Property management is about building long term relationships. I hold 2 broker licenses and have worked in several brokerages throughout the years. Sales and property management are different. While they both have similar characteristics and having experience in real estate sales will help you. But there are differences. Not to say that you shouldn’t develop long term relationships with your sales clients, you absolutely should. The top producers do just that. They make sure they keep in touch with their clients over the years so the next time it’s time to buy or sell, they can be there to serve those clients.
But when it comes to property management, you will be communicating with your owners and tenants on a very frequent basis. I’m not saying you have to speak with the same folks every day. But it will be at least once a month. Possibly more depending on what’s going on with the property. This is mostly in regards to owners, rather than tenants. Some tenants don’t need too much attention. If the house is in good shape and they pay on time and are responsible, several months can go by without any communication at all. We try not to let more than 90 days pass without any contact though. It’s important to remind the tenants that you are there and to be sure to have them communicate any issues with the house. Sometimes you will have tenants who don’t speak up when they should. They let an issue go on for too long and that’s not a good thing either. So make sure you are connecting at least on a quarterly basis.
Connecting and communicating with owners however, is your most important duty. You are there as the representative of the owner, and you are in charge of ensuring the property is kept in order. But it’s not enough to just do what you’re supposed to do and leave it at that.
As a manager, you are the eyes and ears for the owner and they want to see and hear from you. The biggest trap that most property managers fall into is not connecting with the owner when things are going well. It’s easy to be in contact when there are issues going on that require communicating. But it’s the times when there’s not much to report that people can forget to keep in touch. In our office we have a policy that every owner needs to hear from their property manager at least once a month. Just check in with an email or a phone call and say, “Hey, Mr or Mrs owner, I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that everything is going great with your property. The tenant has paid on time and there aren’t any maintenance issues at this time…” Etc.
It’s also a good idea to provide them with a calendar of events such as upcoming inspections, or lease renewal dates or routine maintenance tasks. It helps keep them in the loop and shows them that you are on top of things. This will provide owners with piece of mind. Most owners just want to hear from someone and be told that everything is ok. If you remember the story I told at the beginning of this book about the terrible property management experience I had. This was one of the (many) issues I had with them. No one ever called me or communicated anything with me. I’d have to call and text and email and hope to get a timely response. It was stressful and led to nothing but animosity in the relationship. It was a horrible experience and I would never recommend that company to anyone. That’s not the way you want to be remembered.
When it comes to your owners, and tenants, make sure you are being the type of person that they would speak highly of. Be the person who goes out of their way to make sure things get done. Go above and beyond and people will recommend you to others. Most people feel that the tenant and landlord often have an antagonistic relationship, but I find this to actually be the exception rather than the rule. We focus on good communication and treating people with respect and kindness at all times, no matter who they are or what the situation is.
I had been managing a multi-family property for an owner one time and everything was going well. But one day he called up and said that he had decided not to renew the management agreement. He said that he was moving back to the area and wanted to manage it himself. OK, no problem I told him. Then some time went by and he called me up asking if I could help. He wanted me to help him find and screen tenants. Because we parted on good terms and we always did right by him, he trusted us. So when he needed real estate services in the future he called us. I have since helped him find and place a number of tenants for his units. Even though we didn’t have an on-going service agreement for the management, he still wanted to use our services because he knew that we would do a good job of marketing the units and screening the tenants.
There are also times in property management where you will have the opportunity to be a hero. There will often be cases in which the owner is hiring you because they’ve been burned by another management company and you will be in a position to help turn things around and save the day. Just be aware that these owners will be a little sensitive and probably somewhat untrusing of property managers in the beginning. Do the things we’ve discussed in this book and you will soon have the property turned around.
One time we took on a property of about 20 units. The owners were not local and they feared that the original management company was letting things slip. They had enjoyed some solid income for a while but all of a sudden they weren’t getting the income they used to and they noticed other issues as well. So they decided to let that management company go and hire us. The old managers were not happy and it was not a friendly handover. They provided us with no information and left us in the dark to figure it all out. Once the smoke had cleared, we discovered that of the 20 units – only 3 were performing. The owners were pissed! They had no idea how bad it was and we had to be the messengers who brought the bad news. It took a long time to get things turned around. But we had developed a solid plan, worked hard and always kept the interests of the owners front and center. After many months we finally got their property cash flowing again and we were heroes. If you can do this for an owner you will have a loyal client for life.
Another time recently we faced a situation we had never faced before. Someone called us and said that they were going to cancel their management contract because things were going so well! Like so often is the case, they had hired us to turn around their rental units after having gone through some bad renters and they were facing long vacancies from inaction.They had self-managed from a long distance and things had slowly fallen apart on them until one day it just all came to a head. We took over and were able to fill all their vacancies with stellar tenants in record time. Now the units are performing so well and the tenants are so good they started entertaining the idea of canceling the management agreement and taking back over themselves. But after a short discussion reminding them of how they got into the situation of high vacancies and low collections to begin with, they quickly changed their tune and decided to keep us as their management company.
When it comes to property management, there will always be some event or person that can be difficult to deal with. However, it can also be very rewarding. When done right it will provide you with a profitable and satisfying career. You can develop some wonderful relationships and become more involved in the community.
Recently we were chosen to work with some of the biggest representatives of the local housing authority to participate in a program that would help eliminate homelessness for families with children within the city. It has been a very rewarding experience and we are honored to be a part of the program. But to go far in the industry, you will need to educate yourself and continue your education beyond basic CE requirements from your state or real estate board. It will be your responsibility to raise the level of your game.
