Te Huur, or Te Koop - That is the question

A few more words about Belgium.  Although I typically post only about property management, as I traveled through Belgium I saw many for rent and for sale signs, I thought they would make an OK blog post - when in Belgium, you might say...

Real estate signs in Belgium always seem to be attached to the building itself, and almost always perpendicular to the building, jutting out usually at 2nd floor level.  That in itself was interesting to me as an American.  In suburban Texas we take for granted the excess of space we have to plant signs.  In Belgium, especially in urban areas, that space simply does not exist in most cities.  So they must be installed on the building, above the street level so as not to conflict with the signs of the business itself, up and out of pedestrian traffic also.

Then there's the language on the signs. Throughout the country, the signs were Te Koop, which means for sale, or Te Huur, which means for rent. I think the meaning of Te Huur is probably "To Hire."  The language for both is Dutch, which is spoken by a lot of people in Belgium.  The thing is, French is spoken by a lot of other people in Belgium.
 

For a country as small as Belgium, it was surprising to me how many people spoke Dutch and not French, or French and not Dutch, depending on where they live.  By some secret handshake, however, sometime in the past, the decision got made that even in French speaking areas, real estate signs would speak Dutch.

So I am going along, seeing real estate signs, and finding them interesting (yes, I know how sad that sounds), until one day I saw a JLL sign. Then it became: "Well if JLL is here, where  are the Coldwell Banker Commercial signs?"  Competition reigns supreme, and hard as I looked, I hate to admit that I did not see one of my own company's signs.  I know CBC is in Europe, but what about Belgium?  Do I need to go there and do some business development, take one for the team? pick up some listings?  If I must...

Happy Fourth of July 2015!

CBCA DFW offices will be closed on Friday July 3, but we are always on call and will take care of your buildings as if we owned them ourselves!

Enjoy your Independence Day Holiday!

Did you know??
Thomsas Jefferson and John Adams both passed away on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after they both signed the Declaration of Independence

Carol Sosebee

An American in Belgium...and Hand Dryers

Even on vacation, I cannot stop seeing through the lens of property management.  Everywhere I went, could not help noticing hand dryers.  HAND DRYERS!!!

Ok, there's a reason.  When I was in Italy in 2011, I could not help noticing that the automatic hand dryers there were gentler on the hands, the blast of air did not deform your hands when you used them, as is universally the case in the US, and they did not sound like you're standing behind a jet engine at takeoff.  I chalked it up to the supremacy of italian design.  

Not so.  I went to Belgium in May for a very cool tour of Trappist monasteries.  Not, as you might think, because I am religious.  No, it is because my husband and I are avid Belgian Beer fans.  We joined 17 other people in paying homage to these wonderful beverages by traveling to their brewing locations and enjoying them as close as possible to the source.  And as we traveled the country, I kept noticing the hand dryers.

First, there was the Dyson V dryer. The first time I encountered this dryer, I had no idea how to use it, and pretty much just walked away with wet hands. Later I saw someone else wave their hands in front of it, and viola, two blades of air rushed from the sides of the V, and hands became dry as if by magic.









Then there was the Eco Dryer.  This one had lots of air holes inside, so that your hands were dried with gentle air pressure as you passed your hands up and down.  I liked this one a lot, I thought the multi-point air drying was a great idea. Of all I saw, this one did the job without the ear splitting, hand deforming downward single point jet of air I usually see here.


And finally, my least favorite, and most like whatI see in the Good Ole USA - the downward single point of air dryer.  This is the European version of the Xelerator jet dryer in the US.  It is, however, easier on the hands, and not so loud.

As I contemplated the use of hand dryers at Trappist breweries in Belgium (Yes, I know how strange that sounds), it occurred to me that I don't even see that many hand dryers in office buildings in the U.S., at least in the DFW area.  Why is that, I wonder?  Could it be because sub-consciously we all have the same reaction to the use of uncomfortable hand dryers we typically find in the US?

It inspires me to source one of those kinder, gentler hand dryer versions to install in the bathrooms of the buildings we manage.  Stay Tuned...I'll let you know how that turns out.      

Who Knew...? Water can be "Smart"

I have been watching the latest news from California, their water crisis is scary looking.  By happenstance I turn my attention to my own city installing "smart meters" everywhere.  I read in the Dallas paper about Wichita Falls contemplating a recycling effort of sewage water into drinking water.  Hmmm. what does it all mean?  What I'm afraid it means is that water is a more scarce resource than the price we pay really reflects.

One of our landscaping providers has been telling us for awhile about a new "Smart Controller" he can install that will, properly configured and managed, keep irrigation water use to the absolute minimum required to get the job done and still have the pleasing curb appeal at our properties our tenants and their guests expect.  Apparently in our case this can be almost half our current irrigation water use.  Yikes!

So this week that landscaper had their reps come in, buy us lunch, and explain how their system works.  We are a tough audience.

It's a pretty cool deal.  Think about all the irrigation controllers in office buildings that have to be accessed on-site.  With this system you access and manage the controller through a web interface, turn the system completely off when there's rain headed our way, fine tune the individual zones, and get real time data on how much water you are using.

The question is, how much does it cost, how long is the payback, and what is the value proposition to our owner clients to induce them to invest quite a bit to replace a regular controller that is not currently broken.  Like I said, we are a tough audience.  We do like the idea though, and think we know where we can try it out.  I'll keep you posted.

Roofing is the theme...and the meme

One of our strategies for getting preventive maintenance done is to come up with monthly "Themes" for the kind of routine maintenance that is often so hard to work into the schedule.

This month's preventive maintenance theme is roofing.  We partner with a company who does annual video inspections.  Video is great for those of us get a bit, shall we say, woozy, on rooftops.  Our vendor walks the roof with a video camera and uploads that video, along with their report and recommendations, so we can log in and compare this year to last year's inspection.

Our guys, in the meantime, focus on the things they can stay up with, like keeping the roof deck and drains free of debris, and checking for ponding after a rain.

Personally, I do get a little lost in the terminology. Bitumen, coping, scuppers, parapets, counterflashing...it does make my head swim, sort of like I feel when climbing up that ladder to the roof.

LEaDing the way on lighting efficiency

In our weekly property management team huddles, we have a periodic forum for hearing from a vendor with a new idea, new approach, new way to add value.  We want to hear from them, because everything we do is about adding value.  Property value.  For us it's not just adding value in the abstract, it's about adding real value to a real property.

So that's why we scheduled a visit from a local electrical contractor last week who wanted to tell us about how they can retrofit lighting fixtures with LED's.  That may sound simple, you can buy screw in LED's at Home Depot, right?  Right.  Think about this though:  what is the predominant fixture in an office building?  It is not a screw in bulb, it's a fluorescent tube.  And in many office buildings the predominant lighting is a T-12 fluorescent fixture, which is now obsolete, and those bulbs have officially gone the way of the dinosaur.  They are no longer being made, and are becoming scarce. So, think again about how nice it would be if you could retrofit that obsolete tube with LED and a minimum of fuss and muss?

That's what these guys are offering, and we are interested.  We are very interested.  We may just LEaD the way!

Can we talk...about disaster readiness?

As disasters go, this week's crash of a Germanwings jet by the co-pilot is so high on the OMG list that maybe I should not even talk about it.  I find it impossible not to though, because as Property Managers, we are ALWAYS trying to think about how to prepare for things happening we can't control, but must respond to.  

Our hearts and prayers go earnestly out for all the families of those who lost their lives Tuesday.  

The very next thought, and again, we cannot help ourselves, is:  What are our vulnerabilities?  How can we prepare for the unthinkable to happen?  

My team talks disaster preparedness through regularly at our weekly huddles, we play what if games, and do our best to come up with the best plan we can.  We then communicate it to tenants, and then we practice it.

Since that's where my head is at this week, I dug out this article from  Building Operating Management magazine, on disaster preparedness.  I hope it helps you if your mind wanders down the worst case scenario path like mine does.  It always helps me to shift from OMG to What Can I Do???

http://www.facilitiesnet.com/emergencypreparedness/article/Disaster-Response-Planning-Tips-from-Preparedness-and-Remediation-Pros--15750