“If you pick up a dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”                                                  - Mark Twain

OWNERS NEWSLETTER – JULY 2007

WEATHER – Relentless rains have caused major flooding throughout Texas and the wet weather hasn’t let up much in the last month. GOV. Rick Perry declared 37 counties, including Bell County, to be disaster areas. President Bush declared Coryell and Lampasas Counties as major disaster areas. Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir now sits at 34 feet above normal, which is just a few feet short of the uncontrolled spillway. The last time water flowed over the spillway was in 1992. In one week recently, we received over 34 inches of rainfall, which is our average annual rainfall. The ground here is saturated and each time it rains, the water has nowhere to go. Flash flood warnings have been issued almost daily. The good news is that relatively few of the properties we manage have experienced any flooding or water penetration. None of the properties we manage in Copperas Cove were damaged when a tornado touched down during the week of June 11^th.  

CRIME – In 2006, Killeen reported 6,258 major crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, theft, and motor vehicle theft. The city’s crime rate last year represents a 6% decrease from 2005. While the decrease in crime is good news, criminal activity in the Ft. Hood area is still high, and does impact property owners. Properties in areas of high crime are often difficult to rent and many owners find themselves absorbing the costs of repairing vandalism, extended vacancies, lower property values, etc. 

1^ST CAV TO RETURN EARLY – 1^st Cavalry Division officials have stated that most of the division’s soldiers are set to return from Iraq near Christmas. This is great news and is contrary to reports that the soldiers, whose deployments had been extended an additional three months, would be returning in March 2008.  

JUNE TRAFFIC – Last month was a very busy month for us. We leased nearly fifty properties, thirty-two of which were single-family homes, and sixteen were apartments. Of the seventy-three applications to rent that we received, only twenty-five were denied due to bad credit, insufficient income, or poor rental references. We ended the month with a 96% occupancy rate overall. We are presently 99% occupied in each property category, which includes single-family homes, apartments, town houses, and duplexes. The tightening of the rental market has allowed us to increase the rents on many properties as they have become available or as existing renters’ leases have come up for renewal.

David Gerke

CO-Owner/Broker