REstart Program Bringing Families Home Again – Giving a New Start in Life through Real Estate Management
October 14, 2011
Article published in The
San Diego Daily Transcript
By: Cheri Wallace
Property
Manager/Brokerage Associate with Pacific Coast Commercial, and serves as the
REstart program’s steering committee co-chair.
(click on link or read
article below)
In 1998, members of the
San Diego Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) became
concerned that spiraling housing costs combined with welfare reform would put
many families on the street.
The REstart program was
created by real estate management professionals who are using education,
training and networking to prepare disadvantaged single parents for a new start
in life through real estate. Cofounders Lauri Greenblatt Hines and Linda Lewis
developed the model of a teaching program that would allow these parents to
train and intern as apartment managers, thus providing them with free or
low-cost housing and a career. The program has expanded to include commercial
property management as well.
The program was
originally named Home Start to signify the key elements of the program — a new
home and a new start. The program was later renamed REstart to emphasize the
new start in life through real estate management. REstart is a program of the
Bobby Jo Lewis Foundation, named for Bobby Jo Lewis, who along with her mother
Alice lost her life to domestic
violence.
violence.
REstart works
collaboratively with community service organizations committed to the need of
our target groups. Once students are accepted into the program, they begin a
rigorous 10-week classroom and training program under the supervision of
certified IREM instructors. Students are trained with the IREM course on
apartment management and in additional areas
such as ethics, fair housing, business etiquette, landlord-tenant laws, self-defense and personal finance. Once students have completed classroom training and job shadowing, and passed a written test, they enter a full-time, one-month internship under the supervision of experienced property management staff. During the entire program, students experience two full months of the management cycle.
such as ethics, fair housing, business etiquette, landlord-tenant laws, self-defense and personal finance. Once students have completed classroom training and job shadowing, and passed a written test, they enter a full-time, one-month internship under the supervision of experienced property management staff. During the entire program, students experience two full months of the management cycle.
Graduates and Volunteers
of the Restart program
To date, REstart has held 15 classes and graduated 146 students. Approximately 65 percent of students complete the intense 10-week training program and roughly 65 percent of our graduates obtain employment in the real estate management industry while others go into related fields. The program is staffed and run entirely by volunteers and is supported by private
donations. Each class takes more than 2,000 volunteer hours and costs approximately $800 per student.
Through the generous
support of the IREM Foundation and IREM members, instructors, coaches,
internship host sites and industry partners, REstart is able to bring families
home again. To learn more, please visit our website at restartprogram.org.
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