Fed Raises Rate Again
On August 9, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates by another quarter-point. The move, in response to inflationary pressures that include growing energy prices, pushed the Federal funds rate up to 3.5 percent....
Nobody’s Perfect…..Yet
Nobody's perfect -- not at work, not anyplace else -- thank goodness. Still, if you ask the execs at human resources/staffing consulting firm Talent Plus, it's perfectly reasonable for employers to expect "near perfect" performance...
CallSource: Callbutton
When your future residents find you online, will they browse and move on to the next website? Maybe they'll send an email inquiry or pick up the phone. Or maybe not. In this world of...
It’s Not Your Father’s Retirement
Stop by the recreation room for the typical "active adults" housing community these days, and you might have trouble stirring up a game of backgammon, bridge, or any of the other pastimes traditionally ascribed...
Why Rent.com Sold for $415M Cash.
eBay's purchase of Rent.com for $415 million should trigger a moment of pause for all apartment professionals. The ability of CEO Scott Ingraham, President Allan Hunter and their whole team to build an online...
Translation Nation
The top brass at San Francisco real estate investment trust BRE Properties flies down to San Diego for a crash course in Mexican culture. United Dominion Reality Trust, a Denver-based REIT, hires a senior executive...
Hire Power
"It's hard to find good people. They just don't walk in off the street everyday." Rita Grazda, senior director of human resources at Alexandria, Virginia-based Avalon Bay Communities, captured the sentiment of her peers...
An Industry at Odds
HUD has always been important to the multifamily industry. The question with this HUD secretary is, is multifamily important to HUD? Amidst the buzz of home-ownership landmarks and mandates, the President's proposed budget cuts targeted...
Sexual Harassment at Work
Prudent employers have trained managers and employees on preventing unlawful discrimination and harassment in the workplace for years. Such training helps employers avoid conflicts that result in litigation and can also help defend against...
Hollywood Renaissance
Few cities have the power to evoke lifestyle images the way Hollywood does. Or did. Until recently the city of cinematic legend was one of the most undesirable addresses in all of Los Angeles. With record high crime rates...
The Fannie Mae Crisis
The discovery of accounting frauds at the nation's two largest GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises), Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae by regulatory agencies and the SEC has lead to shakeups at both institutions, calls for...
What’s Really Wrong with Fair Housing?
This past April the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), a consortium of civil rights groups, attacked the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for what it called...
HUD Secretary Jackson Talks Multifamily
Jackson has extensive housing, finance and management experience having directed public housing authorities in St. Louis, Washington, DC and Dallas. Jackson also served as chairman of two redevelopment agencies in Washington, DC and St....
The Power of Networks
It's a truism that we live in a networked age: computers connected to each other; phone systems connected to computers; customer data linked to inventory; inventory linked to analytic tools. We have the ability...
Healthy Buildings. Healthy People.
Green building advocates and environmental scientists have brought a new level of awareness to the impact that buildings -- most notably through energy use -- have on the environment. It probably doesn't take a...
