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Aliso Viejo, Calif.–As banks become accidental multifamily property landlords more than ever before through foreclosure and other unfortunate economic events, third-party property management is stepping in to be of service. Even in a recession, someone’s going to make money, and multifamily property managers want it to be them.
“2010 is the year of property management,” Stephan Brahs, vice president of MERIT Rental Property Management, tells MHN. “Bank owners are relying on third-party property management companies to maximize property values until the marketplace is more favorable to sell the properties.”
MERIT Rental Property Management, which provides single-family rental and apartment management services for over 5,700 units throughout California, recently inked a deal with East West Bancorp–MERIT’s first one with that particular financial institution–to manage Park Terrace, a 50-unit multifamily apartment complex located in Rialto, Calif., that the bank owns.
The contract between MERIT and East West calls for full rental property management services, including daily operations, community maintenance, rent collection, delinquency oversight and tenant placement. Also, MERIT will offer Park Terrace residents a customer care center.
Banks aren’t generally familiar with the subtleties of multifamily management, notes Brahs, but the condo bust, among other factors, has forced the role on them. “Many bank-owned multifamily properties that were originally intended as for-sale products are increasingly marketed as rental properties,” he says. “As a result, bank owners need assistance in day-to-day management of these properties including community maintenance, rent collection, delinquency oversight and tenant placement.”
MERIT is a part of FirstService Residential Management, which manages over 3,700 communities encompassing more than one million units. East West Bancorp is a publicly owned bank with $20.6 billion in assets, and its subsidiary, East West Bank, is the third-largest bank headquartered in California, with 135 branches worldwide.