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Former Employee and Contractors of Florida Property Management Company Indicted in Illinois for Conspiracy to Commit Bribery and Wire Fraud

Schemes Affected U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Mortgage Guarantee Program

WASHINGTON – A Rockford, Ill., grand jury today indicted a former residential sales manager and two former contractors of a Florida property management company in connection with housing repair contracts for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Justice announced.

Justice Department Settles Housing Discrimination Lawsuit in Rolla, Missouri

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that Roger Harris, Hediger Enterprises Inc., Carroll Management Group, Forum Manor Associates L.P. and Forum Manor LLC have agreed to pay $295,000 in monetary damages and civil penalties to resolve a Fair Housing Act lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, race and sex discrimination, retaliation

Continue reading… Justice Department Settles Housing Discrimination Lawsuit in Rolla, Missouri

Justice Department Resolves Lawsuit Alleging Disability Discrimination in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced this week a settlement of its lawsuit alleging that Equity Homes Inc, PBR LLC, BBR LLC and Shane Hartung violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by failing to provide features that would make their multi-family housing developments in Sioux Falls accessible to people with disabilities

Continue reading… Justice Department Resolves Lawsuit Alleging Disability Discrimination in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Rental housing on upswing

Freddie Mac released it’s U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October this morning showing demand for rental housing on the rise and that the multifamily sector of the housing market is a strong positive signal for the U.S. Housing Industry.

Report highlights include:

Over the year ending mid-2011, the Census Bureau reported a net increase

Continue reading… Rental housing on upswing

Report Shows Continued Strong Momentum for the U.S. Apartment Market in the Third Quarter

Occupancy Surpasses Long-Term Average, and Rents Move Ahead of Pre-Recession Peak – Bay Area, Seattle, Austin and New York Lead Rent Growth

The U.S. apartment sector again posted robust revenue growth in the third quarter of 2011, according to MPF Research, an industry-leading market intelligence division of RealPage, Inc. (NASDAQ:RP).  National occupancy climbed 0.6 percentage points

Continue reading… Report Shows Continued Strong Momentum for the U.S. Apartment Market in the Third Quarter

Justice Department Obtains $70,000 Settlement in Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Against New Orleans Landlords

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that New Orleans landlords Betty Bouchon, the Bouchon Limited Family Partnership and Sapphire Corp., have agreed to pay $70,000 in damages and civil penalties to settle a lawsuit alleging they unlawfully denied housing to African-American prospective renters at a 16-unit apartment building located in New Orleans.  The settlement

Continue reading… Justice Department Obtains $70,000 Settlement in Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Against New Orleans Landlords

Size matters when it comes to property manager's ability to raise rents

A survey released today by TransUnion shows that more large property managers (201 or more units) were able to increase rents last year than small property managers (200 or fewer units) were able to.  According to the survey,  sixty-four percent of large property managers said they have raised rents, while only thirty-six percent of

Continue reading… Size matters when it comes to property manager’s ability to raise rents

Apartment Industry Continues Brisk Recovery

According to the National Multi-Housing Council’s (NMHC) latest Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions, the apartment industry’s recovery continues briskly.

The Market Tightness Index, which examines vacancies and rents, rose to a record 90 from 78 last quarter.  For all indexes, a reading above 50 indicates improving market conditions.  Almost four in five respondents (79%)

Continue reading… Apartment Industry Continues Brisk Recovery

Most Landlords Say They Would Rent to People Who Lost Homes to Foreclosure

Eighty-two percent of independent landlords say they would rent to someone who lost a home in foreclosure, assuming the applicant traditionally had good credit, according to a survey released by The National Association of Independent Landlords.

Why tenants move and where they look for their new rental

Apartments.com conducted a national survey of renters which revealed some interesting information with regard to the present-day tenant. To begin with, many more tenants today are former homeowners than in that past, in fact, according to the survey, 20 percent of respondents looking for an apartment this year said they are current homeowners. Of

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Rental housing market weathering storm; more tenants former homeowners

According to a survey just released by Transunion, Landlord’s and Property managers appear to be making it through the Great Recession and are seeing improvement in the market from their perspective. In fact, seven out of 10 property managers said their rental properties have no vacancies, an increase of almost 17 percent

Continue reading… Rental housing market weathering storm; more tenants former homeowners

HUD Publishes Proposed Fair-Market Rents for Section 8 for 2011

Dennis Norman

Annually, HUD determines “fair market rents” which become effective October 1st each year and are used to determine rent amounts under the Housing Choice Voucher program, Housing Assistance Payment Contracts, Moderate Rehab programs as well as other Section 8 programs.

Earlier this month HUD published in the Federal Register it’s proposed fair market rents

Continue reading… HUD Publishes Proposed Fair-Market Rents for Section 8 for 2011

Rental Vacancy Rates For First Quarter 2010 Up From a Year Ago

Dennis Norman

According to a report released earlier this week by the U.S. Census Bureau, rental vacancies for the first quarter of 2010 in the U.S. are almost 5 percent higher than they were a year ago.  The rental vacancy rate in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2010 was 10.6 percent, up from

Continue reading… Rental Vacancy Rates For First Quarter 2010 Up From a Year Ago

Survey Show's Tenants Want to be 'Greener'

Dennis Norman

Recently, Apartments.Com conducted a survey of it’s website website visitors across the country and found that the majority of apartment seekers want to live in an apartment community that caters to a sustainable lifestyle. According to the survey results, 89 percent of respondents said they would prefer to live in a “green” apartment

Continue reading… Survey Show’s Tenants Want to be ‘Greener’

'Great Recession' Challenges Apartment Industry

Dennis Norman

Every facet of the apartment industry was touched by the Great Recession in 2009, according to the NMHC 50, the National Multi Housing Council’s annual ranking of the 50 largest apartment owners and the 50 largest apartment managers.

“Apartment sales transaction volume plummeted,” noted Mark Obrinsky, NMHC Chief Economist. “Only $14 billion in properties

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How to avoid being a victim of a real estate or rental scam

Dennis Norman

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have published a report about common real estate scams and rental scams they are finding and how to avoid them. Like most scams there are warning signs and red flags that can help you avoid falling victim; knowing what to look

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Justice Department Files Lawsuit Alleging Racial Discrimination at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Apartment Complex

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the owner and property manager of a 48-unit apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Mich., alleging that the defendants discriminated on the basis of race or color in the rental of apartments, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of

Continue reading… Justice Department Files Lawsuit Alleging Racial Discrimination at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Apartment Complex

Rental Housing Market Holding Up Well - At Least In the Lower Rent Ranges

Dennis Norman

Recently HUD published a report, “U.S. Rental Housing Characteristics: Supply, Vacancy, and Affordability“, which was packed with data about the rental housing market. The data in the report clearly illustrates that the rental market is holding up pretty well, at least in the lower rent price-ranges, while the for-sale housing market has been

Continue reading… Rental Housing Market Holding Up Well – At Least In the Lower Rent Ranges

Coming soon to a town near you - Hopefully NOT!

Dennis Norman

I usually try to keep the focus of my posts on this site on topics that, for the most part, apply to the entire real estate industry and shy away from local issues. I’m going to make an exception today however as I feel this is an issue, albeit local at this point,

Continue reading… Coming soon to a town near you – Hopefully NOT!

Will that be Cash or Credit?

Dennis Norman

If you are a small to medium sized property manager or landlord odds are you receive your rent payments in the form of cash or a check. Why not accept credit cards and debit cards for rent payments in addition? This is something I did for years and think for many landlords it is worth the

Continue reading… Will that be Cash or Credit?

DOJ Files Discrimination Lawsuit against Property Manager and Owner in Missouri

The Justice Department announced it has filed a lawsuit today in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri alleging a pattern or practice of violations of the Fair Housing Act by the owner and managers of Forum Manor Apartments, a federally-subsidized apartment complex, for refusing to rent to African-Americans and males, refusing to allow

Continue reading… DOJ Files Discrimination Lawsuit against Property Manager and Owner in Missouri

Rental Data and Resources for Property Managers

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Over the past two years home prices have dropped throughout the country, rather significantly in some areas. Falling prices have created opportunities for investors but have also created a challenge for landlords and property managers to keep up with changing rental markets. Logic would dictate that if home prices in any

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Property managers; fair housing laws protect people with disabilities too

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

When we speak of discrimination in housing it seems many people think of it only in terms of discrimination based upon race. However, landlords and property managers need to remember that the Federal Fair Housing Laws that make it illegal to discriminate in housing based upon race also make it illegal to discriminate

Continue reading… Property managers; fair housing laws protect people with disabilities too

FBI issues consumer alert warning of phony online rental ads

By: Dennis Norman

The FBI has issued a consumer alert warning of phony online rental ads. According to the alert, the scam goes like this:

You can’t believe your good fortune-you find a rental home in a nice area through a Craigslist classified ad at an unbelievably low rate. The landlord-who had to leave the country and

Continue reading… FBI issues consumer alert warning of phony online rental ads

Protection for tenants in foreclosed homes

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

One of the issues that has come to the surface over the past few months has been the effect on tenants when a home they are leasing is foreclosed upon.  In many instances the tenants are unaware of the financial trouble of the seller and sometimes their first indication of a

Continue reading… Protection for tenants in foreclosed homes