2023 – Spring Workshop & Tradeshow Review

This year’s Spring Workshop and Tradeshow went spectacularly! On May 13th, about 130 of your fellow RHAWA members gathered at Cedarbrook Lodge, located in SeaTac, to learn more about their industry.

We had 4 classes running simultaneously for three sessions throughout the day. It was quite a whirlwind! Thank you to everyone who came out to learn and an especially big thank you to our amazing sponsors, without whom we would never have been able to pull this off.

We kicked off the morning with a legislative update presentation from Sean Flynn, RHAWA’s Executive Director and Board President. Following his speech, he was joined by Chris Benis, Christopher Cutting, and Kaitlyn Jackson, some of Washington’s top housing industry attorneys, to continue the panel on the current state of affairs. Attendees then mingled through our exhibition hall and explored the many vendor booths our sponsors presented. Our friends at State Farm even had a Pac Man arcade set up! We had to pry people away with promises of more time later to send everyone to their first classes; there was: Leasing Requirements and Best Practices taught by Chris Benis, Deposit Disputes with Enrique Jevons, Submetering: That Leaking Toilet is Killing Your Cash Flow by Kelly Koontz, Setting Up Your Family Rental Business for Success with Julie Martiniello

After our first round of classes, our members eagerly returned to the exhibition hall to meet with our vendor sponsors and, of course, see who could get the highest Pac Man score. They then funneled downstairs to the beautiful Tamarack Hall where a delicious catered lunch was awaiting everyone. Lunchtime was a great way for our members to meet, network, and brainstorm together ways to improve our industry – and the food wasn’t half bad either! Next up: Round 2 of classes. Managing Rent Increases led by Christopher Cutting, Financing 1-4 Unit Residential Real Estate taught by Eric Aasness, Late Rent: What’s Next taught by Tim Schondelmayer – a SWTS first-timer – and boy did he do great! Routine Property Inspections with Bryan Mize from Optimized Home Inspections, who was able to join us at the last minute

We had a nice break for members to have their final chats with the vendor members and check out RHAWA’s Political Action Committee (PAC) booth Silent Auction.

William Shadbolt, RHAWA PAC Chair, put together a silent auction for the members to bid on, to help support the nonstop efforts of our PAC. There was a sailboat tour for a group of 7, donated by our very own RHAWA Board Secretary, Larry Crites; three different wine baskets donated by board members Kaitlyn Jackson and William Shadbolt, as well as two RHAWA swag bags, and a year Class Pass subscription. We were able to raise amazing funds for the PAC and can’t wait to do it again.

Our final classes of the day were: Serving Notices to End Tenancy by Travis Scott Eller, Pet Screening and Working with ESAs by Lawton Coursey, Due Diligence Tips to Maximize 1031 Exchange Success by Austin Bowlin, Simple Bookkeeping for Rental Operations taught by Sharon Cunnington – long-time member and RHAWA Board Member.
After these final classes, everyone was bursting with knowledge and empowered to face whatever challenges lie ahead in the Rental Housing Industry of Washington State.

Thank you all for your participation, your donations, and your continued support to the Rental Housing Association of Washington. We love putting these events on for you and can’t wait to do it again.