Maintenance Tip of the Day

Leaves have fallen and frost is in the air. There is 12" of snow on the ground, the windows on the car are ice-covered and the kids are singing: "No School!" Now you lovingly look over at your spouse and say, "Honey, have you seen the window scraper, the shovel, the ice melt and did you get the car starter installed?"

Avoid the panic, plan ahead. Put a bag of kitty litter in the trunk. Get yourself prepared! Winters come and winters go. Please enjoy the winter season and be safe.

"I'm Gonna Go With Filthy"

The fourth episode of The Super airs this coming Monday at 8 PM. Watch as we struggle to get the Colbert Apartments past the city inspections in only three days time - a task that others haven't been able to finish in 2 years! Tune into HDNet to find out what will happen! And be sure to like The Super on facebook!

Landmark Group Interview Tips

Landmark Group Interview tips:

1. Learn about the company. Learn as much as you can about the company's mission, objectives, goals, and future plans. This shows that you are informed and interested in what the company is trying to achieve. Also when asked “why do you want to work for us” you can answer in an educated manner.
2. Fill out the application completely. Leave nothing unanswered or blank. It is always better to write in that you don’t know the answer or that it is not applicable than to leave it blank.
3. Be 10 minutes early to the interview. There is never a good excuse for being late to an interview and could cost you the job. If traffic is a concern be sure to leave early.
4. Turn your cell phone off during the interview. Applicants should focus all of the attention on the interview and cell phones (even left on vibrate) are a huge distraction.
5. Dress appropriately for the job. Always be neat, clean and presentable. The employer will look at you as a representation of the company.
6. Don’t babble or make jokes. When answering questions don’t babble on and on, keep your answers short and direct to the question asked. Also don’t make jokes as an interview is not the place to try out new material.
7. Don’t bad mouth former employers. You may have had bad experiences with a former employer however an interview is not the place to discuss this.
8. Maintain good eye contact. Staring at the floor, ceiling, or wall when speaking or listening makes you appear disinterested or untrustworthy.
9. Ask questions. At the end of the job interview make sure you have some questions to ask. It will reinforce your strong interest in the job.
10. Be aware of your body language. Based on your body language it can be seen if you come across as insecure or self-assured. It can also show if you are a busy or a quiet type and it helps give an impression of whether you are speaking truthfully or not.

Click here to see all available positions with Landmark Group and Dino's Storage.

Save 10% at Lowes or Home Depot

As a new home owner, I am often found at Lowes or Home Depot. I almost never leave the store without spending several hundred dollars. I discovered that you can go to the Post Office and get a change of address packet. Within the packet is a 10% off coupon to Lowes. Home Depot will accept it as well. Use this trick for some big ticket items and save yourself some mula.

Landmark Lead Safe

What is RRP lead safe? Why is it important? And WHY are property repairs and maintanence more expensive now because of it ?

The EPA RRP Rule represents the most significant and far-reaching Federal lead regulation since HUD published the Lead-Safe Housing Rule over 10 years ago. But how to properly implement the various components of the rule has created many issues and concerns among public agencies, community groups, contractors, property managers and owners.

When lead paint is sanded or scraped or disturbed, microscopic particles of the metal mingle with the dust that is created. That "lead-containing" dust is what can seriously impact people'shealth, especially children and pregnant women. Lead causes a long list of problems, including learning and behavioral problems, kidney disease, high blood pressure, miscarriage and birth defects. Lead can even cause depression and aggressive behavior. Experts say lead poisoning doubles the number of children in special education classes, and some studies show it plays a major role in crime rates as well. There is no safe level of lead - any amount can be harmful to you and your family.

The EPA’s Renovate, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP), which began on April 22, 2010, is designed to help reduce the hazards of lead based paint exposure during renovation projects. The RRP Rule is best known for the very specific and tedious safety and work practices that must be followed by all contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that will disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities and schools built before 1978. In addition to the extensive lead safe work practices,  the rule requires that firms also keep extensive records for all work done for a minimum of three years.

The fines for non-compliance can be over $30,000 per day, and enforcement has begun nation wide. One Omaha company was already asessed fines and penalties as a cost of over $15,000. Click here to read the original story from the OWH.

Maintenance Tip of the Day

Everyone is talking about The Super, and what a nice time we had watching the first episode Monday evening.

Winter is now upon us, the first frost is right around the corner. Snow, ice and freezing temperatures are ready to attack us. We prepare ourselves with heavy coats, insulated gloves, warm and dry boots, but what about our homes?

When was the last time you checked the insulation in your attic? Blown in insulation is easy to apply and most places that sell the insulation will loan you the machine to install it. There are several types of insulation that can be blown in. You can even purchase insulation made from recycled materials that help the enviornment. Instead of materials filling up the land fills it saves energy in your home, saving you money.

If blown in insulation will not work for you, there is faced and unfaced insulation that come in rolls or sections. There are several different "R" values for your specific need. Measure the thickness of the insulation you currently have and take that information with you when you are ready to purchase your insulation. The store of your choice will be able to give you advice on the most cost effective materials you will need.

Looking around the outside of your home can often save you energy and money. Caulk is very inexpensive for the return in value. A $2.00 tube of caulk can seal a drafty window, also check the corners of your house along the edge of your siding for cracks that could be filled.

Clean your gutters, a free flowing gutter will help prevent ice damns. Ice damns cause water to back up under your shingles that can cause a leak on the interior ceilings. While you are looking at your gutters don't forget the down spouts, sometimes the ends are clogged or smashed, restricting the water flow.

Lastly, put your snow shovel where you can find it. Don't wait, store it and ice melt where it is accessible, even a bag of kitty litter may come in handy.

I heard one person say that they love winter, it's just the cold, snow, ice and slick roads they don't like.

Happy winter soltace, be safe and enjoy the seasons!

I'm Busy

Last week I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and she said to me, “I’ve been so busy that I didn’t have time to call you” which would not have been a big deal except I was waiting on her to finish a home project I was working on. When she told me that, my first thought was that I was not important enough for her to make time to do what she said she would do. The words, “I’ve been busy” bothered me so much that I began listening to others, and myself, in conversations to see how often we all say this and what impact those words have on others.

I heard a tech at Landmark Group apologize to a tenant for not being at their house at a desired time due to “being busy." I listened as a sales rep told their client, “I’ve been busy which is why I didn’t get back to you” and I even told my own children that I didn’t get something done that they asked me to do because “I was too busy”. In each of these situations, as I listened to the words spoken and then the expression or response from the person they were spoken to, I realized that in each case the person being told this had a feeling or look of unimportance. The wrong message had been sent. What these individuals heard was you are not as important as whatever else I have going on.

My point is that we are all very busy individuals, but I believe that we are sending the wrong message when we say “I’m too busy”. What the underlying message that is being sent is that I am too important to deal with you and your problems. It is vital in life to understand that our time and experience is worth something and that managing an agenda is a hard thing to do, especially under extreme time pressure, but that we have to respect other's time and experiences as well and send a message that says you are important to me.

So the next time we feel like saying “I’m busy” instead try to rephrase your comments to make the other individual feel important. Try something like, “I’m realize I haven’t finished the task but it’s on my schedule to get done.”

Rental Maintenance Question

Rental maintenance question: If you are an investor with many properties and are not very handy, is it a good idea to purchase a home service warranty to cover certain items in the home should a tenant need maintenance? Is sending say $400.00 a year for the plan and another perhaps $75.00 per service call worth it or not? Do you offer this type of service to your tenant as say a security blanket so they know if any issues come up they would be covered?

I don't know if thats a good idea or not. Looking for some input??

Landmark Team Building

Yesterday a portion of Landmark Group's management team and support staff spent the day doing some unconventional team building. It was a great day filled with several water activities, food, fun and a long bus ride. I mention this because just as any other office, Landmark has its share of office politics, communication barriers and all around frustrations that, after time, take a toll on each individual staff member. I have always believed that occasional team building activities can help reduce these issues.

Team building is a very important process in any company that helps to ensure a close-knit team of individuals work toward the same desired purpose. Encouragement is very important in team building, and as we discovered yesterday, when we motivated one another, everyone tried harder to accomplish team objectives. Yesterday we found fun ways to develop cohesiveness, tear down walls in communication, regain an appreciation for one another and boosts one another’s commitment to Landmark Group. As it is in life, team building takes time and willingness but the end results are well worth the extra effort.

Deferred Maintenance

According to Wikipedia, DEFERRED MAINTENANCE is the practice of postponing maintenance activities such as repairs on both real property (i.e. infrastructure) and personal property (i.e. machinery) in order to save costs, meet budget funding levels, or realign available budget monies. The failure to perform needed repairs could lead to asset deterioration and ultimately asset impairment. Generally, a policy of continued deferred maintenance may result in higher costs, asset failure, and in some cases, health and safety implications.

As a Realtor, I see this all the time with properties that I'm getting ready to list. It's those list of things that "you've been meaning to get to, but never did." There are several problems with deferred maintenance.

First of all, deferred maintenance can end up costing you more money. Example, You've been "meaning to" clean the leaves out of the gutter. But each time it rains, and we've had a lot of rain lately, you watch from you window as the water spills over the gutters because the gutters are clogged with leaves. What seems like an innocent thing that you'll eventually get around to ends up being more expensive than you had expected. Now the eaves of your house are suffering from dry rot because of the water over flowing on to the eaves. Over time, that causes the wood to rot and become unstable. Not only it is unsightly, it's not safe. So instead of simply cleaning out your gutters, now you have to replace sections of your eaves.

Secondly, by deferring maintenance of your property, you don't get to enjoy the benefits of the repair. I've listed so many "I've been meaning to do that" homes where, for example, your kitchen vinyl floor is ripped and outdated. "Let's put in a beautiful new tile floor", you say. It looks outstanding! "Why didn't we do this before?" I hear it all the time. You don't get much of a chance to enjoy it. You say it wasn't in the budget? Well in order to sell your house, it has to be in the budget now.

Thirdly, if you go into a contract on your house to sell, 9 times out of 10, the Buyer will hire a professional home inspector to inspect your property - from the attic to the basement - everything from electrical, plumbing, structural, roof, etc. (not cosmetic). Now the Buyer is requesting a long list of repairs to be made and they want you to hire a licensed plumber or a licensed electrician to make some of those repairs. Cha-ching! $$$$$ That gets very expensive. Why not take care of them before this happens. Maybe you will have to hire a plumber, etc. or maybe you could have fixed them yourself if you're a handy person. Also, by having a long list of repairs, the Buyers start to become uncomfortable with the idea of buying your home because it would appear you haven't taken care of it.

Don't put off for tomorrow what can be done today. Something as easy as cleaning out the bathroom fan can cause your fan to run more efficiently and keep the fan from burning out....not to mention it looks so much better and more sanitary! Start making your list today. Walk your property and write down the things that "you've been meaning to get to" and get started. Check them off one by one. Not only will YOU feel better, but when it's time to sell your house, you'll be ready!

Maintenance Tip of The Day

It's hard to believe, but winter will soon be upon us! Simple steps can make the winter more tolerable for your house:

1. Clean the gutters and make sure the downspouts are clear and free flowing. This will help prevent ice dams that allow water to back up under the shingles.
2. Check all of your storm windows and repair the damaged one. Make sure they close properly.
3. Check the interior windows to make sure they seal and glaze or caulk them.
4. Trim the limbs that are hanging over the roof; when they are heavy with snow and ice tree limbs dragging on the roof will damage the shingles.
5. Check your walk ways to make sure they are free of trip hazards. It will make them easier to keep clean.
6. Mow the grass and trim, be sure and remove volunteer trees growing in the foundation.
7. Clean around the outside condenser unit.
8. Check the exterior of the house for any loose or chipping paint and scape and paint them.

Simple maintenance can and will save you money and time in the future. And as you well know, whether it's your personal home or rental property, this is a major and important investment!

Landmark Group is available to help you, Please give us a call, e-mail, text or fax!

7 Gardening Mistakes to Avoid

Whether you're improving curb appeal to sell your house; you're planting a garden in your new home, or you're just an avid gardener, HouseLogic.com published a list of 7 Common Gardening Mistaking to Avoid that are vital for any garden lover to read. Evade wasting your time and money by paying special attention to these factors:

Mistake 1 - Too many changes, too soon
The excitement of buying a new home, plus a stretch of warm spring weather, often creates a passion for yard work. But don’t just do something, stand there!
- Try this instead: Live with your land for a year. Observe sunlight, pH of the soil, grass activity, etc. to get a better idea of what type of land you'll be dealing with.

Mistake 2 - Too much togetherness
Trees and shrubs that look properly spaced when you plant will crowd each other and compete for water, sun, and nutrients a few years down the road.
- Try this instead: Before digging, read spacing instructions. Give trees plenty of space and stagger bushes/plants in two rows. This may look sparse, but in a few years the shrubbery will fill out.

Mistake 3 - Planting without a plan
Planting new garden beds without a long-term landscape plan is like pouring a house foundation without blueprints. Your haste results in a waste of time, money, and muscles.
- Try this instead: Draw a sketch of your yard - what's there now and what you might add later, such as a patio, shed or pool. Go online and look around landscaping sites that help you pick plants and design beds.

Mistake 4 - Neglecting the root of it all
Even the hardiest plants need a little help putting down roots in new locations. Sprinkling the foliage doesn’t nourish the roots, the plant’s nerve center. You must deliver water to the root ball below the ground, or your plants will be stunted and short-lived.
- Try this instead: Place the hose at the base of new plants and let the water trickle out for 20 to 30 minutes, twice a week (more in heat), for 4 to 12 weeks. Or snake a soaker hose through your beds, which will slowly deliver water to the roots.

Mistake 5 - Forgetting the sun
Too many gardeners pick plants based only on looks, not the growing conditions plants require and the conditions that exist.
- Try this instead: Observe the spot where you'll plant and estimate the amount of daily sun during the season. To translate that into growing language: full sun is 6 hours a day or more, partial sun/shade is 3 to 5 hours and full shade is less than three hours.

Mistake 6 - Over-watering
An automatic irrigation system is a luxury, and auto-watering can bring disease, root rot, and a premature death to plants; it also wastes water. Many gardeners set watering timers for 15 to 20 minutes each morning, which wets the surface but doesn’t soak deeply enough to nourish.
- Try this instead: Water for 40-60 minutes only two to three times a week. A deeper soak helps lawns develop deeper roots.

Mistake 7 - Budget blunders
Unfortunately, many home owners don’t include landscaping in their construction budget. They end up with a beautiful new family room, screened porch, or solarium, and a few lonely azaleas planted around the foundation as an afterthought.
- Try this instead: Allocate 10% to 20% of your construction budget to the landscape.


Make sure to check out HouseLogic.com! A great resource to "help you increase and protect the value of your home by helping you make confident decisions."

Maintenance Tip of the Day

Caulk is considered the home-improvement hero. It requires little skill and inexpensive tools. Caulk can make a project complete by filling in areas that are not fitted well. Consider caulk around all of your windows and doors. This will seal out drafts as well as prevent the entrance of unwanted pests, therefore becoming an energy saving device.

The secret to caulking success is choosing the right caulk for the job. Don’t be drawn in by the promises made by the manufactures - just read the labels and you will do well. When caulking sinks and bathtubs, use mildew resistant silicon based caulking. If you are caulking around doors and windows that you are planning on painting, make sure the label reads "paintable".

Caulk is non-toxic, if you get it on you it will come off. Caulk comes off with soap and water. You can smooth it by simply wetting your finger and running it along the area that you have caulked.

A big mistake is cutting the hole in the end of the tube too large and too much comes out at a time. You can also speed up or slow down to control the flow of the caulk. Make the hole in the end of the tube small, you can always enlarge it by cutting more off the tube. When cutting the tip of the tube it needs to be at a 45 degree angle for the best results. Most tubes of caulk will need the seal punctured after you cut off the tip of the tube.

Caulk guns can be purchased for around $5.00; if the job is small you can purchase the caulk in a squeezable tube that is disposable. A very inexpensive and cost-efficient project! And after just a few attempts you will see great results, happy caulking. The results pay great dividends.

Landmark Group's Maintanence Advantage

In the last few years the world, the economy and companies have undergone significant changes. The world has turned global and competition is everywhere; these new challenges have led to deep transformations in companies, affecting maintenance as well.

As a result of this transformation, maintenance has come to a position of enhanced and well-deserved importance due to its relation to the overall company’s competitiveness. I think nobody would argue the significance that the two key factors of Quality and Productivity have on a companies’ competitiveness.

However, in order to ensure this competitive advantage on a long-term basis, there is need of a third key factor: Reliability! If we are not reliable, we will not be able to sustain our achievements on a day-to-day basis or meet our goals and potential let alone keep our clients happy. Placing good employees is at the center of this issue, and because of this I would present the concept that Quality is not in the things people do, but in the people that do things.
Today’s maintenance man must be well versed in all trades and able to quickly adapt and learn new concepts and ways of enhancing their skill sets to meet the ever changing nature of service calls and the demands of clients as well as management.

Landmark Group is currently and always accepting applications for Quality people to add to our Maintenance Team . If you feel you are up the challenge , or know someone who is please come in to our office located at 2702 Douglas St. Omaha , Ne and apply in person. You may also see our ads on the Nebraska Workforce Development page or on Craigslist.

Wanted: Maintenance Person!

Landmark Group is looking to hire a maintenance person as a Turnover Technician. This person should:

• Have their own equipment/tools to complete the assigned projects
• Have your own reliable vehicle to carry the equipment and supplies needed to complete the projects assigned
• Be able to handle cleaning, painting, carpeting, drywall install, repair and simple repairs (plumbing, electrical) to turn a house from used to rent ready
• Be able to put in walls and windows to make rooms
• Be able to communicate with supervisors, owners, city inspectors, suppliers and follow up
• Be self directed to overview a property and lay out a plan for cleaning and repairs both inside and outside
• Be conscious of the owner’s bill as well as the service they are providing to the tenant
• Supervise self and assistants if required
• Know they will be part of the on-call maintenance rotation
• Complete the tasks in a speedy and efficient manner
• Be conscious of the owner’s bill as well as the service they are providing to the tenant
• Complete any other duties assigned by management

If interested please fill out application at 2702 Douglas Street or contact Dena at 402-208-2349.

Running Furnace and Air Conditioner System Check

Given this time of year we are so bombarded with phone calls about the AC not working. In October and November will be the same way when people are turning the furnace on for the first time. Starting the end of last week we were at least a couple days out for a technician to be dispatched out.

At that time on through Tuesday it was too close to 100 to be waiting on a service call, and you really don’t want to be towards the end of the long list. In order to not get caught in a bind, just check the system at the beginning or April and October. By doing this, you can give us enough time to get the system checked and fixed before it gets too hot.

During this check it’s a great time to change the furnace filter. The first thing most of the service tech’s check is the furnace filter, if it hasn’t been changed in a while the air is being restricted and the system shuts down. Just in case you are stuck without AC, be prepared, get fans, open windows, and get to the pool.

Digital Pictures Are Too Big

Managing a computer system, I have to keep an eye on hard drive utilization. A lot of space on our hard drive was being consumed by pictures. New cameras have a high megapixel count and can make a high quality print in a large size, but they take up a lot of disk space to store. They also take up a lot of space when you try to email them. Most email systems will not send attachments over 5 Mb, and a picture from a 12MP camera is already that size.

For an explanation of MP and print quality see this article from Hewlett Packard: Is there an easy way to make pictures smaller? The answer is yes, there are many programs available which will resize the picture to make it fit in emails or take up less storage. A program I found and use here at Landmark Group is called "Shrink-O-Matic" which can do one picture or batches of pictures.

When we take pictures of houses we save the pictures, then run them through Shrink-O-Matic to reduce the size by 70% or more. If needed we can still get decent quality prints and we save disk space. There are many other similar programs so I suggest you look around if you have ever found this to be a problem. If you would like to use Shrink-O-Matic, click here to go to thier website and download it.

Maintenance Tip of Day

Heating and Air Conditioning repair bills are expensive, master of the obvious, right? Here are some simple steps that will improve air flow and reduce some of those costs.


Dirt is the greatest enemy of your air handling equipment. One of the most cost effective ways to avoid the dirt getting into the equipment is a filter. These are inexpensive and are available in several places. In rental properties it is the tenant's responsibility to replace the filter, but in the real world this seldom is the case. Running the units without proper filters causes dirt build up in the A Coil inside the furnace and reduces air flow and can cause the air conditioning unit to freeze up. Then you have to wait for the thawing out of the unit before service can be performed. Another point of running the unit without a filter is dirt builds up on the blower motor. This puts a burden on the bearings and shortens the life of the motor, you guessed it, another service call that could have been avoided.

How can you get someone to check and change the filter? Great question. It needs to be an enforceable point on their lease. Annual inspections of the properties should inspect and change this. We are not thinking about heat when it is 90 degrees outside, but a clean filter means better output, which means less work on the furnace for the same temperature. We like to use the term "think outside the box" - when it comes to air conditioning, think outside the house. The outside condenser unit needs to be hosed out with water to remove excess dirt, also the weeds, tall grass and anything else should be removed from around the unit. This also must have a good air flow to maintain it's optimum capacity.

Good preventive maintenance pays in the long run, and the initial investment reduces regular and emergency calls. Enjoy your summer!

Omaha Copper Theft

I say it again…..

It never fails to amaze me. I was meeting with a MUD technician the other day to replace a $235 water meter that had been stolen while the unit was vacant.

Scrap value $5 … Cost to repair and replace… Enough to make homeowners shoot thieves caught in the act.

The MUD tech was telling me about a gas leak he responded to the other day called in by a home owner, once on sight the tech found no gas leak at that location but followed his detector to a house down the street that had recently gone vacant, the gas was coming out of the vacant house in levels that demanded he cordon off the area and shut down the gas main to the block. Copper thieves had broken in over the weekend and mistakenly cut a gas line then left it open to fill the house for the next few days, had there been any spark or the furnace kicked on BOOM ..!!! Enough gas had built up to level that house and the two neighboring houses he told me.

With all of the increased publicity and talk about copper theft in Omaha, you would think the city would take some action right.? Their reluctance to change Omaha plumbing codes to allow for PEX or (Cross-Linked Polyethylene) piping systems shows the influence of Omaha’s Local labor unions as they also benefit greatly from the increase in work related to all this copper theft and would directly stand to loose Millions of dollars in work if this code was changed to allow for PEX.

Landmark Group prefers the prefers the PEX systems because they help eliminate copper theft of plumbing materials and since it takes less labor to install it is much easier for landlords to do themselves thus reducing repair cost since thieves wont take it and you only have to re plumb a house 1 time instead of every time it is broken into. I guess you could look at it another way tho..?

Perhaps it is the Planning Departments attempt to stimulate the economy by requiring new permit fees, Thousands of dollars which need to be paid prior to repairs , or by helping plumbers retain their jobs and Millions of dollars in repair work for our local plumbing and pipe fitting unions?

Rent Ready

Owner, Maintenance and tenant all have a slightly different idea of what a property should look like when it is available for rent. You can't please everyone, but if you try to please the majority you will have success as an owner or property manager. There are tons of TV shows, and books on the subject. However here is a quick example of what I think rent ready means.

Quick example... When we stop at your favorite hotel for the night what type of condition do you expect the property to be in? Why is this your favorite hotel? The answer is most likely that its convenient to everything, it is priced right, and it is in great condition. Is everything brand new? No, it is just very well maintained and replaced if it needs to be. Now when you get to the hotel do you expect the key to work easily, are the carpets clean and odor free, are the walls freshly painted, with no scuff marks. Do all the lights work? Does the heating or A/C work as expected? Is the bathroom well maintained and clean. If you have an issue does the maintenance staff resolve ASAP? This is what every tenant expects when renting a house or apartment. If the price is right and the condition meets the expectations of the possible tenant, you will have a great tenant and low vacancy rate, and you might find a tenant that will treat your property like they own it! Most tenants want the same thing we expect when staying in our favorite hotel. Tenants don't expect everything to be NEW, just working and well maintained.