The Director’s Chair
by Janan New
Welcome to another year of landlording—San Francisco style! Owning rental property in this city is like a theme-park ride. There are extreme highs: the architectural quality of buildings, valuation of real estate, amenities offered, and the kindness and generosity of many rental housing owners towards their residents. Unfortunately there are also extreme lows: confusing government regulations, overall management complexities, keeping attorneys on your payroll, older housing stock in need of constant maintenance, and the overall cost of doing business in San Francisco. However, if you are reading this article you’ve probably made the business decision that staying invested in the city is worth it. The highs and lows somehow balance to equal profitability.
This year will mark our ninetieth year in business. It’s been almost a century since our start as “Apartment House Consolidated.” The times have changed, but many of the issues have not. We were founded to advocate for property rights and have not steered far from that mission. Rental housing has been such an integral part of the history of our city. We may be able to display some of the pictures from our past at our formal anniversary celebration, which will take place this fall. We hope to couple this event with our first-ever industry awards program. Stay tuned for more information as the program unfolds.
This new awards program is just one way to thank you for your continued
membership in the San Francisco Apartment Association. We hope that we have helped you navigate this complex rental market over the years by offering top services, products and information. As a nonprofit trade organization, it is our mission to return any profit we make back to our members in the form of education courses and enhanced industry services. Without your contributions, through dues revenue and the purchase of our goods and services, we could not have achieved the success that we have had over the past few years. You truly “carry the ball” for all housing providers in San Francisco.
When I was first employed by SFAA, almost 14 years ago, our magazine was black and white and about ten pages, and the organization had a budget of less than $100,000 and only two full-time employees. Today, our magazine is full color and 80 pages, and our organization has a budget of over $1 million and five full-time employees. We are proud of our joint accomplishments and hope you enjoy this special membership issue of SF Apartment Magazine.
Our Associate Members (vendors to the rental housing industry) are important partners to housing providers and SFAA’s bottom line. Our partnership with these vendors helps keep your membership dues lower than they would be without their participation. Please take the time to look over the list of vendor partners in this issue (see page 63) and patronize their businesses. They are offering some great discounts to SFAA members because they believe in the rental housing industry in San Francisco. If you frequently use the service of a business not listed with us, please ask them why they have not become your industry partner by joining your trade organization. You can refer them to our office or website at www.sfaa.org for further information about what we can do to enhance their business.
Proudly display your SFAA membership card when you shop at the businesses mentioned in this special issue of the magazine. If you are currently using a vendor that is not an SFAA member, show them your card anyway and ask them why they aren’t supporting the industry that supports them. They should join because it helps your bottom line.
When you are finished reading this magazine, please recycle it by passing it on to a friend, a business that you frequent for your building maintenance or the owner of the building next door. Perhaps we can get an owner who isn’t already a member to join our organization or introduce them to a new vendor. We would like to hear their input about the magazine and the organization. Sometimes a fresh perspective is needed from someone outside our circle—even after 90 years!
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. Janan New is the executive director of SFAA and can be reached at 415-255-2288. Copyright © 2007 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.