Clark County Rental Association

Letter from the president

LYN AYERS, CCRA President
from the August, 2010 CCRA news

I have several items to mention in this month’s article, but before I do, here is something to keep in mind throughout this period of economic turmoil.

Yesterday Janine and I attended a memorial service of my uncle who had fought prostate cancer for nearly 15 years. Through it all, he remained optimistic and kept his faith. In his last few days they attempted to move him into a full-care Hospice facility, only to be rejected due to no room. His only option was to return home to await the end. As the nurses arranged him in his bed, he remarked “I am so fortunate!” Here was a man whose life was filled with gratitude for the good things and he always looked for them. Do we forget to be thankful for the good things in our lives? My point is that many of us spend too much time complaining when we really have so many reasons to give thanks.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, the web site continues to evolve.

We have links to Twitter and Facebook. Although we hear about them a lot, do we understand what they are? Since I am not literate in the arena of Social Media, my explanation is that these are two quick & easy on-line methods to communicate with each other. The more people use our Twitter and our Facebook links, the better our ratings on Google searches. So landlords can find us more easily. If you have kids or grand kids, get them to “follow” us or “like” us; the more, the better. They’ll understand even if you don’t.

We can now do business advertising on our site. Do you have a business and would like to market it on-line? Be one of the first to use this feature. Contact Polly Hohnbaum for the details. She can explain the many valuable features of the program.

Have you recently moved and are no longer receiving your copy of the Portland Landlord Times monthly newspaper? If so, we have learned how to fix it: call Andrea at 503-221-1260 or andrea@propubinc.com. If it’s a new publication for you (as a newer member), it has many articles about what’s happening across the river in the state to the South. Sometimes what happens there migrates over here and it’s good to be informed in advance.

Our RRP EPA certified training classes have been more successful than we hoped. We sponsored four sessions and have had more than 70 complete the classes. At the moment we don’t plan another, but that can be easily changed if we get enough requests (we need a minimum of 12 attendees to justify a session.)

If you missed our July 27 dinner meeting and panel discussion, you missed one of the best meetings of the year. I can say that not just because I was one of the panelists; I heard several other attendees say that the information offered was extremely relevant, timely, and valuable. Based on the positive response we will be offering another meeting after the first of the year with a similar venue. And I’ll remind you that you should attend so you don’t miss that important meeting.

If you occasionally have problems with tenants and/or their guests creating a disturbance and you want to limit or stop their access to your properties, you need to understand the law. This month’s speaker will be Corporal Drue Russell, from Vancouver Police. He will be explaining Trespass and how it works for our rentals. He will provide critical information we need to know and understand and how handle that legally.

As you can see, there are a lot of things happening with your Clark County Rental Association. I hope they are translating into better management processes and techniques for you and your rentals. When you consider your membership in CCRA, you can see the benefits and challenges of landlording.