Expert On: Cash Flow, Customer Service, Hiring, Leasing, Maintenance, Management, Marketing, NOI

About Doug Chasick:

Doug has over 29 years of hands-on property management experience, gained from on-site, supervisory, consulting and executive positions with such industry giants as Johnstown Properties, R & B Realty Group, The Related Companies and First Capital Companies. He began his career as a Resident Manager for a 524-unit apartment property, and has since been responsible for portfolios of over 28,000 apartments, and more than 8 million square feet of commercial, retail and industrial properties.

Doug is the Editor of NOI News™, a web-based subscription newsletter for multifamily professionals. He is an accomplished speaker and author, with articles published in the Journal of Property Management, UNITS Magazine, The Apartment Professional, Sales & Marketing Magic for Apartment Managers™ and many regional and local property management publications. He is co-author of the textbook “How To Excel in Leasing”, published by the National Association of Homebuilders. Doug has spoken many times at the annual NAA, IREM and NAHB educational conferences; The Annual Brainstorming Sessions; Multi-Housing World and at numerous local and state apartment association events, and for many private company meetings and conferences.

Doug served on the Board of Directors of the National Apartment Association as the Region III Vice President and was the 1998 & 1999 Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board of UNITS Magazine. He is a past Chairman of the RAM Board of Governors, a RAM Life Governor and a past Trustee of NAHB’s Multifamily Council. Doug is a member of NAREE (National Association of Real Estate Editors) and serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Professional Apartment Management and Managing Housing Letter and wrote the Tech Talk column for NAHB’s monthly newspaper, Nations Building News.

Doug earned his Certified Property Manager (CPM®) designation in 1978 from the Institute of Real Estate Management. He served as a member of the National Faculty of IREM for eight years, teaching Course 101, "Successful On-Site Management", Course 301, "The Marketing and Management of Residential Property" and Course 400, “Managing Real Estate As An Investment”. Doug is a Registered in Apartment Management (RAM) Dean, teaching the RAM, Advanced RAM and Certified Leasing Professional (CLP) courses for the Multifamily Council of the National Association of Homebuilders. Doug also teaches the NALP, CAM and CAPS courses for local NAA affiliates. He has also served as a CIO and a Windows NT® network administrator and is currently completing his MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) designation. Doug is licensed as a Real Estate Broker in Florida and Georgia, He is an NAA/HUD certified Lead Hazard Awareness Training course Instructor.

Topic Description

"Happiness Is A Positive Cash Flow!"
Are you so busy searching for road signs that you keep driving into potholes? This seminar explores why managers fail to achieve their goals, and offers common sense, easy to implement ideas that can be used to produce immediate results. Discover the 25 most common mistakes made by apartment managers, and learn how to avoid (or not repeat) them.

This session covers planning, goal setting, effective communication and delegation and basic property management finance (value, cap rates, what causes a property’s value to increase or decrease, etc.) I present over 50 cost-savings ideas, and focus on how to raise rents and reduce delinquencies.

"Reasons or Results: What Have You Got?"
In life, you can either have the results you want, or the reasons for not having results. Are you the source of your community’s spectacular performance, or just an innocent bystander? This seminar explores the limits people place on themselves, and shows you how to stretch those limits. Learn the real difference between “I can’t” and “I won’t” and why it affects you daily. Learn how to evaluate and improve the impact of your actions (and non-actions) on your staff, your residents and your bottom line! We always lead by example, whether we set a good or bad example, so learn the steps to making sure you always set the example you want.

In this seminar we explore the limits people place on themselves, and how to push those limits out, so people are more competent and capable by focusing on commitment and responsibility. Leadership by example, communication and delegation techniques are covered in detail, as is motivation, attitude and personal presentation.

"Management, Marketing and Maintenance: Supervision and Customer Service Techniques for Your Service Staff"
Even though your maintenance staff usually has more contact with your residents than your office staff, the service technicians don’t receive much customer service training. And since most maintenance supervisors get promoted based on their technical knowledge, supervision skills are usually learned “on the job.” Today’s apartment resident is smarter and more demanding than ever; can you afford not to take advantage of the benefits of a fully trained maintenance staff? This seminar covers the basics of customer service and supervision, including scheduling, hiring, training, discipline and performance reviews, and is specifically designed for maintenance supervisors and service technicians.

This is a new seminar that I created specifically for maintenance personnel. I combine the communication, delegation, discipline, commitment and goal setting portions of the other seminars, but the material is presented in a way that engages maintenance supervisors and technicians (It’s aimed at “their level”). Customer service is presented as a function of communication and presentation, and some basic apartment finance concepts are shared (“What do you think the effect on a property’s value would be if you could save $100 a month in expenses?”).

"On-Target, On-Site: The FUN-dementals of Managing and Leasing!"
Do you know what it takes to be the best in the ever-changing world of apartment management and leasing? And if you do know, are you doing it? Daily? Consistently? Effectively? If you’re like most apartment professionals, you answered “no” to at least one of those questions. Not to worry though, because this full day sessions covers everything you’ll need to be the best - every day. Learn the two biggest reasons why presentations fail, how to use the telephone to it’s best advantage, why features and benefits selling is no longer the way to go, and the 16 steps to more powerful presentations. Learn the 25 most common management mistakes and how to avoid them, and much, much more!

"Preventive Hiring"
Finding and keeping qualified employees has become the obsession of the new millennium! Learn how to distinguish between an applicant who interviews well and one who will perform well. You will get dozens of practical, hands-on techniques that will assist you in making one of the most important decisions you frequently face: “Should I hire this person?”

This session will focus on attitude-based selection vs. skill-based selection, effective interview techniques and questions, what to include on the employment application, how to check references, and other proven methods of increasing the probability of making a “good hire”.

"Fair Housing-Playing Fair"
What can I say about a Fair Housing seminar-it’s a topic that never goes “out of style”, and is always in demand especially with the amount of employee turnover we have in the Apartment Management Industry!

This session starts at the basics and then covers the issues and situations faced by the on-site staff and multi-site supervisors in the course of a normal day at the office.

Starting off with a simple quiz, I cover the history of Federal Fair Housing laws, the federally protected classes, how to file a complaint, responding to a complaint, how the government processes a complaint (including possible damages and penalties) and how to create and implement policies and procedures that make your property, your employees and your staff “Fair Housing Friendly”.

The Apartment Doctor™ will create a custom seminar designed especially for your audience! Topics include Fair Housing, Management, Human Resources, Marketing, Technology, Leasing, Finance and just about other Multi-Family Industury topics. Tell him where it hurts and he’ll provide the Perfect Property Prescription!

Please note that all seminars are approved for RAM recertification points:
2 Hour Sessions = 7 points
4 Hour Sessions = 14 points