hotels articles

Paperwork has traditionally been a fundamental component of property management.

But over the past few years, online services have changed that reality by enabling managers and owners to procure and produce a wide range of documents and services on the Internet, including leases, personalized riders, state and federal forms and legal notices.

Online documents may be printed as needed, with back-up “copies” securely maintained online.

Within this context, me concept or paperless property management takes on an almost futuristic quality, but the movement into online management is a natural progression.

The fact is, it’s more efficient to automate paperwork preparation, essentially eliminating the valuable time that real estate personnel spend on typing and re-typing using word-processing software and typewriters. In addition, managing forms by using an online platform ensures consistency and quality control. But perhaps most importantly, storing records on a secure website is far safer than conventional filing cabinets. Important documents deserve better security than a locked office.

Last year, one of our On-Site.com clients, an 82-unit rental complex in northern California, had a nearly disastrous fire in the records room of the management office. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the office computer and many leases and tenant records were lost. Because the client’s On-Site.com account is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection, the manager had immediate access to the complex’s apartment and tenant data. Only web-based management can provide such a safety net.

Six years ago, On-Site.com was developed to serve as an online credit-checking service that could gather information from multiple data sources instantly. We quickly found value in processing paperwork for leases and ancillary paperwork, as well as providing managers and owners of residential rental properties with a full complement of tenant data and forms, plus the means to store and access them 24 hours a day. What began with comprehensive background screening was integrated into a full-service property leasing tool that currently has a patent pending.

Our earliest operations were in California’s Silicon Valley, where my family owns residential properties. The area, already known as a center for computer innovations, wasn’t a tough sell in terms of introducing online screening to managers and developers that were relying on hard-to-read faxed reports. Since then, we have opened offices in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle. Over the summer we will introduce our services in Chicago, Houston, Florida and Washington D.C. In addition, we have expanded our service to include tools for smarter property marketing, as well as integrating a department to handle debt collections on behalf of landlords.

On-Site.com’s business, however, still focuses heavily on providing vital background information on prospective tenants to protect landlords. Our system is able to retrieve in-depth credit, eviction, litigation, and criminal information in seconds. Our service is quickly replacing faxed credit scores that are neither thorough nor easy to understand. The company also offers an investigation of each applicant’s employment history, housing references and banking relationships for landlords that are interested in a full-service background check.

With a local customer base that includes Rose Associates, Prudential Douglas Elliman and some national REITs, On-Site.com has a mandate to provide a very high standard of service. Our system was developed to serve both small owners and large apartment complexes, such as Avalon Christie Place on the Lower East Side.

In many respects, property management remains an old-fashioned business in many markets, with family-owned companies and smaller landlords. For these professionals, finding the time to learn new software is difficult because they’re focused on the nuts-and-bolts of running buildings. But having grown up in the real estate industry has given me insight into the day-to-day dynamics of property management. As a result, OnSite.com was designed to be as simple to use as possible.

The technology we utilize helps managers make well-informed decisions. Until recently, property managers and owners relied upon occupancy reports and other data that were weeks old. By the time it was received, it was too late to cure certain issues. Our systems provide quick access to what is happening in the present, so managers can plan using up-to-the-instant information.

The days of faxed credit scores and boilerplate forms are coming to an end, and will soon be replaced by integrated, online platforms. On-Site.com tailors forms to meet the criteria of each market and customizes each document set in accordance to a particular landlord’s policies. Ultimately, our business is to protect real estate owners–by providing the ability to lease to the best possible tenants by way of critical background information and then providing the right documents quickly to secure their tenancies.

The Long Beach Westin is located less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean and offers 460 guest rooms and 41,000 sq ft of indoor meeting space. The city of Long Beach enjoys a temperate climate, with winter temperatures averaging 55[degrees]F and summer in March of 2004; the property was sold in January of 2006.

Independent boiler plants met the facility’s heating and DHW needs. The two boilers designed for the DHW loop each had a 1.7-MMBtu capacity and fed a 750-gal hot water storage tank. The building heat loop was fed by a 4-MMBtu boiler with a second 4-MMBtu boiler to provide redundancy.

Given the temperature climate, the property had little need for the full 4 MMBtu of heat the boilers were designed to provide. Although occupant demand calls for heating to be available almost year-around, the actual energy consumption is quite low. Indeed, the demand on the existing building heat loop was so low, the boilers were not subject to the SCAQMD’s demanding emissions standards as neither boiler used more than 9,000 Therm/yr. Additionally, the low demand allowed the building engineers to isolate the unused boiler and therefore avoid a situation where the second boiler radiated unnecessary heat back into the building.

Any boiler using more than 9,000 Therm/yr is subject to SCAQMD’s inspection. If the boiler produces more than 35 ppm of nitrogen oxide (NOx), SCAQMD issues a citation and levies a fine for failure to comply with state standards. Given that the boilers were original to the building, it is doubtful that either could have passed inspection by the state had they been utilized at full capacity. On the other hand, the boilers feeding the DHW loop exceeded the 9,000 Therm/yr threshold. As the latest inspection revealed that the DHW boilers were producing more than 33 ppm of NOx, the property was fined and a citation was issued by SCAQMD.

Recent changes to the operation of the property included the installation of ozone systems for the laundry functions, which significantly reduced the DHW load in the facility and brought it well below the specifications of the original design. As a result, the boilers dedicated to meeting the DHW demands were also operating at well below their capacity.

Both boiler loops were operating at approximately 1% of their annual capacity. Given the similar operational efficiency of the two systems and allowing for calculation Errors at a factor of five, the seasonal efficiency of the boiler plant still would not surpass 30%. Nevertheless, operating costs for the boiler plants were not prohibitive and demand was met adequately, a threshold of operational functionality that is satisfactory by moat standards.

DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE

The single motivation for a re-evaluation of the boiler plants at the Westin Long Beach was the citation from SCAQMD. Starwood invited an outside energy management consulting firm, Energy Management Strategies, Inc. (EMSI), to evaluate the property and propose solutions to bring the DHW boilers into compliance with California state standards.

Only three options made sense. First, they could simply retrofit the existing boilers to reduce NOx emissions, because the efficiency of the boiler loop would have dropped as well. The advantage of retrofitting the boilers is the low cost of the solution and the retrofitting process has the least impact on the operations of the facility.

The second option was to exchange the original boilers with new boilers on a one-for-one basis. This would reduce the NOx emissions, and would be relatively inexpensive as a one-for-one exchange requires little reengineering and no analysis.

The final option was to redesign the boiler plant in its entirety. This would address the NOx issue as well as producing a right sized boiler plant that met the real-time needs of the facility. The overall efficiency of the boiler plant would increase dramatically, from only 1% to over 95%. However, a complete redesign of the boiler plant meant the most disruption to the facility itself, as well as the largest investment of any of the three options.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

Starwood decided they would take the holistic approach to the facility’s needs and opt to redesign the boiler plants in their entirety. EMSI returned a proposal that combined the two boiler plants and replaced 11.4 MMBtu of heating capacity with capacity more in keeping with the facility’s real-time demand.

After performing an investment-grade audit of the existing system, a full study of the alternatives, and a complete financial analysis, EMSI returned with both the plan for renovation and the financial analysis to justify a complete reconfiguration of the existing boiler plant. Extensive building simulations indicated that the facility’s demand peaked at 4 MMBtu.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

The design for the new boiler plant was based on the detailed analysis and due diligence performed by EMSI. Right-sized at 5 MMBtu, the new boiler plant is designed with 1-MMBtu modular boilers, which allow the plant to ramp up according to building demand, but also to scale back when demand is low. The modular design builds redundancy into the system with the fifth 1-MMBtu boiler.

Sterling American Property Inc. announced that Mark Peskin has joined the firm as chief financial officer.

Peskin has 20 years of experience in finance. Prior to joining Sterling American, he served as CEO of Art Capital Group, Inc.

Lincoln Property Company announced that Peter Zaslowe has been appointed as senior leasing director of the its Edison, N.J. office.

Zaslowe has more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate. Prior to joining Lincoln Property, he worked at Goodrich Management Corp.

Zaslowe holds a B.S. in accounting from New York University. He is a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management.

City & Suburban Federal Savings Bank announced Carol Connor has been appointed as assistant vice president and underwriter of income property lending.

Prior to joining City & Suburban, Connor served as president of Jaycon Management Corp. She specializes in foreclosures and management of bank-owned properties.

Every day, from 300 to 500 users tap into MTMC’s Personal Property Web pages.

This Internet audience from around the world includes service members, installation travel offices, and household goods moving companies.

Since its inception in 1996, the Web site has provided essential information on MTMC’s Personal Property program. MTMC moves an average of 646,000 service members a year.

On Nov. 24, users who went to www.mtmc.army.mil and then clicked on “Transportation Services” found an entirely different Personal Property Web section.

“We had been putting changes on it for years,” said Hank Spieler, Chief, Domestic and International Rates.

“We decided on a total redesign.”

Staying true to a reinvention design, Transportation Assistant Cliff Mechalske started with a blank screen.

Relying on college automation courses, Mechalske used Microsoft Front Page software to totally redesign the Personal Property home page.

“I wanted to make it easier to use and more professional in its look,” said Mechalske, 23, who started working at MTMC as a high school intern in 1993.

As a methodology, Mechalske used two personal computers. On one, he viewed the old Personal Property Web site; on the second, he designed a totally new one.

One of the biggest changes was on the site’s first page. A user on the old site had to scroll down through dozens of listings in a fact-finding effort.

No longer: the new site has just nine listings.

Related topics are then broken down under such categories as Latest Updates, Domestic Advisory, International Advisory, and Carrier Approvals.

“It’s a new look, a new feel,” said Mechalske. “It is now easier to use.” Mechalske sandwiched the Web redesign work with his other duties over a six-month period.

What about the future?

Mechalske has other goals.

“I would like to expand the user capability by creating some Oracle-generated Web pages,” said Mechalske.

The pages would allow users to seek additional information on the Web site.

“We are in an interactive mode,” said Spieler. “All the information users formerly had to research on paper–volumes of paper–is now on the Web.”

The new Web pages have drawn positive reactions.

“It’s very nice and easy to use,” said Mae Ohori, a Traffic Management Specialist with the 599th Transportation Group, Wheeler Army Air Field, Hawaii.

“I like the way it’s set up and how the icons are presented,” said Ohori, a 13-year MTMC veteran who works in the group’s Personal Property section.

“As an example, if you’re in the International Program, there are boxes and you know where to go.”

Other praise came from Lynn Steinhauser, Director of Customer Relations, The Day companies, Inc., Norfolk, Neb.

“I love the way the Personal Property page has been redesigned,” said Steinhauser.

“Things are a lot easier to find, and the design is very pleasant to view and work with.”

Steinhauser checks the MTMC Web site twice a day for updates. The firm’s invoicing team uses the site’s online rates and solicitations numerous times a day, she said.

Milliman Security Management System (MS2) provides platform and tools for guarding confidentiality of sensitive data and dealing with threat of identity theft. As Web-based system, it enables compliance with government security mandates and provides enterprise-wide security. Scalable, customizable system encompasses administrative, physical, and technical safeguards and features turnkey administrative, reporting, and document management tools.

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Customizable System Enables Affordable Compliance with Government Security Mandates including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and others
SEATTLE, May 8 / — Milliman, the international firm of consultants and actuaries, today announced the introduction of the Milliman Security Management System (MS2.) The Web-based system offers a practical, scaleable and customizable solution to compliance with government security mandates including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, FFIEC, GLBA and European Union requirements. MS2 also provides clients with a platform and tools for guarding the confidentiality of sensitive data and dealing with the growing threat of identity theft.

“Despite significant investments in security, many companies still lack consistent regulatory compliance controls throughout their organizations,” said John Phelan, Ph.D., manager of MS2. “This is especially true in an age of geographically diverse business units where acquisitions and outsourcing have become commonplace,” Phelan added.
Milliman’s MS2 provides a sensible and cost-effective approach to enterprise-wide security and to compliance with multiple security regulations. MS2 encompasses administrative, physical and technical safeguards and includes turnkey administrative, reporting and document management tools. In addition, MS2 incorporates and supports generally accepted security protocols that include ISO, NIST and CobiT.

For further information contact your Milliman consultant or visit the Milliman Security Management System website at http://www.milliman.com/ms2

Milliman, whose corporate offices are in Seattle, serves the full spectrum of business, financial, government and union organizations. Founded in 1947 as Milliman & Robertson, the company has 31 offices in the United States as well as offices in Bermuda, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Munich, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo and Warsaw. Milliman employs approximately 1,900 people, including a professional staff of more than 850 qualified consultants and actuaries. The firm has consulting practices in employee benefits, healthcare, life insurance/financial services, and property & casualty insurance. It is a founding member of Milliman Global, an international organization of consulting firms serving insurance, employee benefits and healthcare clients worldwide.

There appears to be a continuing escalation in the transition from private ownership (individual, family and/or limited partnerships) to Some form of institutional and/or public ownership. This trend became evident in the mid-1980’s with the growth of the REIT and the CMBS markets in the United States. It was strengthened by the significant in creases in foreign investment from around the world that has ebbed and flowed from a variety of sources, in accordance with the changing dynamics of the regional world economies. The trend is unabated and the impact upon markets like New York City has been significant.
ith an ever-increasing level of financial sophistication, potential buyers are roiling the market, looking for safe havens for, vast sums of capital that have come their way as a result of the vagaries of the stock market. Prices are being ratcheted upwards, while cap rates have plummeted. The market, however, remains hot and so long as interest rates remain at historical lows, there is no end in sight.

Every frenzied market comes with a headache and there may be a migraine waiting for a lot of new owners in the not too distant future. Aside from the obvious issues concerning the status of the leasing market place, there are more mundane and practical issues at play. Potential owners, in many instances, are not taking the requisite time needed to thoroughly understand the physical and operational aspects of the properties they are purchasing. Caught up in the urgency and constraints established by sellers wishing to close quickly, some buyers are acting hastily. The result is that after the initial euphoria of the closing, they wake up to find that they may be the dog that chased after, and finally caught, the car; now what do they do?

Sterling American Property Inc. announced that Tarak Patolia has been appointed as senior vice president and director of acquisitions for the firm.

Patolia specializes in acquisitions and asset management. Prior to joining Sterling American, he served as a technical analyst with a New York firm.
Patolia holds a B.A. in architecture from CEPT in Ahmedabad, India and an M.B.A. in finance from Pace University.

WHEN THE ERA OF E-BUSINESS first issued forth, companies extolled the virtues of Web-enabled information-sharing. Firms could collaborate electronically with suppliers and partners, supply chains gained the ability to provide just-in-time inventory, and employees on different continents could work together without physically traveling to each other’s location. But now, more and more organizations are becoming familiar with the downside of increased connectivity. American companies, for example, lost up to $59 billion in intellectual property and proprietary information between July 2000 and June 2001, according to a study released at the end of September by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Society for Industrial Security International.
Intellectual property loss can occur in a number of ways. However, due to the speed and capacity of information systems, computer-related loss presents the greatest threat to companies. Digital leakage, the unwanted dissemination of sensitive information via electronic means, is one type of threat that is being reported with increasing regularity. An April study by the Computer Security Institute found that 8o percent of the 500 corporations surveyed had experienced digital leakage. In the first week of October, documents containing PC maker Dell Computer Corp.’s plans to enter the handheld market found their way onto the Internet. And at the end of September, an internal document from Sony detailing upgrades to its Clie handheld was released on the Web without the company’s authorization.