Sharing our newstory!

[GoldenEggs]

I've been away for awhile.... growing my baby and taking care of life.

We've been rehabbing our apartment and were featured on the local news due to our efforts!! My husband had a small interview, which you can see toward the end.

Things are starting to look up in a positive direction and I'm hoping the momentum continues!

Taking Back the Neighborhood

I just checked the link and the video corresponding to the article doesn't seem to appear right next to it. I had to scroll through the videos below to find the one titled Taking Back the Neighborhood. It's a picture of a fence with some flagpoles.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Congrats and welcome back!!!!

 

[Bilgefisher]

Your stories and JScott and any other rehabbers really motivate me. To me there is nothing better than giving a community a diamond from a lump of coal. I hope you can keep the gangs away and build a helpful community atmosphere. You'll have built more then just equity. Something you can be proud of.

 

[CMCarlin]

That is really great. It's people like you that really make a difference.

 

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[andviv]

Amazing story. Thanks a lot for sharing it.

Yes, it took me some time to find the video. Very cool.

I dugg it.

It seems you guys are doing all the right things, the community center sounds like a great idea and the activity for Saturday should also help a lot to improve the perception of the place. Did the news crew also show up for that event?

Do you mind posting more numbers about your success? improvement in occupancy? higher rents? less crime activity?

 

[Sid23]

Great job! That is really cool.

How were you able to build a community center? Did that figure into the initial projections when you bought the building?

How are the unit turnovers going so far? Have you had success getting "rid of the drug dealers" and moving in better tenants.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[GoldenEggs]

Thank you everyone!

In my opinion, the neighborhood was not THAT bad. When I was in college, I used to live near the university in an old Victorian and my roomate witnessed a drive-by, our front windows were being broken by people throwing things and our cars parked in the backyard got broken into frequently. I was scared walking from the carport in the backyard to the door in the back of the house!

The last time I checked the police activity was earlier this year and the problems on our property had to do more with graffitti although we did have one case of arson. However, we do have an office, an empty unit, set aside for the local police as a break room for them when they are patrolling the area. The police have stepped up physical presence in the area but I have not checked to see if resulted in a decrease in criminal activity in the area.

No news crew showed up for the grand opening. There was a big football game and a horse race going on the same day as our grand opening. A couple of our investors are very community activist oriented so they have been the catalysts in garnering community support.

Honestly, the improvement in the property would not have been possible without our property management company. We had to fire the original company we hired. The new one was so efficient in managing rehab costs that we were able to expand on the original concept of the community center.

We're not yet at a break-even point. I believe we're about 8 units away from a break-even point. We've tightened up our criteria, requiring driver's licenses and Social Security Numbers so we should be attracting and retaining better tenants. Our new PM company did institute a tiered rent structure, since some units have a balcony and others are 2bd/1ba with a den or 2bd/1ba no den. We are definately targeting small families and positioning our property as a family friendly property. Our swimming pool was open during the summer, we have a new playground area and picnic area with BBQs. Plus there is a police presence on site, even though it's mostly a break area for them, and the fence provides a visual and somewhat physical deterrent. The top of the fence is pointed so it is uncomfortable to sit on and the property manager regularly walks the property so he puts a stop to any unknowns loitering around the fence.

We do have about two dozens units offline, due to arson and another fire-incident but we have been trying to resolve this with the insurance company.

 

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[hakrjak]

Awesome story! I could not find the video though -- Scrolled through them all

- Hakrjak

 

[SteveO]

The ship is tuning... Great news!!! You were taking all the right steps. It was just a matter of time. Management is a critical part of the equation.

Anyone that owns or works with multi-family realizes what a job it can be. It is never easy.

Great job!

 

[Bilgefisher]

Sorry to play dumb here, but does anyone have a link to the video file. I can't seem to find it on their website.

 

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[andviv]

I agree, it seems the property management company is taking the right steps.

It would be nice to invite the same journalists 6 months down the road to talk about a follow up and how things have improved.

Plus there is a police presence on site, even though it's mostly a break area for them

What if you offer to the police department a lower rent for one of the units for one of their officers? That would probably also mean that this officer will park his marked vehicle at the property, just another deterrent for the bad guys.

 

[andviv]

Sorry to play dumb here, but does anyone have a link to the video file. I can't seem to find it on their website.

OK, I tried to get the direct link to the video but I couldn't (thanks, flash player).

The next best thing I could for you is this:

Scroll to the left, a lot, probably 25 or 30 clicks.

The video is the one I signaled with the red, ugly arrow in this graph. Good luck trying to find it.

 

[GoldenEggs]

I agree, it seems the property management company is taking the right steps.

It would be nice to invite the same journalists 6 months down the road to talk about a follow up and how things have improved.


What if you offer to the police department a lower rent for one of the units for one of their officers? That would probably also mean that this officer will park his marked vehicle at the property, just another deterrent for the bad guys.

The manager was trying to get someone from law enforcement, active or retired, into our units, but that was before we had the rehab funds. I'm not sure where that is right now.

The local council woman for our area started having neighborhood meetings at our community center and will be bringing the mayor to one of the meetings. So that is very cool. My husband is pushing our management company to create press releases for all the events that are going on now.

Thank you all for your words of encouragement. It means a lot, especially to a hormonal pregnant woman who's husband has been gone weeks at a time to take care of business!

We're so close to break-even!!!

 

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[GoldenEggs]

Thanks Andviv for the screenshot! We should be getting a copy of the clip this week and once I figure out how to do it, I'll edit my original post and put it there.

 

[andviv]

We should be getting a copy of the clip this week and once I figure out how to do it, I'll edit my original post and put it there.

Probably the easiest way is to upload it to youtube and then post the link here, so people can see it.

 

[GoldenEggs]

We had a slight mention in the local paper again this week! Due to weather conditions, the Salvation Army wanted to help people in the area where our complex is located. They used the new community center that we had built as the distribution center. We fortunately had power available at our complex.


Bilingual church, mobile kitchen team to serve Cardinal Valley

I"m just so happy that our complex is being mentioned in a positive light!!

 

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[andviv]

Golden, very cool!!!

How's the occupancy doing these days?

Are the numbers improving already?