Flooding in the Auburn Area

On Thursday the 23rd, our Maintenance Coordinator, Maria Garcia, and property manager, Kasey Medina, attended an apartment manager’s meeting at Auburn City Hall. We had the opportunity to hear from a gal with the Emergency Preparedness Department about flood insurance and flood risk posed by the Howard Hanson Damn. I vaguely recalled this being in the news last winter, but it really hit home when we were handed a map of the flood zone on which are a few of the properties managed by Bell-Anderson.

While the Army Corps of Engineers is working on the damn and are seeing promising results, there is still an elevated risk that a few areas of Northern Auburn will be affected by the flood this coming winter. Here’s the good news: IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO GET FLOOD INSURANCE. I asked the person speaking if flood insurance would be very expensive since a flood is predicted for the area. The response was more good news: when applying for flood insurance, the insurance company has to go off of FEMA’s map of areas likely to flood and not what the news is predicting. The North Auburn area is considered a low flood risk area to FEMA, so flood insurance is fairly inexpensive. I know one owner of ours was able to purchase insurance for a small multi-family building at about $400 per year.

Not only to owners need flood insurance, but City of Auburn is recommending that tenants purchase flood insurance as well. As with the owners’ policies, this insurance should be very inexpensive. If you would like more information, I’ve provided a few links to the City of Auburn website:

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

http://www.auburnwa.gov/government/News/2009_News_Stories/Green_River_Valley_Residents_Urged_To_Buy_Flood_Insurance.asp

From the City of Auburn website: ” To learn about preparing for floods, or purchasing flood insurance, and the benefits of protecting homes, business and property against flooding, visit www.floodsmart.gov or call 1-888-379-9531 (TTY 1-800-427-5593).”

Thank you to the City of Auburn for this very important information!

Attention All Board Members

Bell-Anderson and Associates will be sponsoring a board member training seminar on September 1st, 2009 at 7:00pm located at the Kent Senior Center. We strongly encourage you to be in attendance at this training session. This presentation is free for all who want to attend. The guest speaker from Goff & DeWalt, LLP will be speaking on topics ranging from Board of Directors' duties to how to run a meeting.

We hope to see you all there! If you have any questions please contact your Property Manager or give us a call at 253-852-8195.

A whole new world..of technology!

I (Kasey Medina) along with Jen Collins from the associations side of the company had the opportunity to attend a "Social Media and Blogging" class taught by Glenn Froehlich. It was an incredibly interesting and informative class, and really challenged our ideas about using social media networks as advertising sources.

As technology changes (isn't it amazing!) we have some really great opportunities to connect with new and current tenants and owners via services like this blog, Twitter, Facebook, and even YouTube!! I'm proud to announce our first venture into the videosphere. Please be patient with us as it will take awhile for us to learn to use this technology, but we are so excited about the possiblities.

Without further ado...our YouTube channel and first video!!

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

Another Article

The Bell-Anderson Recycling team made the Seattle Times!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009472121_recycle15m.html

Recycling Olympics

On Tuesday, July 14, Bell-Anderson participated in the “Recycling Olympics,” an interactive game meant to raise public awareness for the Allied Waste and City of Kent recycling program. Property managers Dawn Hardley and Carrie Fjeld along with maintenance coordinator, Maria Garcia, made up Bell-Anderson’s team of expert recyclers known as “The Dream Green Team.” The other two teams, “The Green Queen and Her Teens” and the “Eco Challengers” were made up of families from the Kent area.

Pulling into the neighborhood in Kent in which the event took place, the team was shocked to find that they would be working with “real” garbage, straight out of the Allied Waste truck. Donning protective gloves and goggles (they decided against large plastic ponchos), team Bell-Anderson met the judge of the competition, Tom Watson, project manager for King County's recycling and environmental services. They would have an unspecified amount of time to move as much of the garbage pile to their team’s area as possible, and sort that into either a blue recycling can, a green yard waste bin or a green garbage bin. The team with the most recycling at the end, measured in lbs, would be declared the champions.

Team Bell-Anderson worked their magic and scraped out a very close victory, recycling over 100 lbs of what was previously garbage into their two recycling bins. When asked what their secret was, the gals said “Finding heavy things like phonebooks.” Also present at the event were several media organizations to spread the word about how easy recycling can be. Watch your local news tonight for your friendly neighborhood property managers in the blue shirts!

While winning is always great, we were amazed by what we learned today. First of all, it was astounding the amount of perfectly good recyclable material that had been thrown away by Kent residents, things as basic as cardboard boxes and tin cans. The Bell-anderson team was also amazed by all the materials that can be put in your yard waste bin, such as food scraps (no meat, fish, or dairy), food soiled paper and even paper egg cartons. They were also surprised to find that removing labels from recycled items is no longer necessary, and clean dry plastic bags are accepted as well.

Overall it was a great event! Thanks to the City of Kent and Allied Waste for inviting us to participate. For more information on what can and cannot be recycled (Allied Waste customers in Kent only) visit http://www.rabanco.com/collection/kent/residential/resi_what_to_recycle.aspx

Dawn, Maria & Carrie

(a.k.a. the Dream Green Team)

The trash pile

The team with Caren Crowley,

Customer Service Manager for Allied Waste Services

King County Eco-Consumer Tom Watson &

Kent City Councilwoman Elizabeth Albertson

Digging in (we had to keep Maria from diving)

Carrie was the sorting person

Recycling is fun!

The champs meeting the press

Way to make us proud!

Why should you hire an ACCREDITED MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION® (AMO®) firm?

By Vickie Gaskill, broker

Experience – Since its establishment in 1933, The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) has only awarded the prestigious AMO® accreditation to those that can demonstrate market and property experience through years of actively managing real estate. Over half of the firms holding the AMO® accreditation have been in business for more then 25 years and nearly 80% have been established for over a decade. You can trust that your assets are being managed by the best and most conscientious real estate managers in the business. There are only 515 AMO® firms in the United States and Canada.

Education – Since every AMO® firm has a CERTIFIED PROPERTY MANAGER® (CPM®) directing all real estate management activities, you can count on superior leadership, unparalleled ethics, and an unwavering commitment to achieving your real estate investment goals. Because CPM®s must complete a comprehensive education program, fulfill significant experience requirements in both fiscal and operations management, and pledge to abide by high ethical standards - you’re guaranteed a firm with the know-how to produce results time and time again.

Ethics – You want to know that the real estate management firm that you hire has a strong commitment to safeguarding your assets. Adherence to the AMO® Code of Ethics is a requirement to keep the accreditation and the code is strictly enforced. The code regulates the firm’s relationship with you as an owner/investor, requiring the utmost care in promotion, advertising and operating procedures. As an AMO® firm you can rest assured that your investments are being handled with care and conscience.