"Gone are the days of fixing taps, repairing boilers, and reminding clients when their gas safety certificate is due to come up for renewal. It’s outdated, it’s boring, and most importantly, technology can do all of that for you."
- Reagan Bradley - Paramount Properties
If you know me, you’ll know I’ve spent the last 15 years banging on about the importance of property management in the lettings process. This started with trying to make agencies understand that the historically poorer cousin, usually kept in a basement or back office, needed to be moved to sit in the centre of all lettings-related work.
Long ago, but after our Australian counterparts, we started to realise that making property managers the focal point of which all other lettings processes ran out of was the cleverest way to please and maintain clients. They know the property; they know the residents and most importantly they know the owner.
If the lettings consultants are “wining and dining” for a summer fling, then property managers are husband or wife material. Long-term, committed and handling the tricky issues. If this sounds like news to you, then I’m sorry to say you’re already behind.
I think we’re on the brink of the next big property management shift, one we’ve been in the process of shaping and moulding for the last few years at Paramount Properties, from property to asset management.
Gone are the days of fixing taps, repairing boilers, and reminding clients when their gas safety certificate is due to come up for renewal. It’s outdated, it’s boring, and most importantly, technology can do all of that for you.
If you find your property management team turnover is high, it’s likely because you’re operating a model like this. There’s no joy, there’s no initiative and for many, it becomes Groundhog Day very quickly.
With mounting costs and the impending changes the Renters’ Rights Bill will bring, owners might be tempted to pull back management in an attempt to ‘save costs’. If they do that, how do you quantify your value?
Value is the keyword for us, and for each of our owners, it sits at the very top of our CRM notes on each property. ‘Values’ – what’s important to this owner? And then, how do we deliver and enhance this to ensure that our service is constantly adding value to that owner?
Client A values a stress-free retirement, no problem. Our systems and communication methods mean that they can receive updates periodically, and we’ll make the calls in between.
Client B values no gaps in void, easy. We’ll keep the rent slightly below market value on renewal and ensure that the resident doesn’t want to go anywhere.
On top of this, we ensure that our team is trained and able to have meaningful conversations around capital value, yields and longer-term plans. Information we save on each property so every team member can refer to it when having a conversation.
‘Conveyor belt management’, as I call it, is banned here. There’s no skill in passing messages from resident to owner, via a contractor. We need to analyse, interpret, and put our opinion and suggestions into the conversation at every turn. We are the experts after all, aren’t we?
Working with owners to figure out if they can afford another rental property, can we find a better alternative on their current rates to free up some cash, and plan large-scale refurbishments for the upcoming void period, which will increase the rental amount by 10% a month. These are the conversations that excite owners, not whether we need to replace the hinges on the kitchen cupboard again.
Sounds much better all round, doesn’t it?
Our team is more engaged; there’s more skin in the game. We can see the difference we are making, and these conversations yield more for our business than incoming valuations. We take on more new business by having all of our team members able to have meaningful conversations around this than we do any other method.
Effective asset management is going to become more important than ever with changes to legislation. I can’t see why, as an owner, you wouldn’t need to hand that responsibility over, unless you can’t see the value, and it’s just another outgoing cost. But I think the gap between property management and asset management will start to open up. The latter will spot the opportunity that things like the Renters’ Rights Bill will bring and capitalise on it.
RIP property management, I’ll miss you, but time’s a great healer, and I’ve already moved on.
