“Our Profit is May 2007

Your Success”
MUST-SEE EVENTS!
National Trainers!

June 18
Steven Cox
“High Performance
Mary Lou “GO GIRL” Gurski Leasing”
44 Central Iowa Apartment Alliance members en-
joyed an uplifting and energetic seminar after our Upcoming Events
April 25th General Membership meeting at the Shera-
ton Hotel in West Des Moines. Mary Lou Gusrki
shared her experiences beginning with the start of her 5/16 11:30
career as a Leasing Consultant after being an English General Membership
teacher for years in West Virginia. Mary Lou shared Meeting
her ideas and insight on being an effective leader and
the importance of team building for the Multi-family. Crave - West Glen
Her stories, anecdotes, and “You Go Girl” Style were
lots of fun and motivating for our group.
5/17 4:00
Vendors Council
Other Meeting Highlights:
Location TBD
John McDermott, General Counsel for the National Apart-
ment Association came out from Washington D.C. to wel-
come the newly-formed CIAA as the only NAA affiliate 6/8
in Iowa. He also awarded CAM pins to the graduates of 1st Annual CIAA Golf
the 2006 CAM class that were present. Outing
Pictured from left: Melissa Johnson, CIAA President, Blank Park
John McDermott, NAA General Counsel, Mary Spain,
CIAA Treasurer and Education Chair, and Rick Koontz,
CIAA Vice President and Legislative Chair. 6/18

Rick Koontz and member Jim Conlin gave the members up-to-the-minute progress on the tax relief National Speaker
legislation we have been working tirelessly on to get passed this session. Rick also demonstrated the Steven Cox
new website and showed members how they could link to their Representatives’ email address and
contact information. Go to www.ciaahq.org and see the new developments!

Inside:

CIAA Board of Directors •

•
Legislative News
CIAA on the Web
• Committee Members
PRESIDENT TREASURER • Golf Outing
Melissa Johnson, Olde English Village Mary Spain, Apartment Finder • Letter from the Presi-
mjohnson@petersoncompanies.com mspain@apartmentfinder.com dent
VICE PRESIDENT • May 16th Meeting Reg-
VENDOR COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS
Rick Koontz, Signature Place istration
Tom Newton, Gorman Roofing
signaturerick@gmail.com tomn@gormanroofingservices.com • Vendor Members and
SECRETARY Spotlight
Jennifer O’Brien Konior, Westchester Square Rocky Sposato, Tub Wrx • Promotions and Hires
jokonior@tabproperties.com tubwrx@aol.com • New Members

After countless phone calls, emails,
and contacts, and countless hours of
lobbying, the Iowa Legislature ended
it’s session in the early morning
hours of April 29th without passing a
single initiate to deal with the inequi-
ties in the commercial tax program.
11th hour attempts to add amend-
ments to pending legislation were
met with negativity. In the end, both
houses blamed the other for trying to
pass “impossible” legislation. No
attempt to rectify the commercial tax
Legislative News
issue, especially the reclassification of The session ended without making any
apartments form commercial to resi- changes in the security deposit laws.
dential, other than discussions will take Also, attempts to create lead-free hous-
place in the 2008 session. They hope ing registries and creating fines relat-
to construct legislation that can be in- ing to lead disclosures failed as well.
troduced in 2009. These issues will likely be brought up
A strong grassroots effort is needed in next year, so we all need to be pre-
the rental community in order to send a pared to support legislation that will be
message to these legislators who tend good for owners and managers in the
to push renters aside because renters future.
traditionally vote at a lower percentage
than homeowners. We will begin con- Rick Koontz
centrating on the 2008 elections. Legislative Chair

CIAA on the Web

To be a guest blogger, please Website: The occupancy survey
submit your article in MS www.ciaahq.org conducted at the April
Word or PDF format to Email: 25th meeting showed
info@ciaahq.org. Share you info@ciaahq.org an average 90%
ideas and experiences with Blog occupancy out of
your industry peers! 6,610 units reporting
http://blog.ciaahq.org

Do you have a position to fill? Were you recently promoted? Have you changed companies?
Have a new employee? Let us know and we’ll put the announcements in our next newsletter!

New Committee Members

Jennifer O’Brien Konior of Tab Properties is the new Secretary on the CIAA Board of Directors and
has joined the Legislative Committee.
Deb Lanpher of R & Realty is the new Public Relations Committee Chairperson.
Michelle Ogden of Timberland Partners is the new Trade Show Committee Chairperson
Lori Young of R & R Realty and Heather Benton of Walters Companies have joined the Education
Committee.
THANKS to all volunteers! We wouldn’t exist without your help!

Page 2 Email: info@ciaahq.org

 Letter From the President
Hello Friends:
Things are getting busy again, both on-site and within the Central Iowa Apartment Alliance. I was glad to see so many of you at
our membership meeting and Mary Lou Gurski’s seminar this last month. Whether you are new to the industry (or just wish you were), she
gave us some wonderful information and funny insights about teamwork to take back to our properties.
I was also happy to see some of our 2006 CAM designates receive their much-awaited recognition. As part of the class, it was a
lot of work and I was proud to receive my CAM pin, particularly since we had John McDermott here from NAA to present those to us. I
look forward to us presenting our current CAM class with their pins and certificates when their coursework is done.
If you missed Mary Lou, or just want to stay on top of your game, we hope you will register for Stephen Cox, the “Leasing
Coach” on June 18th. He has some pretty impressive credentials and we are lucky to be able to bring him to Iowa for us. If you have new
leasers, this is the class they really need to attend.
We also have the golf tournament coming up June 8th at Blank Golf Course. We had so much fun last year and are looking for-
ward to a great turnout again—get your teams ready! Don’t worry if you aren’t a real golfer—neither am I, but it was great to get out for
the afternoon and network. Call Rocky to get registered or for more information.
Finally, I want to thank everyone for their help in growing our organization. I was happy to take some commitments from our
industry leaders to be Chairpersons and committee members at our last meeting. We still need all of your involvement to make it a great
Alliance, so please consider volunteering. It’s your Alliance, which we can’t have without YOU!
Thanks again for your support of your CIAA. As always, any questions, please let me know. Happy Leasing!

Melissa Johnson, CAM, ARM ®

Olde English Village Apartments
President, Central Iowa Apartment Alliance

Register for May 16th Meeting!

The May General Membership meeting will be held at Crave at West Glen Town Center in West Des
Moines at 11:30. This will be a self-pay lunch meeting. Cost of lunch is $11.75 and includes bever-
age, tax, and gratuity.
Bill Carlson of Carlson McClure will discuss the annual apartment survey. Use this form to register.
Fax to (515) 327-9104.
Company Phone

Name Name

Name Name
Lunch Items:
• Strawberry Walnut Dinner Salad w/ grilled chicken breast, strawberries, mozzarella, & candied walnuts Qty.______
• 3/4 Lb. Cheddar Bacon Burger with Fries Qty.
• Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken Qty.
• Chicken Pagiga Sandwich-grilled breast strips, fresh basil, & mozzarella on a sourdough hoagie Qty._______

Website: www.ciaahq.org Page 3

 CIAA Vendor Members

A+ Lawn and Landscaping Qwest Vendor Members’ websites and contacts

Apartment Finder Sherwin Williams are linked through our website!

Cort/Instant Furniture Rental State Farm - Glenn Waterhouse

To Become A Vendor Member contact
Dewitt Painting Stitzell Electric Tom Newton 515-883-0838
Furniture Options Sudzy’s Carpet Cleaning tomn@gormanroofingservices.com
Gorman Roofing Services Tenant Data
Hawkeye Legal Services Transworld Systems Your vendor members make many CIAA
Jetz Service Co. Tub Wrx events possible. Please support them!

Vendor Spotlight - Tenant Data

Tenant Data was founded in 1992 by property managers & landlords who wanted a legal way to maintain a database list of problem tenants
to share with each other.
Tenant Data has become a powerful tool for rental managers who want to keep bad tenants away and accept good ones quickly. We are
now growing our database throughout the state – nearly 300 subscribers are currently using our services in Iowa.
Please contact John Benson at (800) 228-1837 or jbenson@tenantdata.com to sign up today!

Promotions, Positions and Postings

Fatima Taylor has been hired as a Leasing
Agent at Timberland Pointe.
Billy Quick has been promoted from Porter
to Maintenance Tech at Timberland Part-
ners.
Jill Kline is the new Assistant Manager at
Country Club Village.
Debbie Primrose has been hired as an
Administrative Assistant at Country Club
Village.
Audrey VanderMolen has been promoted
from Leasing Consultant at Oakland Pointe
ro Manager at Hubbell Tower with PPM.
Bonnie Calkins is the new manager at
Village at Westchester with TAB
Properties.
HELP WANTED
Leasing Consultant. Full time will include
weekends. Hourly plus commission. Fax
or email resume to (515) 226-1602;
alamson@csmcorp.net.
Porter/Maintenance position is available
with Timberland Partners. Send resume to
Bill Armstrong at
barmstrong@timberlandpartners.com

Welcome New Members!

PROPERTIES Washington Manor VENDORS
Mansions at Hemingway Westchester Square Sudzy’s Carpet Cleaning
Sherwood Glen West Glen Transworld Systems
Village at Westchester Walters Companies To be added/deleted from mailing
list email novacantms@msn.com

Page 4
 CENTRAL IOWA APARTMENT ALLIANCE
presents
National Leasing Trainer

“Our Profit is Your Success!”

Stephen Cox

“HIGH PERFORMANCE LEASING”

Stephen Cox began his career in property management over 14 years ago as a leasing consultant. He
soon found himself gaining recognition and winning awards for top performance and eventually earn-
ing the position of National Vice President of Marketing and Training working for some of the nations
most acclaimed and recognized companies.
In his field, Stephen is considered the foremost expert in persuasion and negotiation techniques with an
emphasis on Nuero-Linguistic Programming. He has a strong commitment to providing outstanding
multifamily training and has served on the education sub-committee for the development of the 2005
National Apartment Leasing Program (NALP) with NAA. He is a both locally and nationally favorite
speaker for many associations and organizations.
Stephen has a relaxed yet highly spirited philosophical approach to property management sales training
which is both insightful and entertaining. With his combined experience in sales and theatrical arts,
Stephen wows his audience with incredible enthusiasm and excitement! He is considered among his
peers to be the ultimate salesman.
You’ll want your Visit Stephen’s website at www.leasingcoach.com.
entire staff to Date: June 18, 2007
attend this Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
At: Funny Bone, West Glen Town Center, West Des Moines
dynamic Cost: MEMBERS: $35.00 in advance, $45.00 at the door
Seminar! NON-MEMBERS: $50.00 in advance, $60.00 at the door

Fax your reservations to Mary Spain at (515) 327-9104 or Melissa Johnson at (515) 223-1527
Mail advance payment to: CIAA, 3775 EP True Pkwy. Suite 263, West Des Moines, IA 50265
Registration Form:
Name: Name:
Name: Name:
Company Name:
Address: City: Zip
Phone: Fax: Email:
 1st Annual
Golf Outing
DATE: Friday June 8, 2007
WHERE: Blank Golf Course
L E- IN -ONE TIME: 1:00 p.m. Shotgun Start
HO FORMAT: 9 Hole – 4 Person Best Shot
PRIZES COST: $55.00/person (includes green fee, cart, dinner, prizes)

Sign up today for the 2007 Central Iowa Apartment Association Golf
Tournament to be held at A.H. Blank Golf Course! This event will be a
9 Hole 4 person Best Shot.. Dinner and awards will follow your golf
round! Many prizes will be awarded. Hole-in-One prizes include a new
car and an all expense paid trip!

* NEW CAR* FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

ROCKY SPOSATO @ 202-9858 OR
*ALL EXPENSE TOM NEWTON @ 883-0838
PAID TRIP*

Mail registration and payment to: CIAA, 3775 E.P. True Parkway, Suite 263
Registrations must be West Des Moines, IA 50265
received no later than
June 5th Name Phone

Name Phone

Name Phone

Name Phone

Method of Payment Check Cash