President's Message:

The Importance of Our Association

Twenty-five years ago I began my career in the apartment industry by purchasing a house on the southside of Birmingham. I spent many hours trying to determine what my rents should be and the amount of expenses that I would incur. I did most of the work on converting the property to seven rental units myself, and had no idea who to hire to provide advertising, legal, maintenance or other services to the property. I had no idea what lease to use, whether or not I should verify the credit of my potential residents, or what I should do about collecting past due rents. One of the reasons I remember almost every detail of the renovation, leasing and management of that first property, is because I guessed at almost every problem issue that I faced. There was no “apartment association” at that time, and because I thought of all the other property owners and managers as competitors, I had nowhere to turn to obtain information about owning and operating a multi-family property.

It was not until about ten years later that I discovered the multi-family council of the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders. I am sure that this council existed long before I discovered it, because a number of the persons who worked with me managing our properties attended and were even officers of the multi-family council. Late one afternoon, I decided that I would attend one of these meetings simply because I had nothing better to do. What I found were other apartment professionals who owned and managed residential rental property just like me, and numerous vendors who provided services to many properties, including my own. It felt a little strange at first, as it always does when you don’t really know any one at a gathering, but after one or two meetings I found myself developing new relationships that had a foundation of something in which I was very interested, the multi-family industry. As time passed and I got to know more people in the industry, I met other owners like Paul Earle, Bill Butler, Ingram Tynes, Phil Mulkey, Jim Hubbard, Bill Welden, Paul Plankey and Leo Joseph ( I am sure I have left out some people here). To my surprise, these people were all interested in the same apartment related issues as myself and were all willing to share their experiences to help me. I met many regional managers, property managers and leasing agents who all had great stories to share and I developed relationships with many vendors who worked very hard to promote and protect the industry that they served. Now these owners, management professionals and service providers are some of my best friends and I look forward to seeing and interacting with them at Association meetings, lunch or just getting together after work. When I think back to my perception of all property owners and managers as cold, hard competitors, I laugh at myself for how wrong I was in this characterization of them.

Today the apartment industry in Birmingham has experienced a complete redevelopment with the merger of the Birmingham Apartment Association (affiliated with the National Apartment Association) and the Association of Apartment Homes (a Council under the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders). Our new organization, the Greater Birmingham Apartment Association is one of only two or three such associations in the United States which has an affiliation with both the National Apartment Association and the National Association of Home Builders. Already, other associations from around the country are contacting us to find out how we accomplished the combination of these two entities. It makes me very proud to be able to discuss the accomplishments initiated by Dion Fox and Jim Reffelt in successfully merging the two associations in February 2007 and it is incredible to think about the many benefits that the combination of these two associations make available to us in the Birmingham area. We have the best educational opportunities with the ability to achieve well known industry designations from the National Apartment Association and we have governmental influence at the local and state levels from the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders and Home Builders Association of Alabama as well as representation on a national level provided by both NAA, The National Association of Home Builders and The National Multi- Housing Council.

Today on both a local, state and national level, there are many interests that are trying to take away the freedoms that we currently enjoy in owning and managing our properties. Whether you are an owner of rental property, work in the management of residential rental property or provide services to residential rental property, we all need to come together as a team to protect our businesses. We all face the same challenges of how to comply with rules and regulations relating to our industry and overcome common problems. There is not a week that passes that I do not get a call from someone in our industry with a problem that I or one of my friends has faced and addressed. It is really incredible when I sit back and think about the amount of industry knowledge that I have gained by networking with people in our industry. Its value to the success of my business can not be overstated and there is no doubt that my company would be much smaller and less profitable had I not began attending association meetings and developing those relationships so many years ago.

As apartment professionals, all of us have an obligation to safeguard our businesses and protect our livelihoods. It is important that each person get involved and give just a small part of themselves back to the industry that has provided them a living and career for so many years. You will get as much out of our Association as you give to it and I encourage each of you to get involved and experience the benefits of being a part of our industry family.

In 2008 the motto our new Association is “Taking Flight”. My goals for the Association for this year are as follows:

• Have a Board retreat to get organized prior to the beginning of the year
• Improve our listing of member benefits and membership application
• Develop signs to go at each side of the door to our meetings explaining the benefits of membership
• Identify apartment communities who are not current members and encourage their participation
• Change the income statement format to associate costs with revenue
• Begin a liaison with our local police departments to reduce crime and improve the apartment image with these cities
• Begin advertising promoting the benefits of living in an apartment community
• Develop a policy and procedures manual for the Association
• Develop a policy for which jobs receive GBAA awards nominations and the criteria for each job. All of the criteria should include participation in the Association
• Implement a relationship with Gold’s Gym to provide membership benefits to GBAA members and residents

I look forward to seeing you at our Association meetings and working with you in promoting and protecting our industry. It is an honor for me to be your 2008 President.

Sincerely,

Frank Barefield