Community Resources

Fowl Play in the Backyard – Chickens Make a Come Back

July 14, 2010

I recently rented a cottage in Santa Cruz and was surprised to see the tenants had a chicken coop with 2 hens and they collected the eggs daily.  When I would show the cottage the hens would scurry around the yard – no bugs at this property was my first thought. As a property manager [...]

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Santa Cruz City Has Had It!

June 30, 2010

Last weeks post was about Party Houses well since then I attended a community meeting with the Mayor of Santa Cruz, Planning Dept heads at the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors office to discuss a new ordinance. To back up a bit an emergency ordinance was passed by the City stating that if property owners [...]

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Party Homes – What To Do?

June 23, 2010

In the June 9, 2010 Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaper, www.santacruzsentinel.com page B3, there is an article by Shanna McCord about the crack down on party homes in Santa Cruz.  The City Council passed an emergency ordinance not allowing repeat offending property owners from making renovations to their properties that would increase the number of bedrooms [...]

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Santa Cruz County Housing Expo 2010

June 2, 2010

I was invited to speak at the Santa Cruz Housing Expo on May 8th, which was sponsored by the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors.  My topic was Investment Properties.  Here is a brief outline of workshop. Investment Opportunities:  What is your goal – rental income, appreciation and sell, pass on to heirs? Location – this [...]

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Georgiana Bruce Kirby – Senior Seminar – How to be a good tenant

April 30, 2010

 As part of the senior seminar series I was asked to speak to the students about how to get their first apartment, what owners and property managers look for in a tenant. The class was on April 22nd, from 1-2:15 at the school.  About 40-50 students were in the class and all were attentive except [...]

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Raving Fans – Book Review

April 28, 2010

I have read Raving Fans before – it is a quick read 1-2 hours max.  I received the book as a thank you gift for helping with the CALNARPM conference so I decided to read it again. The theme of the book is how to provide Exceptional Customer Service.  In our current economy, where businesses [...]

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Property Management from A-Z: Z

April 16, 2010

Well I am on Z and covered all topics related to Property Management through the alphabet and then some.  Hope you have found the topics timely and of interest.  Zero Sum Gain (break even), Zap Your Energy, Zombie, Zen, Zest for Life Zero-Sum-Gain – break even is at least where you want to be with [...]

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Successful Landlording Cabrillo College Testimonials

March 14, 2010

Last Saturday I co-taught the Successful Landlording Class at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA.  This class is taught 2 times a year.  It is a class packed with basic info on How to be a Successful Landlord.  This class touches on the things one needs to know to stay within the law, get a great [...]

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