September Notice for 2020 Annual Business Meeting and Elections

MassLandlords, Inc. is a 501(c)6 nonprofit trade association. Our mission is to create better rental housing in Massachusetts by helping current, new, and prospective landlords run profitable, compliant, quality businesses. We are democratically governed by our annual election for the statewide Board of Directors, as well as our ongoing policy priorities survey. The next annual election is in December 2020, and nominations are needed now.

Two Formal Ways Members Can Give Input

MassLandlords members can steer our actions through two formal voting channels. The first is our policy priorities survey. The second is our annual election for director.

On December 31, 2020, a Director from our statewide Board of Directors must step down. Our form of term limits prohibits consecutive terms, ensuring that every election is an open race with no incumbent. (Any past director can run again in a subsequent year.) We use score voting (highest average score wins) instead of a plurality (most votes win). This diminishes the impact of polarization. The directors who get elected tend to be widely accepted by most members.

Pietro Curini, Outgoing Director

This winter we lose Pietro Curini, whose term expires Dec 31, 2020. Pietro has been in the corporate business space since 2000 and in management since 2003. He has been a member in good standing of MassLandlords Worcester and the Digital group since before MassLandlords was reincorporated out of the Worcester Property Owners Association. He is currently a small property owner in Millbury (2 units). In addition to MassLandlords, he is currently a 10+ year member of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association. He has regularly volunteered for children outreach programs to get kids excited about the outdoors and coastal cleanup and preservation initiatives to protect our coastlines for everyone. Pietro served on the Worcester Property Owners board as a volunteer from 2009 to 2012 and put in place our first social media and IT processes for what would later become MassLandlords.net.

Will you or a colleague step up to carry Pietro’s work forward? We have a great team of Directors in place.

Continuing Board of Directors

Russell Sabadosa, whose term expires Dec 31, 2021, has been a landlord since 1993 and is currently managing over 150 units. He has been an active member of local and statewide landlord organizations serving as board member and president of the Rental Housing Association of Greater Springfield and as regional VP of MRHA. Russell is also a Realtor serving on the local and statewide board of directors and their public policy committees. Russell holds an MBA degree and is a retired tenured college professor, former IT director and aerospace engineer. Russell is the owner operator of Premier Choice Realty, Inc. in East Longmeadow, MA specializing in residential and commercial sales and residential rentals.

Rich Merlino, whose term expires Dec 31, 2022, has been the MassLandlords Worcester event emcee since October 2015. When he started volunteering, event attendance increased from 64 to 83 per month, and the average feedback card score increased from 67% positive to 91%. Rich is extremely busy as a moderately large landlord in his own right. He has experience managing a team of on-site and remote employees. Rich’s sense of humor, strong sense of legal compliance, and general business savvy make him a great addition to the Board of Directors.

Alec Bewsee, whose term expires Dec 31, 2023, is a managing partner of Forge Property Management based in Westfield, MA. He received his B.S., Cum Laude, in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Western New England University in Springfield, MA before going on to support various Fortune 100 companies in the high-technology sector including United Technologies and Lockheed Martin. Alec specializes in productivity systems, automation software, financial analytics, and project management which has allowed him to scale his company and better serve the Pioneer Valley. Alec has been involved in real estate since high school when he started analyzing local market growth and purchased his first rental property while still in college. Since then, Alec has built a portfolio of rental housing throughout Western Mass that particularly aims to help renters find quality, safe, and affordable housing in the Knowledge Corridor of New England. Alec is also a founding member of a successful real estate investors community group that helps newer investors learn the ropes in renovating houses, landlording, personal finance, and technology. When Alec isn't enthralling himself in real estate ventures, he loves to play volleyball, enjoys Thai cuisine, and writes on his blog - The Landlord Engineer. Alec currently resides in Westfield, MA where he grew up and continues to engage with local leaders and give back to the community.

Michele Kasabula, whose term expires Dec 31, 2024, has been a MassLandlords member since 2014 and was on the Worcester Board of Advisors from 2017 to 2019. She is a Massachusetts real estate attorney, practicing since 2002. She started her own law office in 2017, The Law Office of Michele F. Kasabula, PLLC located in Sutton, MA. She represents buyers, sellers and lenders in both residential transactions and small commercial real estate purchase and refinance transactions. She also performs most of the real estate titles exams for those purchase transactions. She owns 3 single family rental properties on the south shore. She was also asked for a short time to manage one of her client’s rental properties which consisted of four 6-unit buildings (24 units). She was the main contact for any and all issues. She also handled the remodeling of the units which increased the rental income by over 50% on some of the units. She is a member of the Real Estate Bar Association and a member and the Vice Chair of the BBB of Central Mass, a Title Agent for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. and a Massachusetts Real Estate Broker.

Reach Out to Us

Each region where MassLandlords members meet has a local volunteer board. There are volunteer jobs to do! You can get involved at one of these local boards, which have historically met over dinner in a small group (now the message boards, or zoom calls). The local boards may be by appointment or by local decision.

You can also run for state-wide director yourself. But remember it’s a state-wide race! You will need to prepare a biography detailing what you can bring to the Board and what is your vision of MassLandlords in five years. You will also need to campaign on the message boards at a minimum.

The Good Neighbor Award

One last thing we vote on in December is which non-member’s efforts have best advanced property rights or the quality of rental housing in Massachusetts. Past winners include Attorney Stuart Schrier of Dorchester for his testimony at the Just Cause Eviction Hearing in Boston in March 2017, the late Representative Chris Walsh for his work on rent escrow, and the former chair of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Jamie Williamson for her educational outreach to owners and managers. Firefighters, inspectors, judges, and many others have been nominated.

The Good Neighbor Award is a fun way to bring recognition to a friend or colleague. All nominees no matter whether or not they win a state-wide vote will receive a personal letter of thanks from the Executive Director on behalf of the association, and if possible, we will address a second letter to their boss so they get a raise (at least, we’ll say they deserve it!).

The Board of Directors

Submit nominees for Good Neighbor or Board of Directors by emailing hello@masslandlords.net. Members in good standing can learn more about our bylaws and voting at MassLandlords.net/governance.

Read more about our Annual Business Meeting and Annual Elections.