RHA Calendar of Events

by Jerry L’Ecuyer & Frank Alvarez

Dear Maintenance Men: My pest control company has removed a beehive from my property. However, the bees have not left and the tenants are complaining about bees inside their units. I have sealed every hole, crevasse and crack I can find. Yet, the bees still find a way of getting into the units. What is missing or are these bees just too smart? Bert

Dear Bert: We have had a similar problem at one of our properties. We also sealed everything we could think of and still the bees found a way in. You may want to look at your roof vents that service the bathroom & kitchen exhaust fans. The bees come down the vent and go into the voids between the ceiling and roof. Most fan boxes are not well sealed below the fan blades. Once they are in the ceiling, it is easy for them to travel to different units, find a hole and drop down into the apartment’s living area. Because the bees may be discovered in an area far from the original entry point, it is hard to track down where they first came in. We now install screening at all bath and kitchen exhaust vent tubes. The material used is 1/8 inch square metal screening and is attached to the top of the vent tube at the roof level. Be sure to extract the hive and any honey you find or you might not only continue to have a bee problem, but an ant problem also.

Dear Maintenance Men: The kitchen counter tops in my rental units are old and tired looking. I want to upgrade but I am confused about which counter top material will be best. Can you go over the pros and cons of some of the more popular counter top surfaces available? John

Dear John, We are lucky today to have so many choices of countertop materials available. The four most popular materials are plastic laminate, granite, engineered stone & ceramic tile.

Plastic laminate or better known as Formica Brand is still the most popular choice for apartment counter tops. This is because the choice in colors is almost unlimited and the ease of installation keeps the costs down. With proper care, plastic laminate will last for years; however, it can be easily scratched by knives or scorched by hot pots. Laminate counter tops can be easily installed by the average handyman, DYI person or contractor.

Granite counter tops in the apartment industry are very popular and with good reason. The cost of granite has come down to reasonable levels and the upgraded look of a granite countertop is substantial. They are very tough and are resistant to staining, scratching and scorching. Granite countertops will need to be professionally installed and sealed periodically.

Engineered stone countertops are almost as popular as granite, and are slightly more expensive than granite. Popular brands are DuPont & Silestone. Engineered stone countertops are composed of quartz particles and resins and the surface is smooth, non-porous, and scratch resistant. They require less Ceramic tile countertops have been around almost as long as plastic laminate. They can be installed by the average handyman, DYI person or contractor. They are heat & stain resistant. Ceramic tiles do need to have periodic maintenance to keep the grout lines clean and sanitary.

From a management and maintenance prospective, we are finding granite countertops to be the top choice. The price difference between laminate and granite are close enough to warrant upgrading to granite. If you intend to hold onto your investment for a long time, granite will more than pay for its self.

Dear Maintenance Men: I have a garbage disposal that is very loud. When it is running with water, it can be heard across the kitchen and into the living room. It runs perfect and I don’t really want to replace it. What can I do to sound proof the disposer? Kathleen

Dear Kathleen: You are in luck. There is a very simple solution. Every garbage disposal unit comes with a rubber drain deflector. When the deflector becomes old, the rubber hardens and stays open to the drain allowing spoons, forks and other items to fall into the drain, but more importantly, it allows sound to escape. Go to your local hardware store and buy a new rubber drain deflector. The disposal noise will almost disappear. Careful you do not forget to turn off the garbage disposal!

WE NEED Maintenance Questions!!! If you would like to see your maintenance question in the “Dear Maintenance Men:” column, please send in your questions to: DearMaintenanceMen@gmail.com

Bio: If you need maintenance work or consultation for your building or project, please feel free to contact us. We are available throughout Southern California. For an appointment please call Buffalo Maintenance, Inc. at 714 956-8371

Frank Alvarez is licensed contractor and the Operations Director and co-owner of Buffalo Maintenance, Inc. He has been involved with apartment maintenance & construction for over 30 years. Frankie is President of the Apartment Association of Orange County and a lecturer, educational instructor and Chair of the Education Committee of the AAOC. He is also Chairman of the Product Service Counsel. Frank can be reached at (714) 956-8371 Frankie@ BuffaloMaintenance.com For more info please go to: www. BuffaloMaintenance.com Jerry L’Ecuyer is a real estate broker. He is currently a Director Emeritus and Past President of the Apartment Association of Orange County and past Chairman of the association’s Education Committee. Jerry has been involved with apartments as a professional since 1988.

In this time of uncertainty and struggle, amid danger and misinformation, the last thing we should do is assume the worst about each other. Crises like the current pandemic inevitably divide people to some extent (and this one divides us physically from one another), but when we rigidly refuse to give the benefit of the doubt to those who aren’t like us, we make healing all the more difficult. In property management terms, I’m talking specifically about an Us vs. Them mentality between landlords and tenants.

Misconceptions

Let’s start with landlords and their misconceptions about tenants. I know how these misconceptions can form, because I’ve been guilty of them myself. COVID-19 brought about a halt to evictions, a measure to protect those whose ability to pay rent had been eliminated by the virus. And while the Mayor and the Governor sounded magnanimous announcing this in televised speeches, they glossed over the fact that neither the city nor the state had granted any rent forgiveness at all, meaning rent was still owed in full in the long term. We had already taken great precautions to ensure the safety of our tenants and worked to make sure those affected by the virus were accommodated, but in the wake of these announcements, I feared the worst. Along with some of the owners we represent, I thought scores of tenants who hadn’t lost income due to the virus would take advantage of the situation and refuse to pay rent. And although some tenants may be acting in bad faith, for the most part, we were incorrect. So far, tenants in the units we manage have paid their rent in much higher percentages than we expected, despite the seeming implication from local leaders that they could’ve gotten away with not doing so. The vast majority of tenants are hardworking and honest people who do what’s right; we shouldn’t cynically underestimate them, because that eventually leads to treating them unfairly. On the flipside, I’ve found that some tenants mischaracterize landlords as hyper-rich fat cats plotting to scam the inhabitants of their properties. Now, of course the financial standing of people who own property is typically higher than that of the people who rent it, but the vast majority of landlords we work with are by no means affluent.

Studies

An article from the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that, nationwide, business entities own 25.8 million rental units, and individual investors (commonly referred to as mom-and-pop’s) own 22.5 million. In our experience, these mom-and-pop operations often rely on their rental income to pay for everyday expenses and the upkeep of their property. A study by the National Apartment Association recently broke down what rents go toward on average: for each dollar of rent paid, 39 cents go toward paying the mortgage on the property, 27 cents go toward payroll expenses for employees who operate/maintain the property, 14 cents go toward property taxes, 10 cents go toward capital expenditures like roof and HVAC repairs, and 9 cents go to the owner.

It’s Not That Simple

To assume that landlords are financially invincible (or can withstand rent freezes or rent strikes) is to misunderstand the relationship between owner and renter. Have you made incorrect assumptions about the people on the opposite side from you? It’s important that both sides view one another as vital to the balance. Each should recognize that they depend on the other and the other depends on them. An intermediary like a professional property management company can significantly improve owner-tenant relations, because that’s their job. Ultimately, we should all choose to stop seeing it as “Us vs. Them,” because it’s not that simple.

David Crown is the C.E.O. of Los Angeles Property Management Group, and has over twenty-five years of experience managing all types of income properties. A hands-on leader who has managed properties in 16 states, Mr. Crown has been asked to serve as an expert witness in property management matters, and currently serves on the Forbes Real Estate Council. He can be reached directly at 323-433-5254. Permission to reprint: Reprinted with permission of the Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc. http://www.aoausa.com

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