If you are a homeowner managing your own properties, online courses can be very beneficial if that type of learning works for you. If you like learning from written material, onlineed.com is the best site we have encountered for taking online classes pertaining to the State of Oregon. We have taken classes via other providers that were pretty disappointing both because of the design of the online class and the content. OnlineEd isn’t perfect, but it is the best we have come across.
While some aspects of property management law don’t apply to owners (some specifically apply to duties a manager has to perform for an owner) all of the same landlord/tenant laws apply to you, and those change on a regular basis. Additionally, if you decide to use a property manager, you can be better informed about what property managers are required to do so you can be sure you are getting an appropriate level of service.
If you are interested in in-person education, for the Portland area there are two primary avenues you can pursue:
MultiFamily NW – This is a very professional, large organization with a great website (http://www.multifamilynw.org/) and excellent in-person educational opportunities at all price ranges and levels of time commitment. They specialize in working with owners/managers of multi-family units (apartments and plexes) but most of the information applies to single family properties as well. We are a member, so we are more familiar with what this organization offers.
Rental Housing Association of Greater Portland – This is a slightly less corporate organization that caters to rental owners on a smaller scale. They also have a website: http://www.rhagp.org/ We are not a member of this organization, so we are less personally familiar with their specific offerings, but they have a large membership base and are considered a reputable organization.
With both of these organizations, they typically have a member price for classes, and a non-member price in case you don’t want to join the organization. As an owner who probably takes less classes than a professional property manager, you might find that you save money in the long run by just paying the higher non-member rate for the classes you do decide to take.
If you do end up deciding to go the onlineed.com route, be sure to use coupon code S-41767-AF to get a nice discount.
If you are a contractor who needs continuing education, we also have a coupon code for PACE PDH. At pacepdh.com use discount code FRIEND and referral code PACE44785.
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