CREJ - Property Management Quarterly - July 2016
The purpose of this publication is to be useful for property managers. For that reason, I spent some time these past few weeks meeting with property management firms to hear what’s important, what’s new and what’s interesting in your line of work. Some of the repeated topics were concerns about Denver’s rising operating costs with increasing property taxes coupled with new city initiatives aimed at funding affordable housing, as well as increasing energy-efficiency efforts citywide. One manager shared fears that mandates and taxes could kill the golden goose because owners will inevitably pass off most of these costs to tenants, which in turn will make rents outside the city center more appealing. In the next issue, we’ll dive deep into the Energize Denver Taskforce and funding plans for affordable housing to see how they could affect your bottom line. Recruiting was a hot topic as well. Specifically, finding engineering talent is a struggle across the city. As many engineers near retirement, there is panic that not enough new folks are learning the trade. Municipality backlogs and permitting challenges across the metro area are causing headaches. With the unprecedented volume of work many cities are facing, it’s taking an exceptionally long time to get permits for projects. There were zoning issue complaints and the rumblings of too much bureaucracy. In coming issues, we’ll examine how to expedite your next project to avoid as much of the jam up as possible. Aside from those specific issues, I heard about the strain the marijuana industry is still placing on industrial properties, how bankruptcy law favors the tenant much more than the landlord and how the financial side of management is becoming all-consuming. Within this issue, in addition to discussing property taxes on Page 4, there are articles discussing legal, regulatory, sustainability and maintenance issues to keep you and your property ahead of the pack. I would like to continue to hear directly from you in order to shape our content. Please send me an email or give me a call to set up a brief meeting. All this feedback will keep the publication relevant, informative and interesting. We value and honor your input. As always, thanks for reading.