Winter 2020 Newsletter 

Our Reliable Service | Your Peace of Mind

The Best Property Management in Seattle

We’re thrilled to once again be listed as one of the top property management companies in Seattle by Propertymanagement.com. This company looked at all 272 property management companies in the Seattle area and picked only 33 to be on their “Best” list. Criteria included reputation, credibility, experience and professionalism.

A Decade of Accomplishments

In 2010, Kit MacPherson started Maple Leaf Property
Management with just a laptop at her dining room table. But the other things she brought to that table—a wealth of experience, a clear vision for the company, diligence, hard work—have turned that small start-up into an amazing success story. The company now manages over 1,200 properties with 20% of our owners that live abroad, has 40 employees reaching from Snohomish to Tacoma, and covers three divisions, residential property management, commercial property management, and sales. The world is very different than it was 10 years ago, rental management laws are constantly changing, and 2020 has presented a very unique set of challenges. But, through it all Maple Leaf Management has not just survived; it has thrived. We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring!

Introducing Rob Gasca Real Estate Group

Maple Leaf Real Estate is thrilled to announce the addition of Rob Gasca Real Estate Group. This new division serves our growing number of multi-family properties and has added an entirely new field of commercial property management. Rob and his team bring decades of experience and excellence to our company and the division is expanding constantly. For all of the details, visit www.robgasca.com.

Virtual Office: The New Normal

In early-March, like offices all over the world, we scrambled to transition our physical office into a collection of virtual offices to adhere to the social distancing guidelines. Work was quickly decentralized from our location at 8809 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, to about 25 different kitchen tables and guest bedrooms as property managers and administrative staff set up their own offices at home.

Now, many months later, what we thought would be a temporary experiment has turned into a permanent success story. While we aren’t giving up our physical space entirely, its purpose will be different: the occasional face-to-face (with masks) meeting and anything that requires “hands on” work such as file maintenance, storing keys, and mail processing will still be on site. We’ve quickly discovered that we can continue to grow as a company without growing our physical footprint. We’re as productive as ever—in some ways, more so--using the many options available for virtual offices: Zoom, Docusign, etc. A company’s culture is in its people, not its office, and even though we won’t all be under the same roof as we work, we’ll still be operating under the same shared goal of providing the best property management anywhere!

Rental Trends, Fall 2020

There’s a lot in the news right now about the red-hot real estate sales market, with Seattle coming in second in the nation for highest rate of growth (behind Phoenix). But what about the rental market? That’s a different story—let’s look at some numbers.

According to Zillow, back in July 2018, only 9.1% of Seattle’s advertised rental properties were offering concessions, such as one month of free rent. Fast forward to July 2020, and 37.1% of Seattle rental properties were offering similar concessions, and, in many cases, more generous concessions such as “…sign a lease in October, no rent until 2021.” And what about that rent? Apartmentlist.com shows Seattle rental prices down 4.2% from September 2020 to October 2020, and down 12.2% from the same time last year. Outlying areas, such as Kirkland, Renton, and Lynnwood, also show a slight downward trend from last year (Olympia and Tacoma have actually increased). How about time spent on the market? We partner with a company called Showdigs that tracks the time our properties spend on the market. Since July, the average time has increased by a week. These numbers are, in a way, skewed by an over representation of apartments and condos in the samples. Single-family rental homes continue to be highly sought after.

What does all of this mean for the rental market? It’s a great time to rent! Even with the record-low interest rates, buying a house is increasingly cost prohibitive and competitive. As rental prices adjust to market influences, residents will have more options, more flexibility, and the appeal of renting versus buying will increase.

Property Management and the Pandemic: Communication is Key

In March of this year, we all found ourselves in an unimaginable situation: how do we do our jobs during a global pandemic? The rules changed almost instantly: masks, social distancing, eviction moratoriums, no rent increases, only essential repairs…the list goes on. We quickly realized that the best way to manage the situation—and everyone’s stress levels—was to communicate early and often. We immediately let our owners and tenants know what our new policies were and have been in constant contact ever since as the situation unfolds. Here are a few examples of what we’ve sent out:

Maple Leaf Property Management-Local, Independent, and Personal

Covid-19 has highlighted the need for us to support our local businesses. They don’t get us much attention as the larger “chain” companies, yet local businesses create the bulk of the nation’s jobs, nurture innovation, and directly meet their communities’ unique needs. Maple Leaf Property Management—named after the Seattle neighborhood where our office is located—takes pride in being a local, independently-owned business that gets to know every owner on a personal level. A true “boutique” experience, we carefully measure what the owner needs to deliver the best product possible: whether that owner is a multi-property owner or the “accidental investor” who is holding onto their condo until the market conditions are right for selling. Click here to learn more about Maple Leaf Property Management’s top-shelf services.
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