X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00800000 X-Mozilla-Keys: Message-ID: <546ADBEB.5010507@sbcglobal.net> Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:40:59 -0800 From: Richard Childers User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD i386; rv:10.0.3) Gecko/20120327 Thunderbird/10.0.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: jessica.ppmrentals@gmail.com CC: Bill Dobberstein Subject: I hear 137 12th Street is looking for a new manager? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jessica, I hear Robert Klammes has been terminated as the onsite manager of 137 12th Street. If there's an opening for onsite management, I'd like to tentatively apply - and, I'd like to use this opportunity, to propose a sea change (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_change_(idiom)) for 137 12th Street. TL;DR: Anticipatory maintenance + modern infrastructure + modern management + modern tenants = more money. Step #0: Anticipatory maintenance. One building at a time ... one SIDE of a building at a time ... one UNIT at a time ... aggressively look for problems. Be diligent. At the very least, replace every panel of sheetrock, and inspect the frame elements behind the sheetrock before replacing the old sheetrock with new sheetrock. Repair every problem you find. Start with the first floor. Look at the foundation. Work upwards. I estimate $500 of sheetrock - 50 x 4'x8' sheets - would be enough for an entire apartment. Result: Confidence, quality, integrity. One side of a building at a time, new units. New sheetrock. Right paint. Good ventilation. Good insulation, at least on the first floor - maybe second floor, too. Maybe even dual-pane windows. New screens, with the windows. Smart thermostats. Maybe even alarm systems. Top-notch units. No bedbugs. No mold. No paper lice. Every reason to increase the rent on those units. Cost: Maybe $1000-$2000 per unit and maybe 1-2 months of downtime, per unit. More if you replace stuff. Extra to convince residents to move out for a month or so; but if they are the first residents of the new apartment, that might be a strong incentive to put up with a lot of discomfort. Resouces: Just need materials, all the talent is already onsite or easily available. Step #1: Modern infrastructure. As part of retrofitting the building, the opportunity exists to provide each building in the complex - one at a time - with Internet connectivity. This could be done on a wireless basis. Thus could also lead to creating a complex-wide local area network. Regardless of wired or wireless status, the network could be used to provide enhanced security services. These enhanced security services as well as the network itself represent added value which prospective tenants would be willing to pay more for. This modernization would also include the installation of solar panels on all available surfaces, resulting in increased income generation, lower utility bills, or both. Step #2: Modern management. The new manager overseeing these changes would need to be a bit more sophisticated in order to bring about these changes. In particular, the job would require driving some of the human vermin away from the premises and negotiating stereo levels, sometimes, after dark. And so some flexibility with regard to hours is required. It would not be unrealistic to hope for an hourly tour of the premises, between the hours of 6 AM and perhaps 9 PM - but, at 15 minutes per tour, that adds up to 16 x 15 minutes equals 4 hours, total, not counting time taken pursuing any action items encountered during a given tour. Structuring the compensation is a challenge. I don't know what you/they were paying Richard Henson, or Robert Klammes, but I urge the stakeholders to ask themselves how much money hiring cheap help has cost them so far - money they will never recover - and then, to ask themselves, how much more cost-saving like that, can they afford? I cannot help but wonder if any thought has been given to incentivizing the onsite manager with a percentage of the monthly total from the complex? The better a job the manager(s) do(es), the more money the complex makes. The more money the complex makes, the more the manager(s) make, as a monthly bonus. Real straightforward. Step #3: Modern tenants. As a result of anticipatory maintenance, and modernizing the infrastructure and management, it would be possible to attract modern tenants. In particular, I am thinking of college students. Post-graduate students, with families, who can't afford Arcata, and don't mind riding the bus. They aren't rich, but they aren't stupid, either - or violent. They want quality for their money. Not a lot, but not mold ... or bedbugs ... or rats. That's not going to work. Such people will not be attracted unless there is someone like them running the place and maintaining a friendly environment for studious people - this cannot be emphasized too much. Fortuna really needs more studious people. Studious people can volunteer in the local schools. Their kids can join the local clubs. Maybe introduce new industries. Fortuna could really use an infusion of post-graduate college students. We don't need to get rich off them. We need their wealth of new ideas. We need industrial parks; not shopping malls. Conclusion. With the right management, creating the right environment, and a long-term perspective that could be accomplished in less than five years, PPM could turn 137 12th Street around and make it a safe, secure, and profitable property ... a place that Fortuna is proud of ... a place that old people feel safe walking past, and sitting in front of ... and a property that PPM is proud to be associated with. Regards, ~richard