Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services

UPDATED: 01-DEC-1999

In this time of low unemployment the competition for on-site managers is worse than it has ever been. Marketing for on-site managers is a full time recruiting job. One can recruit through posting in the local newspaper, on church and Synagogue job boards.[...]

UPDATED: 01-JAN-2000

Suppose you own a 40-unit apartment complex. You notice that the units are not renting very quickly, your vacancy rate is high, and for some reason your collections are very low. As you are auditing your year-end books, you discover that your on-site manager has been pocketing the laundry room machine income. As you dig further you find that rent money is missing. You decide to fire the manager.[...]

UPDATED: 01-MAR-2000

Gene owns the Yamhill Village Apartments, a quiet 50-unit apartment property location with a park across the street. He does not use a property management company. He lives out of town and has to depend on his on-site managers to keep him informed with a monthly report.[...]

UPDATED: 01-DEC-2000

It was raining as Melissa drove up the road to her apartment. It had been a long day at work and she was ready to be home. She pulled in her parking space at Murray Place Apartments and walked into her apartment. As she pulled on the door the handle felt loose, as if the door was not fully engaged. As the door swung open Melissa looked in. Everything looked okay[...]

UPDATED: 01-OCT-1999

It was pouring rain that Friday night. So much rain came down at one of our buildings in SE Portland that the storm/sewer line backed up into the basement. Our on call manager was called and she followed procedure by calling the rooter people and the carpet cleaners to clean up the mess.[...]

UPDATED: 01-MAR-2001

Dear David,

We are reminding you that your dog, Basenji, may visit you at the Autumn West Apartments. With this letter we would like to define your visitation rights. [...]

UPDATED: 01-APR-2001

Think of yourself as the owner of a property management company. As you are reviewing the monthly financial statements, you realize that you are not making as much money as you expected. As you dig through the numbers your gut keeps telling you that[...]

UPDATED: 01-FEB-2001

Do you appreciate your tenants? I mean really appreciate them. Most tenants don’t expect much. A clean and safe place to live, without too much interference from the neighbors. Most landlords can do this, but can you do more? Do you have to do more?[...]

UPDATED: 01-SEPT-1999

As president of a real estate sales and property management company, I am often amazed at what we discover when we inspect a property with a client. Even though few people would think of signing a contract without first reading it carefully, many prospective landlords seem to have no hesitation in buying a property with little more than a cursory glance. What follows is a list of the [...]

UPDATED: 01-JULY-2002

King Markus was brooding in his castle. He was broke once again. He turned to his wife, Queen Aminah.

“I was thinking about adding a couple of rooms to our castle, but once again our treasury lies bare. I hate borrowing from the moneylenders, and the citizens are already too taxed. One more tax will result in a revolt. That’s what happened to King Phillip in the neighboring kingdom.”[...]

UPDATED: 01-JUNE-2002

Those of us that invest in real estate want to know how to get the most out of our investments. Here are a few tips.

Let’s start with the condition of a unit.[...]

UPDATED: 01-MAY-2002

Allen owned a local restaurant chain and was looking for a new location for another restaurant. He always worked with Sheryl Smith because she was so organized and his lease negotiations were so easy. Everyone wants easy negotiations, [...]

UPDATED: 01-APR-2002

Marshall owned a 66-unit apartment property. He knew from experience that he needed to find a competent on-site manager to keep the units rented. He decided to look in the paper to see who else was looking for an on-site manager. [...]

UPDATED: 01-MAR-2002

Liberal pundits and city managers have been concerned over the cost of growth. They rightfully claim that urban growth places heavy demands on urban infrastructure and they have trouble financing that growth through the existing tax base. This is especially true in the current [...]

UPDATED: 01-FEB-2002

According to recent statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau, 75% of multifamily investors are over the age of 45 ¹. Over half of these (51.6%) own less than five units, and they earned approximately 31% of their income from ownership of rental properties. [...]

UPDATED: 01-JAN-2002

Zeke had been waiting a long time for this day. His Aunt Millie finally had decided that he could help her manage her investment properties. She owned three apartment properties and about ten houses, a small rental empire she had built with her husband. The income from the properties had sent Zeke through college. [...]

UPDATED: 01-DEC-2001

If you ever wondered about the business of recruiting an on-site apartment manager, you are not alone. There are a few keys to successfully pulling this off. First, you have to decide what your on-site apartment manager is going to do for you. As with any hiring decision, [...]

UPDATED: 01-NOV-2001

Josie is the proud owner of the Springfield Square Shopping Center, a 30,000 square foot retail center located adjacent to the main mall in the city of Springfield, Oregon. She has ten tenants, the largest being a 15,000 square foot drug store tenant. [...]

UPDATED: 01-SEP-2001

If you believe what it says, late night TV is full of great ways to invest in real estate. Most investors are looking at the big payback with no money down. That is like going to the store to buy a watermelon and offering to pay for it with a paperclip (a highly unlikely feat which my daughter successfully managed to do this summer at camp). [...]

UPDATED: 01-AUG-2001

It is a moderate day of 55 degrees. Your name is Pablo Smith, and you are the owner of the White Lily Apartments. Today is the day you have chosen to tour your twenty-unit apartment complex. You are relaxed and happy. The rent has been coming in on time. The tenants have been quiet. [...]

UPDATED: 01-MAY-2001

Have you ever wondered if the rents you are charging for your rental units are in line with the marketplace? Does it take a long time to rent up your property or does it rent in a day? If you have more phone calls than you can handle, you may have priced the property too low. If you have no phone calls, maybe you are priced too high. [...]

UPDATED: 01-NOV-2003

Last night I was reviewing income and expense analysis reports for three different properties, and once again I realized how hard it is for the average investor to make heads or tails of the information. [...]

UPDATED: 01-OCT-2003

There are many kinds of real estate investors, both large and small, all with different investment goals. One thing they almost all have in common is that they need to borrow money from a lender. [...]

UPDATED: 01-SEP-2003

Real estate has always been one of the opportunities where investors have placed their money for the last thousand years. There have always been investment opportunities for money-lenders (a.k.a. banks) of all kinds, but real estate has been one of those investments which includes your home, and this is where the story starts. [...]

UPDATED: 01-AUG-2003

The Lease Proposal is the first step to making sure all your bases are covered when you are negotiating a lease. [...]

UPDATED: 01-MAY-2003

There are many kinds of real estate investments: homes, apartments, office buildings, retail buildings, mobile home parks, and marinas, to name a few. Each one of these properties needs care and attention. Either you take care of it yourself, or you hire a property manager to take [...]

UPDATED: 01-JAN-2001

Believe it or not, as a real estate investor, litigation lurks just around the corner.

Imagine that your tenants stole your light bulbs from the carports then used them for their lighting needs. Now mother in law comes to visit, she trips and falls on the front step, and low and behold she sues you for the broken back, pain and suffering and lack of consortium. You of course carry insurance, but bear in mind that you can’t have this happen all too often, otherwise the insurance[...]

UPDATED: 01-MAR-2003

It was just this fall when the rain storms hit that I was again reminded how important it is to keep your roofing maintained. As a matter of course we inspect all roofs at least twice a year, but recently we ran into a major leaking problem with a new commercial tenant. [...]

UPDATED: 01-OCT-2002

Morris was 55 years old and had carefully invested for his retirement. He kept record of all of his investments. After 20 years he decided to review his progress. He had invested in the stock market, but always envied those that had real estate investments and kept thinking, “does it make sense for me to be investing in real estate?”[...]

UPDATED: 01-MAY-2000

High cost of Clean Water Act results in increased water and sewer costs to meet EPA standards.

Natural gas shortage (caused by increase use in Midwest and East Coast) results in increased natural gas prices.

UPDATED: 01-AUG-2002

Just yesterday I was meeting with a client, trying to help her make the right decision about the timing of the sale of her real estate investment. Her 20-unit apartment property is located close to a major shopping center and freeway arterials.[...]