Why Communication is the Most Important Skill of a Property Manager

Communication is the key to success in almost any field, but it’s especially critical when it comes to effective real estate property management. You see, this job is all about people – the people you rent to, the people you answer to, and the many, many people you interact with to keep your properties maintained and repaired. A property manager is actually the nexus of communication for residential property management – everything flows through you.

It’s not a job for everyone. You need to be able to talk to people from every culture, from all walks of life, and with every kind of personality. You’ll find yourself explaining a repair cost to an owner, standing in front of a judge regarding an eviction notice, negotiating with maintenance and repair people, and listening carefully to a tenant who may be frustrated, crying, or downright angry. And you must do this while maintaining a calm and professional manner. If you speak more than one language, it’s a major plus.

Here are some of the skills a property manager needs to enable good communication:

Be a good listener. Don’t be thinking about what else you need to do, or thinking ahead to when you can take that lunch break you missed 2 hours ago - just listen. This person needs to be heard, and needs to ‘feel’ heard.

Understand what is being said from the other person’s point of view. Learn and empathize with how it impacts the person giving you the information.

Figure out what action must be taken based on what you just heard and understood. If you’re unsure what as to what action is needed, ask questions until it is clear to you.

Express the action needed to those who must deal with the issue, whether it be tenants, repair or maintenance people, or the owners. Tell them in terms they’ll understand so they feel confident and comfortable doing what needs to be done. Be precise and be clear. Give them all the information they need as well as a set time line.

Good communication for real estate property management, however means more than just listening and talking, it also encompasses written letters, emails and texts.

With owners, determine what form of communication they prefer, what information they want and how they want it, as well as how often. Let them know when any issues arise with the property and how you plan to handle them. They need, and deserve, honest and timely communications. With tenants, emails and texts are effective for giving information and updates as they can be printed, or referred back to for clarification. Flyers are also helpful in elevators, laundry rooms or common areas.

At all times and for everyone, answer the phone as soon as possible. There is nothing more reassuring than a friendly, helpful voice on the other end of the line. Respond to emails as quickly as you can, or set a time every day to deal with them. If you’re having repairs done, send out short updates so all concerned know you’re taking care of things. Be consistent in your communications – so owners and tenants know what to expect from you.

For tenants and owners alike, clear, reliable communication with their property manager offers a feeling of security. Owners know their investment is being handled appropriately, tenants are comfortable contacting you and feel safe in the space they call their own. Happy tenants translate into long-term tenants and that in turn means happy owners! So as you can see, when it comes to residential property management, success depends on a property manager with good communication skills!

Ways to Maximize the Profit of Your Property

When you have an income property, you want to get as much money as you can out of it. So it pays off to make the extra effort to be creative or to be diligent – and in some cases, come up with an initial investment to get things rolling. Whether you deal with residential property management or corporate property management many of these suggestions can help you to get more money coming in.

RENT OUT UNUSED STORAGE/PARKING SPACE: If it’s in a warehouse and it’s a large space, section it off and rent it out for separate smaller storage spaces – if it’s a smaller space, rent it out as is for storage. If you have a huge unused parking space, advertise monthly parking in specific sections, painting the lines for those areas differently. If the storage space or garage space is at a residential property and is not being used by tenants, rent it out to non-tenants. Is there a business nearby that could use more parking or storage?   

TURN WALLS/FENCES INTO ADVERTISING SPACE: Make that empty wall space or fence into an advertising mecca by renting it out to local businesses. It can be as simple as hanging a banner or as detailed as having a professional painter make that space into a marketing mural. Use as many walls or fence lengths as you’re able to. It’ll brighten up a barren industrial property, and can bring in hundreds of dollars every month.

ADD LAUNDRY FACILITIES:  If you’re looking to attract quality tenants, give them what they want: in-unit laundry. It costs a bit at the beginning, but will pay off in the long run as you can raise the rents, enjoy faster rentals, and get those quality long-term tenants you always wanted. They’re also a good incentive. Offer the laundry facilities only to those who sign a 2-year lease instead of a 1-year lease – the convenience may even keep that tenant beyond the 2-year commitment.

ADD/UPGRADE COIN-OPERATED LAUNDRY FACILITIES: If you haven’t got laundry facilities on-site for a residential property, then install them – even if it’s just one washer and one dryer for a small property. No-one likes piling their dirty laundry into a car and going out to a laundromat, if they can drop them off downstairs, then just conveniently pick them up a hour or so later. If you already have a laundry room, make sure it’s regularly cleaned and maintained. In both cases, a change machine is a welcome addition!

BUY A KEYMAKER – Depending on the size of your property or properties, you can save a fortune making your own keys. For the initial investment of a key maker, and ‘No Duplication’ key blanks, you’ll be able to replace any key at any time – even Sunday night after a tenant’s keys just hit the elevator shaft floor! You can charge for replacement keys – say $5 each - and never worry when a tenant doesn’t turn in their keys. Just buy a new lock and make the extra keys yourself.

INSTALL VENDING MACHINES – Could be coffee, soft drinks, chocolate bars, candy, sandwiches – you choose what would be most appropriate for your space. In a factory or office building, all would be probably be welcome in a lunchroom. In a residential setting, they might be found in a laundry room or recreation room or even in back hallway to the parking lot. A workout room would be a great setting for a fruit juice dispenser.  All translate into more income for you.

Making extra money in some of these ways does come with an initial investment, but if properly handled and maintained, can be constant additional revenue streams which add to your profit margin. While there may be more options for residential property management people to take advantage of, there are enough to perk up the income of corporate properties as well. Choose one or several of these ideas and maximize the profit of your property!

The Top 5 Problems Landowners Experience

There are five main problems that landowners have to deal with when they rent or lease their property or properties. These are problems that can be easily solved with the right real estate property management company. However, some people try to save money by handling these challenges themselves, and end up wasting valuable resources and burning themselves out in the process. If you see yourself struggling with some of these issues, this might be a good time to take a step back and reconsider your choices when it comes to property management.

TIME - You only have so much time in a day. If you’ve invested in property and still have a full-time job, you don’t have a lot of time left over - especially if you have a family - to give your property the attention it needs. Even if you are retired or semi-retired, there’s a lot of work to do when it comes to the day to day issues of renting and maintenance. It’s a 24/7 commitment. Your time is better spend arranging financing for necessary renovations or looking for new investment opportunities.

DISTANCE – If you don’t live near your rental property, checking on it and even interviewing potential tenants takes a lot of time and effort. Now add in dealing with tenant complaints, maintenance issues, emergencies, even just collecting the rent on time. If you manage your own property or properties, you’d need to live close by to be efficient and time effective. And the best investments may not be right around the corner. This limitation can affect your long-term success.

INEXPERIENCE – If you don’t know anything about residential property management, you’re in for a series of nasty surprises. There is so much involved that you’ll be overwhelmed just finding out all you have to do. And you not only have to do it, you need to do it quickly, correctly, and legally. Hire a bad or lazy repair person, or take too long filling vacancies and watch your profits melt away. Legal errors will cost you if you don’t understand the housing laws, or if you take too long to fix a furnace in the middle of winter.

MANAGEMENT – There is much more to it than you realized, most of it dealing with people: tenants, repair people, accountants, maintenance people, and lawyers to name a few. Along with collecting rent, maintaining the property to code, and dealing with complaints and problems, there is payroll and a pile of legal requirements and considerations. Basically, you’re an employer with all the accompanying headaches. And I’ll bet that’s not what you signed on for when you invested.

TENANTS – Finding and keeping good tenants isn’t easy. A vacancy is money slipping through your fingers. You need to create enticing ads with good pictures to attract the kind of tenants you want. You must respond to emails, interview people, show the unit, review applications, pull and review credit reports, call references and past landlords, prepare a lease negotiate the terms, get the lease signed…and this is still no guarantee of getting a good tenant – especially if you’re not experienced with renting. Good tenants need a quick follow-up for repair needs. Bad tenants cost you time and money and a few rounds with the legal system to get rid of them! Until they’re gone, one bad tenant can cost you many good tenants, and a lot of money.

The answer to all of these problems is simple. Hire a good residential property management company. They will handle every management issue from renting to maintenance…from emergencies – they get the 2am call that a pipe has burst – to evicting the nightmare tenant. They know the ins and outs of vetting and keeping tenants, all the legalities involved in any situation, and have the best repair people on call. They will lift the weight of property management from your shoulders, and let you relax and watch your investment grow. If you haven’t before, now might be the time to look into finding a good real estate property management company. 

‘Must-Haves’ for Commercial Property Owners

‘Must-Haves’ in connection with commercial real estate owners usually refer to 3 things: attracting good business tenants, keeping those good business tenants, encouraging those good business tenants to stay for a long, long time – all the things a good commercial property management company does. What this translates into is making your investment in the commercial property pay off and in a relatively easy way. To enable this you need to put the pieces in place to find and keep good business tenants.

Amenities Employees Appreciate: Choose property close to amenities that workers value, such as an easy or convenient way to get to work. Buildings close to railway stations, bus routes, car parks are more attractive. If there are restaurants, stores, gyms or parks close by, it’s a major bonus. And don’t forget the amenities at the building itself that can drive satisfaction such as  parking for cars, bicycles, and e-vehicles, as well as clean, modern bathrooms and kitchens.  

A Flexible Commercial Space: You want your space to appeal to a wide range of businesses, so the more flexible it is, the more attractive it will be to more people. If you can accommodate a segmented layout, or an open plan you can appeal to a broader market of business tenants. Don’t be afraid to ‘repurpose’ your building or parts of it. As a business tenant evolves, there’s a good chance you can rework the space to enable their changes and keep them on board for the long term you desire.

The Right Attraction Factors: What type of tenants do you want? Do you have what they want? If it’s retail, your facility must be in a high traffic area with lots of street frontage and adequate parking for employees and customers. Inside should be a supportive infrastructure including phone system, high speed internet, and data lines. On top of that should be modern amenities like energy-efficient heating and air conditioning and wall-to-wall carpeting. If your target tenants are warehouse or industrial, your property needs truck access and to be close to high capacity urban roads and/or railway freight interchanges. Inside, you’ll need high ceilings, concrete platforms for heavy loads, and suitable fire systems. Both types of tenants will also need adequate power supplies and appropriate security systems.

Good Looks – Because They Do Matter: How does your facility pan out in the looks department? When a prospective tenant stands outside the front of your building what is the first impression they receive? No business owner wants to rent a place their customers don’t want to enter. There are several things that can render a building or property unattractive to potential tenants: blotchy outer paint job, broken bricks or ugly architecture, little, if any, natural light, poor street-entry, not enough lobby space, drab, worn carpet – dirty faded walls. Change the ones you can asap!

Incorporated Mobility. More business owners ‘live’ on their phones, and you need to accommodate them. One key way to do this is with a mobile optimized website and a mobile optimized team. A ‘smart’ website can include: on-line applications with ways for potential tenants to upload documents from their phones; secure online payment options that work on mobile devices; the ability to send payments to property owners electronically, and post monthly statements to a portal to be easily accessed anywhere at any time; enable online maintenance requests – which can be immediately dispatched to the appropriate personnel and tracked online. Make your team, a ‘smart’ team, with leasing, maintenance, and property management all connected via mobile phone and tablets.

The Best Real Estate Property Management Company: Let the experts handle the hard parts, the parts they’re experienced at, knowledgeable about, and effective and efficient at dealing with on a day-to-day basis. In the long run, a good commercial property management company will save you money, keep your property maintained, handle all tenant problems, and ensure your investment is paying off. You just monitor your monthly reports and bank account and enjoy your peace of mind.

Commercial properties provide a workspace rather than a living space – but this workspace involves people, who must be comfortable and productive. Whether your real estate property includes office buildings, strip malls, restaurants, warehouses or trucking companies – you must appeal to the people involved. Incorporate some or all of the ‘must-haves’ we’ve noted and you’ll go a long way toward attracting and keeping the right kind of long term business tenants you want.

CRE Outsourcing Saves Money, Increases Flexibility, and Improves Efficiency

No matter how big or how small your corporation is, corporate real estate (CRE) outsourcing is something you should seriously consider for several reasons, the most important being cost savings. After paying your employees, real estate occupancy costs are your biggest fixed expenditures. The way to reduce these costs – and increase efficiency in the handling of your holdings - is to choose a corporate real estate property management company experienced in your field, and aligned with your goals and values.

Things move fast in today’s complex and increasingly specialized world markets – industries and regulations can change or evolve in days, hours, even seconds. You need to keep a sharp and focused eye on your core business at all times. CRE outsourcing is one way to help you do this, while enjoying the many benefits it brings. Hand over administrative details such as lease renewals, new lease negotiations, lease restructuring, CAM audits, research functions, due diligence and related financial services to knowledgeable real estate property management professionals and confine your resources to core needs.

COST SAVINGS - It’s both fast and easy to see savings with CRE outsourcing. Your real estate management company is expert in its field, so it can quickly and easily negotiate better pricing on goods and services, reduce energy use, and locate opportunities to effectively consolidate offices when necessary.

LOWER TAXES - Outsourcing corporate real estate services allows businesses to take advantage of lower corporate tax rates and employee-related taxes as well as a number of other costs. Talk to your tax advisor to get the details of how your company can benefit.

BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE – Why waste time and money training an in-house team when CRE professionals perform the same services more efficiently and for less money. Your CRE management company will know all the players as well as applicable rules and laws and will handle issues with professional accuracy. Even if it’s only partial outsourcing offsite by using technology, you’ll receive better results.

INCREASED FLEXIBILITY - With CRE outsourcing you’ll adapt more quickly to increased or decreased demand for retail, office, and industrial space. Corporations lower the risk of hiring, retaining and releasing employees with paid benefits by outsourcing for growth or downsizing periods – let your CRE management company handle all subleasing and assignment activities along with supporting documents and transactions.

IMPROVED EFFICIENCY – All of your people should be focused on core business functions. It would take months to recruit the personnel for an in-house department to handle your real estate management, not to mention the salaries and associated benefits for new employees, and costs for keeping them trained and updated on the latest trends. Outsource complex and basic CRE services to a corporate real estate management company and they’ll have everything expertly taken care off before your team’s even up to speed.

As you’ve seen, there are many benefits to outsourcing corporate real estate property management, and there are more we haven’t touched on. An expert partner in this field allows you to focus on your core business, save money, upgrade your customer service, makes your business more flexible, and increases efficiency. In selecting the right CRE property management partner, on board with your goals and values, you’ve greatly increased your potential for success!