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by Vanessa Khaleel

What’s more expensive than getting an education? Not getting one. Staying on top of the always-changing rental housing industry will allow you and your company to accomplish your goals. SFAA’s education programs help keep you informed, up to date and give you an opportunity to network with fellow property owners. We offer a wide range of classes, from “Landlord 101” to national designations. We are here to help you succeed.

Did you know that there are now professional “fair housing shoppers” calling apartment owners hoping they say the wrong thing? Penalties for fair housing violations can cost you thousands of dollars. Taking the classes that our organization recommends can help keep you out of trouble.

SFAA offers many opportunities to gain the knowledge needed to manage rental property effectively; it doesn’t matter if you manage 1 unit or 100. If there is a topic that isn’t covered in our current educational programs that you would like more information about, please contact the association and we would be happy to create a course about it.

Here are a few questions for which every landlord should know the answers. How many days do you have to refund security deposits after your tenant has vacated the property? Is there a law regarding a grace period for monthly rent payments? Can you specify how many people you will allow to live in your apartment? Can you raise the rent if an additional tenant moves in? Can you include late fees in three-day notices?

Don’t have answers to these questions? Visit www.sfaa.org and get enrolled in our landlord classes.

Landlord 101
We strongly suggest that our members take “Landlord 101.” This class is always very well attended and enjoyed by all. Members have been known to take it twice, as they get so much out of the two-part series.

“Landlord 101 is a wonderful opportunity for pros and novices alike to develop and sharpen their property management skills,” said David Wasserman, SFAA’s board president and a frequent instructor of Landlord 101. “In San Francisco, a rental property owner faces huge liabilities and risks. Making a mistake can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Landlord 101 identifies these common landmines and explores ways to prevent losses and maximize profit.”

The course is divided into two parts. The first class focuses on forming the tenancy. The instructors speak at length about fair housing laws, selecting a good tenant and drafting the best possible lease to protect the landlord. Issues like subletting, roommates and house rules are explored at length. At the end of the first evening, class participants will know how to market their units, select the best tenants and draft a lease agreement that affords maximum protection.

The second evening focuses on terminating the tenancy, whether as a result of the tenant’s conduct or because of the owner’s desires to use the rental unit for another purpose. Nonpayment of rent, breach of lease rules and owner move-in evictions are all studied. The participant is given a how-to guide on unlawful detainer actions and other related legal proceedings. The instructors spend time talking about jury trials and court procedures to educate landlords about what really occurs at the courthouse.

Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding about how the legal system can be effectively used by landlords to control their property. Both evenings allow ample time for questions and answers, and the handouts include the most up-to-date forms, articles and treatises relevant to the industry.

Landlord 101 is a great course to take to see how much you really know and what you need to take next. The class encourages participation, which allows you to learn from fellow San Francisco property owners. Spending four hours with two real-estate attorneys is bound to be eye opening.

Seminars
Our organization also offers “How-to Seminars.” These quick and easy classes help you perform day-to-day tasks more effectively. You don’t want to find out the hard way that you are doing things incorrectly. These seminars are taught at Fort Mason for two hours in the evening. They often cover: the application process, SFAA lease signing, San Francisco Rent Board passthroughs, and preparing change-in-terms notices, rent increases, legal notices and security deposit refunds.

There are also numerous upcoming board seminars being offered this year. “Nuisance 101” is taught by a professional property manager and an attorney specializing in landlord-tenant law. (Please see sidebar at right for more information on all of our esteemed teachers.)

This course will review, in detail, the usual types of nuisance rental housing providers encounter, the importance of and how to respond and document the events as they transpire, rental housing providers’ duties to the tenants, and how to protect yourself from lawsuits.

The “How to Raise Rents in San Francisco” seminar will be taught by Michelle Horneff-Cohen and Elizabeth Miller of Property Management Systems. This course will help you utilize all the ways to increase rents and help you avoid the most commonly made mistakes.

Finally, the “Owner Move-In” seminar will be taught by San Francisco landlord attorneys and will review new laws, explain costs incurred and suggest protocol for this process.

CAA and NAA Courses
The California Apartment Association, as well as the National Apartment Association, offers wonderful courses and valuable designations. These classes are for all levels of property managers and allow terrific networking opportunities.
The California Certified Residential Manager course provides students with an excellent overall training in fair housing, maintenance, legal compliance, risk management and the life cycle of a tenancy. CCRM also prepares candidates for the next level of professional training by furnishing the skills to complete the Certified Apartment Manager designation. Please visit the NAA website designation at www.naahq.org for details on the CAM.

CCRM designation courses can be taken individually or as a series. The “Property Management” series of courses provides professional training, specific to the laws and regulations of California.

When you complete the CCRM designation program, you will have the skills necessary to efficiently and effectively manage rental property and be an asset to any employer. If you are currently job seeking, your resume will stand out from the others due to the CCRM designation.

These classes can also be taken individually to gain thorough knowledge regarding fair housing, leasing practices, maintenance issues and dealing with tenant issues. The instructors for these courses have a wide variety of property management experience and everyone brings their management style to the table.
Through CAA’s affiliation with NAA’s Education Institute, our local associations also offer designation programs that are national in scope and are geared for all onsite personnel and their supervisors.

The multifamily housing industry is growing and competition is fierce. Today, if you work in the multifamily housing industry you can’t afford to overlook the benefits of industry designation. Professional designations help rental housing professionals demonstrate their expertise and build credibility with residents, colleagues and supervisors. Earning a designation demands intensive training and covers all aspects of rental property management.

Learn More About Our Teachers
Curtis Dowling has substantial litigation experience in a wide variety of real-estate cases. He has litigated hundreds of residential and commercial evictions, and rent control exemption cases, in San Francisco County and the greater Bay Area. In addition to his extensive experience in landlord-tenant litigation, he has experience representing property owners and managers in contract claims, boundary disputes, quiet title and partition actions, lease breach cases, complex construction defect litigation, tenant habitability cases (including class actions), code enforcement actions, and mechanic’s liens claims, amongst others.

Michelle L. Horneff-Cohen created Property Management Systems in 1998 when she saw that there was a need to help owners of rental housing in specific areas. She started in the industry as an onsite resident manager over eight years ago and was the executive director of the Professional Property Management Association of San Francisco from 1999 to 2004, when she retired and became the political affairs consultant for the association. Horneff-Cohen is a licensed real-estate agent and holds the Certified Residential Management Certification. She teaches the California Certified Residential Management series for CAA and conducts seminars for SFAA. Additionally, she sits on the Lead Poisoning Prevention Citizens Advisory Committee and is a member of the board of directors for the San Francisco Housing Foundation.

Stephanie Gordon, president of Gordon Property Management, is a San Francisco native. She is a licensed California real-estate broker and has a master’s degree in real estate from Golden Gate University. Gordon has served on the board of directors of Commercial Real-Estate Women and the Professional Property Managers Association of San Francisco. She is a member of SFAA and the National Association of Real Property Managers. Active involvement in NARPM and PPMA helps keep her abreast of the constantly changing responsibilities of the San Francisco landlord. As a property owner herself, Gordon understands the needs of landlords.

Elizabeth Miller joined Property Management Systems as the bookkeeper in 2002 and has since become a petitions specialist. Miller prepares annual increase notices, capital improvement petitions, operating and maintenance petitions, PG&E petitions, water bonds and bond passthroughs. She is also available to advise clients who wish to petition the San Francisco Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board. Additionally, Miller has been an onsite resident manager at the same property in San Francisco for 11 years and holds a degree from the University of California-Berkeley

J.J. Panzer is a licensed real-estate broker managing residential property in San Francisco with the Real Management Company. Since joining the Real Management Company in 2001, Panzer has gained a wealth of experience in the property management business and realizes that sharing this knowledge and experience benefits CCRM students. Some of these experiences include finding four tenants dead in their units, three major floods, two fires and a host of other instructive, if less exciting, day-to-day management situations. Panzer has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California-Berkeley and a minor in business administration from UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He is currently working on an MBA from San Francisco State University.

Originally from New York, Art Swanson has been a California resident since 1983. He has been a member of the Lightner Property Group team since 1987, when he became the resident manager at 1635 Gough St. Swanson is a seasoned project manager, responsible for overseeing all of the Lightner Property Group building renovations, maintenance and seasoned onsite managers. He has been a Certified Residential Manager since 1996 and has held a California real-estate license since 2001. Swanson completed his San Francisco Neighborhood Emergency Response training in 2000. He has been hired as an expert witness in several cases at the San Francisco Rent and Stabilization Board. Swanson is both a contributor to and owner of www.myrentalunits.com. He is currently a board member of the PPMA in San Francisco and a member of NARPM.

Craig L. Waddle has been a licensed real-estate broker since 1993. Specializing in residential and mixed-use property, Waddle has managed thousands of units in San Francisco. Active in the professional housing community, he currently serves as director of political affairs on the board of directors for the PPMA and previously served as vice president of membership services. He is past president of the San Francisco Chapter of the NARPM. Waddle received SFAA’s Trophy Award as General Manager of the Year 2007, which included a certificate of acknowledgement for his “leading work in the industry and contributions to the community” from the California State Senate. Waddle is an experienced mediator and appears as an expert witness for the landlord/tenant community. He holds the Residential Management Professional designation through NARPM and the California Certified Residential Management Certification through the California Apartment Association. Waddle now teaches the CCRM series and is a graduate of the College of Business of North Texas State University.

David P. Wasserman has been representing landlords since he was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1994. He has also been a licensed real-estate broker since 1996. Wasserman graduated from Santa Clara University and received his law degree and masters in tax from Golden Gate University, with high honors. In law school, he externed for the Hon. Eugene F. Lynch (Ret.) at the local federal court. Wasserman opened his law practice in 1995. In 1999, Wasserman was elected to the board of directors for SFAA, where he served as vice-president until 2006, when he became president of the SFAA. Wasserman is also a member of the Coalition for Better Housing, a former member of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection’s Code Advisory Committee and the coauthor of the SFAA 2008 Residential Tenancy Agreement.

In 2003, Wasserman was appointed to the CAA’s board of directors and he has served on the government affairs committee. Wasserman regularly lectures and teaches in the area of landlord-tenant law for numerous continuing legal education providers and SFAA members. He also writes a regular column for this magazine and is a lecturer for Lorman’s and The National Business Institute. He also is a regular panel member for the Bar Association of San Francisco’s landlord-tenant symposium.

 

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. Vanessa Khaleel is SFAA’s education and events director and can be reached at 415-255-2288 ext 16. Copyright © 2008 SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.