CAMBRIDGE REAL ESTATE SERVICES
Have you read your Spring Into Action mailer yet? Now is the time to review this information with your staff and start getting prepared for Spring!
If you did not receive the mailer or have any questions, please contact your supervisor.
Completed move out paperwork should be forwarded to the central office within 10 calendar days of a move out in Oregon, California and Idaho. In Washington- the SODA needs to be forwarded within 5 days. These deadlines are consistent with Cambridge’s requirement to complete a move-out settlement within 30 days on Oregon and Idaho, within 21 days in California and within 14 days in Washington.
The penalties for not meeting these deadlines are significant to both your property and Cambridge. Lets work together to ensure that the penalties are not something that we need to navigate through.
Should you have any questions on these deadlines or the processing of SODA’s- please contact your property supervisor, accountant or help desk.
This month’s safety meeting topic is Fire Safety and Prevention. You should have received the safety newsletter flyer in your weekly mail earlier this month. If you haven’t scheduled your safety meeting yet, please do so! To read more about safety meetings click here.
Each month when you complete Powersite Month End two sets of reports get printed at the end. One copy is kept on site and the other is sent to the Site Employee Resource Center (formerly known as the Central Office). These reports get archived on our computer servers for future reference. It is very important that they get sent in because they can never be printed again from AMSI once Powersite Month End is completed. They are the only record of the month end numbers available to us.
Remember to mail these reports in to the Site Employee Resource Center every month with your Powersite journals. You will also need to include a completed Monthly Powersite Transmittal form (form C346 in e-forms) each month with the print outs. Please mail these reports as soon as you can after they are printed!
During the onset of very cold weather conditions, we remind managers of the following:
As we approach the holiday season, we would like to remind employees of the following:
For more information please reference the Employee Handbook
Please take a moment to read the below article and see how you can help solve some of the BCL Issues the accounting team will often run into when they are processing the BCLs. Each time they find a problem, they have to stop, go back into the BCL and adjust or re-enter information. Your attention to these details is much appreciated!
HD SUPPLY INVOICES
Problem: When using the HD Supply “GL Summary” to code invoices, often times accounting will find that the line items under the amount that says “No GL account” are all coded to 6822.
Solution: The items listed on the GL Summary under “No GL Account” should be coded individually after determining what the items were. Use the detailed invoice to understand which items they are and then code them accordingly. You can hit the F3 key in AMSI for list of GL Codes.
PETTY CASH
Problem: Accounting is receiving Petty Cash envelopes with 3 months of receipts rather than receiving receipts as the expenses occur.
Solution: Petty Cash envelopes should be sent in when the petty cash gets down to half of the fund, but not less than once a month.
INVOICE DATES
Problem: When invoices are entered into BCL the date is not changed to match the invoice date.
Solution: Making a habit of always changing the date so it accurately reflects the invoice date.
GL CODE—STANDARD TV (Oregon Properties)
Problem: Accounting receives BCL’s coded to STA524 for Standard TV and Appliance.
Solution: The correct vendor code is GCD501.
Thank you for your help with these details and let your accountant know if you have any questions or need clarification.
It is common for a manager to deal with the collections process on a regular basis, as this occurs when a resident owes money to the property after move-out. It is important to know when it is appropriate to assign a move-out case to OCSI (our collections agency) and what happens once the agency takes over.
Move-Out Statements:
Any resident owing a balance at the time of move-out must be mailed a move-out statement to the forwarding address. If no forwarding address was given, then the move-out statement should be sent to the last known address, as well as emailed to the resident. If a move-out statement is returned through the mail, the manager must retain the returned letter in the permanent site file. Once a move-out statement is mailed, it is up to the resident to remit payment. The manager is not responsible for pursuing the resident. However, it is in the best interest of the property to collect balances before they are sent to collections because the collections agency keeps 40% of any collected balances.
Collections:
At the end of each month, resident move-out files received at the Site Employee Resource Center (SERC) are reviewed for balances due and then sent to collections. Files are sent to collections 60 days from the last day of the month in which the move-out occurred. Once a file is sent to collections, all payments are handled through Oregon Credit Systems, Inc (OCSI). If a resident wishes to make a payment after they have been sent to collections, please direct them to OCSI (contact info below). At that point, Cambridge no longer handles payments. If you aren’t certain whether a move-out has been assigned to collections, feel free to contact SERC and ask.
OCSI Contact Information:
Contact: Karla Eldred
Phone: 503-639-6993
Email: karlae@oregoncreditsystems.com
Cambridge Payment Plan Policy: Cambridge does not accept payment plans EXCEPT IN CASES WHERE REQUIRED UNDER A COURT ORDER OR BY GOVERNMENT POLICY OR REGULATION. All payments must be submitted within 60 days of move-out, prior to the resident being sent to collections.
