INC NEWS - E-mail to Property Managers re: OWD Recommended Prop. Mgrs. Initiative Criteria

[kjj1 at duke.edu]

Many people have expressed interest in OWD's initiative with property 
managers.

I've posted below the text of the e-mail I've sent to property management 
companies who have rental properties in Old West Durham, which is an 
abbreviated version of the posting I sent to listservs the other day.


Old West Durham Neighborhood Association: Recommended Property Managers 
Initiative: Criteria

The Board of Old West Durham Neighborhood Association (www.owdna.org) has 
developed criteria for identifying companies whose rental properties, 
policies, and practices contribute positively to quality of life in our 
neighborhood. Companies that meet these screening criteria will be featured 
on soon-to-be-launched page of the OWD Web site to be called "Recommended 
Property Management Companies," which we hope will serve as a guide for 
people looking to rent in Old West Durham and for owners looking for good 
rental property managers. The page will also identify those companies that 
did not respond to our inquiries or do not meet the screening criteria.

We invite you to review the screening criteria below and to contact us if 
you are interested in discussing the criteria and being featured as a 
recommended property manager on the Old West Durham Neighborhood 
Association website. You may reply by responding to my e-mail.

The screening criteria OWDNA is using to evaluate property managers include:

1.	Tenant Screening: Clear and consistent tenant screening practices, 
including getting an application from all adult tenants and informing 
tenants about the city occupancy statutes.

2.	Property Maintenance: Well maintained properties and lawns; responsive 
to tenant and neighborhood concerns about property maintenance and 
appearance.

3.	"Quality of life" issues explicitly included in lease (eg. yard 
maintenance responsibilities, front-yard parking, barking dog, and noise 
ordinances).

4.	Tenant Education and Services: Companies furnish tenants with 
information about basic city services, utilities, city occupancy ordinances 
and other city ordinances relevant to property maintenance and quality of 
life.

5.	Willingness to work with Neighborhood Association liaison: Agree to 
provide a list of rental properties in the neighborhood to OWDNA liaison 
and to reply promptly when contacted by liaison.

6. Consistent enforcement of violations of rental agreements.

We are pleased to announce that Apple Realty is the first company to meet 
these screening criteria.

This announcement, along with these criteria, has been posted on several 
community listservs (including the Inter-Neighborhood Council, all 5 
Partners Against Crime listservs, as well as those of several neighborhood 
associations, including Old West Durham, Watts Hospital-Hillandale, Trinity 
Park, Trinity Heights, the Duke Housing office, and several elected 
officials). We will update these announcements as more property managers 
are identified.

We encourage you to seriously consider participating in this effort. We 
have received many positive responses from community leaders to this 
announcement, and several other neighborhood groups have expressed an 
interest in adopting these criteria. We also receive many inquiries through 
our web-site from people seeking rentals or property managers in the area.

We look forward to hearing from you.