Is your property manager working for you

Is Your Property Manager Working For You? 5 Tips To Getting What You Pay For

With vacancy rates on the rise, it’s more important than ever to keep your units rented. Hiring the right property management company can go a long way towards doing so. But how can you be sure you’ve hired the right person? Following are 5 tips to help you make sure you’re on the right track.

1. Make Your Expectations Clear

One of the biggest mistakes that people make is rushing the process of hiring a property management company. Often they are so desperate to fill the position that they’ll interview only a few candidates before hiring someone. Taking a little extra time to hire the right property management company the first time will save you time and money in the long run.

The good news is that San Diego has a large pool of people to choose from. The first thing you want to look for in a potential property management company is enthusiasm. Remember that they will be the ones selling potential renters on your units. If they can’t even sell you on themselves, it’s unlikely that they’ll do an effective job for your rental units.

A good question to ask during the interview is, What do you like most about San Diego? If they answer with a generic response they are not the right candidate. Hire someone who exudes enthusiasm and who is passionate about the area. They should be familiar with and well informed on the attractions, such as Balboa Park, the numerous sporting options or Seaport Village. The key is to find someone who can speak with confidence and enthusiasm in regards to not just your rental units, but the area in general.

Once you have someone in mind that you think would make the right property management company, be sure to check their references and ask around and see if others in the field have any experience with them. Speaking not only to their previous employers but also with tenants that they worked with previously can be a big help.

When you’ve hired the right property management company, it’s important that you don’t simply hand them the management agreement with any addendums and assume that they’ll read them. Go over each issue individually to ensure that your new property management company understands the specifics of your rental agreement.

2. Stay Involved

While it’s true that you’ve hired a property management company to ease the burden of the day to day issues that spring up, this doesn’t mean that you can simply spend your days in Seaport Village, enjoying the San Diego sun or taking long drives through the mountains. You’ll need to strike a comfortable balance wherein you’ll check up on your properties, and your property management company, from time to time — without going overboard.

A good idea is to stop by your properties at least once a month. You’ll first want to do a drive by to check on the condition of the exterior of the property. Make sure your property looks great from the outside by creating an attractive curb appeal- this will help the property rent faster- the right kind of tenants take pride in where they live and these are types of tenants you want.

You should also take pictures of the interior and exterior of your units when you hire your property management company. This will give you proof of the condition your units were in when you hired them. In addition, have your property management company do a walk through every six months to make sure that there aren’t needed repairs that your tenants aren’t reporting.

3. Be Forward Thinking

It is the job of your property management company to take care of your advertising, but it’s your job to guide the way in which they do so. San Diego is not the type of city where you can simply place an ad in a newspaper once a month and hope someone spots it. Rather, you make sure your property manager is aware of the incredible promotional opportunities which exist on the Internet- if you see online channels your not using, get in touch with your manager and tell them about it.

Give your property management company an example of the type of ads you’d like written and follow up on them. Calling and posing as a potential renter can give you the best view of how your property management company handles these calls.

Check the books regularly. Focus on all the expenses that your property management company is incurring- keep on eye on each line item and expenditure so your property manager thinks twice before spending your money. The more often you check into these things, the less likely your property management company will be to abuse your trust.

4. Don’t Fear Change

San Diego is one of the most sought after locations to live in for many reasons. One of those reasons is that it is on the cusp of new technology and is a trend setting city. This means that you and your property management company must stay on the cutting edge if you are to find new renters and retain them.

One of the best ways to avoid having your San Diego apartment or home sit vacant for weeks or months at a time is to start showing them before your tenants move out. In order to do this, you must be sure that your property management company is keeping an open dialogue with your tenants. This will give you the best opportunity to know when you have tenants that will be vacating and to act pro actively.

You also need to be sure that you’re keeping an eye on the San Diego economy. While you do want to get a fair rate for your rental units, if you know that one of your long term tenants has been laid off or forced to take a pay cut, this is not the time for your property management company to raise their rents. Conversely, an increase in the San Diego Economy means that you should be ready to increase rental rates when the time comes not charging market rates is the worst mistake you can make as it devalues the perception of your property.

Lease increase need to be handled delicately- make sure you’re justified as if you’re not, your tenant will simply move to another location. However, if you instruct your property management company to do so in a fair way, you can relieve some of the tension. Keep your rental raises in line with other San Diego rentals. Tenants who understand that they may pay the same rent elsewhere are less likely to move-m oving is a huge headache and has many costs associated. It’s also a good idea to offer them incentive to stay, such as a bonus for signing a longer lease.

5. Appreciate Your Property Management company

Everyone likes to feel noticed and appreciated for their hard work, and your property management company is no exception. Something as little as a hand written Thank You can go a long way. As a management company, you should be quick to let your property management company know when their performance could be improved and quick to let them know when they’ve done an excellent job as well.

How to improve structural steel shop drawings process

How to Improve Structural Steel Shop Drawings Process?

Structural steel system design involve people from various disciplines – right from architect, structural engineer to steel detailer, fabricator and erection team. Each participant hold different point of view regarding the use of shop drawings and share different liabilities in the whole process. The shop drawings review process usually involves examination of participants who perform various actions.

The Fabricator closely observes each action associated with steelwork in order to decide further proceedings with the shop drawings. The Architect or EOR may approve, ask for revision and resubmission or completely reject shop drawings after having them reviewed.

Major challenges while preparing precision shop drawings are:

Incomplete contract documents
Structural members are missing in plan or elevation
Specific details pertaining to the project is not furnished
Design drawings and Specifications are in disagreement
Structural drawings are not matched with mechanical or architectural drawings
Structural dimensions do not close in the drawings
Sequencing or connection requirements are not defined
Non-compliance with industry codes for production of drawings

Recommendations to enhance structural shop drawing process

Complete contract documents are required
Engineers and architects should be aware of specific regional and industry standards (such as AISC, CISC, BS codes, etc.) for buildings and bridges
Specifications must be supplied with the bid drawings
Bid drawings must be matched with the design drawings
The EOR must comply and use the AISC Code whenever appropriate
Complete details should be provided in the structural drawings
The position and magnitude of uncommon loads should be supplied to joist provider
Connections should be rendered flexible. Such as shear tabs vs. single angles, welded vs. bolted, etc

For any queries related to Structural shop drawings or shop drawings review email us at info@structuralcaddservices.com

Visit us at http://www.structuralcaddservices.com/shop-drawings.php for more information.

Indian smes – growing global aspiration

Indian SMEs – Growing global aspiration

Bizxchange, in association with Wealthtree Partners organized a seminar on ‘Internationalizing Indian SMEs’ on January 19. The focus of the seminar was on understanding the European market and uniqueness of the different European countries. More than 40 representatives of SMEs from different sectors including jewellery, metals and manufacturing, textiles, IT, green technologies, etc, attended this insightful discussion forum.

The first session started with S Venkataraman, promoter of Wealthtree Partners, a cross border advisory firm, talk extensively about the possibilities as well as the challenges of international trade for SMEs. He explained the different modes of doing international trade, which includes, sub contracting, distribution arrangements, technology transfers, overseas acquisitions, among others. “SMEs contribute for 43% of industrial output, 40% of Indian exports and provides employment to approximately 42 million people, this clearly means that SMEs are a significant sector in the Indian scenario,” stated Mr Venkataraman.

He also helped understand how several Indian SMEs were aiming high internationally by showcasing their success stories through case studies. He added, “There are opportunities in the African and Latin American countries that are yet to be tapped.

The second session was conducted by Johan Van Hamme, MD of Clear Vantage, a Belgian company. He dedicated his presentation primarily in understanding the varied cultural differences that exist in the countries of Europe. “Cultural influences, company infrastructure, work interactions all affect the overall process of working with European countries. For example, being late for a meeting for even 5 minutes is not acceptable in Germany, but in France, with sufficient reasons to back it up, you can be late for maximum 15 minutes. Again, in Netherlands, Poland or Finland, people are very straightforward, be prepared or you might get a rude shock,” explained Mr Van Hamme. He also mentioned some of the sectors that have good business prospects for Indian SMEs in the European markets – automotive, e-commerce and green energy among others.

Both speakers answered several queries and got a good response from the attendees. Upasana Jani and Rashmi Jagasia of Zycus Infotech, said, “It was an excellent session especially because we got to know so much about the different cultural issues. It will help our work immensely”

For more detail on Business Directory log on to http://www.bizxchange.in/

Judge the best forex software

The pre-requisite that any trader would want to have before trading in the online forex market is the best forex software. Though, it is not tough to find the best yet as a trader you have to make sure that it is really good and just not ‘best in nominal terms’.

The best forex trading software would guarantee performance and would come with an ability to escalate profit. It would also come with qualities of being user-friendly, its mechanization capabilities and the manner in which it fits to the requirement of a particular trader. Yet the end is to aim for software that yields maximum returns.

Forex software ought to prove itself as a good trading tool and should be able to prove its potential. It is solely a trader’s decision on which program to go for depending on what he expects form the program as regards the profits or outcome so to say. And surely he has a lot to pick from.

Ideally a trader goes for automated forex trading software that works on its own without putting the trader through a stressful time. Here also he can choose from fully-automated or semi-automated system. The automated program makes the trading process simpler and minting money faster. But other non-automated tools are also equally capable of generating good amount of profit and the trader should consider them too. The trader can easily decide up on what to choose based on the reports posted on websites about particular software.

Forex trading has developed with advancement in technology and is helping traders make good money with the assistance of software that are again renewing day by day. A trader has own requirements of the software before the actual purchase of it, and these may vary from profit generating capacity, it’s type and the manner of working and so on. The trader has to make sure that the software he has decided to buy fulfills all his requirements and fits best into his working style.
Trader can also download forex trading software that fits to his necessities. Any kind of software is easily available online and the trader can match it to his requisites before initiating with the buying decision. The buying of forex trading software is also eased by the reviews posted on the net by other users or professionals.

An alternative comes in the form of cheap forex trading software which again can be either bought or downloaded. It being cheap does not mean that the efficiency is doubtful. Even a cheap software can do the needful aptly thus producing maximum revenue for the trader.

How can you take advantage of online parcel services

How can you take advantage of online parcel services?

In the present scenario, customers can be choosy when it comes to utilizing parcel services. This is because there are several online providers that offer commendable services for sending the parcels both within the home country as well as abroad. The services provided by online providers are appreciable since they help in relieving the customers of the hassles and stress that is related to sending parcels through the conventional method. Moreover, traveling to the local office was often inconvenient for people since it was a time-consuming activity. Therefore, people were required to take time out of their busy schedule.

During the recent past, several post offices have witnessed a close down in small towns. This at times caused a lot of inconvenience to people since it could mean an out-of-town travel for many people. Thus sending parcels seemed to be a cumbersome activity. Whatever be the reason for sending a parcel, you would always want to make sure that you are able to fulfill the mandatory requirements with minimum hassle and fuss. This could mean sending the parcels to their destinations at the most reasonable price. Moreover, the mode utilized for sending parcels should also ensure their delivery in the best possible manner and within the shortest span of time.

The benefits of using online parcel services are clearly noticed. Firstly, they ensure the simplification of the process by allowing the pick up of your consignment from a specific location. This means you need not visit the post office for sending the parcel. Moreover, such services make use of leading courier companies which implies that you can be assured of your parcel being in safe hands.

If you have an important package to send, there is a wide range of services from which you can choose. These services not only ensure quick delivery of the parcel, but also make sure that the parcels could be sent overseas within a period of three days. Therefore, the next times you feel the need for sending a courier make sure that you are utilizing the service of an online courier company. This would enhance the convenience of your service.