Ja n u a r y Me e t i n g - Rockford Apartment Association · 2012-03-06 · Ja n u a r y Me e t i n g Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 7. P.M. Guest Speaker. Dana Esparza Lead Program Manager.

January MeetingTuesday, Jan. 17, at 7 P.M.

Guest SpeakerDana Esparza

Lead Program ManagerWinnebago County Health Department

Lead Paint in Rental PropertyThe dangers of lead based paint.Determine if your property has a problem with lead. Requirements for landlords under the EPA Renovation Repair and Painting Rule.Learn how to receive financial assistance to mitigate lead hazards in rental property.

JOIN THE RAA! Members enjoy . . .

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6776 East State StreetRockford, IL 61108

Letter from the President:Many RAA members have worked with Kristine Stensland in the past on our lead mitigation projects. As the lead program manager for the Winnebago County Health Department, Kristine did an outstanding job of assisting our members in receiving financial assistance for lead mitigation and in keep-ing us informed on issues related to lead in rental properties. Kristine has left the health department to pursue other op-portunities. On behalf of RAA I want to thank Kristine for all of her hard work. Her commitment to ensure that chil-dren remain safe from the dangers of lead paint is admirable.

Although Kristine will be missed I was pleased to learn that taking her place as lead program manager is Dana Es-parza. Dana is transitioning from managing the Weed and Seed program to managing the Lead Program. I have had the pleasure of working with Dana on various issues over the past several years and am looking forward to assisting her in edu-cating housing providers on how to keep tenants safe from lead hazards. Dana will be speaking at our January meeting to share some exciting news.

The Winnebago County Health Department has been awarded a Lead Hazard Reduction grant to evaluate 200 homes for lead paint and hazards, eliminate lead hazards in 200 homes; conduct outreach and education to reach at least 3600 people and provide training to 200 individuals. RAA has made a commitment to partner with the Health Depart-ment to help meet these goals. Please join us at our January meeting to learn how to take advantage of this program.

Meeting Location

Page 2 Rockford Apartment Association January 2012

Nadeen Green • I recently read through a paper (foot-note credits at the end of this post) that supports an issue that I have been addressing in my fair housing presentation for several years now, i.e. that landlords are perceived as discriminating based on race not only through on-site contacts (leasing office) or phone con-tacts (linguistic profiling), but through email interac-tions with prospects as well. I had heard that studies were showing how non-responsive landlords were to emails and and fair housing advocates believed that non-responses were often based on racial animus. I encouraged landlords to have a policy of timeliness in responding to all emails.

However, the paper comes to a conclusion (based on statistics, algorithms, and other analyses way be-yond me) that the issue of name-profiling in the context of race (black and white) goes beyond simply ignoring the emails from those perceived to be black. Test emails were sent (same day, same time, to same Craigslist posting, similar inquiry) using “black names” and “white names”. The names were culled from the Massachusetts birth certificate data from 1974 to 1979 (thus the “prospect” would be 30+ years of age) and were names with a statistically high likelihood of being associated with just one race. The first names used to represent white prospects were Brad, Brendan, Brett, Matthew, Neil, Geoffrey, Todd, Greg and Jay. The names used as to African-American home-seekers were Darnell, Hakim, Jamal, Jermaine, Kareem, Leroy, Rasheed, Tremayne and Tyrone. The same process was used to “assign” last names to the fictional prospects as well.

The paper is 24 pages long and includes tables and detailed analysis. The punch line that is delivered goes like this:

We find that landlords favor whites by re-sponding quicker, writing e-mails that are longer, and using more positive language when replying to inquiries about rental housing. On balance, the keyword searches show that landlords choose to discriminate by encouraging white tenants through posi-tive language instead of discouraging African American tenants through negative language.

So the question becomes just how is the on-site staff at your community responding to emails. It is not just about “be sure to respond to everyone” but also what the content of that response may be. Is subtle discrimi-nation an issue? Is it possible that someone could bring a fair housing action against your community based on the types of responses found in the study? Food for thought, indeed.

And now to credit my source: “Subtle Discrimina-tion in the Rental Housing Market: Evidence from E-mail Correspondence with Landlords” - Accepted for Publication in Journal of Housing Economics as of 9/20/2011

Andrew Hanson Department of Economics, Georgia State University P.O. Box 3992 Atlanta, GA30302 [email protected]

Zackary Hawley Department of Economics, Georgia State University P.O. Box 3992 Atlanta, GA30302 [email protected]

Aryn Taylor Department of Economics, Ohio Wesleyan University 61 S. Sandusky St Delaware, OH 43015 [email protected]

This article was written by Nadeen Green, Senior Counsel with For Rent Media Solutions™. The information contained in this ar-

ticle is not to be considered legal advice, and the author and FRMS strongly suggest that you consult with your own counsel as to any

fair housing questions or problems you may have.

Discrimination Issues for Landlords The following article is a posting on the Linked-in Property Management Professionals discussion page.

WELCOME new members: Gary Gatchel

Bryce Davis Asset Protection Insurance Network LLC

Linda Cooper William Charles real Estate


Homeownership To Fall 8% John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Strategic Building Market Intelligence™

We have done a lot of quantitative and qualitative re-search on the future of homeownership, and concluded that homeownership is likely to fall eight percentage points, from 70%* in 2005 to 62% in 2015. From 2005 to 2015, homeownership will fall from 70.0%* to 62.1%, influenced by the following:

By 2025, however, we believe homeownership will return to 67.1%. Here are the drivers:

Many factors contribute to homeownership. Here are our thoughts on each through 2025:

• Mortgage rates and government backing - We assume that mortgage rates will gradually rise to the 6% - 7% range over time, partially due to a rising risk premium over Treasuries as the govern-ment guarantee will only be effective after under-writers take losses.

• Housing affordability - We assume prices rise at approximately the same rate as incomes.

• Economic conditions - Below average economic growth.

• Age distribution of the population - Pretty easy here as we know how old we will be in 2025.

• Immigration - Similar to historical trends prior to 2005.

• Homeownership Rate by Age of Household - Our biggest assumption is that the homeownership rate by age of household will return to the average between 1982 and 2003 (before the bubble years). This seems like the most reasonable assumption, with better affordability assumed to be equally offset by poorer credit quality among the rental popula-tion.

About John Burns Real Estate Consulting Wayne Yamano, Vice President and Director of Research at John Burns Real Estate

Consulting, was the primary author of this newsletter.John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Inc. is dedicated to helping

executives make informed home building industry decisions. Are you looking for the next great idea,

or for a way to monitor changes in market conditions?

Please review our services and then email us at [email protected]

or give us a call at 949-870-1200.

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Mixed Signals on Improving Renter QualityBy Les Shaver

In their recent third-quarter earnings calls, apartment REIT CEOs noted that as occupancies tighten and rents move up, something else encouraging is happening—the quality of residents is also improving.

For instance, Houston-based Camden Property Trust saw its average household income move up about 4.5 percent in its portfolio—rising from $62,000 to $65,000. The company’s rent-to-income ratio dropped from 18.5 percent to 18.1 percent. That improvement is striking, says Jay Harris, vice president of business services at Santa Ana, Calif.-based CoreLogic SafeRent, since the second quarter is usually when owners and man-agers see the best applicants come through their doors.

“The net-net result of that is that we end up with a more qualified resident as indicated by the household income and, really, a better ability to pay even in the face of raising rental rates,” said CEO Ric Campo in its third-quarter earnings conference call, transcribed by seekingalpha.com.

Uneven PictureDavid S. Santee, executive vice president of operations for Chicago-based REIT Equity Residential, said the company’s “target demographic appears to be healthy and resilient.” In the third quarter, its 17,000-plus new residents had an average household income of $86,000 and their individual credit scores improved as the company “had record numbers of automatic credit approvals.”

The picture wasn’t as clear across the board. Core-Logic SafeRent says the stated income for applicants has moved from $6,751 in 2010 to $6,815 in 2011, but that was only a 0.9 percent increase after posting a 1.8 percent from 2009 to 2010, along with increases of more than 6 percent over the two years preceding that. Class B apartments saw stated incomes move up 1.4 percent and Class Cs saw them jump 3 percent. For Bs, the income growth was smaller than in the previous years, but Cs have posted some negative numbers in past years.

CoreLogic SafeRent also reported that applications for individuals (instead of household) stated incomes on applications, the picture looks even worse. Stated income for Class A apartments dropped 0.3 percent after rising 1.2 percent and 8.2 percent in the years be-fore. Individuals applying for Bs saw incomes move up 1.2 percent, which was the lowest gain of the last four years. Class C apartments saw individual incomes rise 2.6 percent after falling the year before.

Different StandardsUnfortunately, not everyone is enjoying an influx of renters with higher incomes. But that doesn’t mean more applicants are being turned away. “We see an increase in a proportion of applicants who qualify compared to a couple of years ago,” Harris says.

There’s more going on than just better residents coming in, though. “With the recent shifts in the econ-omy and the housing market in particular, property management companies are fundamentally changing the way that they evaluate credit reports,” says Dacia Edmonson, director of marketing planning and Day-ton, Ohio-based LexisNexis, which recently ramped up its resident screening practice.

Harris agrees. “They [apartment managers] can qualify people they weren’t able to in the past,” he says. “It’s clear that a great share of applicants qualify today, more than they did a couple of years ago. We have new sources of data and operators appear to be keeping their criteria at lower levels than they did years before.”

Reprinted with permission from Multifamily Executive, a publication of Hanley Wood © November 2011

To read the original article go to www.multifamiilyexecutive.com.

News and Notes✔ One of the benefits of membership in RAA is our email group. By joining the group you can interact with other RAA members on a daily basis. Great infor-mation is shared on issues like management questions, referral for service providers, and postings for people looking for rentals. If you are not currently taking ad-vantage of the RAA email group and would like to see what it has to offer just send an email with the name your membership is under and the email address you want added to the group to [email protected].

✔ Are you on Facebook? Please follow the Rockford Apartment Association and Illinois Rental Property Owners Association. Facebook is a great tool to in-crease awareness of our groups and the issues that we are working on.

✔ RAA is looking for volunteers to assist in compiling content for our newsletter. If you would like to write an article, share a tip on management, or find an article that you feel other members would benefit from please forward it to Paul Arena [email protected].

Rockford Apartment Association

Call us First!The RAA board meets with the City of Rock-ford on a regular basis to discuss issues relat-ed to rental property. The subject of how the community and property owners can better communicate has been addressed. From our perspective, responsible property owners who receive a call about problems at their proper-ties quickly address them and avoid the need for code enforcement. The city and commu-nity groups frequently complain that there is no simple way to know who to call. In response, RAA has added a property con-tact directory to our web site. Please go to www.rockfordapartmentassociation.org. Click on the tab on the left of the screen that says “Property Contact Info.” It will be available for anyone to use, not just RAA members. We believe that both owner occupants and investors will bene-fit from better communication when problems occur. The directory associates a contact name with an address. If you don’t manage your property personally then the name and num-ber should be for your property manager. It will only search by property, not by your name. You set up an account that allows you to edit or de-lete your contact info as necessary. The goal is to encourage complaints to come to the owner before calls are made to the city which end up in code enforcement actions. In order for RAA to promote this we need members to partici-pate. Please consider putting contact informa-tion for your properties in this directory. If you have any problems using the direc-tory report them to Paul Arena at [email protected].

A-Fire extinguisher

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COMPLETE LINE OF FIRE SAFETY PRODUCTSON-SITE RECHARGING

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EMPLOYEE TRAINING AVAILABLEEMERGENCY LIGHTING

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Rockford Apartment Association Directory

1-800-RAA-6676 | www.RockfordApartmentAssociation.org | PO Box 2502 | Loves Park IL 61132

raa Service Directory

We, the members of the RAA, recognizing our duty to the public and the intimate nature of the relationship between the apartment resident and the owner, or manager, and being aware of the vastly increasing role of the apartment industry in providing the home of the future, and in order to provide the apartment-residing public with the maxi-mum in quality and service upon the highest standards of honest and integrity, do hereby bind ourselves, with each and every member, together a snd alone, agreeing that, so long as we remain members of the RAA and so long as nothing contained herein shall be unlawful, we shall:

1. Promote, employ and maintain a high standard of integ-rity in the performance of all rental obligations and ser-vices in the operation of our apartment communities.

2. Maintain and operate our apartment communities in accordance with fair and honorable standards of com-petition, ever mindful of the purposes of the Rockford Apartment Association and in compliance with the by-laws thereof.

3. Strive continually to promote the education and fra-ternity of the membership and to promote the prog-ress and dignity of the apartment industry in creating a better image of itself in order that the public may be better served.

4. Seek to provide better values, so that an even greater share of the public may enjoy the many benefits of apartment living.

5. Establish high ethical standards of conduct within the apartment industry in the business relationship be-tween the owner, managers and suppliers of products and services to the apartment industry.

6. Maintain property standards of the appropriate gov-ernmental authority.

7. Ensure that every qualified individual, regardless of that individual’s race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status or national origin is afforded the same opportunity to rent an apartment and enjoy the ben-efits of apartment living.

Financial statement available upon request to members in good standing.

The content and opinions expressed in the RAA newslet-ter do not necessarily reflect the views of, nor are they necessarily endorsed by, the Rockford Apartment Asso-ciation or its board.

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Coin Appliances Inc. 800-242-5453Geoffrey Erdman, [email protected] www.coinappliances.com

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Ken Becker Realtors 815-399-8000

Nicholson Hardware 815-963-4821

Northern IL Sewer Service, Inc. 815-229-1174

The Rock River Times 815-964-9767

Rockford Area Renter’s Guide 815-964-6700

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President Paul Arena 815-243-2924

Vice President Tim Hoffman 815 988-4004 Secretary Ken Opperman 815-248-4248

Treasurer Mike Cavataio 815-397-3320

Nominating Com. Ken Becker 815-399-8000

Vendor Relations/Advertising Karl Fauerbach 815-877-6077

Jim Merrick 815-222-7423

Bus. Forms Ken Hagemeyer 815-519-5583

Membership Vince Miosi 815-877-3272

Programs Director Karl Fauerbach 815-877-6077

Rick Davis 815-690-5288

Marketing/Public Relations Rick Davis 815-690-5288

Mary O’Sullivan-Snyder 815-988-2755

IRPOA Rep Paul Arena 815-243-2924

Greg Osen 815-601-8008

Web Site / Events Steve Lantow 815-633-9967

*Legal Counsel (Board Advisor) Tom Wartowski 815 978-1572

Rockford Apartment Association Code of Ethics

PO Box 2502 Loves Park, IL 61132

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in advance to be sure someone will be available to help you.

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1-815-398-8886

Terra Creek Apartments 375 Bienterra Trail 1-815-397-3320

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January MeetingTuesday, Jan. 17, at 7 P.M.

Prsrt StdU.S. Postage

PAIDRockford ILPermit No. 1

Guest SpeakerDana Esparza, Lead Program Manager, Winnebago County Health Department

Ja n u a r y Me e t i n g - Rockford Apartment Association · 2012-03-06 · Ja n u a r y Me e t i n g Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 7. P.M. Guest Speaker. Dana Esparza Lead Program Manager.

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