Clark County Rental Association

Letter from the president

LYN AYERS, CCRA President
from the December, 2011 CCRA news

The Holiday season is upon us. That means a time for giving thanks, giving and receiving gifts, planning for the coming year. It is also time for looking back on 2011 and evaluating how effectively we managed our rentals, and then looking forward to 2012 to plan how to do things better (or at least different.) This is also a great time to do the same for your Clark County Rental Association. What has been accomplished by the organization in 2011? Several members spent a day in Olympia meeting with our legislators to advocate our issues. We sponsored full-day lead-based paint certification seminars and a Landlording 101 training class. We published 12 issues of our color newsletter filled with articles about landlording and advertisers focused on helping us with our rental maintenance. We held 10 dinner meetings with speakers informing and advising us about ways to improve our business. Several board members attended quarterly meetings with the City Manager and his staff to discuss ways to improve how we work together for the benefit of our industry. We negotiated more timely utility bills and garbage bills to reduce our liability. Several more members attended the monthly Apartment Safety meetings sponsored by the local fire marshal to keep up to date with protecting our units and our tenants. A couple of board members are active in the 4th Plain Revitalization project, the Graffiti Abatement project and neighborhood associations. You can see that many of our members are active in our community for the betterment of our industry and our neighborhoods. But we are not the only ones making a difference. Our WAA officers and lobbyists had definite impact in opposing bills in Olympia that would have been detrimental to us. You can read the WAA report elsewhere in this newsletter. That leads us to next year. What should we focus on for 2012? How can CCRA increase value to our members and our industry? If 2011 demonstrates progress, obviously the board should continue in that direction. How about finally getting a Member's only section on our website? Should we include on-line access to the CCRAnews? It would provide earlier information than through the mail, especially considering potential reduction of USPS service. Should we evaluate the impact of taking credit cards, even though it will increase costs? How do we get more involved with the county like we have with the city? Are there other modifications or additions our members would like to see from the Board? Are there topics of special interest for our dinner meeting speakers? As you should be able to see, there is much remaining to be done. But we need to hear from you. Contact any of us on the board; let us know how we can provide more value—but keep in mind that we are all volunteers. We contribute to the operation of the organization in our spare time because we believe in its value. In conclusion, CCRA has had a direct financial benefit for our landlords; we have effectively opposed detrimental legislation; we offer many different ways to learn how to be a professional landlord and to keep updated with changes. The financial value to each of you is worth much more than the $99 annual membership fee. Keep this in mind when thinking about renewing for 2012 and write that check soon so you can deduct it from your 2011 taxes as a business expense. And have a Merry Christmas followed by a wonderful New Year.