May Ciaa Newsletter

“Our Profit is Your Success”

May 2007

MUST-SEE EVENTS! National Trainers! June 18 Steven Cox “High Performance

Mary Lou “GO GIRL” Gurski

Leasing”

44 Central Iowa Apartment Alliance members enjoyed an uplifting and energetic seminar after our April 25th General Membership meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in West Des Moines. Mary Lou Gusrki shared her experiences beginning with the start of her career as a Leasing Consultant after being an English teacher for years in West Virginia. Mary Lou shared her ideas and insight on being an effective leader and the importance of team building for the Multi-family. Her stories, anecdotes, and “You Go Girl” Style were lots of fun and motivating for our group.

Upcoming Events 5/16 11:30 General Membership Meeting Crave - West Glen 5/17 4:00 Vendors Council

Other Meeting Highlights:

Location TBD

John McDermott, General Counsel for the National Apartment Association came out from Washington D.C. to welcome the newly-formed CIAA as the only NAA affiliate in Iowa. He also awarded CAM pins to the graduates of the 2006 CAM class that were present.

6/8 1st Annual CIAA Golf Outing

Pictured from left: Melissa Johnson, CIAA President, John McDermott, NAA General Counsel, Mary Spain, CIAA Treasurer and Education Chair, and Rick Koontz, CIAA Vice President and Legislative Chair.

Blank Park 6/18 National Speaker

Rick Koontz and member Jim Conlin gave the members up-to-the-minute progress on the tax relief legislation we have been working tirelessly on to get passed this session. Rick also demonstrated the new website and showed members how they could link to their Representatives’ email address and contact information. Go to www.ciaahq.org and see the new developments!

Steven Cox

Inside:

CIAA Board of Directors PRESIDENT Melissa Johnson, Olde English Village [email protected]

TREASURER Mary Spain, Apartment Finder [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT Rick Koontz, Signature Place [email protected]

VENDOR COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS Tom Newton, Gorman Roofing [email protected]

SECRETARY Jennifer O’Brien Konior, Westchester Square [email protected]

Rocky Sposato, Tub Wrx [email protected]

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Legislative News

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May 16th Meeting Registration

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Vendor Members and Spotlight

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Promotions and Hires

CIAA on the Web Committee Members Golf Outing Letter from the President

New Members

Legislative News After countless phone calls, emails, and contacts, and countless hours of lobbying, the Iowa Legislature ended it’s session in the early morning hours of April 29th without passing a single initiate to deal with the inequities in the commercial tax program.

issue, especially the reclassification of apartments form commercial to residential, other than discussions will take place in the 2008 session. They hope to construct legislation that can be introduced in 2009.

The session ended without making any changes in the security deposit laws. Also, attempts to create lead-free housing registries and creating fines relating to lead disclosures failed as well. These issues will likely be brought up next year, so we all need to be prepared to support legislation that will be good for owners and managers in the future.

A strong grassroots effort is needed in the rental community in order to send a message to these legislators who tend to push renters aside because renters traditionally vote at a lower percentage than homeowners. We will begin con- Rick Koontz Legislative Chair centrating on the 2008 elections.

11th hour attempts to add amendments to pending legislation were met with negativity. In the end, both houses blamed the other for trying to pass “impossible” legislation. No attempt to rectify the commercial tax

CIAA on the Web To be a guest blogger, please submit your article in MS Word or PDF format to [email protected]. Share you ideas and experiences with your industry peers!

The occupancy survey conducted at the April 25th meeting showed an average 90% occupancy out of 6,610 units reporting

Website: www.ciaahq.org Email: [email protected] Blog http://blog.ciaahq.org

Do you have a position to fill? Were you recently promoted? Have you changed companies? Have a new employee? Let us know and we’ll put the announcements in our next newsletter!

New Committee Members Jennifer O’Brien Konior of Tab Properties is the new Secretary on the CIAA Board of Directors and has joined the Legislative Committee. Deb Lanpher of R & Realty is the new Public Relations Committee Chairperson. Michelle Ogden of Timberland Partners is the new Trade Show Committee Chairperson Lori Young of R & R Realty and Heather Benton of Walters Companies have joined the Education Committee. THANKS to all volunteers! We wouldn’t exist without your help! Page 2

Email: [email protected]

Letter From the President Hello Friends: Things are getting busy again, both on-site and within the Central Iowa Apartment Alliance. I was glad to see so many of you at our membership meeting and Mary Lou Gurski’s seminar this last month. Whether you are new to the industry (or just wish you were), she gave us some wonderful information and funny insights about teamwork to take back to our properties. I was also happy to see some of our 2006 CAM designates receive their much-awaited recognition. As part of the class, it was a lot of work and I was proud to receive my CAM pin, particularly since we had John McDermott here from NAA to present those to us. I look forward to us presenting our current CAM class with their pins and certificates when their coursework is done. If you missed Mary Lou, or just want to stay on top of your game, we hope you will register for Stephen Cox, the “Leasing Coach” on June 18th. He has some pretty impressive credentials and we are lucky to be able to bring him to Iowa for us. If you have new leasers, this is the class they really need to attend. We also have the golf tournament coming up June 8th at Blank Golf Course. We had so much fun last year and are looking forward to a great turnout again—get your teams ready! Don’t worry if you aren’t a real golfer—neither am I, but it was great to get out for the afternoon and network. Call Rocky to get registered or for more information. Finally, I want to thank everyone for their help in growing our organization. I was happy to take some commitments from our industry leaders to be Chairpersons and committee members at our last meeting. We still need all of your involvement to make it a great Alliance, so please consider volunteering. It’s your Alliance, which we can’t have without YOU! Thanks again for your support of your CIAA. As always, any questions, please let me know. Happy Leasing! Melissa Johnson, CAM, ARM ® Olde English Village Apartments President, Central Iowa Apartment Alliance

Register for May 16th Meeting! The May General Membership meeting will be held at Crave at West Glen Town Center in West Des Moines at 11:30. This will be a self-pay lunch meeting. Cost of lunch is $11.75 and includes beverage, tax, and gratuity. Bill Carlson of Carlson McClure will discuss the annual apartment survey. Use this form to register. Fax to (515) 327-9104. Company

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Lunch Items: • Strawberry Walnut Dinner Salad w/ grilled chicken breast, strawberries, mozzarella, & candied walnuts Qty.______ • 3/4 Lb. Cheddar Bacon Burger with Fries Qty. • Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken Qty. • Chicken Pagiga Sandwich-grilled breast strips, fresh basil, & mozzarella on a sourdough hoagie Qty._______ Website: www.ciaahq.org

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CIAA Vendor Members A+ Lawn and Landscaping

Qwest

Apartment Finder

Sherwin Williams

Cort/Instant Furniture Rental

State Farm - Glenn Waterhouse

Dewitt Painting

Stitzell Electric

Furniture Options

Sudzy’s Carpet Cleaning

Gorman Roofing Services

Tenant Data

Hawkeye Legal Services

Transworld Systems

Jetz Service Co.

Tub Wrx

Vendor Members’ websites and contacts are linked through our website! To Become A Vendor Member contact Tom Newton 515-883-0838 [email protected]

Your vendor members make many CIAA events possible. Please support them!

Vendor Spotlight - Tenant Data Tenant Data was founded in 1992 by property managers & landlords who wanted a legal way to maintain a database list of problem tenants to share with each other. Tenant Data has become a powerful tool for rental managers who want to keep bad tenants away and accept good ones quickly. We are now growing our database throughout the state – nearly 300 subscribers are currently using our services in Iowa. Please contact John Benson at (800) 228-1837 or [email protected] to sign up today!

Promotions, Positions and Postings Fatima Taylor has been hired as a Leasing Agent at Timberland Pointe.

Administrative Assistant at Country Club Village.

Billy Quick has been promoted from Porter to Maintenance Tech at Timberland Partners.

Audrey VanderMolen has been promoted from Leasing Consultant at Oakland Pointe ro Manager at Hubbell Tower with PPM.

Jill Kline is the new Assistant Manager at Country Club Village.

Bonnie Calkins is the new manager at Village at Westchester with TAB Properties.

Debbie Primrose has been hired as an

HELP WANTED Leasing Consultant. Full time will include weekends. Hourly plus commission. Fax or email resume to (515) 226-1602; [email protected]. Porter/Maintenance position is available with Timberland Partners. Send resume to Bill Armstrong at [email protected]

Welcome New Members! PROPERTIES

Washington Manor

VENDORS

Mansions at Hemingway

Westchester Square

Sudzy’s Carpet Cleaning

Sherwood Glen

West Glen

Transworld Systems

Village at Westchester

Walters Companies

To be added/deleted from mailing list email [email protected]

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CENTRAL IOWA APARTMENT ALLIANCE presents

National Leasing Trainer

Stephen Cox

“Our Profit is Your Success!”

“HIGH PERFORMANCE LEASING” Stephen Cox began his career in property management over 14 years ago as a leasing consultant. He soon found himself gaining recognition and winning awards for top performance and eventually earning the position of National Vice President of Marketing and Training working for some of the nations most acclaimed and recognized companies. In his field, Stephen is considered the foremost expert in persuasion and negotiation techniques with an emphasis on Nuero-Linguistic Programming. He has a strong commitment to providing outstanding multifamily training and has served on the education sub-committee for the development of the 2005 National Apartment Leasing Program (NALP) with NAA. He is a both locally and nationally favorite speaker for many associations and organizations.

You’ll want your entire staff to attend this dynamic Seminar!

Stephen has a relaxed yet highly spirited philosophical approach to property management sales training which is both insightful and entertaining. With his combined experience in sales and theatrical arts, Stephen wows his audience with incredible enthusiasm and excitement! He is considered among his peers to be the ultimate salesman.

Visit Stephen’s website at www.leasingcoach.com.

Date: Time: At: Cost:

June 18, 2007 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Funny Bone, West Glen Town Center, West Des Moines MEMBERS: $35.00 in advance, $45.00 at the door NON-MEMBERS: $50.00 in advance, $60.00 at the door

Fax your reservations to Mary Spain at (515) 327-9104 or Melissa Johnson at (515) 223-1527 Mail advance payment to: CIAA, 3775 EP True Pkwy. Suite 263, West Des Moines, IA 50265 Registration Form: Name:

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1st Annual Golf Outing -ONE N I E L HO PRIZES

DATE:

Friday June 8, 2007

WHERE: TIME: FORMAT: COST:

Blank Golf Course 1:00 p.m. Shotgun Start 9 Hole – 4 Person Best Shot $55.00/person (includes green fee, cart, dinner, prizes)

Sign up today for the 2007 Central Iowa Apartment Association Golf Tournament to be held at A.H. Blank Golf Course! This event will be a 9 Hole 4 person Best Shot.. Dinner and awards will follow your golf round! Many prizes will be awarded. Hole-in-One prizes include a new car and an all expense paid trip!

* NEW CAR* *ALL EXPENSE PAID TRIP*

Registrations must be received no later than June 5th

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT ROCKY SPOSATO @ 202-9858 OR TOM NEWTON @ 883-0838

Mail registration and payment to: CIAA, 3775 E.P. True Parkway, Suite 263 West Des Moines, IA 50265

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