South Coast Apartment Association To Honor 10 Years of Excellence in Rental Housing

It started 10 years ago as a way to honor the best rental housing communities and property management professionals in Southern California.

On April 22, the South Coast Apartment Association’s annual Greater Excellence in Management and Maintenance (GEMM) awards will celebrate “A Decade of Excellence” at the Hilton Anaheim.

“We’ve witnessed an incredible evolution to what I would call the ‘professionalization’ of the local rental-housing industry,” said Scott Monroe, president of SCAA’s board of directors. “In some cases, rental communities rival luxury resorts in terms of the look, amenities and response to customers’ needs. And even the management of smaller and older projects are light years ahead of where they were a decade ago.”

More than 1,200 industry’s leaders are expected to attend. More than 40 prizes are awarded in categories ranging from Apartment Community of the Year to Porter/Housekeeper of the Year.

“The GEMM awards have been an important tool to help educate and encourage industry best practices,” said Judith A. Legan, SCAA executive vice president. “Judging by some of the amazing accomplishments of those we honor, Southern California is blessed to have so many outstanding communities staffed by world-class real estate professionals.”

Serving as committee chairs for the 2010 GEMM Awards:

Event Chairs – Annie R. McClinton, Vice President, Training and Development, Western National Group & Dan Lawler, Vice President, PRO-AM, Inc.

Blitzing Chairs – Tony Lopez, Fashion Furniture Rental & Victoria Fleetwood, Apartments.com.

Finance/Sponsorship Chair – Melanie Stratton, Western National Contractors with Joe Rosenblum, Arnel, assisting.

Production Chairs – Susie Lein, Esq., Law Offices of Kimball, Tirey and St. John & Hal Lefevre, ServPro of Irvine

Décor/Facilities Chairs – Gabe Castaneda, Move.com & Melissa Nash, JFP Painting

Registration Chairs – Bob Heer, To’ n Mo’ Towing & Linda Brown, Shea Apartment Communities.

Judging/Awards Chair - Teri Nelson, Brook Furniture Rental & Vice Chair Carol Shaw of Temps Plus.

Marketing Chairs - Kristen Mete Kingi, Western National Property Management & Robert Gasteiger, Apartment Finder.

The GEMM awards are given in 40 categories to rental properties as well as to management, leasing and maintenance staffs and industry vendors. Organizations must be SCAA members to be nominated for a GEMM award, and a panel of impartial, independent judges from within the apartment industry as well as community leaders will evaluate the nominations and select the winners. The entries will be judged on accomplishments achieved between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2009.

Support for GEMM Awards program is obtained through sponsorships at several different levels received from industry vendors and property management companies.

The South Coast Apartment Association is the California Apartment Association Chapter representing rental housing owners and managers throughout Orange and Southern Los Angeles counties. Its membership owns and operates more than 95,000 rental homed, including many in the Newport-Mesa area. For more information about the SCAA, or to purchase GEMM tickets, please call (949) 955-3695.