I anticipated. I definitely will continue to ride at least once a week and hopefully because the trek to the bus stop is good exercise - I will increase my ridership to more than once a week. Riding public transportation is really something everyone should experience.
May 11, 2012
Popular Trends For Your Home's Exterior
It would seem that our economy is still having a drastic effect on the housing market - even though interest rates are at an all time low. Many families have decided to stay in their current homes rather then purchasing and risk overbuying a new home. As a result, home improvements have grown tremendously....in particular outdoor living spaces. Whether you live in a climate where an outdoor space can be used all year round (I miss you Phoenix!) or a climate where it can only be used a portion of the year, outdoor living spaces are growing in popularity. Many of these spaces are being scaled down but are still popular. For example, someone might put in an outdoor counter space but not add all the bells and whistles like a sink or a refrigerator.
Here are the most popular outdoor living spaces for 2011, rated as somewhat or very popular according to ASLA members.
Outdoor Lighting - 94.5%
Outdoor Fire Pits/Fireplaces - 94.2%
Outdoor Dining - 94.1%
Outdoor Grills - 93.8%
Outdoor Seating - 83.6%
Outdoor Counter space - 74.2%
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