Bell-Anderson and Associates, LLC, AMO

Wood debris recycling events set at Russell Road Park to help Kent residents with storm clean up

2012-02-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

If Mother Nature’s rampage during last week’s snow and ice storms left your yard with a pile of tree limbs and branches, free disposal is available! King County Executive Dow Constantine signed an Emergency Declaration making Kent eligible for the service.

Dumpsters will be available Saturday and Sunday, February 4 – 5 at Russell Road Park, 24400 Russell Road (across from the golf course), 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

According to Gina Hungerford, Kent’s Conservation Coordinator, workers will be on hand to assist in unloading the materials.

“To help speed up the process, we ask that participants please lay a tarp under the material for ease of removal”, Hungerford said.

This collection is only for wood debris. Stumps, logs and limbs no longer than six feet in length will be accepted.

The following will not be accepted: brush, leaves, grass clippings, sod or soil. People bringing wood debris are reminded to cover their loads. Road litter from unsecured loads is not only unattractive, it poses a serious hazard.

For more information on what to bring to the collection event, visit KentRecycles.com or call 253-856-5549.

Temperatures rising: Cleanup underway in Kent

2012-01-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michelle Wilmot, City of Kent, Community & Public Affairs
253-856-5709, mwilmot@KentWA.gov

KENT, Wash. – January 20, 2012 – With temperatures rising and rain falling, the city of Kent is shifting its focus to cleanup of downed trees and branches and clearing storm drains to prevent localized flooding.

Kent road crews are still working, and will continue working through the weekend, to clear roads of snow and ice, as well as downed trees and branches. Drivers are cautioned to be very careful as icy road conditions continue to exist within the city.
According to Public Works Director Tim LaPorte, residents are encouraged to clear storm drains of snow and debris to prevent and reduce flooding as the snow continues to melt.

“We’re asking residents and businesses to locate nearby storm drains in the street and — if it’s safe — to clear them of snow and debris. It’s the single most important thing people can do to protect their property and prevent standing water and creating traffic hazards,” LaPorte said.

In Kent, there are over 18,000 storm drains — far more than city crews can clear quickly.

Crews are also working to remove blocking trees/limbs from roadways. LaPorte reminded residents the city cannot address trees or branches on power lines. “We know Puget Sound Energy is working to the best of their ability to clear these, as well as restore power.” Roughly 25,000 residents are without electricity.

Residents aren’t alone in dealing with power outages. LaPorte said a dozen traffic signals are also out. “A signal without power becomes an all way stop.”

LaPorte also urged residents to be extremely cautious when entering Kent’s parks due to heavily damaged trees and equipment. “Any areas of parks and trails that are closed or barricaded are done so for safety purposes as we work towards clean-up and/or repair.”

Residents with trees or branches to dispose of can place them in their green Yard and Food Waste carts. They must be trimmed to less than 4 feet in length and not exceed 4 inches in diameter. “If you have more than your cart will hold, you may place them in cardboard boxes, paper or compostable bags, or tied in bundles less than 3 ½ feet in any dimension as long as it doesn’t exceed 60 pounds,” LaPorte said.

Residents with more limbs than will fit into Yard and Food Waste carts can save them for the next scheduled collection day, or dispose of them at the following locations, (fees may apply):

• Cedar Grove Composting in Maple Valley, 425-432-2395
• Rainier Wood Recyclers in Covington, 425-222-0008
• Pacific Topsoils in Tukwila 1-800-884-7645

Garbage, recycling, and food/yard waste that was not picked up this week will be picked up on the next regularly scheduled pickup day. Missed customers will be allowed to set out double their normal amount of garbage, recycling and yard waste at no additional charge. Learn more at www.AlliedWasteKent.com.

Kent’s Traffic Advisory page is at www.DriveKent.com and includes real-time information on road conditions.
Visit www.KentCommunityCalendar.com for updates on city meetings and events.

Does your condominium meet FHA standards for loan approval?

2012-01-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

By: Peter Squier - peter@texascondoapprovals.com
www.texascondoapprovals.com

The following is an overview of the most pertinent conditions FHA requires for condo approvals. Many of these requirements are similar for FNMA and the VA condo approvals. Some of these criteria may vary based on condo type.

Insurance Requirements – Property, liability, D&O, flood (if in flood plain) and crime insurance coverage is required. Property (hazard) insurance must have 100% replacement cost coverage. Directors and Officers liability coverage (D&O) should be in place. Fidelity Bond/Crime Insurance is required for any project with 20 or more units. The coverage level must be at least equal to the sum of 3 months of HOA dues income plus the aggregate amount in all reserve funds, and ideally the highest deductible amount on other other insurance policies. If the HOA uses a management company, the management company must have comparable levels of coverage and name the HOA as an obligee. Over half of our clients have to increase the amount of their crime policy coverage to become compliant.

Reserves – One of the most closely scrutinized conditions is the level of replacement reserve funding, particularly with older projects. First, the FHA requires the HOA's budget to have a separate line item for reserve contributions and that level be at least 10% of the gross revenues. A project over a year old should have a balance that reflects an annual 10% contribution--meaning a 5 year old project should have a balance equal to 5 years of contributions plus any other required reserves. The only alternative to this is to provide a reserve study meeting HUD's requirements that supports a lesser reserve amount. Ideally no matter the circumstance the FHA would like some type of analysis, such as a professionally prepared reserve study, that shows the appropriate amount of reserve funding and that the HOA has that amount in reserves. The FHA has been out right rejecting some applications with inadequate reserves, and requiring other HOAs to get a reserve study before reconsidering the application. Submitting a poorly constructed submission package may result in your HOA needing to commission a reserve study, which can cost thousands of dollars and take up to two additional months.

Owner-Occupancy – At least 50% of the units in a project must be owner-occupied (as opposed to rented). One of the documents to be submitted is a list of all rented units and the owners of those units. This criterion has sunk condo projects near colleges that have the majority of units rented to students.

Investor Ownership – No more than 10 percent of the units may be owned or controlled by one investor (through one or multiple entities). The unit an owner-occupier lives in is not counted as an investor owned unit. This 10% limit includes all rented and leased units that a developer/builder owns, including those acquired during a project acquisition. Unoccupied and unsold units owned by a builder/developer are not considered as investor owned and are not part of the 10% limit. Eligible non-profit and/or eligible government housing programs are not subject to the 10% ownership interest limitation. Units in rent regulated projects are not subject to the investor cap. In no event can the investor ownership exceed 49% of the total units at the time of approval.

Non-Residential and Commercial Space – No more than 25% of the total floor area can be used for non-residential or commercial purposes. Any non-residential or commercial portions must be of a compatible nature with residential use. Exception requests may be considered on a case by case basis by the HUD regional homeownership center. Non-residential exceptions will not be allowed above 35% of total floor space. This includes live / work projects. A project with a live/work unit where the living area is on the 2nd floor and the work area is directly underneath it would not be eligible because this unit would have over 50% non-residential floor space.

Delinquent HOA dues – No more than 15 percent of the total units can be in arrears, defined as 30 days past due, for their condo association fee payments. This amount does not include late payments for prior late fees, pool fees or other administrative expenses. The 15 percent includes all units, including vacant and bank owned units. Exceptions may be considered on a case by case basis, only under a HRAP submission, up to a 20% cap.

Financial Documents – HOA budgets, last year's and current month's financial statements, bank statements and potentially a reserve study may be required. Financials must show solvency, specific line items showing at least 10% of monthly dues going into reserves, and adequate funding to cover insurance payments and deductibles.

Special Assessments – FHA considers special assessments to be a potential flag indicating bigger problems and the underfunding of reserves. A signed and dated thorough explanation of the special assessment is required, and unsatisfactory explanations can result in a reserve study requirement in the best case and an application rejection in the worst case.

Litigation – Any current or pending legislation must be disclosed and the total potential exposure to the HOA must be fully explained. Routine items such as a mortgagee foreclosure do not have to be reported. The FHA will assess the risk the lawsuit presents to the overall health of the HOA and the marketability of the units, and will reject any sceanrios deemed risky.

Loan Concentration -- The FHA limits its risk in any one project by capping the number of loans it will insure to 50% of all units in the project. The current “concentration level” can be viewed on the HUD approved condo website at: https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm. It is possible to get an exception approved for up to a 100% concentration level for existing projects in good health. ACA can assist you with this request. Additionally, any FHA-to-FHA streamlined refinance transaction is always allowed.

Sales Restrictions – Any language in the condo legal documents that can be interpreted to either restrict one's ability to sell the unit or to violate the Fair Housing Act will result in a submission rejection. This includes restriction or discriminatory first rights of refusal, or even the restriction on the number of people in a bedroom. ACA's underwriting review will check on this and we will consult with you before submitting anything we believe may be result in a rejection.

Project Certification – Depending on the condo type and submission package, certain “certifications” need to be signed by an authorized representative, under penalty of law, attesting to the condo conditions and submission accuracy. Unlike several years ago, no attorney certification or letter is required.

Conversions -- Both gut-rehabs and non-gut rehab conversions have special rules and requirements which are too many to list here. However, one of the more restrictive requirements is for an independent reserve study to be performed and any items deemed to require replacement within five years must have the amount of replacement cost contributed into the reserve fund by the developer before any loan can be insured.

Severe Weather Shelter

2012-01-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

The City of Kent will be activating the Severe Weather Shelter (SWS) at Kent Lutheran Church the evenings of Sunday January 15th, Monday January 16th, and Tuesday January 17th due to dangerously low temperature predictions and snow.

Kent Lutheran Church
336 2nd Ave South
Kent, WA 98032-5849

9PM - check in and registration
7AM - shelter closes, all must vacate

Priority is given to homeless families with children who are living on the streets or in vehicles, but the SWS is also available for unoccompanied women and men; separate sleeping space has been prepared for men, women, and for families with children. The SWS will be operated by Catholic Community Services staff and volunteers from Kent Lutheran Church and the greater Kent community.
The Kent SWS will be open at 9PM Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. All must register at the door. As with all shelters, rules for the health and safety of clients, staff and the broader community will apply.

For more information please contact the City of Kent, Housing & Human Services office at 253-856-5070.

SAVE THE DATE: Board Training Seminar

2012-01-11T09:53:00.000-08:00

On March 20th, 2012, we will be hosting another board training seminar at the Kent Senior Center at 6:30pm. The seminar will be a mock board meeting and will discuss the roles and duties of board members. Anyone is welcome to join us! For more information, contact Janice at jmccurley@bell-anderson.net.

A Note from Vickie

2012-01-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

A post from Vickie taken from the "CaringBride" website:

Thank You to all our Family and Friends

I really didn't think that I would be posting much more to this site, but I got to thinking that I really had a whole heck of a lot of people that needed a personal "thank you" from me.

Everyday, either here at the office or when I get home and check my mail, there are cards and letters from people who were really effected by Tim's death and who also want to make sure that the girls and I are going to be ok. I can't tell you how heartwarming all of the cards and letters have been. It sure does make going home to an empty house a little bit easier to take.

Also, to those of you that have taken time to personally call me on a regular basis, I want to say "thanks" also. It's just nice to hear from those that are concerned about my well being.

I hope you had the opportunity to attend Tim's celebration. It was an absolutely wonderful event. Most of you who knew Tim well, knew that he wasn't one for big crowds or a lot of attention. Well, I think that he would have approved. To Gabe, Kasey, Debby, Mom, Doug, Ed, Gayle, Megen, Jennifer, Ray, Dan Marinelli, Jeff, Pam, Diane, and many many others who helped us out, I thank you so very much. I'm sorry if you were there and I didn't have the opportunity to talk to you. The night went so quickly. I was trying to speak with as many as possible but found out after the fact that there were people there who I hadn't talked to. Please except my sincere apologies.

All-in-all, as you know, our lives have been an absolute roller coaster these past 5 months. Dawn, Carrie and I want to make sure that all of you know just how special you are to us. Your help in getting us through everything has been immense. I really hope that we don't stop hearing from you. Give us a call or come by the office...you are forever welcome in our home and our hearts.

Vickie

We Love You Tim

2011-12-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

With very heavy hearts, we said goodbye to one of the co-owners of our company over the weekend. Tim was more than a boss, he was our family and good friend. We love you and miss you Tim:

On December 17, 2011, Tim Gaskill’s breath of life returned to the creator, Jehovah. Tim passed away peacefully in the home he and his wife, Vickie, built. It was 23 years to the day they had moved in. Tim was diagnosed with brain cancer this past July. Five months were too short a period of time to say good-bye and express our love and appreciation for this amazing husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend.

Tim was born August 8, 1947 in Seattle, WA to Gail and Bonnie Gaskill. Tim will be missed by his sister, Monica, and brothers, Guy and Todd and a very large hodgepodge of family and friends.

At the age of 21, Tim met the love of his life Vickie, while she was a car-hop at Hep’s XXX Drive-in. Tim and Vickie married and spent the next 42 years growing up, and raising a loving family. Tim worked for B & G Machine for 30 years and was lucky enough to retire in 1999 and become the on call babysitter for his 3 beautiful Grandkids. In 2002, Tim and Vickie purchased Bell-Anderson and Associates, a property management company in Kent, WA.

Some of Tim’s & Vickie’s favorite activities were fishing and camping with their daughters Dawn and Carrie, along with their husbands Ross and Scott and the grandkids, Braden, Cassie and Tanner. Tim also enjoyed showing off his hot rod at many car shows with his buddies from the Maple Valley Street Rat’s.

A celebration of Tim’s life will be held on December 30th from 5-9:30pm at the Lake Wilderness Lodge, 22500 SE 248th St, Maple Valley, WA. In lieu of flowers the family wishes that donations be made to the University of Washington Foundation/Brain Tumor Research Fund, Box 359504, Seattle WA, 98195-9504 or on-line at www.washington.edu/giving/make-a-gift and search for Brain Tumor research fund.

Holiday Home Safety Tips

2011-12-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

The winter holidays are a time for celebration, and that means more cooking, home decorating, entertaining, and an increased risk of fire and accidents. The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors recommends that you follow these guidelines to help make your holiday season safer and more enjoyable.

Holiday Lighting

Use caution with holiday decorations and, whenever possible, choose those made with flame-resistant, flame-retardant and non-combustible materials.
Keep candles away from decorations and other combustible materials, and do not use candles to decorate Christmas trees.
Carefully inspect new and previously used light strings, and replace damaged items before plugging lights in. If you have any questions about electrical safety, ask an InterNACHI inspector during your next scheduled inspection. Do not overload extension cords.
Don't mount lights in any way that can damage the cord's wire insulation. To hold lights in place, string them through hooks or insulated staples--don't use nails or tacks. Never pull or tug lights to remove them.
Keep children and pets away from light strings and electrical decorations.
Never use electric lights on a metallic tree. The tree can become charged with electricity from faulty lights, and a person touching a branch could be electrocuted.
Before using lights outdoors, check labels to be sure they have been certified for outdoor use.
Make sure all the bulbs work and that there are no frayed wires, broken sockets or loose connections.
Plug all outdoor electric decorations into circuits with ground-fault circuit interrupters to avoid potential shocks.
Turn off all lights when you go to bed or leave the house. The lights could short out and start a fire.

Decorations

Use only non-combustible and flame-resistant materials to trim a tree. Choose tinsel and artificial icicles of plastic and non-leaded metals.
Never use lighted candles on a tree or near other evergreens. Always use non-flammable holders, and place candles where they will not be knocked down.
In homes with small children, take special care to avoid decorations that are sharp and breakable, and keep trimmings with small removable parts out of the reach of children.
Avoid trimmings that resemble candy and food that may tempt a young child to put them in his mouth.

Holiday Entertaining

Provide plenty of large, deep ashtrays, and check them frequently. Cigarette butts can smolder in the trash and cause a fire, so completely douse cigarette butts with water before discarding.
Keep matches and lighters up high, out of sight and reach of children (preferably in a locked cabinet).
Test your smoke alarms, and let guests know what your fire escape plan is.

Trees

When purchasing an artificial tree, look for the label "fire-resistant."
When purchasing a live tree, check for freshness. A fresh tree is green, needles are hard to pull from branches, and when bent between your fingers, needles do not break.
When setting up a tree at home, place it away from fireplaces, radiators and portable heaters. Place the tree out of the way of traffic and do not block doorways.
Cut a few inches off the trunk of your tree to expose the fresh wood. This allows for better water absorption and will help to keep your tree from drying out and becoming a fire hazard.
Be sure to keep the stand filled with water, because heated rooms can dry live trees out rapidly.
Make sure the base is steady so the tree won't tip over easily.

Fireplaces

Before lighting any fire, remove all greens, boughs, papers and other decorations from fireplace area. Check to see that the flue is open.
Use care with "fire salts," which produce colored flames when thrown on wood fires. They contain heavy metals that can cause intense gastrointestinal irritation and vomiting if eaten.
Do not burn wrapping papers in the fireplace. A flash fire may result as wrappings ignite suddenly and burn intensely.

Toys and Ornaments

Purchase appropriate toys for the appropriate age. Some toys designed for older children might be dangerous for younger children.
Electric toys should be UL/FM approved.
Toys with sharp points, sharp edges, strings, cords, and parts small enough to be swallowed should not be given to small children.
Place older ornaments and decorations that might be painted with lead paint out of the reach of small children and pets.

Children and Pets

Poinsettias are known to be poisonous to humans and animals, so keep them well out of reach, or avoid having them.
Keep decorations at least 6 inches above the child’s reach.
Avoid using tinsel. It can fall on the floor and a curious child or pet may eat it. This can cause anything from mild distress to death.
Keep any ribbons on gifts and tree ornaments shorter than 7 inches. A child could wrap a longer strand of ribbon around their neck and choke.
Avoid mittens with strings for children. The string can get tangled around the child’s neck and cause them to choke. It is easier to replace a mitten than a child.
Watch children and pets around space heaters or the fireplace. Do not leave a child or pet unattended.
Store scissors and any sharp objects that you use to wrap presents out of your child’s reach.
Inspect wrapped gifts for small decorations, such as candy canes, gingerbread men, and mistletoe berries, all of which are choking hazards.

Security

Use your home burglar alarm system.
If you plan to travel for the holidays, don’t discuss your plans with strangers.
Have a trusted friend or neighbor to keep an eye on your home.

Source: http://www.nachi.org/holidaysafety.htm

Once ‘Ugly’ Property Management Grows as U.S. Home Rentals Surge

2011-11-29T13:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-29/once-ugly-property-management-grows-as-u-s-home-rentals-surge.html

By Hui-yong Yu

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Meg McKennon’s workload has surged since the Seattle real estate agent switched to managing residential properties. Now she gets paid for finding tenants instead of buyers -- an easier task as rentals soar.

“In the past two months, my business probably came close to tripling,” said McKennon, who started management company Dwellings Seattle Real Estate in 2010 after selling houses for 15 years.

When a couple moved out of a two-bedroom house managed by McKennon in August, before the lease was up, she increased the monthly rent by $200 to $1,900 -- and still had her pick of applicants. “I could have rented it 10 times over,” she said.

Just as the U.S. housing boom gave birth to such homebuyer websites as Zillow Inc. and Redfin Corp., services for rental properties are thriving following a surge in foreclosures and stiffening of mortgage standards. Membership in the National Association of Residential Property Managers has almost doubled in five years to a record 3,400 members, according to the Chesapeake, Virginia-based trade group.

“We are riding this sea change in how housing is changing in the U.S.,” said Reggie Brown, chief executive officer of All Property Management LLC, a Seattle-based Web service that sells property managers leads on homeowners who want to lease out their properties. “The only growth is rentals.”

Renter household formation surpassed new owner-occupied homes in 2007 for the first time since 1985 and has held the lead since, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. An average of 718,500 renter households a year were formed from 2007 to 2010, while owner-occupied households decreased at an average annual rate of 147,250 during the same period.

Even Seattle-based Zillow, known for its Zestimate home- price estimates, added rental listings almost two years ago.

‘Dramatic Shift’

“There has been a dramatic shift toward renting,” Chris Herbert, research director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said in a telephone interview.

Property managers for rentals handle such tasks as screening tenants, helping landlords set rents, resolving disputes and ensuring lawns get mowed. They charge homeowners about 8 percent to 14 percent of the monthly rent, depending on the manager and city.

“It used to be no one did property management,” said Alan Townsend, a San Diego real estate agent who has managed homes for the past 16 years. “It was the ugly part of the business.”

Lower Pay

While one home sale can earn a real estate agent $10,000 for two months’ work, property managers may make $1,800 per property per year, Townsend said.

“Real estate agents think we’re crazy -- except when they have no income,” he said. “Those agents are now flooding into the market.”

Property managers face a challenge in proving they are a benefit to homeowners, said Rob LeRoy, marketing director for Dwellings Seattle Real Estate.

“They are known to cut corners, have poor customer service and tend to create hostile relationships with tenants -- at least, that’s a common perception in the eyes of the public,” he said. “We’ve certainly done our best to prove that property management companies can behave ethically and professionally, yet still be profitable.”

More competition has driven down the average fee for property managers to about 8 percent of one month’s rent from 10 percent in the San Diego area, Townsend said.

Rentals Gain

At a time when many Americans are wary of buying a home or can’t qualify for a mortgage, rentals are gaining in cities that have relatively robust job growth, such as Seattle, or pools of transient workers, including Washington, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

In the greater Washington, D.C., area, about 70 percent of Reliance Property Management Group LLC’s 100-plus clients are homeowners who were transferred out of the area by their employers, said Angela Gammon, co-owner of the Leesburg, Virginia-based company.

“We’re in a very transitional area with government contractors -- military and so forth,” said Gammon, who used All Property Management to find clients when she got into the business in 2004.

U.S. apartment vacancies fell to a five-year low in the third quarter, enabling landlords to increase rents to an average effective rate of $1,004 a month from $997 in the second quarter and $981 a year earlier, according to Reis Inc., a New York-based real estate research company.

Attracting New Clients

“When rents go up, that gives people enough cash flow to hire professional management,” said Diane Castanes, a partner at Phillips Real Estate Services in Seattle, which manages about 140 apartment complexes as well as a portfolio of single-family homes and condominium associations. “Now with the rental market so strong, we are bringing in an increasing number of single- family investors as new clients.”

Handling the rental -- and re-rental -- of a home is often too much trouble for an owner, said Jay Young, co-founder of Real Property Associates, a management company in Seattle.

“There are a lot of hairy things,” he said. “You can have the best-screened tenant and who knows? Maybe they lose their job, or go nuts and skip out, or bring a dog when the owner doesn’t want that. I’d say 95 percent of the time things go smoothly, but there’s always that 5 percent that takes 20 or 30 percent of your time.”

Competition for clients has intensified to the point where many property managers are advertising their websites directly on search engines rather than paying to list on a site such as All Property Management’s, Brown said.

Here to Stay

Still, such services as All Property Management and RentList.com probably are here to stay as property management becomes more popular, said Michael E. Nelson, president of Excalibur Home Management LLC in the Atlanta suburb of Cumming. Nelson has used both services to find clients for Excalibur, which manages about 1,250 properties and is expanding throughout Georgia.

Nelson said he expects more rental properties to shift to professional management as regulations governing landlords become more complex. A 2008 rule, for example, requires renovations or repairs affecting lead-based paint in homes built before 1978 to be carried out by a contractor certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, he said.

Managed by Owners

It’s difficult to find precise figures for the percentage of U.S. rental housing that’s professionally managed. The Census Bureau surveyed rental-property owners and managers in 1995 and is working on a new rental survey that will be released toward the end of next year, said Richard A. Levy, a statistician at the agency.

Of about 8.8 million single-family rental homes in the U.S., including detached houses, condominiums and mobile homes, about 19 percent were professionally managed and about 78 percent managed by owners, with non-responses accounting for the remainder, according to the Census Bureau’s Property Owners and Managers Survey in 1995.

“I believe over the next 20 years that’s going to start shifting closer to 50-50,” Nelson said. “As the law becomes more difficult for individual landlords to navigate, they’re going to need to hire a professional property manager.”

It’s hard to make money overseeing single-family homes, said Tim Overland, chief operating officer of both Security Properties, a Seattle-based apartment developer and investor, and its management affiliate, Madrona Ridge Residential, which handles about 3,000 apartment units.

“It’s a very low margin business and a low barrier to entry business,” he said. “In order to make that business financially feasible, you’ve got to have quite a few units under management.”

Housing Crisis

Property management may have a role to play in fixing the housing crisis, said Brown of All Property Management.

In August, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, regulator of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sought ideas on handling foreclosed homes held by the government, which totaled 248,000 as of June -- almost one-third of the total U.S. foreclosed homes seized by lenders. Brown filed a suggestion with the FHFA that the homes be put up for rent with property managers hired to oversee them.

“If institutions were more thoughtful about how they manage their real estate portfolios, the market would recover faster,” Brown said. “We can be a clearinghouse to help them find skilled property managers.”

Housing probably won’t recover until 2015 as consumers and banks reduce their debt loads and the employment market recovers slowly, Brown said.

“What’s going to change is the percentage of U.S. households that are rental versus owner-occupied,” he said. “It’s now almost 40 percent, but that number is definitely going to grow.”

--Editors: Daniel Taub, Christine Maurus

To contact the reporter on this story: Hui-yong Yu in Seattle at hyu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net

Kent CODERed

2011-11-29T13:50:00.001-08:00

As nasty weather approaches, here is a friendly reminder to register with the City of Kent's CODERed program if you would like to be notified by your local emergency response team in the event of emergency situations or critical community alerts. For more information, visit: https://cne.coderedweb.com/Default.aspx?groupid=mVFKb0hY42JF%2fX8guYN%2bFw%3d%3d

We hope you have a very safe and happy holiday season!

Thanksgiving Closure

2011-11-21T13:27:00.001-08:00

Bell-Anderson will be closed on Thursday and Friday the 24th and 25th for the Thanksgiving holiday. We hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend. We are thankful for all our clients and the opportunity to work with you!

Rental Listing Videos

2011-11-03T12:02:00.001-07:00

In order to provide more value to our clients, we will be creating listing videos for our rental listings. Here are a few we made so far!

http://www.youtube.com/user/BellAndersonPM

Happy Bosses Day!!

2011-10-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we celebrated Bosses Day! Our fearless leader, Vickie, was out of town for the actual day, so we celebrated a little late! We are so thankful for Vickie & Tim, and our office manager Jennifer. Vickie is a great example of gracefulness under pressure, and Jen keeps things running really smoothly. Thanks guys!

King County Special Recycling Collection Event - Fall 2011

2011-10-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday, October 22, 2011

Hours: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Location: Auburn Riverside High School 501 Oravetz Road SE

Details: Recycling Collection Event for King County residents (single-family, duplex, apartments and mobile home parks). For complete details on restrictions and materials accepted at this event, view the event flier (PDF).

In addition to this Recycling Collection Event, many items may be disposed or recycled at other locations throughout King County. For more information, visit the "What do I do with..." site or call the King County Recycling and Composting Information Line at 206-296-4466.

Restrictions: Certain household hazardous wastes that are not accepted at this event may be safely disposed through King County's Wastemobile program. View the Wastemobile schedule online or call the Hazards Line at 206-296-4692 for a list of locations. List of what is accepted.

Contact information: King County Solid Waste, 206-296-4466 or 1-80-325-6165 ext.6-4466 TTY Relay 711. Alternative formats on request.

Bag Your Bags, Bring 'Em Back Campaign

The best way to recycle your plastic bags and film is to bring them back to the grocery store. Just stuff them into a single plastic bag, tie it up, and drop it into a plastic bag collection container found at participating retail partners. See the King County website for more information.

Find it in Kent Expo

2011-10-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Find it in Kent Expo! Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hi!

Tacoma Concert Band

2011-10-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

This coming Sunday, our Condo A/R Bookkeeper, Stefanie Octave, will be performing in the Tacoma Concert Band's show at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma. The show is at 2:30 and will feature music from "The Phantom of the Opera" & a "West Side Story" medley and many more fun pieces. You can find more information and purchase tickets at http://www.tacomaconcertband.org/.

Break a leg Stef!

Howard Hanson Dam has been repaired…

2011-10-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

…and functioning at or better than before the damage sustained over two years ago!

Next for Kent will be the planning, funding and contracting to remove the giant sand bags from the levee. Because we are entering the rainy season, we are unable to remove the sandbags because of the damage that would be done to the levee and trail, so they will remain for one more winter. We expect that next spring the sand bags will be removed and the trail repaired.

Work continues on levee certification. In spite of the sandbags being removed without levee certification, we will continue to have impacts on flood insurance and onerous development requirements in the Valley.

From the October 3rd City of Kent - SceneeNewsletter

Kent Council Approves Sale of City Center property to Goodman Real Estate, Inc.

2011-09-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Unfinished parking garage to be demolished; apartments, retail and public parking planned

Kent, Wash. – September 21, 2011 – Revitalization of Kent’s downtown moved a step closer Tuesday night when the Kent City Council approved a lease/option agreement for its City Center property to Goodman Real Estate Inc. of Seattle.

Goodman, and its architect Studio Meng Strazzara, plan to construct a five story, mixed-use development consisting of approximately 164 urban style apartments with 3,700 square feet of retail space and 35 public parking spaces in addition to the parking set aside for residents.

The existing footprint of the city’s Town Square Plaza park will remain unchanged.

“This is forward progress towards our goal for the area,” said Council President Pro Tem Debbie Ranniger. “I can confidently say the community will be thrilled to see that eyesore removed. I am very hopeful that, with Goodman’s help, we will not only see a beautiful new building in its place, but also new and vibrant activity downtown that will benefit our community overall.”

Goodman Real Estate was selected as the preferred developer of the site following a competitive process and review by panel including Mayor Suzette Cooke, members of the City Council, a representative of the Kent Downtown Partnership and city staff.

“We have waited a long time for resolution on this key property in our downtown,” said Kurt Hanson, Kent’s Economic Development Manager. “The city’s first priority was to find a quality developer who is well capitalized and has a proven track record.”

According to Mike Miller, Kent Downtown Partnership Board member and Senior Vice President of Valley Bank, Goodman is a financially strong and successful developer. “The downtown community will benefit from this new and exciting project.”

Lease/Option Detailed
The two year lease provides Goodman Real Estate an option to purchase the City Center property at any time during the term of the lease. For consideration of the lease, Goodman will demolish the existing parking structure and pay $100,000 to the city. Upon exercising its option to purchase, Goodman will pay the city an additional $802,000 in two installments; the first being approximately $540,000 at closing and the balance, which is contingent upon project success, would be paid at a point after the project is built and fully leased.

Brad Reisinger from Goodman Real Estate explained the two-year lease option to the Council. “We understand demolition of the existing parking garage is a major priority for the city. The lease option structure allows us to take control of the site immediately and complete demolition this fall. Under a more traditional purchase and sale agreement, there would be an extended period until we closed on the real estate, thus delaying the start of demolition until after we had completed design, obtained permits and were ready to start construction.”

No downside for city
“Working with the Goodman team on the City Center project gives us the best opportunity to achieve what was originally envisioned for the redevelopment of the municipal lot block,” said Hanson. “With Town Square Plaza park complete, having an urban, mixed use development next door will strengthen the link between Kent Station and historic downtown. This much needed residential development will enliven the area and provide our downtown merchants with regular customers that don’t exist today.”

“Having the abandoned, partially built garage stand as an eyesore for so long has been tough for our local businesses and an impediment to recruiting new investment downtown. With this deal we are guaranteed that this eyesore will be removed quickly,” Hanson said.

Originally slated to be a 355-stall parking garage for a hotel, condominiums and retail space, work on the project stopped in May 2007 when the prior developer’s lender terminated the construction loan. After which, the property had been entangled in legal battles.

The city regained control of the property through foreclosure last October.

Further details about the site and proposed project can be found at www.KentCityCenter.com or by calling 253-856-5706.

Find it in Kent Expo

2011-09-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Bell-Anderson will be hosting a booth at the "Find it in Kent Expo" on September 28th from 3-7pm. Admission is free to the public and there will also be a "Taste of Kent" event from 5-7pm. Be sure to stop by and say hi! You can find more information on the event by clicking here.

Extended Family Appreciation Day

2011-09-14T12:06:00.001-07:00

One thing that makes our company unique is that we can really say "Our Family Serving Yours" because 7 out of 15 of us are related! On Tuesday, we took some time to appreciate the rest of the staff whom are not related, but are just as important to the success of our company. Our family has experienced a few bumps in the road over the past years, but you wouldn't know it from the way that our fabulous staff keeps things going! Thank you to our extended family from the bottom of our hearts! You are so appreciated!

Community Association Banking Introduces New Payment System

2011-09-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Effective today, we introduced a new HOA payment system. When users visit our website, they can take advantage of many new payment features including:

• The option to schedule payments on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
• The ability to manage payment and property information through their personal homeowner profile.
• Access to transactions for up to 13 months when the homeowner creates a user profile.
• Real time credit card payments (subject to processing fees).

Reminder: Those of you with hyperlinks or coded access to our previous payment service will need to update your information. Please contact us for additional information.

View Our Enhanced Site Today: NEW CAB Online Payments Website

Questions or Comments: Clients of Community Association Banking, please contact your HOA Relationship Manager if you have any questions or comments regarding the new online payment system.

Homeowners can contact Community Association Banking Customer Service at 1(866) 800-4656 or email us at HOA@cabanc.com.

FREE Community Event at Valley Harvest

2011-08-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Free Webinar for Community Associations

2011-08-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Collecting Judgments from Seriously Delinquent Owners in Small Claims Court - August 31, 2011 at 10am
Presented by Condominium Law Group, PLLC

Taking a delinquent homeowner to Small Claims Court can be daunting for those who have never experienced it. Join an association board president and an attorney as they walk you through the process of taking a delinquent homeowner to Small Claims Court. Presented by Theresa Torgesen, Condominium Law Group PLLC and Tom Files, Association Board President

Go to https://condolaw.webex.com/condolaw/k2/j.php?ED=156298682&UID=1196860987&HMAC=c544e18391a42fb308e9dcfded4cdb0c16a5f089&RT=MiM0&FM=1 and register.

Once you register for the webinars, you will receive another email confirming your registration. Be sure and keep that email as you will need it to sign into the webinar. If you have questions about registering for this webinar or joining the webinar session on the day of the event, please contact WebEx Technical Support at 866-229-3239.

Your colleagues, boards and homeowners are welcome to participate in our Wednesday webinars. If you can’t participate in our webinars, we always record them for playback later. Just go to www.condolaw.net and click on the Webinar page to view and listen to all of our recorded webinars.

2011-08-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of celebrating Tuesday's National Night Out with a few of our community associations and apartment communities. Thank you all for allowing us to partner with you to make our communities great places to live. Here are a few pictures from the festivities:

Community Association Manager Jenise Doty visited Promenade North in Kent as did a few of the area Police officers!

Maintenance Coordinator Maria Garcia visited Evergreen Park Apartments, who had appearances by both a Waste Management truck and their mascot, and an officer with Auburn PD.

Community Manager Ken Allen and his wife, Irene, at Bell-Anderson's table at Maple Woods' event. The kids were thrilled when a fire truck from Maple Valley FD showed up!

National Night Out

2011-08-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

National Night Out is tomorrow night, August 2nd! We are looking forward to visiting with Maple Woods in Maple Lane. If you are hosting an event in your community, we would love it if you shared your photos! You can e-mail them to us at info@bell-anderson.net. Have fun!

Kent Cornucopia Days 2011

2011-07-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a schedule of events happening this weekend at Kent's Cornucopia Festival:

July 7-10 Funtastic Shows Carnival
July 7-10 Cornucopia Cup Soccer Tournament
July 8-10 Street Fair (Kent Lions / Wayne Hobbs & Irv Hamilton Street Fair)
July 8-10 Lions Health Fair, Safety Fair, Educational Displays, Art Show, Entertainment
July 9 Kent Cornucopia Dragon Boat Races
July 9 Kent Cornucopia 5K Fun Run / Walk
July 9 Cornucopia Inline Skate & Skateboard Tournament
July 9 Jaguar Football "Cornucopia Bowl VI" - CNX for 2011
July 10 Kent Cornucopia Grand Parade
July 10 Children's Bike Ride

Here is a link for the event site for more information: http://www.kcdays.com/

Letter from the Mayor of Kent & the Kent Cornucopia Days Director

It is our pleasure to welcome you to Kent and the 39th annual Kent Cornucopia Day's celebration held July 8 -11 with a multitude of activities, entertainment, and fun for the whole family.

South King County’s oldest and largest festival features a full size carnival and street fair with a wonderful array of 600 booths offering a variety of items, including magnificent smells from over 35 food booths to tempt the palate, and entertainment to capture your attention. Join us Sunday, July 11 downtown for South King County’s largest parade – nearly 100 entries. With such a delightful assortment of activities, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

The beautiful 10th annual "Cornucopia Dragon Boat Races" will be held on July 10 at Lake Meridian Park. The Kent Youth Soccer Association will also host the "Cornucopia Cup" and will have over 150 teams this year! The 14th annual Kent Cornucopia Days Skateboard Tournament will be held on July 10th benefiting the Lions “Camp Leo” for diabetic kids. And new this year is a 25 & 60 mile Bike Ride on July 10th along with a Kids Pre-Parade Bike Ride on July 11th by the Emerald City Lights Bike Ride Organization.

The Kent Lions produces Kent Cornucopia Days each year. Members and their dedicated volunteers have devoted thousands of hours to planning and organizing this festival. They work hard to produce a successful event that appeals to all ages, groups and interests. The City’s Parks Department will again be actively involved organizing the 5K Fun Run / Walk. We hope you will join us in acknowledging all the work they do to bring such a successful occasion to Kent year after year.

We are happy to have you join us in celebrating Kent Cornucopia Days. The volunteers thank you for supporting over 250 non-profit and charitable groups who depend on this great family festival. Come back to Kent and enjoy our community and local businesses long after Kent Cornucopia Days are over. Enjoy the summer!

Suzette Cooke
Mayor City of Kent

Bill Westcott
Volunteer Festival Director, Kent Cornucopia Days
Kent Lions & Foundation

4th of July Fireworks

2011-07-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of cities in the area and whether fireworks are allowed:

We hope everyone has a very safe and happy 4th of July!

City	Fireworks discharge regulations
Auburn	4th of July only
Bellevue	Banned
Black Diamond	4th of July only
Bothell	4th of July only
Burien	Banned
Carnation	Banned
Clyde Hill	Banned
Covington	4th of July only
Des Moines	Banned
Duvall	4th of July only
Enumclaw	4th of July only
Federal Way	Banned
Hunts Point	Banned
Issaquah	Banned
Kenmore	Banned
Kent	4th of July only
Kirkland	Banned
Lake Forest Park	Banned
Maple Valley	4th of July only
Medina	Banned
Mercer Island	4th of July only
Newcastle	Banned
Normandy Park	June 28 to July 4
North Bend	4th of July only
Pacific	4th of July only
Redmond	Banned
Renton	Banned
Sammamish	Banned
SeaTac	Banned
Seattle	Banned
Shoreline	Banned
Skykomish	4th of July only
Snoqualmie	4th of July only
Tukwila	Banned
Woodinville	Banned
Yarrow Point	Banned

Eight Manufacturers Recall Pool and In-Ground Spa Drain Covers Due to Incorrect Ratings

2011-06-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

This information was sent to us by Community Associations Underwriters and applies to drain covers installed after 2008 in in-ground spas, wading (kiddie) pools, or pools with only one drain that is not a long channel drain.

Covers Pose Possible Entrapment Hazard to Swimmers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firms named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer products. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Pool and spa drain covers

Units: About 1 million

Hazard: The recalled drain covers were incorrectly rated to handle the flow of water through the cover, which could pose a possible entrapment hazard to swimmers and bathers.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported

Description: The recall involves various pool and spa drain covers that can be identified by the manufacturers' name and model information listed below.

Company	Model Information (websites)	Dates Sold	Remedy
A&A	www.aamfg.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit
AquaStar	www.aquastarpoolproducts.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr.2011	Replacement or Retrofit
Color Match	www.poolfittings.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit
Custom Molded Products	www.c-m-p.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit
Hayward Pool Products	www.hayward-pool.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit
Pentair Water Pool & Spa	www.pentairpool.com	June 2009 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit
Rising Dragon	www.risingdragonplastics.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit
Waterway	www.waterwayplastics.com	Dec. 2008 - Apr. 2011	Replacement or Retrofit

Sold through: Independent distributors to professional pool and spa builders and installers.

Manufactured in: United States and China

Remedy: Pool owners/operators and consumers who have one of the recalled pool or spa drain covers should immediately contact the manufacturer to receive a replacement or retrofit, depending on their make and model. Except for kiddie pools, wading pools and in-ground spas, retrofit or replacement of installed covers are not required in pools with multiple drain systems or gravity drainage systems or for covers installed before December 19, 2008.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, consumers should contact the Drain Cover Recall Hotline toll-free at (866) 478-3521 any time, or visit the Drain Cover Recall website at www.apsp.org/draincoverrecall. Consumers with drain covers from Waterway Plastics should contact the firm toll-free at (866) 719-6044 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, or visit the manufacturer's web site at www.waterwayplastics.com

City of Auburn - Free Meals This Summer for Youth

2011-06-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Community Partners,

This message comes to you from the City of Auburn Community Services Division in efforts to assist Auburn youth this summer. Do you know a young person (a neighbor, a friend or client) who could use a hand getting a free breakfast or lunch during the summer months? We’re asking for your assistance in getting the word out.

Attached is a schedule in both English and Spanish of locations and times these meals will be offered. Meals are provided to youth ages 1-18 at no charge through the USDA in partnership with the Auburn School District.

The Auburn School District’s Summer Lunch Program has been posted to the City’s website with the full schedule and also has links to the English and Spanish flyers.

http://www.auburnwa.gov/government/news/2011news/Auburn_School_District_Free_Summer_Lunch_Program_Schedule_Announced.asp

We appreciate your support and partnership. Have a fun safe summer.

Thank you,

Duanna Richards
Neighborhood Programs Manager
City of Auburn
25 West Main Street
Auburn WA 98001-4998
(253) 931-3099 = phone
(253) 288-3132 = fax

Go Mt. Rainier 11-U All-Stars!

2011-06-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Bell-Anderson is a proud sponsor of the Mt. Rainier 11-U All-Star baseball team!

Kent Special Recycling Event

2011-06-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

When: June 11, 2011, 9:00am-3:00pm
Where: Kent Phoenix Academy Parking Lot, 11000 SE 264th, Kent

Bring items you can't easily recycle at the curb, including bulky yard debris, concrete, rock and brick, appliances, reusable household goods, confidential material to shred, and limited electronics (no TVs, computers, monitors, laptops-take these to the Goodwill Store on 102nd for FREE recycling any time).

Also at this event, purchase a Composter or Rainbarrel, while supplies last. These units have been so popular in the past and demand for them so great, that we’ve decided to offer them again. Make your own compost to enrich garden soils and catch rainwater to water your plants – and save $ too!

For more information or to download the flyer, visit: http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/recycling/

Relay for Life

2011-06-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

Ken Allen, Community Association Manager, is at the top of the brochure for this year's Relay for Life at Renton Memorial Stadium! The relay is taking place this weekend (June 10th and 11th) from noon on Friday to 6pm on Saturday. The public is invited to come cheer the walkers on, and cancer survivors are encouraged to take the initial lap on Friday. Good luck Ken and Irene!

Another Successful Board Training Event

2011-06-08T12:11:00.001-07:00

If you weren’t able to make our training seminar last night, you really missed out! It was sponsored by Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Renton and the Speakers were Kent and Keith with CBI Consulting.

We learned about the importance of getting very specific bid specifications, the necessity for proper inspections and maintenance plans. Who knew that a five dollar price difference on a gallon of paint could affect the life of the painting for more than 5 years?! We, as property managers, are here to guide our boards and give them the best of the best in terms of vendors. These guys are the best! They have been in business for over 30 years, are certified on all levels, use the most up to date equipment, and know what they are doing. If you have any questions or would like more information about the presentation, please contact your property manager.

Also, thank you to Jennifer with Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Renton for providing such great refreshments! Mr. Rooter is also one of our preferred vendors and they don’t charge extra for after-hours emergencies.

Thank you to all the board members who were able to make it to our seminar. We appreciate your involvement.

Troubled Home Market Creates Generation of Renters

2011-05-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110524/ap_on_bi_ge/us_the_new_renters
By DEREK KRAVITZ AP Real Estate Writer
WASHINGTON May 24, 2011 (AP)

A growing number of Americans can't afford a home or don't want to own one, a trend that's spawning a generation of renters and a rise in apartment construction.

Many of the new renters are former owners who lost homes to foreclosure or bankruptcy. For others who could afford one, a home now feels too costly, too risky or unlikely to appreciate enough to make it a worthwhile investment.

The proportion of U.S. households that own homes is at its lowest point since 1998. When the housing bubble burst four years ago, 31.6 percent of households were renters. Now, it's at 33.6 percent and rising. Since the housing meltdown, nearly 3 million households have become renters. At least 3 million more are expected by 2015, according to census data analyzed by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies and The Associated Press.

All told, nearly 38 million households are renters.

Among the signs of a rising rental market:
— The pace of apartment construction has surged 115 percent from its October 2009 low. It's still well below a healthy level. But permits for apartments, a gauge of future construction, hit a two-year peak in March. By contrast, permits for single-family home are on pace for their lowest annual level on records dating to 1960.
— The number of completed apartments averaged about 250,000 a year before the boom. They fell to 54,000 last year and will probably number around the same this year. But then the number will likely double to about 100,000 in 2012 and hit 250,000 by 2013 or 2014, according to the CoStar Group, a research firm. The lag is due to the time it takes for an apartment building to be completed: an average of 14 months.
— Demand is driving up rents. The median price of advertised rents rose 4.1 percent between the end of 2009 and the end of 2010, census data shows. Few expect the higher prices to stem the flood of renters, though. One reason: Younger adults don't value homeownership as earlier generations did and many prefer to rent, studies show.
— Rental housing is giving builders more work just as construction of single-family homes has dried up. Still, that economic lift won't make up for all the single-family houses not being built. Apartments account for only about one-fourth of homes. And renters are outspent roughly 2-to-1 by homeowners, who pay for items from lawn care to remodeling and help drive the economy.

Before the housing bust, mortgage rates were so low it was often cheaper to buy than rent. That was true a decade ago in more than half the 54 biggest metro areas, according to Moody's Analytics. Today, by contrast, it's cheaper to rent in about 72 percent of metro areas.

Consider Mason Hamilton, 26, an energy consultant who rents an apartment with his wife for $1,100 a month in Alexandria, Va., outside Washington. He'd like something bigger. But he says he doesn't plan to buy even though he could afford to.

"My parents always told me, 'You need to buy a place; you need to buy property,'" he says. "But the housing market is insane."

Many younger Americans see owning as risky. It hardly seems the best way to build wealth, especially when prices are falling.

"There's been this idea for years, a part of the American dream, that owning a home improves and strengthens communities," said John McIlwain, a senior fellow at the nonprofit Urban Land Institute. "But what we've learned over the past few years is that many people simply are not ready to own a home."

From the 1940s until 2007, homes appreciated an average of nearly 5 percent a year, adjusted for inflation. In the past four years, the median price of a single-family home has sunk 37 percent, by $57,500, to its lowest since 2002. Yet in some areas, owning is still too expensive for many.

"It's becoming so difficult for most Americans to afford a home, with larger down payments and tighter credit, that it is creating a renter's nation," says Robert Shiller, a Yale economist and co-creator of the Case-Shiller home price index. "The home is no longer an investment; it's a burden."

Homeownership bestows its own financial advantages, of course. Each loan payment builds equity. Loan interest and property taxes provide tax deductions. And in normal housing markets, home values rise over time.

But for now, renting is more attractive. Hamilton, the energy consultant, says his father, a 58-year-old teacher in Richmond, Va., still owes nearly as much on his mortgage as his house is worth.

"He's stuck in that house," Hamilton says. "After telling me to buy for all of those years, he'd love to rent like me."

Office Closures

2011-05-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Just a friendly reminder that our office will be closed next Monday the 30th of May for Memorial Day, and then again on Wednesday, June 1st for our annual company retreat. Thank you in advance for your patience!

Reminder: Sign up now for the board training event!

2011-05-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

Bell-Anderson and Associates, LLC®, AMO® Presents:

“CBI CONSULTING & CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT”

Tuesday, June 7, 2011
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Kent Senior Center
600 E. Smith St in Kent

This informational seminar will be very beneficial for your association. CBI is a leading expert in the operational maintenance and repair of building structures. Topics that will be covered include, What to look for and how to conduct site inspections, Preventative Maintenance Plans, the power in having current up-to-date Reserve Studies, and Assistance in writing a Scope of Work in preparation for bidding and then learning how to evaluate bids when they come in.

Snacks and beverages will be provided.

As always, it is our intent to have your most important questions and concerns addressed at this seminar.

Due to limited seating, please R.S.V.P. to your Property Manager by:
Friday, June 3, 2011.

See you there!

Free Sounders Game?

2011-05-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

There will be a free Sounders Reserve League game at the Starfire sports complex in Tukwila this Sunday. You can find more information here:

http://www.soundersfc.com/Matchday/Reserve-Schedule.aspx

Maintenance Coordinator Maria Garcia's stepson Lamar Neagle will be playing in the game. Go Sounders!

Royal Tea Party

2011-05-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

You can view the pictures of our Royal Wedding Tea Party (including the lovely hats and Ken's hilarious costume) by visiting our facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150175323428462.310534.92113323461

Support Ben's Buddies in their fight against CF!

2011-05-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, David Batchelder with Davids Roof Cleaning and Repair, along with his family and friends will be participating in the Great Strides Walk in Gig Harbor to support Cystic Fibrosis research. This event is personal to David's family as his three year old lives with the disease. How can you help? Here are two great ways:

1) Buy a raffle ticket. Jenise Doty, community association manager and quilter extraordinaire hand-made this GORGEOUS quilt. Raffle tickets are available at our office (10615 SE 256th St Suite 201 in Kent) for $1 each and the proceeds go to support CF research. Here's something that David wrote to us when he picked up the quilt: "We are all deeply touched by the quilt that Jenise has created and donated to our cause. I could write a 4 page essay on CF and how it affects any family that has a loved one born with this disease. I was thinking about this yesterday afternoon as I left your office. This beautiful quilt, my beautiful 3 year old son, the very real hope we have for finding a cure, and the amazing kindness and grace demonstrated by so many people we encounter on a regular basis. I am very grateful to Jenise, and all of you at Bell Anderson who are helping us this year."

2) Go out to dinner. On Tuesday May 10th from 4-8pm, Joseppi's Restaurant in Tacoma will be donating 25% of the proceeds to CF research. Below is the flyer for more information. Raffle tickets will also be available at the dinner event!

Thanks for your support!

Reminders from City of Kent

2011-04-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Sara Wood with the City of Kent for these important reminders!

"We are hearing more and more instances of random people knocking on doors’ of homes during daylight hours. When the resident answers, these individuals ask a random or strange question or make some sort of excuse as to why they are at the door. This behavior is typical of “casing” homes to burglarize and these individuals are looking to see if anyone is home or not. Please report this by calling 911 and if you have a Block Watch, notify your neighbors of incidents that occur. If you happen to identify a car they are associated with, please report that and include the license plate number!

The weather is getting warmer and I just have to do my usual reminder about left open doors and windows. If you have your windows and doors open and they are not in line of sight of where you are, or you leave your house, or you go to bed, please double check that windows and doors have been locked. We start to see residential burglars gain access to homes by a left open window or door around this time of year when the sun actually decides to make an appearance."

Save the Date for June Board Training!

2011-04-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

Congrats Janice!

2011-04-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday, Janice McCurley, our Condo/HOA Support Superstar celebrated her 5th anniversary of being cancer-free! Congrats Janice! You are a fighter and an inspiration to all of us!

Awesome Community Association Website

2011-03-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

We thought that this website put together by Maple Woods Community Association out in Maple Valley was really noteworthy. It has all of the information that a homeowner could possibly need and we especially love the "Contact our Property Manager" page that elaborates on the property manager's role. The newsletters are beautiful as well! Congrats to Maple Woods on a job VERY well done!

http://maplewoodscommunity.com

Is Renting the New American Dream?

2011-03-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a very interesting interview with Suze Orman who says that in the wake of the real estate crisis, renting may be the new American dream:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041440/ns/today-money#41965570

9 Ways to Become a Better Board Member Today

2011-03-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

by Jean S. Frankel

Educate yourself on both your industry and your association. Too many board members don't even know all the programs and services their association offers.
Do you homework before meeting. Read the background materials, understand the issues to be discussed and take part in on-line pre-meeting discussions. (Board leaders should also make certain they understand the decisions that need to be made. If you are to lead the dialogue in a decision-making process, you must be clear on what the board actually needs to decide on.)
Be an engaged listener. Don’t plan what you're going to say while someone else is speaking; actually listen to what people are saying. Ask questions so you understand all views.
Have an open mind. Don’t solidify your opinions before you hear the views of your peers. Be open to all possibilities and don’t tune out what you don’t agree with.
Learn and use facilitation skills. Use open-ended questions, rephrasing and other skills to help to draw out ideas. This is very important for all board members, but essential for board leaders. In fact, I believe facilitation is the most underrated board leadership skill of all. Leadership is not just about running the board meeting according to the agenda; it’s about promoting full and rich dialogue, encouraging all board members to contribute, and ensuring that you get the best out of the board as a team.
Respect the board’s time. No me toos or trying to restate what the last three people said, just to go on record as having said it. Don’t ask questions that could have been answered by reading the background materials. Don’t engage in side conversations or other disruptive behavior. (Board leaders, your role here is to set reasonable ground rules for dialogue that the whole board can agree to. Once the rules are established, any board member should feel comfortable speaking up when the board steps outside those parameters.)
Respect board decisions and be a full participant. Don’t be silent during discussions and then share your real views later in the hallways; support all decisions of the board publicly.
Lead change and don’t resist it. Ask tough but non-confrontational questions: Seek out all voices, both supporters and detractors (this is a critical role for board leaders to play.) Build relationships and trust across the organization. Help your board, staff and membership to be ready for change in your industry and your association.
Challenge yourself and grow as a leader. Seek out professional development opportunities to further your leadership skills. Mentor new board members and prospective ones. Share your experiences and insights. Board leaders who are ambassadors for the experience of association leadership can ensure their associations have an ample pipeline of qualified, enthusiastic future leaders.

Ultimately the choices are yours. What kind of board member do you want to be? What kind of relationships do you want to build? What kind of impact do you want to have? What kind of difference do you want to make?

Reprinted with permission; Jean S. Frankel is President of Ideas for Action, LLC, Boca Raton, Florida. Email: jsfrankel@ideasforaction.com

Storm Drain Grates, Manhole Covers Stolen Around Kent

2011-03-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Michelle Witham, City of Kent
253-856-5709
mwitham@ci.kent.wa.us

Storm Drain Grates, Manhole Covers Stolen Around Kent
Likely Lifted for Scrap Value

KENT, Wash. – February 25, 2011 – During the last month, nearly 40 storm drain grates and manhole covers have been stolen from neighborhood streets and businesses across Kent and the City’s Public Works and Police Departments are asking the for the public’s help in solving the crimes.

"We are very worried with this type of crime because it produces a huge public safety issue by the mere fact that when the storm drain grate or manhole cover is missing, there is a deep and wide hole," Kent’s Utilities Superintendent Greg Reed said.

Reed said storm drain grates prevent large objects from entering the system and are an important part of ensuring proper flow of water and traffic safety.

"If a car hits a storm drain or manhole with no cover over it, then it can cause significant damage to the car," Reed said. "And also if we have pedestrians walking or even children playing they could actually fall into a 20 feet deep hole."

Depending on the size, the grates weigh between 80 and 106 pounds. The manhole covers weigh 113 pounds.

"Typically, the grates will be taken to a recycle center and sold as scrap metal," Reed said.

Reed added besides the hazardous situation and the cost of the new grates and covers, which is about $127 each or more if they have to be specially made, there’s also the time and cost of re-installing them. “We’re now securing the grates to prevent future thefts, but it’s a gradual process given the expense and number we’re dealing with. We have about 20,000 grates and 16,000 manhole covers in the city."

Anyone with information about the thefts may contact the Kent Police Department Tip Line at 253-856-5808. To report a missing grate or cover, contact Public Work Operations at 253-856-5600.

Dawn and Carrie's 3-Day for the Cure

2011-02-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

Dawn and Carrie are at it again, raising money and awareness for breast cancer research through the Susan G. Komen in Seattle. The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure® is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. Net proceeds from the 3-Day for the Cure are invested in breast cancer research and community programs. We are very proud of them and their hard work.

Click here to visit Dawn's information page and here to visit Carrie's information page.

Bell-Anderson & Associates is proud to participate in fight by sponsoring the 2011 shirts for "Operation Save-a-Rack." T-shirts, beanies, or baseball caps can be purchased for $20 each. This year's t-shirt is charcoal gray with pink writing. E-mail Carrie at cfjeld@bell-anderson.net if you would like to purchase one. Thanks to Bell-Anderson's sponsorship, all proceeds from the shirts go to the 3-day.

Did you know that there's no Federal holiday called "President's Day?"

2011-02-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

True story..at least at the federal government level. I set out this fine week before President’s Day to give you some interesting facts about the holiday and the great men behind it. Much to my surprise, I found out that the executive order issued by President Nixon in 1971 defined the third Monday of February as “Washington’s Birthday.” Since then, individual states have decided to celebrate in their own way.

Here in Washington, our President’s Day celebrates the birthdays of both George Washington (2/22) and Abraham Lincoln (2/12). In Connecticut, Missouri and Illinois, Washington’s Birthday is celebrated according to the federal calendar, and Lincoln’s Birthday is observed as a state holiday, always falling on the 12th. In Alabama, the third Monday is called “Washington & Jefferson’s Birthday,” even though Thomas Jefferson wasn’t born until April. Kansas don’t recognize it as a state holiday. If you were a state employee in New Mexico, you would have the day after Thanksgiving off as a “holiday in lieu of Presidents' Day.” Attempts to clarify the date and name have been unsuccessful (is it “Presidents,” “President’s,” or “Presidents’?”) For more information, visit: http://www.snopes.com/holidays/presidents/presidentsday.asp And now, some interesting facts about two of our great presidents!

5 Things You Didn’t Know about George Washington:

He was the only president who did not live in Washington D.C.
The nation's capital, along with 1 state, 31 counties and 17 cities (Maybe 18 counting the town of "George," in central Washington State) are named in his honor.
As a farmer, Washington grew marijuana on his farm and promoted its growth. (In the 1790s, the crop was grown mainly for its industrial value as hemp and for soil stabilization. It was many years later that the recreational and illegal use of marijuana became popular.) Also, he is credited with introducing the mule to America. (the animal, not the trafficker)
He was the only president to win a unanimous vote of the Electoral College.
Washington's 2nd inaugural address was the shortest ever delivered - 135 words.

Source: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/gwtheman.htm

5 Things You Didn’t Know about Abraham Lincoln:

Born in Kentucky in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was the first president born beyond the boundaries of the original 13 states.
In 1849, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 on a device that was designed to keep boats afloat when they passed over a sandbar or entered shallow water; to this day, he is the only president to hold a patent.
A turkey was sent to the White House for a holiday dinner in 1863, and Lincoln's son Tad pleaded that it not be executed. Lincoln issued "an order of reprieve," sparing the turkey's life.
The Lincoln Bedroom was never a bedroom in Lincoln's time; it was an office where Lincoln met with cabinet members and signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, was a distant relative of Tom Hanks, making the president and the actor fourth cousins, four times removed.

Source: http://www.usnews.com/news/history/articles/2009/02/10/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-abraham-lincoln

Update on the Howard Hanson Dam

2011-01-27T14:21:00.000-08:00

The following information is copied from an e-mail written by Michael Mactutis with the City of Kent, Public Works/Environmental Engineering department in response to these questions: Is there any ‘news’ on the levees? When will the sandbags be removed? Have engineers sampled our levees to see if they need to be re-consructed before they can be certified?

Mike's Response:
It has been a good little test. There have been areas of minor damage that have been spotted, and we are watching those. No areas of major damage have been found on the levees.

The dam held approximately 38,000 acre feet of water at the peak (about half of the storm in Jan., 2009), and it is releasing it now. The volume in the reservoir is now down below 20,000 acre feet. I have not had any word of problems at the dam. The river in the valley rose to 11,000 cfs at its peak and is now in the low 8000’s. When the river level goes back down, King County Flood Control District Staff will perform a full inspection on the levees. King County staff are continuing patrols on the levees today. The City had patrols for several days while the level was above 10,000 cfs and the Corps also had 24-hr. patrols on the Green River through this week. Even with the eyes we have on the levees, please do not hesitate to call us or the King County Flood Warning Center if you see anything unusual on the levees.

We are in the final stages of executing contracts with consultants to examine four reaches of levees, including the reach along The Lakes. That is the longest reach, extending 2.75 miles from the SR 516 crossing downstream to the S. 231st Way Bridge. The certification reports for these four reaches will be complete and submitted to FEMA in June. Three certification reports were submitted to FEMA in 2010 for levee reaches upstream of SR 516, and we are working through those with FEMA and will be able to use those to have the other four done more quickly. Other agencies have spent several years going through the certification process with FEMA, but we are optimistic that we will be able to get it done quicker.

Shortly after the consultant contracts are executed, which for your levee should be the first week of February, there will be soil borings taken along the levees. That information will be used to determine factors of safety for freeboard, erosion, seepage, sloughing, and resistance to earthquakes. There are also studies that are already started related to biological assessments of the levee projects and historical research of the areas along the river. These things are all required by FEMA as part of the certification package.

As the consultants complete their geotechnical studies over the next few months, we will know much more about what repair or upgrade work it will take to certify the levees and how much that will cost but it still remains to be seen whether will FEMA accept the consultants’ recommendations.

We are also working very hard to get additional state and federal funding to help offset the costs. The costs of certification will likely exceed the City’s entire stormwater utility fund by several times. The work that has already been turned in to FEMA and levee segments that have gone under construction could not have been done without State funding that we were able to get two years ago. We have met with the Governor’s staff as well as our local state and federal representatives quite a few times to make sure they completely understand the impacts of the Howard Hanson Dam and the Levees on the valley businesses and residents and have all their questions answered.

I am assuming you have heard about the upcoming public meeting regarding the FEMA flood insurance maps, but in case you haven’t – the meeting in Kent is on February 7 at 6 to 8 pm at the Kent Senior Center. FEMA and the City will be having short presentations followed by an open house with tables where people can ask questions and pick up maps showing the proposed flood plain. The meeting in Auburn is at 6 pm next Wednesday, Jan. 25 at Dick Scobee School and in Renton at 6 pm at their City Hall next Thursday. Here is a link to more information. If it hasn’t already gone out, there will be a post card going out in the mail early next week to all the mailing addresses in the Kent Valley. I hope to see you there!

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ken/news/114320934.html

Regarding when the bags can be removed, it will be up to the Corps of Engineers to tell us when the dam is back to full working capacity. They are working on improvements to the drainage system within the dam abutment, and that work will continue through the summer. When the completed work is tested and responds satisfactorily, the local agencies will be able to remove the bags.

Thank you Mike and the City of Kent for allowing us to share this news!

Tacky Sweater Day 2010

2011-01-03T14:14:00.000-08:00

We had another stiff round of competition at this year's annual tacky sweater/comfort food potluck. Here's Ken showing off his creation:

Shannon also put forward an impressive effort and installed lights in her sweater (including a giant battery pack). Alas, the grand prize went to Debi whose crystal lights and jingle bells creation actually had a twin, worn to elementary school by her daughter on the same day who not only helped Debi make this one but is encouraging her teacher to start their own tacky sweater day! We loved that this was a family effort.

Let me take a moment to introduce you to the real star of our show: The Trophy. Carefully crafted by Maria and myself three or four years ago (in about 5 minutes from the dollar store), each year's winner is required to donate a bauble from their sweater to the trophy. Looking good!

Tune in next year as we shine, jingle, and spend a day getting odd looks in public in pursuit of the tackiest sweater. Hope everyone had a safe holiday season.

Frozen Sprinkler Pipes

2010-12-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Community Association Underwriters of America, Inc. Click here for more Risk Management Articles from CAU

Every winter thousands of sprinkler pipes freeze and burst because of lack heat or inadequate insulation. When a frozen sprinkler pipe bursts, the result is always extensive water damage.

A typical loss for a burst sprinkler pipe can involve two or more units and have an average repair cost exceeding $30,000 after the deductible. Nationwide, these losses account for hundreds of millions of dollars of unnecessary property damage each winter.

This article will discuss how sprinkler piping can freeze and burst resulting in water damage and ways that an association or unit owner can protect their sprinkler system from freezing.

Impact of Building Codes
There are approximately 3000 residential fire deaths each year. Statistics compiled by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) conclude that the chance of dying in a home fire decreases by 80% when residential sprinklers are present.

Many municipalities already require sprinkler systems in new one and two family homes, townhomes and condominiums. The 2009 edition of the International Residential Code (IRC) requires sprinkler systems in these homes. As more municipalities adopt this edition of the building code, the number of systems will increase and so will the potential for water damage from burst sprinkler pipes.

Building and fire codes are regulatory requirements that establish minimum standards for construction of safe and habitable buildings. The code requirements for residential sprinkler systems seeks to minimize fire deaths by controlling heat, smoke and flames so occupants have time to escape. There is minimal emphasis on preventing frozen pipes and water damage.

While one cannot equate the value of a human life to water damage, you cannot overlook the extensive damage caused by accidental discharges from faulty systems and burst piping, which is often more extensive than fire damage.

When Pipes Freeze
When water freezes at a temperature of 32ºF or below it expands up to 10 percent in volume. Sprinkler pipes tend to freeze before other water pipes because the water is not moving.

Most sprinkler systems are wet systems that contain water all the time. Sprinkler systems include check valves and backflow preventers to separate the sprinkler water from the potable water supply. These valves create a closed system in which the pressure cannot escape.

When water freezes inside a sprinkler pipe, it creates an obstruction that can render the sprinkler system useless in the event of a fire. As the ice expands, it increases the internal water pressure in the pipe and causes the pipe to burst. Interestingly, the burst is often in a section of pipe that did not actually freeze.

Alternatively, the expanding ice can cause a pipe, fitting or sprinkler head to crack but the ice will block the flow of water while it is solid. In this case, the actual water damage will not be apparent until the ice melts and water flows out of the burst section.

Where the pipe bursts and the time it takes to shut off the water will influence the amount of water damage to the unit.

Most residential sprinkler systems use 1” pipe, which, at a typical street pressure of 70 pounds per square inch (psi), will flow about 30 gallons per minute (gpm). In as little as fifteen minutes, almost 500 gallons of water will saturate the unit and adjoining units.

Preventing Frozen Pipes
The best way to protect a residential fire sprinkler system from freezing is to provide sufficient insulation and maintain adequate heat during the winter months. The type and amount of insulation must be suitable for the coldest local temperatures. During construction, sprinkler systems are usually in place before the insulation so there is a possibility that the installer could place the insulation on the wrong side of the pipes thus exposing them to freezing temperatures.

Insulation helps block the flow heat or cold from one space to the next. Most sprinkler pipes are within the walls or ceilings of a home. Cold air can enter these concealed spaces through small gaps in the exterior sheathing and insulation and find its way into pipe chases and soffits that focus the air directly onto the sprinkler piping and accelerate freezing.

It is important to verify that sprinkler piping in walls is located between the heated interior space and the insulation. In attics, piping should be as close to the ceiling as possible with insulation placed over the pipe in the shape of a tent to trap heat around the sprinkler pipe.

When sprinklers are required in unheated spaces such as attics or crawl spaces, the use of a dry system, or special dry sprinkler heads are required.

A dry system has no water in the piping. The pipes contain air or nitrogen under pressure and when a sprinkler head activates, the pressurized gas escapes and allows water to flow.

Dry sprinkler heads have a short, length of pipe with a seal mechanism installed to prevent water from entering the unheated space until the sprinkler head activates. The sprinkler piping is in a heated space and the sprinkler heads extend into the unheated space.

As of August 2010, the NFPA has banned the use of antifreeze in all new sprinkler systems. For existing systems, NFPA recommends draining the antifreeze and filling the pipes with water then providing additional insulation along with other measures to prevent the pipes from freezing.

If you have sprinkler systems that contain antifreeze, contact your sprinkler contractor immediately to drain the antifreeze and refill it with water then verify that there is sufficient insulation, installed correctly, to prevent the pipes from freezing. The contractor should also install any additional protection needed to prevent the pipes from freezing.

What CAU Recommends:
If your association has experienced water damage because of frozen sprinkler pipes, this is the first indication that you need additional freeze protection to prevent this from happening again.

The following points will help reduce the risk of frozen sprinkler pipes.
> Maintain heat in all buildings and units
> Require an annual service and maintenance contract on all fire sprinkler systems
> Provide additional insulation for pipes in unheated areas such as attics
> Install water flow alarms to alert occupants that water is flowing in the sprinkler system
> Install freeze alarms to warn of potential freezing conditions before the pipes freeze

Need More Information? Additional information on freeze protection is available through the National Fire Protection Association (www.nfpa.org). Associations may also request additional information on this topic by contacting CAU’s Loss Control Department.

© 2010 by Community Association Underwriters of America, Inc., All Rights Reserved

Keeping Properties Safe Over the Holidays

2010-12-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Mary Girsch-Bock on propertymanager.com

We all know that November and December are the busiest months of the year for travel. That means that while your residents are enjoying their holidays, their apartment or home will likely be empty. While most residents are responsible and take proper precautions when traveling, is there anything property managers can do to ensure that the property remains safe when the resident is traveling during the holidays?

While you can’t police the property 24/7, you can provide some guidance to your residents on keeping their apartment or home safe while traveling. You may want to consider providing a sheet containing tips and suggestions for keeping their home safe. This sheet can be provided to your resident upon move-in, as a handy reference guide. While you may have your own suggestions specific to your properties, you should suggest the following to your residents:

* Be sure to leave a light on, preferably on a timer. Studies have shown that 90% of burglars target homes that are dark.
* Stop newspaper delivery. A pile of newspapers on the doorstep or in the driveway is a giveaway to the observant burglar that no one is home.
* Those living in multi-unit housing should consider notifying the resident manager that they’ll be traveling. This way, staff can keep an eye out for suspicious activity.
* Close and lock windows and garage doors. Burglars consider garage doors the weakest point of entry into any home. Back or side windows are also considered a prime point of entry because they are often hidden from street view.

While the possibility of a home burglary is a valid concern for travelers, it’s certainly not the only concern. It’s also important that residents remember to check and double check that all appliances (coffee maker, oven, curling iron) are unplugged. Residents may find it helpful to create a checklist and walk through the house, checking off each item on the list. This way they won’t find themselves trying to remember if they turned off the oven when they’re thousands of miles from home.

Nothing (short of armed guards) can guarantee that your resident’s home or apartment will be safe from burglars or 100% protected against fires. But taking some basic precautions will ease both the residents mind…and yours as well. Providing your residents with these simple suggestions can prove helpful, while keeping the property that you’re responsible for safe and intact.

The Lighter Side!!

2010-12-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

After posing for our annual Thank You card Dawn snapped this gem. Property managers can have fun too!

NARPM National Convention 2010

2010-11-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an October! I have been so very excited to share some news of NARPM’s annual convention in downtown Seattle, but we have been busy getting lots of residents moved into their new homes. I’m sorry for the delay.

For those of you who don’t know, we have had a very exciting year here at Bell-Anderson. First of all, our broker (and my aunt) Vickie kicked breast cancer to the curb, all while running Bell-Anderson and leading the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM from here on out) as the 2010 National President. NARPM is an organization of over 3,400 residential property managers nationwide, so this is quite the accomplishment for Vickie. This year, our annual convention happened to be in our own backyard: at the Sheraton in downtown Seattle. Carrie Fjeld, residential property manager, co-chaired the entire event with over 500 attendees. Needless to say, we have been busy, but it was a blast!

Our week started off with the Leadership Seminar given by Dr. Joseph Michelli. He has written several books studying successful organizations: two from our hometown. We learned how the Pike Place Fish Market went from last in sales to first by deciding to treat their customer’s like rockstars, and how Starbucks has created the “third place,” a café that is more than just a coffee shop. What struck me was one of the mottos of the Ritz-Carlton, namely “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentleman.” This type of attitude creates a culture of mutual respect, something everyone could use more of. We rounded off Tuesday evening with a beautiful cruise around the Puget Sound for the President’s Tour.

On Wednesday Morning, 22 golf teams headed out to China Creek at Newcastle for the first annual Past President’s Charity Golf Tournament. Bell-Anderson had four players in the tournament sporting pink polos and matching socks, and we also sponsored the 6th hole. While the majority of the players who men who maybe weren’t big Twilight fans, they were all good sports about our Forks-themed hole run by Debi and Maria. Overall, the tournament raised over $30,000 for Creative Living Services and was a great success and a lot of fun

Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday were a series of workshops and business meetings. My favorites were an economic forecast from local researcher Jim Hebert, and a hilariously entertaining presentation from Bill Stainton (Almost Live) about the best decisions the Beatles made that led to their success. On a more embarrassing note, four audience members including myself were called onstage for a live performance, black bowl wigs and all. (I played George Harrison).

The most exciting part of the convention came Friday at lunch during the award ceremonies. First of all, Vickie passed the baton to the next National President, Tony Drost. I know that Vickie thoroughly enjoyed her time working with NARPM, but we are all excited to get to see her around the office more. Also, all three residential managers in our department earned professional designations this year. Carrie was awarded her Master Property Manager (MPM) designation, and Dawn and I (Kasey) earned our Residential Management Professional (RMP) designations. Also, Bell-Anderson as a whole was awarded our Certified Residential Management Company (CRMC) designation. Yes, this is a lot of letters! What this means is that we have been working hard to educate ourselves so our clients can rest assured that they are getting property management professionals who value education and are very active in the industry as a whole. Finally, I was humbled to receive the Rocky Maxwell award for volunteerism in a new member of NARPM.

The convention closed with a gala and “NARPM’s Got Talent” show hosted by Vickie in her tiara where the membership showed off their skills. Stefanie Octave, Condo AR Bookkeeper played the bassoon, and she was AWESOME!

The entire Bell-Anderson crew was on hand for the dinner gala and then spent the night in the hotel for our annual retreat.

In an effort to not hog the keyboard, here is what a few of the other gals said about the convention:

“I think that it's important to share the fact that we were one of four companies in the state of Washington to receive our Certified Residential Management Company (CRMC) designation. Along with our AMO (Accredited Management Organization) from the Institute of Real Estate Management that makes us, to my knowledge, the only company in the entire US with both designations, signifying our dedication to professionalism and integrity. Also at the awards celebration Carrie Fjeld received her Master Property Manager (MPM) designation and Kasey Medina along with Dawn Hardley were awarded their Residential Management Professional (RMP) designation. This just demonstrates how the Bell-Anderson crew is dedicated to real estate management education as well as maintaining integrity at all times.” ~ Vickie Gaskill

” I always come back to work with a head full of great ideas and a bucket load of new contacts and friends around the country, both property managers and vendors! I am doing my best to treat all of my contacts like "rockstars" (from Dr. Michellis's Leadership course) if even for just a moment, and it has paid great dividends so far, I have picked up 3 news houses in just two weeks!!!” ~Dawn Hardley
“This year was a really special year at convention for me, with my mom, Vickie being the national president this year of NARPM. It was such a joy to watch my mom shine and shine she did at one point even wearing a tiara for our last night. We had a great year and it finally paid off when 3 people in our office, one of which included me, received professional designations. Our office also received the only company designation offered by NARPM that only 5 companies in the King County hold. The designation that I received is the highest professional designation that you can get and that is a MPM, Master Property Manager and the one that Bell-Anderson received is CRMC, Certified Residential Management Company. I am very proud of both of those accomplishments and also my co-workers, Kasey and Dawn who received their RMP, Residential Management Professional designations. The national convention in Seattle was one of the best I have been to and I have been to 6 of them all together. I am not even being biased it was truly a great year. I met some great people and got to catch up with friends that I haven’t seen in a while. Every time we get together it’s like a big extended family reunion along with great education to help us become better property managers. Our business is forever evolving with new laws and new ways of managing property more effectively and efficiently so it is nice to have these conferences so we can catch up. I am looking forward to Dallas in 2011 already.” ~ Carrie Fjeld

“Awesome experience! You should attend if you are a new member!” ~ Maria Garcia

Overall, the convention was fabulous! The hotel was beautiful, the turnout and the network opportunities were amazing. The speakers and classes were helpful and relevant to our business. I can tell that Carrie and the rest of the convention crew put a lot of work into it. Congrats again to everyone who made the week a success!

Foreclosure Process in Washington

2010-10-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

By: Rebekah Near, ORCA Information, Inc.
www.orcainformation.com

This report is to provide you with the information on how the foreclosure process works in Washington State and how long it takes for a bank for a bank or mortgage company to foreclose on your property under Washington’s deed of trust act (RCW Chapter 61.24).

The foreclosure process set out in the legal statue is known as a nonjudicial foreclosure, meaning it is a foreclosure conducted without having to go to court and have a judge order a sheriff’s sale of your property. Instead of a judge, the foreclosure is handled by a trustee who is appointed by the lender. The entire process is basically a series of notices given by a trustee to the borrower and anyone else who has an interest in the property, followed by a public auction (also known as a trustee’s sale). The highest bidder at the trustee’s sale is entitled to a trustee’s deed to the property and to possession of the property 20 days after the sale.

The first step in the process is usually to name a new trustee, since most of the deed of trust forms name a title insurance company as trustee and the title companies in this state do not do the foreclosures. The trustee named can be an attorney or a corporation, but cannot be the same person or company as the beneficiary under the deed of trust (the beneficiary is the lender).

The trustee must follow exactly the procedures set out in the deed of trust act. The basic steps are listed below. There are specific requirements in the law covering what must be included in each notice sent to the property owner.

STEP ONE
Notice of Default
The Notice of Default must be mailed by first class and certified mail to the borrower and must also be personally served on the borrower or posted at the property. The Notice of Default must tell the borrower what the default is (usually failure to make payments), how much is owed for the delinquent payments, trustee/attorney’s fees and other costs that would have to be paid to bring the loan current. It must also advise the borrower that if the default is not cured in 30 days, the property will be scheduled for sale at an auction by the trustee.

The Notice of Default must be mailed/served on the borrower at least 30 days before the Notice of Trustee’s Sale.

STEP TWO
Notice of Trustee’s Sale
If the default is not cured, the trustee schedules the property for a sale at a public auction. The Notice must be given at least 90 days before the sale. The notice must be mailed first class and certified and served on the borrower, the occupant of the property and on anyone else who holds a recorded interest in the property. The trustee must order a title report (Trustee’s Sale Guarantee) from a title insurance company to find out who holds a recorded interest so the trustee can give notice to all parties entitled to receive a notice. The notice must also be published twice in the newspaper (a month before and a week before the scheduled sale). The Notice advises the borrower and anyone else that the loan is in default and if the default is not cured the property will be sold to the highest bidder at the time and place set out in the Notice. In Skagit County, the sale must be held on a Friday at the court house.

STEP THREE
Notice of Foreclosure
This step occurs simultaneously with Step Two since the Notice of Foreclosure is sent to the borrower along with the Notice of Trustee’s Sale. This Notice gives the borrower the amount necessary to reinstate the loan and also an estimate of how much will be owed 11 days before the sale. The 11th day before the sale is the borrower’s last chance to reinstate the loan by making up back payments and any additional costs. After that date, the lender does not have to accept anything less than full payment of the entire loan balance, plus costs.

STEP FOUR
Trustee’s Sale
The trustee’s sale is a public auction held at the court house, with the sale to the highest bidder. Only cash, cashier’s check or a combination of cash and cashier’s check are accepted. Usually the sale is to the lender for the amount owed to the lender at the time of the sale.

STEP FIVE
Trustee’s Deed and Possession
Following the sale, the trustee issues a trustee’s deed to the highest bidder. The new owner is entitled to possession of the property 20 days after the sale. If the borrower does not move out by then, the new owner can evict them using the same procedure a landlord would use to evict a tenant.

7 Easy Steps for Email Etiquette

2010-10-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

by Jennifer Corp, Condo AP Bookkeeper

We write emails every day, probably more than we talk on the phone. Since emailing has become a part of our daily work routine it is always good to get an etiquette refresher. Listed below are the top 7 important etiquette tips (taken from www.ehow.com):

Begin each email with a greeting. No matter how pressed for time you are, a simple greeting such as "Hi," "Hello," or "Dear X" is good etiquette. Otherwise, if you launch into your email without a greeting or introduction you run the risk of seeming impolite or impatient.
Take the time to ensure your subject line accurately reflects the contents and nature of your email. This will go a long way to ensure that your email gets the attention and consideration it deserves.
Be as concise as possible. Your recipients will appreciate it if you keep your email short, sweet and to the point, and you'll also increase your chance of getting a timely reply.
Ask permission before forwarding another person's email correspondence. Even if you're confident that the other person wouldn't mind if you forward their email to someone else, it's good etiquette to check first so you don't risk violating their trust.
Reply to emails in a timely fashion. If you know in advance that you can't give an email the attention it deserves at the moment, give the sender a quick heads-up that you have received their email but haven't had time to review it yet.
Send personal emails from your non-work account. Sending personal emails from work is generally "frowned upon" in business, but occasionally we all need to send a personal email during working hours. In this instance, use a web-based email account such as Yahoo or Hotmail.
Remember that your work email, both the address and all correspondence, is the property of the company you work for. Anything you've ever sent or received--even if you've deleted it--could potentially be retrieved from the system by a database administrator at any time.

Office Closure

2010-10-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Bell-Anderson office will be closed on Friday, October 15th. The company will be attending the NARPM National Conference in Seattle. If you have an emergency, meaning fire, flood or blood, please call our office at 253-852-8195 and you will be directed to the emergency pager. Thank you in advance for your patience!

60 Mile Breast Cancer Walk

2010-09-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

by Vickie Gaskill, CPM®, MPM@, Owner/Broker

Many of you have very generously supported two of our colleagues (who just so happen to be my daughters) in their quest to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen 60 mile Walk for the Cure. As most of our friends and associates know, I was diagnosed with breast cancer last December and underwent a bilateral mastectomy on Jan. 12th. In my case, the girls saw how much breast cancer research has improved over just the past couple of years. They wanted to do something to give back to that research. I sincerely thank all of you for the support that you extended to them.

Well, the girls did it. They walked all 60 miles this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was probably on of the most emotional events of theirs as well as my life. I was out of town and had to miss the first day. But Tim and I found where they were on Saturday and Sunday and cheered them on every chance we got. They call people like us “walker stalkers” and I don’t mind the title one bit. Now if you know anything at all about the greater Seattle area, they walked from Bothell to Everett, all around Everett, and then were bused into Seattle, walking all over Capital Hill and down to the Seattle Center. A good visual would be walking from Seattle to Olympia. That’s a heck of a long way.

The men and women who participated in this event were absolutely inspiring. Firemen in full gear were walking for the loved ones in their lives who died of this dreadful disease. One lady pushed an empty wheelchair the entire way for a special friend of hers. I saw women on canes and crutches. I saw tears and a whole bunch of cheers. If you ever have the opportunity to volunteer, walk, or finance a 60 mile walk in the future, I encourage you to do so. You will be totally moved by doing so.

Help is on the way; stay prepared this flood season!

2010-09-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

September 3, 2010

Dear Floodplain Property Owner,

I’m pleased to share good news with you – President Obama recently signed legislation that funds improvements to strengthen the Howard Hanson Dam, reducing the risk of flooding to the Green River Valley. The funding allows the dam’s operator, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to complete repairs by the 2011/2012 flood season. Once these measures are in place, the Corps believes that the dam could be operated at full flood-control capacity for decades.

Storms in January 2009 weakened the dam, causing the Corps to restrict the water level in the reservoir behind the dam and increasing the risk of flooding in the valley. Given the significant public safety and economic threat that a weakened Howard Hanson Dam would cause, the King County Flood Control District, along with the Corps, Governor Gregoire, King County and valley city elected officials, quickly came together to prepare for the potential impacts of flooding and to advocate for emergency repairs.

Our local congressional delegation responded and we are very appreciative of their efforts to secure the necessary funds to provide additional repairs. The repairs will provide critically needed protection and time for the Corps to evaluate whether additional long-term repairs are necessary. We must all continue to be diligent to protect the people, businesses and infrastructure of the Green River Valley and to minimize devastating economic impacts from potential floods.

What does this mean for you?

While last year’s temporary improvements were successful at lowering the risk of flooding in the Green River Valley, the dam will continue to operate at a limited capacity during the upcoming 2010/2011 flood season. Therefore there is still a heightened risk of flooding. It is important for you to get ready and stay ready.

• Buy flood insurance, if you have not already done so;
• Establish or update an emergency plan for your family, business, pets or livestock; and
• Have emergency supplies on hand.

Please help us spread the word about the continued risk of flooding during the 2010/2011 flood season and the importance of being prepared. Share this information with your family, neighbors, friends and coworkers.

For more flood preparedness information, please go to www.kingcounty.gov/floodplans. If you have questions or comments please contact info@kingcountyfloodcontrol.org. For information about the King County Flood Control District please go to www.kingcountyfloodcontrol.org.

Sincerely,

Julia Patterson, Chair
Board of Supervisors
King County Flood Control District

The King County Flood Control District is a special purpose government created to provide funding and policy oversight for flood protection projects and programs in King County. The Flood Control District’s Board is composed of the members of the King County Council. The Water and Land Resources Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks develops and implements the approved flood protection projects and programs. Information is available at www.kingcountyfloodcontrol.org.

Tacoma Concert Band Fundraiser at Joseppi's in Tacoma

2010-09-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

Stefanie Octave, our Condo AR Bookkeeper, has been invited to play bassoon with the Tacoma Concert Band for their summer series, and hopefully more performances in the future! All of the band members are volunteers for this non-profit group, and to raise money, there will be a special evening at Joeseppi's Italian Ristorante in Tacoma.

On Tuesday, October 12th, from 4-8pm, if diners say they are there to support the Tacoma Concert Band (and 100 diners show up throughout the evening), the group will receive 20% of the entire night’s proceeds. There will also be a silent auction at the restaurant. Take your family out to dinner for a great cause! For more information on the band or the event, click here.

Small Claims Court - One Association's Experience

2010-09-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

By: Yvonne Thompson, Applewood Condominiums

A Board member in an association Bell-Anderson manages wrote this great article for our Newsletter. The Association has been successful once in Small Claims Court and will very likely be successful again. This article shows to other struggling Boards that there is a way to collect a prior debt without paying out to an attorney.

Here is what happened:

1. The Board reviewed the account and decided to pursue the delinquency in small claims court. The maximum amount that can be claimed in small claims court is $5,000.00.

2. I visited the county website to get information on the small claims process and downloaded the required packet. The forms are located on the right-hand side of the page in PDF format at: http://www.kingcounty.gov/courts/DistrictCourt/SmallClaims.aspx

3. I completed the required form (be sure to check with Bell-Anderson for the delinquent amount owed and name/address information on file.) After completing the form, I visited the courthouse on 4th in Kent to file. The filing fee is $35.00. Once filed, you are given the small claims form back with a court date and receipt. You will also receive a duplicate copy of the form that must be served upon the delinquent party. Both forms are forwarded to Bell-Anderson; however I also made copies for the court date.

4. Bell-Anderson serves the delinquent party via certified mail or you may hire someone to physically serve them. You must be sure the party is served a minimum of ten days prior to the court date. At this point, you may need to hire an investigator to locate the delinquent party, especially if they have already vacated the property (as in a lender foreclosure.)

5. In preparation for court, Bell-Anderson forwarded all required documentation via email attachment to me. I printed it and took it with me on the court date as evidence of our claim. Bell-Anderson also provided the original postmarked certified return receipt to take to court as proof of service.

6. The trial took place in Renton. The court offered an "out of court" mediator service to try to negotiate/satisfy the delinquency prior to going through with the trial. If the association plaintiff decides to move forward with the trial then you will appear before the judge when called and provide all documentation for the claim. In our case, the delinquent party (defendant) appeared and the judge granted a judgment against them in our favor. Note: Be sure an actual Board member, preferably the Board President, goes to court because the plaintiff must have authority to represent the association or the case will be thrown out.

7. The defendant has 30 days to pay the judgment plus interest to Bell-Anderson on the association’s behalf. If the defendant fails to pay the judgment, Bell-Anderson and our attorney will pursue a garnishment against the defendant.

8. If the defendant fails to pay within the allotted 30 days, a Board member must re-visit the courthouse to have the judgment transferred to a civil docket for a $20.00 filing fee and forward the receipt to Bell-Anderson who will advise the attorney so they can initiate garnishment proceedings.

Bell-Anderson Earns CRMC® Designation

2010-09-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

Continuing the chain of exciting announcements...Bell-Anderson & Associates LLC, AMO can now add another set of initials...CRMC®! Short for Certified Residential Management Company, this designation is awarded by the National Association of Residential Property Managers to management firms that demonstrate a high standard in both procedures and customer service, and pass a detailed examination of the company with recommendations from clients and peers.

For more information on NARPM® or the CRMC®, click here. Congratulations to Vickie and the whole crew for their hard work!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Corp

2010-09-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

On August 14th, our Condo AP Bookkeeper, Jen Collins, married her best friend Justin and became Mrs. Corp! She looked stunning and we are so excited for her. Congrats Jen and Justin!

Congrats to MVP Lamar Neagle and The Charleston Battery

2010-08-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, the Charleston South Carolina Battery won the United States Soccer League Division Two Championship against the Richmond Kickers, and one of our own has reason to celebrate! Maintenance Coordinator Maria Garcia's step-son, Lamar Neagle, helped lead his team to victory and was named league MVP!! To see the story and video interview, click here. (Courtesy of Live 5 News)

WELL DONE LAMAR!!

The Carrot Approach to Collecting Assessments

2010-08-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Valerie Farris Oman, Attorney with Condominium Law Group, PLLC

Association attorneys can talk all day long about the “stick” approach to collecting delinquent assessments, because that’s what we do – we get involved after a delinquency already exists. However, the “carrot” approach to collecting assessments – essentially preventing or at least reducing delinquencies – is equally important and can save associations a lot of time and money spent trying to collect delinquent dues.

The first way an association can adopt the carrot approach is to educate and inform your owners about the reasons behind a particular budget decision. Are you raising the dues? Educate your owners as to why. Considering a special assessment? Hold an association meeting to discuss the reasons for the special assessment with your owners. Well-informed owners are far more likely to pay both regular and special assessments than owners who feel like they are being “taken for a ride.”

The next piece of the carrot approach is to make paying assessments as easy as possible for your owners. Some ideas include:
Have the option of automatic withdrawal for monthly dues;
Have a drop box on the property where owners can put their monthly payments;
Use payment coupons so owners have a concrete reminder they can see.

Next, consider somewhat unusual strategies that encourage payment and even pre-payment of dues. For example, at your annual budget meeting, discuss the idea of offering prepayment incentives, such that owners who prepay their dues for a year in advance can receive a “rebate” or “discount” of 5%. Or, offer prizes for on-time payment of dues or for pre-payment. You might purchase raffle prizes and give all owners who pay that month’s dues on time the opportunity to win a prize. A more valuable prize, such as a free round-trip plane ticket or a free annual gym membership might be a tantalizing incentive for owners who can pre-pay their dues a year in advance.

Finally, consider offering “amnesty” from penalties under certain circumstances to reduce a high delinquency rate. An association with 200 units with a 25% delinquency rate, for example, might offer that for a period of 60 days, all delinquent owners who pay their accounts in full may receive a one-time forgiveness of all accrued late fees and interest charges. We have heard of at least one association that successfully reduced their delinquency rate as a direct result of an “amnesty” program.

Collecting assessments on time is (Captain Obvious alert!) much easier than collecting delinquent assessments. Associations should employ all strategies available to them to educate owners and make paying assessments easy and convenient.

If you have any questions we can answer, please feel free to leave a comment on the Condo Law Group Blog or contact us directly.

Why Use Bell-Anderson?

2010-08-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

by Vickie Gaskill, CPM®, MPM@, RMP@, Owner/Broker

Recently, I had the opportunity to evaluate the income and expenses of the single family rental homes that we manage. If any of you are thinking about investing in real estate and want to take advantage of present day purchase prices as well as lower interest rates, here’s what I found out after looking at the past five year’s history:

As you can see, our properties are spending about 22.1% of their income in operating expenses. There are a number of items that are not included in this analysis. Collection costs as well as Professional Services for the owner were less the .2% so I didn’t see a need to add them. Also, because we do not pay the mortgages of our owners, one would have to include their debt service when looking at a complete income and expense analysis.

A friend of mine did this same type of analysis for the properties that he manages in Boise, ID. He found that his total expenses were running at about 30% of the income collected. That might seem a bit higher then my figures. However, Tony included the apartment communities that he manages as well as his single family homes in his overall analysis. Multi-family communities will tend to have higher turnover rates then single family thus lending themselves to slightly higher operating costs. His figures also did not include debt service.

As far as how Bell-Anderson is doing in the marketplace, here’s a couple of graphs that demonstrate that overall in the past seven months we (green line) are slightly below the surrounding area (yellow line) in our vacancy rates. Also, our rental rates were running above the local and national rates but seem to have tapered off to meet other management firms in the local area, yet are still above the national average for rents. As you can tell, this is a great area of the country to invest in single family home rental property.

Letter to the Lakes at Kent Regarding Flood Levies

2010-07-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Reprinted with permission from the City of Kent.

July 14, 2010
Dear Lakes Community Resident:

The City of Kent has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the King County Flood Control District on rebuilding the Green River levees in Kent. We have successfully partnered with these agencies to repair two significant levees in the last two years. One, the Riverbend Golf Course Levee, protects the Lakes Community.

Another levee that we planned to rebuild with the Corps is the Upper Russell Road Levee (URRL). It is the north extension of the Golf Course Levee and is located along the west side of the Lakes Community. The URRL project was included in the federal Green Duwamish Ecosystem Restoration Program, which has restoration of fish and wildlife habitat as its primary objective. A major challenge in funding the URRL through the federal program has been planning and designing the project to meet the program’s wildlife habitat objective while also complying with federal levee safety standards.

The federal levee safety standards require the areas around the levee to be devoid of all vegetation except grass, while habitat restoration goals include the placement of large numbers of native trees and plantings. The types of rock and soil materials built into the levee also differ between levee safety standards and ecosystem restoration goals. These design challenges are being dealt with nationwide, but have an immediate real impact here in Kent to our public safety, economic stability and environmental health.

The City is working with the Corps to resolve the conflict. However, the federal funding that was in place for the Ecosystem Restoration Project required the URRL to be under construction by the end of September, 2010. Due to the inability to resolve the vegetation conflict prior to that deadline, the Corps has returned the project funding to its headquarters, and new funding will need to be acquired to restart this project as a partnership.

Due to these developments, while we intend to keep working with the Corps, the City is now planning and designing its own project to repair this levee to federally certifiable standards. I want to assure you that the City’s flood protection is of the highest priority, and we will continue to pursue every avenue to improve your protection. We will keep you apprised of any new developments through your Neighborhood Council.

Questions or comments? Please direct questions or comments to Patricia Graesser, Public Information Officer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:
206-764-3760 or email patricia.graesser@us.army.mil

For questions about the City’s planned levee improvements, feel free to contact Mike Mactutis, Environmental Engineering Manager:
253-856-5520 or email mmactutis@ci.kent.wa.us

Sincerely,

Suzette Cooke
Mayor

EPA Delays Lead Certification Requirement

2010-06-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday, June 18th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will provide additional time for contractors to become trained and certified under the new Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. They have moved the deadline back to October 1st and will make exceptions regarding enforcement for workers who have applied to enroll or are enrolled in courses as of September 30th. Although it has delayed the certification deadline, the EPA will continue to enforce the work practice requirements set forth in the rule.

This announcement is a result of trade groups and elected officials voicing concern that contractors did not have proper access to the necessary certification courses. Contractors working on the pre-1978 target housing were originally required to be certified by April 22nd of this year.

For more information please visit the NARPM® webpage dedicated to the new lead based paint rules. There you will find helpful links to websites and important documents. Local and state governments have also started working on additional laws regarding lead-based paint. Please be sure you are monitoring updates from your local and state chapters of NARPM® to ensure compliance with all necessary laws regarding lead-based paint and residential property management.

This information is courtesy of NARPM®. For more information including contact information, Click Here.

Summer Property Checklist

2010-06-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Richard Dobson, owner of The Master's Touch Painting Service. 253-988-6055

The general upkeep of rental properties is essential both in maintaining the value of a property and in attracting quality tenants to lease the property. Property owners depend on their property managers to help them identify items of concern that need to be taken care of. The days of summer is the best time to address certain items of concern that are easy to overlook.

Here is a short summer property checklist:

DRIVEWAYS / WALKWAYS / PATIOS: Horizontal brick, concrete and paver surfaces should be cleaned on a regular basis. Dirt, mold and moss can quickly build-up during the winter months. A quick pressure washing of these areas can easily brighten the appearance of any property.

DECKS: Wood decks usually need to be cleaned and stained every 2 to 5 years. Mold and moss build-up will not only deteriorate decks, but it will also make them slippery and dangerous to walk on. Regular cleaning is essential. Checking the decking for rotten boards is also important for safety concerns.

FENCING: Like wood decks, wood fences ought to be cleaned and stained in order to keep their durability and beauty. Replacing an entire fence can be expensive, so regular pressure washing, staining and repairs can extend the life of a fence by years.

ROOFING: Composite, tile and shake roofs should be treated with a moss killer treatment to prevent moss growth. Long term moss growth can rot composite and shake roofs. All roofs can be pressure washed if needed. Shake roofs need to be cleaned and treated every 5 to 10 years in order to preserve their beauty, life and durability.

TRIM / SIDING: The appearance of a building not only adds curb appeal, but also adds value to a building. Vinyl siding and trim need to be routinely cleaned. Ideally, a new paint new coat should be added before paint peeling occurs. Once peeling begins, deterioration speeds up rapidly. The trim still needs to be painted on buildings with vinyl siding.

GUTTERS / DOWN SPOUTS: In the Evergreen State, gutters and down spouts can fill quickly with leaves, branches, mold, grime and even plant life. Cleaning them out not only helps preserve them, but it also protects wood trim and siding from the damage caused by sitting and over flowing water due to clogged gutters and down spouts.

WINDOWS / SKYLIGHTS: These ought to be checked for leaks, cracks and cleanliness, both on the inside and outside. Even minor leaks can cause extensive damage where building surfaces get consistent exposure to unwanted moisture.

SHEDS / GARAGES: Detached buildings that tenants do not live in still need to be cared for. Neglecting these pieces of property can not only be a real eye sore, but can also cause the overall value of a property to decline. Regular repairs, cleaning and painting can go a long way in maintaining these buildings.

Maintaining the appearance of a property not only adds curb appeal for potential tenants, but it also adds to the long term value of the property. Your clients will appreciate your input on any recommendations you may have in helping them maintain the value of their investment they have entrusted you to oversee.

Kent Summer Concert Series

2010-06-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Throughout July and August, enjoy a variety of the region’s best live performances in some of Kent’s most beautiful parks – for free! Call 253-856-5050 or visit www.kentarts.com.

TAKE-OUT TUESDAYS:
Noon - 1pm
July 6 - August 10
Kent Station

July 6 - Blue 4 Trio
Eclectic music, including '30s and '40s swing and jump blues.

WEDNESDAY PICNIC PERFORMANCES: -Especially for Kids
Noon - 1pm
Sponsored by Allied Waste
Town Square Plaza

July 8 - Tickle Tune Typhoon
Dancing vegetables, larger-than-life robots and award-winning music! This Northwest favorite delivers positive messages and educational topics cleverly disguised as silly fun!

THURSDAYS AT THE LAKE:
7 - 8:30pm
Sponsored by Valley Medical Center
Lake Meridian Park

July 8 - Ray Wylie Hubbard
This legendary Texas troubadour counts among his colleagues icons like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Jerry Jeff Walker. Like them, Ray Wylie Hubbard is part of the musical legacy that continues to inspire subsequent generations of up-and-coming Texas talent.

Summer concerts are free. Donations of any amount are appreciated and used to continue to offer free quality entertainment for families. Donations are accepted on site the day of the performance. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact (253) 856-5050 or artscommission@ci.kent.wa.us to learn more about becoming a sponsor.

Summer Concert Series is family friendly and offers some performances that are especially for kids and families. All seating is unassigned, lawn seating and first come, first serve. Visitors may bring their own chairs or blankets.

Please the City of Kent know in advance how they may be able to help provide reasonable accommodations to those needing special assistance.

A heartfelt thank you to the sponsors 4Culture and Washington State Arts Commission and Kent Station.

Reprinted from the City of Kent's Scene eNewsletter and website

WSCAI Law Day

2010-05-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

On May 22nd, board members, property managers, and other representatives will get together in order to benefit WSCAI's Legislative Action Committee. This is a one day seminar offering many different classes that are beneficial to all types of communities. Classes range from rental restrictions to legal issues boot camp for new board members. We strongly encourage all of our board members to take advantage of this opportunity and attend this seminar!

The seminar will be held at the Lynnwood Convention Center and is from 8am to 3:30pm and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. The fee is $85 for all attendees regardless if you are a CAI member or not. Contact our office for a registration form!

Hope to see you there!

What can you do to get the best rent under the current market conditions?

2010-05-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

By Vickie Gaskill, CPM®, MPM@, RMP@, ARM@ OWNER/BROKER

According to a recent report published by Dupree + Scott (April 2010), we may have experienced a rather rough past 12 months and are probably looking to more of the same in the future. They’ve seen a decline of 2% in one bedroom rents, 1.25% decline in 2 bedrooms, and a 1% decline in 3-4 bedrooms over the past 12 months. They noted that the only increase in rents was found in some 4 bedroom and 5 bedrooms and that was about 1%. They asked participants in their survey how much they expect rents in their properties to change over the next six months. Only 10% plan to increase rents and about as many anticipate decreasing rents.

According to the report, the overall average rents for properties in the greater South King County area is $1,086. As you can see by the graph below, Bell-Anderson’s average is pretty much keeping step with the Dupree + Scott analysis.

So what can homeowners do to make their homes more rentable?
1. Make sure it has great curb appeal – What does it look like when someone drives by it on the street. Have the landscaping in good shape. Remember, you’ll want to have the tenant maintain the yard while their occupying the property. Give it to them in good shape to start with.
2. Price it competitively – Sometimes that means that you won’t make your entire mortgage payment with the amount of rent collected. With our overabundance of rentals today, take the advice of your professional property manager when it comes to setting the rent amount.
3. Fresh paint, clean carpets, and all appliances must be in good working order. Just because you were able to put up with the nonworking burner on the stove or the drippy faucet in the sink, doesn’t mean that a tenant won’t want everything working properly. When these negative things are shown to a perspective tenant, they make the assumption that you don’t care about your house and they can treat it the same way you did.

Market conditions are a bit challenging right now. As a landlord/homeowner, it’s imperative that you do all you can to achieve renting your property out in a timely manner.

How Much Money Should you Put Aside for Rental Repairs?

2010-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

(Excerpt from Rentals.com May 2010 Newsletter)

Becoming a landlord doesn’t just mean worrying about keeping your property rented and to the right tenants. You also need to be sure you have budgeted for necessary repairs. Read on for some tips on how to plan ahead for the inevitable repair bills.

How much to put aside

Prevailing wisdom recommends saving 1% to 3% of the value of your rental property for repairs each year. Though repair totals will vary from year to year, leftover funds from one year can help cover you for big expenditures during another one. Just be sure you set down a dollar amount to hit annually for savings. On a rental property worth $250,000, for example, try to reserve $2,500 to $7,500 for repairs each year. Hitting your annual repair-fund goals will also help you prepare for the unexpected, such as storm damage.

Be realistic

Ideally, you had your property inspected before purchase and so are aware of the age of big-ticket items like the roof, HVAC system and kitchen appliances. Accounting for normal wear and tear, you’ll have a basic idea of when you’ll need to repair or replace these items, so start socking away funds for those major repairs.

Preventative measures

You can keep small repair issues from turning into big ones with regular maintenance, so be sure to budget for maintenance as well. Everything from chimney cleaning to tree or limb removal can save you big money down the line, so be sure you’re planning for the expense. Other maintenance practices to implement are yearly HVAC checks and regular gutter cleaning.

Don’t be caught off guard by repair bills for your rental property. Prepare now by starting a savings fund to take care of regular maintenance and the cost of repairs to and replacement of systems, appliances and structural items.

Reminder About Your Yard

2010-05-06T10:27:00.001-07:00

Just a friendly reminder to all of our tenants and residents living in homeowner's associations. This is the time of year when folks are getting more yard violation notices. In order to avoid this, please make sure to keep your lawn neatly mowed and beds free from weeds. Thanks in advance for keeping your property beautiful!

Successful Board Training Seminar

2010-04-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

BOARD TRAINING SEMINAR~“Delinquent Accounts, Collections and Foreclosures” Held on Tuesday, April 13, 2010. Due to the overwhelming interest and support from the last Board Training Seminar, Bell-Anderson hosted the first seminar of 2010. The topic of discussion was Delinquent Accounts, Collections and Foreclosures. Expert Attorney’s Dean Pody & Patrick McDonald of Sundberg & Pody Law Office, PLLC presented this informational seminar. Many great questions were presented and answered and the participates felt the information was extremely beneficial. Everyone (Bell-Anderson staff included) gained a bit more knowledge in this complex area. If you would like an emailed copy of the seminar outline that was handed out at the meeting, please contact your Property Manager. A big thank you to all who attended!

Janice McCurley

Business Judgment Rule

2010-04-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

From: Community Associations: A Guide to Successful Management
Authors: Stephen Barber, CPM® and Vickie L. Gaskill, MPM®, CPM®

Sometimes the Board of Directors is entrusted to make some very serious and controversial decisions for the association. If faced with the potential of a lawsuit over an unpopular decision they may be able to rely on “the business judgment rule”. Simply stated, when the Board of Directors has acted in good faith, exercised honest judgment and acted in the best interests of the association the courts will tend to treat the Board they same as they would any other corporate director making the business decision for the organization. The business judgment rule serves to protect the decisions of the board when those decisions are not arbitrary and illogical.

When making decisions for the association the Board of Directors want to:
• Stay informed. Oftentimes the Board does not have the background or training to completely understand the complexities of a matter. Relying on experts such as attorneys, professional property managers, and contractors will assist them in making informed decisions.
• Consider alternatives. The courts like to see that before the final decision was arrived at, the Board looked at all angles and came up with what they believed to be the best.
• Document everything. As the Board is making decisions they should write them down and provide the reasons for those decisions. Most of the time this is done through the meeting minutes, however, even when something may appear to be rather incidental a short written note can serve as a mind refresher in the future if necessary.
• Establish good hearing and due process procedures. Everyone deserves an opportunity to be heard. Even when the Board knows that the confrontation might be a difficult one they should have some sort of policy and procedure in place to hear all sides to the issue.

In 1997,the Washington Supreme Court summarized the law on the “Business Judgment Rule” in Riss v. Angel, 934 P.2d 669, 131 Wash. 2d 612,632 . To paraphrase the Court:

1. Directors will not be held liable for honest mistakes.
2. Condominium directors have a fiduciary duty to exercise ordinary care.
3. The decision of the homeowners associations must be reasonable.
4. The court will not substitute its judgment for that of corporate directors unless there is evidence of fraud, dishonesty, or incompetence.
5. A director must act with such care as a reasonable prudent person in a like position would.

Similar court decisions have been made in New York (Levandusky v. One Fifth Avenue Apartment Corp.), California (Lamden v. La Jolla Shores Condominium Association), and Colorado (Colorado Homes, Ltd, v. Loerch-Wilson)

Join NARPM for FREE

2010-03-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

Are you a residential property manager who has considered joining the National Association of Property Managers? Now is the time to do so! Rentals.com has generously offered to pay the first year dues for any new member who is currently a property manager and works in an office that does not already have any NARPM members. This is a GREAT opportunity if you have been looking at the organization but are hesitant to do do. Visit http://www.narpm.org/ for more information.

Several members of our office are NARPM members who are actively working on designations to be able to better serve our clients, and our broker, Vickie Gaskill, is currently serving as the National President. If you have any questions or would like to visit our monthly luncheon, e-mail Kasey at kcnarpmhotline@gmail.com.

From NARPM's website:
The National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM®), founded in October 1988, provides a permanent trade organization for the residential property management industry. NARPM® continues to be the premier professional association of residential property managers, currently representing over 2,500 members comprised of real estate agents, brokers, managers and their employees.

Office & Home Electrical Safety

2010-03-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

by Stefanie Octave

Whether at home or the office, you should always be watchful for electrical hazards. At the office, it is up to everyone to pay attention to electrical safety and avoid possible injury. Here is a list of some great electrical safety tips from workplace-safetytips.com that are sure to make your workplace safer.

Workplace Safety Electrical Tips

Never allow your employees to overload circuits. To many cords plugged into a sock it is a very easy way to start a fire.
When buying electrical equipment for your company, make sure that they are approved by a company such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
Make sure all electrical cords around the office are in good working condition. If you come across cords that are frayed or broken, make sure you have them replaced immediately.
It is a good idea to have a weekly check of all electrical appliances around the company to make sure everything is in good working condition.
Never keep electrical appliances around water. If a drink is spilled near a computer system, have it cleaned up immediately.
Be careful when using electrical extension cords. It is very important not to have too many things plugged in to the same cord.
Only have three prong plugs plugged into three prong sockets. 3 Prong plugs can only be safely plugged in to 3 pronged electrical outlets, or electrical sockets.
Make sure your staff is always wearing the right protective gear when dealing with electrical systems.
Always take the time to check to see if light switches and other such electrical systems are hot or overheating, if they are have them replaced right away.
Flickering lights can be a good indication that there could be electrical problems. If this occurs make sure to have it check out as soon as possible.
If electrical tools start to show wear and tear have them replaced.

Find more electrical safety and other safety information from theWashington Department of Labor and Industries website: http://www.lni.wa.gov/safety/

Board Training Seminar

2010-03-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

Bell Anderson and Associates will be hosting a board member training seminar covering the topic of Delinquencies, Collections, and Foreclosures. It is strongly encouraged for you to attend this FREE event.

The event will take place on Tuesday, April 13th at 6pm. The event will be located at the Kent Senior Center, 600 E Smith St, Kent, WA 98030. Our expect speaker will be from the Law Offices of Sundberg & Pody.

Our gracious sponsor, Pacheco Painting, will be providing snacks for the attendees.

Please RSVP to your property manager! We look forward to seeing you there!

Being Safe Online

2010-03-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

by Vickie Gaskill, CPM®, MPM®

Most of us are spending a lot more time than we ever have “surfing the web”. What we think are perfectly innocent websites turn out to be bogus misleading deceptive web attractions. Now that we have Facebook, Twitter, and all sorts of social networking sites, it’s becoming harder and harder to protect a lot of our personal information and that of our children. I did a bit of research and thanks to the help of MSN found some good online safety tips.

Online Safety Tips:
1. Keep your personal information private including your name, phone number, additional passwords and social security or credit card numbers.
2. Turn off the computer if you feel uncomfortable with what you are seeing on the screen.
3. Never agree to let children meet someone in person who they have met online.
4. Don’t share photos of yourself with strangers.
5. Keep the computer your child uses in a central location
6. Join children as they surf the Internet.
7. Install anti-virus software on your computer.
8. Remember, not everyone on the Web is who they say they are.

Helpful sites on the Internet:

GetNetWise – Internet resources for online safety information
StaySafeOnline.Info – Secure your home or small business computers. This site also has an animated interactive safety quiz designed just for kids hosted by Shaquille O’Neal and Tara Lipinski
SafeKids – tips, advice and suggestions to make your family’s online experience fun and productive
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) – Learn about ways to prevent abduction and to report missing children

Have fun, be safe, and enjoy the surf!

Vendor Night

2010-02-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

Last night we held our first VENDOR NIGHT at the Kent Community Center with great success!! We had over 30 vendors come out and we are excited about the turnout. We shared some pizza, listened to a presentation by the EPA about lead-based paint and remodeling, got the opportunity to meet in person a lot of the folks who we only connect with over the phone, and gave away a pair of hockey tickets to one lucky vendor. Thank you very much for those who came out to meet us. If you were unable to attend, we hope you will join us in the future. If you are a vendor and have suggestions for a speaking topic that you may find interesting for next year's meeting, please e-mail Maria at mgarcia@bell-anderson.net. For those who wanted more information about becoming a NARPM affiliated vendor, you can find that at http://chapters.narpm.org/C015/affiliates-join.html

The EPA's presentation

All of our lovely vendors

Maintenance Coordinator Maria (who put together the event) & Jen going over reminders and community events

Dawn & Carrie signing people in

Thank you again for everyone who came out. We are hoping to do this again in the future!!

Cancer Sucks!

2010-02-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

by Vickie Gaskill, MPM®, RMP® CPM®

Some of you may already know this, but for those of you that don’t, I thought that it was time to let you know. At the end of Dec. 2009, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. On the 12^th of Jan. this year I had a bilateral mastectomy. All my tests have now come back and because they look awesome, I won’t have to have any chemotherapy. I share this because I want each and everyone you to take a moment and reconsider just how it is you are going about your life on a daily basis. I was given a pretty severe wake up call!

Have you put off vacations, medical procedures, visits with your relatives, or schooling just because you figured that work and business was more important? I did. I enjoy my work and being an entrepreneur. I thought that’s what was going to make me fulfilled. Well, I learned really fast in the past month and a half that work and business isn’t everything.

I’m so very grateful that I had the mammogram when I did. Even then, I only went in because a good friend of mine had had a bit of a scare and I knew that it had been three years since my last check up. When the word came back that I had three cancer positive biopsies, I was scared to death, as was my entire family. I don’t want any of you to go through that experience. It’s like your life force is ripped right out of you. My story has a happy ending. I don’t want yours to be otherwise. So please, schedule that medical test today, pick up the phone and call a relative that been waiting to hear from you, look at your calendar and decide when you’re going on vacation, and remember, there are a lot of people who love you and want you in there lives for as long as possible.

And for all of you who have been absolute “pillars of support” for me during all of this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

My husband Tim and I at our 40th Anniversary Party

Check This Out!!!! iphone and blackberry app for Goff & DeWalt

2010-01-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

Goff & DeWalt is pleased to announce that the Apple iTunes Store has approved our two new Free applications for the iPhone! These are also available for BlackBerry devices!

One application Is called “GWManual” and the other is called GWRedPhone” and are available now at no charge. The manual contains information useful to Association Managers and to Association Board members. The Red Phone is a simply way to keep the Goff & DeWalyt phone numbers handy for those times when you need a fast answer to a question facing you (just like the famous “red Phone” in the White House!).

Both of these applications are available at no charge. Here are some screen shots”

Both applications loaded on an iPhone:

Here is a close-up of the “G & DW Resource Manual” Ap and the “Red Phone” Ap:

This application will provide immediate access to key resources - right at your fingertips!

Copied below is a screen shot of the resources you gain – note especially the Community Association Guide!

In order to load these applications, proceed as follows:

For the iPhone:

Type “Goff and DeWalt” into the applications search page on your iPhone or on the applications page in iTunes and download them.

For the BlackBerry:

Visit the “Resources” tab on the www.goffdewalt.com website or click here: http://www.goffdewalt.com/index.php/Resources/

We hope you will enjoy these new resources! Let us know what you think!

From the Desk of Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan

2010-01-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

January 9, 2010

KPD Update

I haven’t done a column in a while; since before Officer Brenton was murdered in Seattle, which of course was followed by the murder of four Lakewood officers and then the death of Deputy Mundell in Pierce County. I have avoided writing anything about the events of the last two months because I don’t have anything profound or illuminating to say, and anything less would be trite. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, any attempt to say something intelligent is “far above our poor power to add or detract.” Now that we have entered the new (and hopefully quieter) year, I won’t attempt to be profound but I will share a few related comments and reflections.

In 24 years in law enforcement I have never seen anything quite like this. Officer deaths occur, but are infrequent. Not only the frequency and scope, but the acts themselves are overwhelming. The attacks were not just on the officers, or the department, or the profession, but on the community. The cold-blooded murder of Officers Brenton, Richards, Griswold, Owens, and Renninger was an attack on civilized society, and it crossed a line. The astounding outpouring of emotion and support that followed, up to and including the response to the death of Deputy Mundell was in part because of that attack on society itself. It is jarring and upsetting and shakes our collective beliefs.

In the past two months, we have seen public reaction which has occasionally included calls for some sort of action to “solve” this problem. Some of these ideas are worth exploring and discussing, but we really should not attach them to the loss of these officers. Banning guns, having more guns, reducing or increasing mental health treatment, making more laws - none of these, by themselves, will solve the problem. In our society, the interplay between personal rights and public safety is just too complex, and there are no simple answers.

Here in Kent, we received countless cards and flowers at the department, and almost every officer has a story about someone here in Kent approaching them in a store or on a call, saying how much they appreciate their department and feel the loss of the officers. We are all deeply appreciative of the support of those we serve.

After the past two months and attending too many funerals, I can offer only three observations that, I hope, will help us find some context.

First, one of our Kent Sergeants, right after the Lakewood shootings, was meeting with his group of officers and of course, lengthy discussion of the incident and our opinions followed. This Sergeant is a top-notch police instructor, SWAT officer, and expert in officer safety. Rather than focus only on caution and staying safe, he ended his briefing by assigning the officers a very specific mission: pair up, go to a coffee shop, and talk to our residents. They want to talk to us as much as we need to talk with them. It’s easy for us to underestimate just how many truly good people there are all around us, but these tragic events brought that all out and made it abundantly clear.

Second, another observation was that the funerals for each of these officers, while formal and ceremonial and respectful, focused not on their heroism and their sacrifice, but rather on their humanity. Each funeral highlighted their families and funny stories about their jobs. There was no deification of anyone, only highlights of real people who had real experiences and faults. They were human beings who loved their jobs and did the best they could. Police officers are not good at drawing attention to themselves, and the basic humanity of each officer was what I really understood.

One of the most salient observations for me was that in every instance, the families of these fallen officers did not engage in any kind of blame, anger, or hostility. It would be understandable if all of us wanted to focus on those who committed these acts, but the fact is, they weren’t even part of the discussion at the memorials. Each funeral was about celebrating good people who lived worthwhile lives. There was no recrimination or self-pity. The funerals and memorials were not sad at all; they were recognition of people who lost their lives too soon, doing what they loved.

Finally, I came away thinking about the strong message that came from the children of Officer Greg Richards, who started his career right here at the Kent Police Department. Their message was simple. Greg was a good dad, and the best way to honor him, and each of the officers who gave their lives, is be a better mom or dad. Be a better sister or brother, a better son or daughter. Be a better friend.

Have a great week!
-Steve

Reprinted with permission from and thanks to the Kent PD

Tree-Cycling

2010-01-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not getting this posted sooner! For many cities in King County, it's not too late to put your holiday tree out for free curbside recycling. Here's a website with links by city:

http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/garbage-recycling/tree-cycling.asp

In some cities, if you have already missed the curbside deadline, you can arrange for a local boy scout troop to pick the tree up for a small donation. You can find that information on each city's page.

On behalf of Bell-Anderson, thank you for a wonderful 2009. We are eager to see what 2010 brings!

Calling all Vendors!!

2009-12-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

Vendors, please mark February 11th, 2010 on your calendars from 7-9 pm for Vendor Appreciation Night! Looking forward to seeing you all then!

Tacky Sweater Day

2009-12-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

One of our company's little-known traditions (unless you have been fortunate enough to encounter us on this day) is an annual tacky sweater contest. We also added a comfort food potluck to make it really amazing. This year, the competition was tight. Stefanie, our Condo A/P Bookkeeper, rocked a zebra-print snuggie with a dangling ornaments and a heidi-style hairdo. Residential Property Manager Dawn lit up with the office with a custom-wired sweatshirt complete with LED lights. The Tacky Sweater Award initially went to Jenise, one of our HOA Property Managers, for her custom doily and ribbon creation, until another PM, Ken, showed up with his amazing collage of ornaments and tinsel to steal the show and bag the award. Well done everyone!! Tune in next year!!

Stef and her Snuggie

Dawn's Lighted Sweater

The First Winner Jenise (note the tacky sweater trophy)

Ken Comes from Behind to Win it

The Whole Gang

Winter Maintenance: Freezing Pipes

2009-12-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

Pipes are especially vulnerable to damage caused by expanding water. Water lines that freeze are usually those directly exposed to severe cold, such as outdoor hose bibs, swimming pool supply lines, or water sprinkler lines. In addition, pipes in unheated interior areas such as basements, crawl spaces, attics, garages, and kitchen cabinets, and those that run against exterior walls with little or no insulation are also susceptible to freezing.

Following are some tips to help prevent damage from frozen pipes while you’re away from your home:

1. Shut off the water supply and drain pipes or appliances.
2. Have someone you trust check your home about once per week if you are away.
3. Have emergency numbers handy such as a plumber, electrician, roofer, and restoration expert in case something does go wrong.
4. Protect pipes, fittings, and appliances against freezing with insulation or heat strips.
5. Have your HVAC system serviced before leaving if you will be away for an extended period of time.
6. Set your thermostat no lower than 55 degrees.
7. Before leaving turn off your water heater. (See owner’s manual for procedures.)
8. Install storm windows and/or close shutters to keep in heat.
9. Clean gutters and downspouts to ensure proper water drainage.
10. Service sump pump to ensure proper operation. Adding a backup power source is prudent.
11. Unplug all nonessential electric appliances.
12. Inform local police if you will be out of town.

For more information on Water, Fire, Mold remediation visit:
www.PuroCleanChicago.blogspot.com

Interesting Article in NW REporter

2009-12-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

Here's some very helpful information about winter storms courtesy of NW REporter

http://www.nwmls.com/discover/nwreporter.cfm?SectionListsID=25&PageID=5382

Here's a list of essentials that they recommend to keep in your emergency kit:
* Water: one gallon per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
* Food: at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
* Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
* Flashlight and extra batteries
* First aid kit
* Whistle to signal for help
* Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to protect shelter-in-place
* Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
* Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
* Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
* Local maps
* Cell phone with chargers (car charger recommended in the event of power outages)

They also include some of Puget Sound Energy's tips for better energy efficiency this winter:
PSE's energy-efficiency tips to prepare for winter

1. Seal up leaky drafts around doors and windows with weather-stripping, caulking, and door sweeps. Also seal up any leaks or gaps in furnace ducts that extend through unheated basements or crawl spaces.
2. Reduce air leaks by repairing broken windows and using inexpensive weather-stripping around entry doors.
3. Insulate attics, outside walls, and floors over crawlspaces.
4. Have the furnace inspected and serviced to make sure it is in proper working order.
5. Clean or replace the furnace air filters at least every two months during the heating season.
6. Set the thermostat at the coolest level you can without making your rooms uncomfortable. For most homes, the heating bill drops by about 2 percent for every one degree the thermostat is lowered.
7. Lower the thermostat at bedroom or while away during the day. Setting the thermostat to 58 degrees while asleep can cut a natural-gas bill by up to 7 percent.

HELP! I cannot get along with my neighbor!

2009-12-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

By Dawn Hardley, Property Manager

As Real Estate Property Managers we can do our job to the letter of the law but when it comes to trying to make two different parties get along, it is not “what we do.” We get dozens and dozens of the following complaints:

“My neighbor is making too much noise……….….”

“My neighbor is parking in my spot……………….”

“My neighbor is smoking outside my window….…”

“My neighbor throws their garbage in my can…….”

We could write a book with all the complaints. Rather than speaking with respect and kindness to their neighbor, it’s usually handled in a brash, rude tone, which does nothing but make the other party instantly defensive and just as brash and rude in their response. This type of action/reaction does not get anyone anywhere. Property Managers often feel like preschool playground teachers as opposed to professional real estate managers. HOWEVER, we have discovered a service out there that may be everyone’s saving grace……..they are called Community Mediation Centers and they are all over the United States and most recently online. The services are either free or very low cost, and they offer everything from resolution training, to advise, to legal counsel. The best reference we have found in our area is www.resolutionsnorthwest.org.

If you are having trouble with neighbors please check out this website (www.resolutionsnorthwest.org) and see if you are able learn how to get what you want and also maintain a wonderful neighborly living environment at the same time. Everyone wins! The people next door whose dog’s barking is driving you crazy could be the same people to call the police if they saw someone breaking into your house, call the fire department if they saw smoke, or be your only contact in a natural disaster. ALWAYS keep this in mind when dealing with sticky neighbor issues.

IF FOR ANY REASON you feel yourself or your family members are being threatened or may be harmed, DO NOT call your Property Manager. CALL 911 or your local Police Department FIRST THING.

Bell Anderson will be Closed

2009-11-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

Bell Anderson will be closed on Thanksgiving and the Friday after Thanksgiving (Nov 26-27). We hope all of you have a wonderful holiday! If you have an emergency meaning fire, flood, or blood, please call 206-255-3289.

Emergency Alert Systems

2009-11-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

Below are links to some of the emergency alert systems that cities have set up in case of a flood or other natural disaster. Yes, we have really been pushing this information out there, but the safety of our clients is very important to us. We would rather everyone be too aware, as opposed to being caught off guard. If you live in one of these cities, we would highly encourage you to sign up for the notifications.

Auburn – Auburn Alerts

You can choose to register with a phone number, e-mail address or both

http://www.auburnwa.gov/Emergency/disaster/Auburn_Alert.asp

Kent – Code Red System

https://login.coderedweb.com/codereddataentry/Default.aspx?groupid=mVFKb0hY42JF%2fX8guYN%2bFw%3d%3d

Renton – Code Red System

https://login.coderedweb.com/codereddataentry/Default.aspx?groupid=BUFNQQoaaVLxfc85XAXZjA%3d%3d

Tukwila – E-mail Alerts

http://www.ci.tukwila.wa.us/listserv/hhdam_elist.html

Have a safe and happy winter!

Fannie Mae: "Deed for Lease" Program Announced

2009-11-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

I thought this was an interesting piece of news. Thanks go to NARPM for the heads up:

Source: http://www.fanniemae.com/newsreleases/2009/4844.jhtml?p=Media&s=News+Releases

WASHINGTON, DC -- Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) is implementing the Deed for Lease™ Program under which qualifying homeowners facing foreclosure will be able to remain in their homes by signing a lease in connection with the voluntary transfer of the property deed back to the lender.

"The Deed for Lease Program provides an additional option for qualifying homeowners who are facing foreclosure and are not eligible for modifications," said Jay Ryan, Vice President of Fannie Mae. "This new program helps eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps families and tenants in their homes during a transitional period, and helps to stabilize neighborhoods and communities."

The new program is designed for borrowers who do not qualify for or have not been able to sustain other loan-workout solutions, such as a modification. Under Deed for Lease, borrowers transfer their property to the lender by completing a deed in lieu of foreclosure, and then lease back the house at a market rate.

To participate in the program, borrowers must live in the home as their primary residence and must be released from any subordinate liens on the property. Tenants of borrowers in this circumstance may also be eligible for leases under the program. Borrowers or tenants interested in a lease must be able to document that the new market rental rate is no more than 31% of their gross income.

Leases under the new program may be up to 12 months, with the possibility of term renewal or month-to-month extensions after that period. A Deed for Lease property that is subsequently sold includes an assignment of the lease to the buyer.

For additional information about the Deed for Lease Program, including full details on program eligibility, please review the Guide Announcement on www.efanniemae.com.

NARPM National Convention in Orlando, FL

2009-11-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

During the week of October 19^th-24^th Vickie, Dawn and I (Carrie) attended the National Association of Residential Property Managers annual conference in Orlando, FL.

On Tuesday the 20^th we took a special leadership class that was put on by the Disney Institute. You could not help but smile during their presentation. Most of the talk was regarding communication and how to effectively communicate. We did a really good exercise that involved a leader, manager, and co-workers. You could not look at each other or verbally communicate; you had to write everything down that you wanted to accomplish. Well needless to say I was the “leader” in our group and my team sat there the whole time because I didn’t flip my directions over to see what I was trying to accomplish! It was really funny how much I rely on verbal communication. If you don’t communicate what you are trying to accomplish, the whole process falls apart. It was a real wake-up call because we communicate so much by e-mail that I think we forget what we are saying in our e-mails is not necessarily the message that the receiver gets. I really liked it and highly suggest if you ever have the opportunity to go to one of Disney’s training courses you should.

During the conference on Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday we had 3 general session speakers and quite a few breakout sessions that were very helpful and invigorating. I really appreciate these conferences with NARPM because doing what we do can become a little monotonous once and a while. We also share a lot of information at these meeting and meet professional contacts in the industry. This group is amazing when it comes to sharing information and ideas. I always come away with new ways of handling situations and new ideas.

Another exciting event was held on October 23^rd, 2009 when my sister, Dawn, and I had the great pleasure of swearing in our Mom, Vickie Gaskill, to the position of President for 2010’s National Association of Property Managers. What an amazing opportunity it was and we are all very proud of her! Vickie is going to get to travel to a lot of NARPM chapters all over the United States next year and share with them her expertise in the area of Residential Property Management and Leadership.

We are all looking forward to the next year and what it has to bring!