THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Dear HUD Partner,

Foreclosure scams are destructive, deceptive, and devastating to families who are fighting to survive. We have families on the edge of foreclosure that are being offered relief too good to be true, and we at HUD will take every possible measure to educate and protect consumers and homeowners, bring these scams to light, and prevent con artists from exploiting the housing crisis. There are legitimate people, places, and agencies that American families can turn to when they are facing foreclosure, and many of you are working on these efforts.

I would like to make the attached flyer available to you for distribution to your clients.  It is a printable, easy-to-copy one pager detailing how consumers can access President Obama’s housing plan for FREE.  We are distributing the flyer nationwide today to all of our housing partners—our HUD field offices and staff, housing authorities, state and local agencies, and non-profit organizations. This and other targeted outreach efforts will help us reach out directly to communities hard-hit by foreclosure about the legitimate foreclosure assistance available to them.

For the homeowners fighting hard to make their mortgage payments and stay in their homes, our housing plan—the Making Home Affordable Plan—will help up to 9 million Americans. Making Home Affordable will work in concert with the President’s Recovery Act and support a recovery in the housing market. Our plan is helping families in three ways. First, we are protecting housing opportunities for all Americans by taking action Administration-wide to reduce interest rates, which are now at historic lows. Second, we will assist 4 to 5 million homeowners who can’t otherwise take advantage of today’s historically low mortgage interest rates. Lastly, we have committed up to $75 billion to help an additional 3 to 4 million homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure modify their unaffordable mortgages into affordable ones. These three planks of our housing plan will keep American families in their homes and prevent the falling home prices that result from nearby foreclosures. These three planks of our housing plan will keep American families in their homes and prevent the falling home prices that result from nearby foreclosures.

Homeowners NEVER have to pay to participate in the President’s Making Home Affordable program. I encourage anyone trying to modify or refinance their loans to a monthly mortgage payment that is affordable to visit the Making Home Affordable website at makinghomeaffordable.gov.  Homeowners can also call the Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE for free foreclosure counseling assistance.

April is National Fair Housing Month. It’s important, in that context, to recognize that the economic and housing crises, including foreclosure scams, have disproportionately impacted minority populations across the country. Unscrupulous financial institutions, brokers, and others have broken their trust as lenders, cheating and lying to families fighting to make their way through this crisis. I will renew our commitment at HUD to fair housing enforcement, particularly for lending violations that target minority communities. As part of our broader effort to combat abuse and fraud, HUD is using new tools, including the SAFE Act and RESPA, to protect American families. We at HUD will ensure that all Americans, particularly those in areas previously victimized by unscrupulous practices, are protected and will enforce our laws against those who prey upon them.

I hope that you will find the attached flyer useful in your outreach to consumers about the President’s Making Home Affordable plan.

Shaun Donovan

Secretary

“WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT”
By  Chris Carlino

There are things you should know as an investor about property management companies, property management companies that know what they are doing are an investor’s best friend.

Let’s start with the myth that property management companies cost you money and cut into your profit. This is not true by any means. A good property management company will save you quite a bit of money , put more cash flow in your pocket and will cut down on vacancy rates.

Let me explain why… let’s say you need a repair. You would most likely use the Yellow Pages to find a Contractor for the type of repair or work you need, or you might already know or have someone that will do the work for you, they are going to be more expensive than the property management company. As an example, my property management company does such massive volume that we get corporate volume discounts from all our vendors and contractors, we pass the savings along to you, the investor.
Unless you do the repair or work yourself you cannot get it done cheaper than the management company, this adds us to be a tremendous saving.

Let’s talk about Evictions. I am sure that at one point or another you have had to evict a tenant and then had to find another tenant to occupy your property. You know that this is not an easy task (either one). Property management companies are very experienced at doing background checks and finding quality tenants, thus saving you money in lost rent and lawyer fees. Let’s say you need to do an Eviction. A property management company will have a very good working relationship with the Lawyers, Courts, and the Marshall’s,  which means we can get it done much faster than you; thus cutting back on down time. That goes for repairs as well. Property management companies get them done much faster, again saving you down time.

Have you ever had a Violations List from the Township your property is located in?

If you have you know this can be a real nightmare. Have you ever gotten a Violation from PSE&G? Section 8 (The State)?  Or Mercer County Board of Social Services?

If you have then you know that these can be nightmares as well, the property management company will have a knowledge of all the ins and outs that apply to those Townships and agencies, they will also have a good working relationship with those agencies; whether it be City Hall, The State, The County or the Utility Company. This can save you a lot of time and money.

Most investors are limited to their resources to finding tenants, where as a property management companies has dozens of resources to find people. I could write a book on why it is so important to have a good property management company handle your investment properties, even the biggest investors in the world use them.

It is a known fact that almost all the millionaires in this country started with some type of Real Estate investment.

Without writing the book these are just some of the items listed below that your property management company can save you money on:

• Repairs
• Evictions
• Lawyers
• Homeowners Insurance
• Architects
• Exterminators
• Plumbers
• Electricians
• Roofers
• Siding
• Carpet
• Clean outs
• Snow Removal
• Landscaping
• Background Checks
• Violation Reduction
• Material and Labor

And the list goes on and on.

Let’s talk about how a property management company should handle you, your money, your property and your tenant. Again I could go on forever so I will keep it simple.

You – You are the boss at all times and the property management company should follow your direction on all issues with the property, unless of course you are asking advise.

Your Money – Your money is your money and you should be sent 100% of your rent in your name, your company name or however you deposit the rent into your account. Your Rent money should never be made out to the property management company and the property management company should never accept cash. You should be billed for all services the property management company provides, only with the knowledge that you have approved these services and are aware of the bill prior to even getting it, this way there are no surprises. The management company should never ever take any rent money and apply it toward any bills, even if the owner of the property should ask the management company to take the money owe d from the rent they should not, this is bad business. Do not let a property management company convince you that it is so much easier to pay your bills from the rent, this is a ploy. You need to have 100% control of your money.

Because I am speaking of residential property management and not commercial, most investors own between one and eight properties on average. The reason I bring this to your attention is because one of the things you also need to do to have 100% control of your money is pay:  your own mortgage, your own Homeowners Insurance, your own utilities and any legal fees or any other payments that are needed to be made on your property, you should do all this yourself. Do not let the property management company convince you to let them pay your overhead, a reparable property management company will only charge 5% of the rent roll to manage your property.

Your Property – A good property manager will have had many years of personal experience , will know the ins and outs of construction and understand the laws in the state you own your property as well as own several investment properties himself. Your property should be handled the way the property manager would handle his own and there should be no conflict of interest, meaning; the property management company does not mix its real estate company and property management company as one, this is a conflict of interest, this subject can go into great depths… I will leave it at this for now.

Tenants – Your tenant should be treated well by your property management company, listen to their needs, treat them with respect, try to take care of all their needs within reason, treat them the way you want to be treated. A happy tenant will stay as a tenant for years to come making you a happy landlord. When the management company is good to the tenant, when it is time for the tenant to move , the tenant will stick with the management company in helping them to find a new location to live in. This means that that the property management company already knows the history of the tenant and that tenant could end up in your property.

Finding a Tenant: One month rent
Property Management: 5%
Helping to build your investment future: PRICELESS

Chris Carlino is a SJI Vendor and a veteran investor, Licensed Real Estate Agent and Licensed HIC Contractor with property in several states. He is also the owner of Trenton Rental Management & Investor Services; a full service property management company. If you have any questions on anything related to investment properties or property management, feel free to call him at 609-392-0123 or e mail him at trmcc1@msn.com , or visit his website at www.trmnj.com.

Here’s a a form letter that can be filled out to send to the Housing Authority, in order to show them that an increase in rents is necessary.
Housing Authority Rent Increase Form