MassLandlords: Real Estate Events for Education & Networking

MassLandlords, Inc. has existed since 2014, but actually we are the renamed Worcester Property Owners Association, incorporated in 1985. Our mission to create better rental housing is 40 years old! It’s been a long road to get here. Will you join us in celebrating?

We don’t know how many will attend. This makes planning hard. We’re planning to book the Hopkinton Country Club. Here are representative drive times with evening traffic:

• Barnstable: 2 hours. Transportation option*.
• Boston: 1 hour
• Fitchburg: 1 hour
• Greenfield: 1 hour 40 minutes
• Lowell: 1 hour
• Newburyport: 2 hours. Transportation option*.
• Pittsfield: 2 hrs. Transportation option*.
• Springfield: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Taunton: 1 hour
• Worcester: 40 minutes

*Depending on interest, we might be able to charter transportation from certain towns.

If you can get to Hopkinton the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 21, and you want to come, please tell us by registering before close of business Wednesday, Sept. 10. If we get 70 purchases, we will book the event. If we don’t, we’ll cancel and refund.

We plan to:

• Celebrate 40 years working to create better rental housing.
• Meet and greet one another in real life!
• Have an excellent dinner. Dietary requests, allergies and intolerances will be honored to the best of facility ability. Or bring your own meal. Cash bar.
• Hear from our Executive Director, and provide feedback.
• Recognize our outgoing director.
• Accept votes for our next Board of Directors member.
• Take donations for a charity.
• Hand out copies of our 40th Anniversary Special Edition Commemorative Magazine, a look back on 40 years of creating better rental housing.

"No Sales Pitch" Guarantee
MassLandlords offers attendees of directly managed events a "No Sales Pitch" guarantee. If a guest speaker offers services, their presentation will not discuss pricing, promotions, or reasons why you should hire them.

We do not permit speakers to pay for or sponsor events. Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and willingness to present helpful educational content. Your purchase of an event ticket sustains our nonprofit model.

Tuesday, October 21st
Dinner Meeting Agenda

• 6:30 pm Check-in and networking. Mix and mingle but don't be shy! Introduce yourself to someone and you might make a valuable local connection.
• This event aims to be statewide.
• 6:53 pm Dinner
• 7:23 pm Introductions and short business updates
• 7:33 pm Presentation
• 8:20 pm Presentation ends
• 9:00 pm Doors close

Attorney Sherwin will start his office hours by discussing any recently concluded cases or case law of interest.

After that, we'll be having open office hours about any rental real estate legal topics you may care to bring. This meeting is a great opportunity for members to learn from an experienced attorney.

We will not enter attorney-client privilege. We will not address questions in private. We will have a group discussion about legal topics of interest to attendees. Questions will be answered entirely at Attorney Sherwin's discretion and as time allows.

Part of this presentation will be given by attorney Adam Sherwin. Adam is an experienced real estate litigator with years of experience representing landlords, property owners, and other real estate professionals. He has extensive experience litigating real estate disputes before judges and juries and has obtained favorable decisions from the Massachusetts Appeals Court and District Court Appellate Division. He is also a long-time crash course instructor at the Cambridge headquarters and over zoom.

"No Sales Pitch" Guarantee
MassLandlords offers attendees of directly managed events a "No Sales Pitch" guarantee. If a guest speaker offers services, their presentation will not discuss pricing, promotions, or reasons why you should hire them.

We do not permit speakers to pay for or sponsor events. Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and willingness to present helpful educational content. Your purchase of an event ticket sustains our nonprofit model.

Fourth Wednesdays with Attorney Sherwin next on Wednesday, October 22nd
Except for holidays and where his schedule requires otherwise, Attorney Sherwin will be available to members on the fourth Wednesday of every month.

Zoom Chat Agenda

• 5:30 pm Start
• 6:30 pm Zoom Chat ends

Learn everything you need to succeed as an owner or manager of residential rental property in Massachusetts.

This fast-paced course is strictly limited to 16 participants to allow for detailed discussion and Q&A. Course tuition includes:

• Small group session with the Executive Director, a trained presenter and experienced landlord, and the attorney.
• A comprehensive agenda, see below.
• Your choice of two books:
• Every Landlord's Tax Deduction Guide by NOLO,
• The Good Landlord by Peter Shapiro,
• Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher, and/or
• The Housing Manual by H. John Fisher.
• A bound summary of all material presented.
• Breakfast pastries, coffee, tea.
• Lunch sandwiches, sodas, chips, cookies; all dietary requirements satisfied, please notify us when you purchase a ticket.
• A MassLandlords ballpoint pen.
• A MassLandlords certificate of completion and permission to use "MassLandlords Crash Course graduate" on your marketing material.

You will receive a box packed with your personalized signed certificate,
your choice of two books, course notes, pen, and half a dozen other pieces of literature.

Course Graduate Testimonials
"I simply wanted to reach out and express just how happy I am to have attended the landlording crash course. The presentation and delivery of the information was flawless and I certainly have walked away with a greater understanding of the intricacies that govern being an above average landlord/manager." - Michael Murray

“Mr. Quattrochi presented the course in a comprehensive and easy to follow step-by-step format. His PowerPoint presentation was provided to us, in a binder, as part of the course, and I took notes right on the pages. I find this part to be an effective tool because I can refer to it anytime I need to follow procedure. There’s more to it, but for a fun day, I personally, recommend this course to anyone in the Real Estate landlording/investing business, beginners in this profession as well as experience professionals.” - Edwin Rivera

"This has really been a great deal. 2 books, 8 hours 'class' time, bound notes/slides -- impressive value!" -Dawn

"I found this course extremely useful. It was completely professional and gave me a great new perspective." -Nicholas

"I’m glad there was more in depth discussion than just reading off the slides. I appreciate the opportunity for questions and practice." -Crash Course Graduate

"If I had done this 20 years ago. Oh my goodness!" -Crash Course Graduate

"Great overview of being a landlord in MA" -Crash Course Graduate

"Covered a lot of ground concisely, but still enough time for questions and insight. Worth every penny." -Crash Course Graduate

Part of this presentation will be given by Doug Quattrochi, Executive Director, MassLandlords, Inc. Doug was a founding member of MassLandlords in 2013. He became the association's first Executive Director under new bylaws in 2014. Since then, he has scaled the organization from a core of 160 members in Worcester to approximately 2,500 dues paying businesses from Pittsfield to the Cape, and from an all-volunteer team to approximately 20 full and part-time staff plus 50 volunteers. Doug has been instrumental in advancing democratic governance mechanisms, including score voting for policy priorities and a staggered and democratically elected Board of Directors. Doug also oversees the RentHelper spin-off, which is expanding access to electronic banking for those of us who are unbanked or underbanked. Prior to MassLandlords, Doug held leadership roles in various Massachusetts startups, two of which are still operating. Doug holds a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Doug's presentation was excellent. He was very clear and provided detailed explanations." -Larry

"Doug always holds very informative classes full of substance and Very organized!" -Thomas

"Your answers to member's questions were most helpful." -Liz

Part of this presentation will be given by Peter Vickery, Esq.. Attorney Vickery practices law in Western Massachusetts where he focuses on landlord-tenant law (representing landlords in Housing Court) and discrimination defense (representing business owners in the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination). He graduated from Oxford University (Jesus College) with a BA in Modern History; obtained his Post-Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of the West of England in Bristol; his JD from Boston University School of Law; and his Masters in Public Policy & Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Attorney Vickery served one term on the Governor's Council (the elected 8-member body that approves or vetoes the governor's choice of judges in Massachusetts) and on the State Ballot Law Commission. As Legislative Affairs Counsel for MassLandlords he drafts bills, bill summaries, and testimony in the area of housing law, and writes amicus briefs in cases that have strategic significance for rental-property owners.

"No Sales Pitch" Guarantee
MassLandlords offers attendees of directly managed events a "No Sales Pitch" guarantee. If a guest speaker offers services, their presentation will not discuss pricing, promotions, or reasons why you should hire them.

We do not permit speakers to pay for or sponsor events. Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and willingness to present helpful educational content. Your purchase of an event ticket sustains our nonprofit model.

Saturday, October 25th
Crash Course Agenda
In-Person Course Agenda

• 8:30 am - Introduction of MassLandlords and course participants
• 8:45 - Rental markets
• Urban, suburban, rural.
• Luxury, college, professional, working, subsidized, rooming houses.
• Airbnb.
• 9:00 - Property selection
• Lead paint.
• Charging for utilities.
• Climate change risk.
• Heat pumps.
• Vinyl plank vs. hardwood floors.
• Landlord trade-offs repairs vs. cleaning.
• 9:40 - Marketing and advertising
• Getting the right applicants.
• Small business branding tips and tricks.
• Where to advertise.
• 10:05 - Break for ten minutes
• 10:15 - Finish marketing and advertising
• 10:35 - Applications and tenant screening
• Criminal, credit, and eviction background checks.
• Discrimination and fair housing.
• Interactive tenant screening workshop.
• Section 8.
• 11:30 - Tenancies
• Lease vs Tenancy at Will.
• Move-in monies.
• Security deposits.
• Pet rent.
• 11:50 - Break and Lunch, with free form Q&A
• 12:20 - Warranties and covenants
• Water submetering.
• Sanitary code.
• How to raise the rent fairly.
• Support animals.
• 12:40 - Dispute resolution
• Eviction notices to quit.
• Court process.
• Move-and-store
• Relocation assistance.
• 1:40 - Break for ten minutes
• 2:50 - Maintenance, hiring, and operations.
• Tax advantages.
• Property managers.
• Contractors.
• Building permits.
• Extermination
• LLCs and trusts.
• Grants and alternative funding.
• 3:10 - Break for five minutes
• 3:40 - Overview of books and resources for further education
• 3:45 - Review of unanswered questions
• 4:00 - End Course

Please note that end time may vary based on questions.

No presentation, no registration desk, just meet up to chat and get to know one another. We will help you:

• Make valuable local connections.
• Hear about local real estate developments.
• Learn about best practices or what the law says.

Attendees will leave having made some connections in a friendly and informal setting. Our member hosts will be one or more of Rich and Erin.

"Last Mondays" Meetup in Worcester next on Monday, October 27th
We plan to hold this meetup the last Monday of every month.

Chat Agenda

• 6:00 pm Start
• 8:00 pm Chat ends