What is the best advice you have ever received as a property manager?
That’s the question we posed to five industry-leading voices. Hear from Matthew Whitaker, Pablo Gonzalez, Peter Lohmann, Maranda Hunnicutt, and Wolfgang Croskey as they share the most valuable advice they ever received in their 100+ combined years of property management experience
Ready to talk to an RBP expert in your area? Fill out the form on our website https://www.secondnature.com/request-demo
Questions or thoughts on the topics we covered? Email us at triplewin@secondnature.com
Join our private Facebook group - only for professional property managers at https://facebook.com/groups/triplewinpropertymanagers
Stay up to date on events and resources on our website https://www.secondnature.com/events
Follow the Triple Win Property Management podcast by Second Nature and never miss an episode!
Season 4 Episode 14 features Matthew Whitaker, Pablo Gonzalez, Maranda Hunnicutt, Peter Lohmann, and Wolfgang Croskey
The Triple Win Property Management podcast is produced and distributed by Second Nature
Related: Check out the other property management podcasts we recommend for single-family property managers.
Transcript
Intro:
Andrew Smallwood
Tell me about what's the most important piece of advice you've received as a property manager.
Wolfgang Croskey
Learning how to say no.
Andrew Smallwood
Hello professional property managers, Andrew Smallwood here. And we've got a new kind of episode for the Triple Win podcast today. We're actually got. five cuts, five highlight clips of different industry professionals answering the same question. So you'll hear from people like Matthew Whitaker, Peter Lohmann, Maranda Hunnicutt, and more, answer questions like, what's the best advice they've ever received as a property manager, or as a property management industry professional? So you'll get to hear five different answers to that same question, all super-cut together, in this special episode today. We hope you enjoy it. Now, to kick us off, Matthew Whitaker. Tell me the most important piece of advice you've received as a property manager.
Matthew Whitaker
Well, as we all know, property management is a very hard business, the whole business is dealing with problems, and truthfully, it's very draining to deal with problems all day. So taking care of yourself, if you're a leader, or taking care of yourself if you're a property manager, the advice that I got was, look, you need to consistently invest in yourself. What I have found, through a lot of trial and error, what basically gets me back on track when things aren't going well for me, it's biographies. I love to read biographies of great people. I just finished the Albert Einstein biography today, and because you realize that even great people have hard times that they go through in their life, and as you're growing a business or you're part of a growing business or just it's just not always up to the right, I think we have this fallacy with, the Mark Zuckerberg's of the world that everything just, you know, we're all supposed to hit it big and then, you know, everything's easy. And the truth is, it's not. And most organizations grow, in clunky ways, and we just need to be okay with that and also realize that we've got to take care of ourselves, that this thing is a this thing is a journey. It's a 10-year journey or a 15-year journey. It's not a, you know, 2 or 3 years and it's not a sprint.
Andrew Smallwood
Love that. Okay. That was Matthew Whitaker. Up next is Peter Lohmann. Peter, what's the most important piece of advice you've received as a property management company owner/operator?
Peter Lohmann
Wow, that's a tough one. You know, I just ran into Robert Locke. We're here at the NARPM broker/owner conference, and I remember years and years and years ago when I was new in the business, I can still picture a video of him. In the still picture, he goes, “Property management is a nickel and dime business”. And you can argue a little bit about whether that's as true then as it's true now. And what that really means? Is that great for the consumer? But what that did for me at the time was it opened my eyes that there's more to the business than just a monthly management fee. And so understanding the different ways that you can make money in this business, there's a lot of different ways, that mindset shift was big for me, and it was an unlock that I think has really helped propel my business over the years.
Andrew Smallwood
Can you give some examples of, hey, after say, hey, we're going to do more than just a management fee or more than a tenant placement thing? What were some of those things that you did first where you said, “Okay, this is actually working. It's very effective.”
Peter Lohmann
Yeah. So early days we did we used kind of behavioral fees on the resident side. So you leave dog poop in the yard, there's a fee. You're late with the rent. There's a fee. That's an obvious one. You don't pay your bill, and utility gets disconnected. That's a fee, right? So you can build on the fee structure, and you can you can monetize the resident. And that way to sort of make your job easier by having them comply with the lease. So that was kind of the early days. And it turned me on to things like the lease signing administrative fee. And you can find these fee lists online if you're really interested in learning more about this. And there's even some couses, Todd has a great course, Otto has a course on this. So it was early then. Also, of course there's the maintenance side. So we brought maintenance in-house. We have a maintenance markup. And so you can drive revenue through maintenance as well. And then, resident benefit packages, which is a more recent innovation, is another way that you can layer on fees. You can think about fees as like the residents out and the owner side. So don't don't forget about owners too, right. You can have annual fees for owners and then there's this is how most businesses operate. There's a base fee and then there's ancillary fees. Look at the airlines, look at the hotels. The reality is, are your competitors are shopping you on your base fee? That's an unfortunate reality. And we have to operate in that space. We have to compete in that space. So you need to find ways to have your sort of your sticker price, be competitive but still make a profit. And so, you know, obviously Triple Win has been a big part of that for us.
Andrew Smallwood
Yeah. It's interesting. Everyone has a management fee. I don't know of a property management company that doesn't have one. Or sometimes some will market a 0% maybe. Well that's yeah, pretty uncommon. But there's also not necessarily a consistent definition of what exactly the management fee covers.
Peter Lohmann
100% correct. And that's something I would love to see the industry define.
Andrew Smallwood
Yeah, it'd be easier for consumers to definitely make a comparison and buy interest in that. Hope you enjoyed what Peter had to share next. We've got Pablo Gonzalez. Tell me about the best advice you've ever heard given to property management company owners.
Pablo Gonzalez
Delayed gratification as long as possible. I think, we rush to try to make money and, the longer that you can go without needing to fill your own coffers, the better operation, the better business, the, you know, the more talent you're going to have on your side if you're able to do that. I heard Greg Cohen say in a roomful of real estate investors, made me feel really good about myself because I had been in business for three years and was making a ton of revenue and making no money. So I just think as a business owner in general, that is something that continues to show up, for me as advice. I literally just got the same piece of advice from from Lisa Weise. So, so yeah. So I'm going to apply that to property management.
Andrew Smallwood
Pablo is full of energy, isn't he? Next, we've got Maranda Hunnicutt—Miranda number one; tell me about the most important piece of advice you've been given in your property management career.
Maranda Hunnicutt
Get clear on what you will and will not tolerate.
Andrew Smallwood
Can you tell me more about that? Some examples of that.
Maranda Hunnicutt
I think that that applies across the board. I think it applies to, I love it so much because, I think it applies to tenants, residents, I think it applies to vendors, I think it applies to owners, I think it applies to, employees, contractors. Like what will you tolerate? What are your standards? Be very clear about that. And when it's not to your standards, do something about it. And that doesn't mean terminating a relationship. That means say, hey, this isn't going the way I'm expecting it to. What can we do about it? And then getting there.
Andrew Smallwood
That's great. Can you give like an example? Hey, here's something we used to tolerate. And then now we don't. Or it's something we never wanted to tolerate. Right. But here's something we really enforce now. It's a standard.
Maranda Hunnicutt
We used to tolerate our contractors not getting their bills in. And then our owners were like, why am I getting a bill from three months ago? So we updated our vendor contract and really started enforcing it and calling them and saying, hey, just so you know, you're at 28 days on this bill and on our contract, if it's not done within 30, we're not going to pay you. So I'm not sure what you're doing tonight, but I really hope it's billing.
Andrew Smallwood
No, I can imagine, small business contractor, etc. get caught up actually they try to give again, but that's obviously a bad experience. So hey, having a service level agreement and timeline set up, you know, communicating that, how is that, like, gone as you've, as you've before. So how's that change going for you guys?
Maranda Hunnicutt
It's going well. I think the guy we were having the most problems with, he just kind of laughed it off. And he was like, you know, when y'all started putting me to the pedal on that, I started doing all my billing and my other people are real happy. And I'm like, yeah, because, like, why are you. I don't understand why you're working, and then you don't even want to get paid. Why so many people show up to the door like, you got to pay them before they'll even get in the car to drive to you, and you do all the work and everything, and you're like, what does your cash flow management look like? Like, how are you operating? They like it. They found it's kind of like setting boundaries with kids, you know, like they really do crazy that people really want you to tell them what success looks like. And this means you're doing a great job, and this means you're not, so that they can improve. They really like the boundaries.
Andrew Smallwood
That's great. Great example. Okay. That's Miranda's best advice she's ever received to bring us home Wolfgang Croskey. Wolfgang, tell me about what's the most important piece of advice you've received as a property manager.
Wolfgang Croskey
Learning how to say no. Starting out, people always said you're a third generation. That's a whole nother podcast, but knowing my value and being able to say, nope, that's that's not worth my time. You know, you're you take on any car, any door, whatever. You know, coming from real estate sales, you say yes, everybody. And then you figure out how to make it happen. But I would say for those just starting or you're grasping for something new, learn to say no.
Andrew Smallwood
I love that and be confident. Can you give like a couple examples of something you used to say yes to that now you say no to and why you made that?
Wolfgang Croskey
Yeah. So hey, I know you manage these two properties, but I got these two other ones over here. Can you do it? Yeah. No problem. And now it's like, well, I really don't have vendor relationships over there. I don't have the traffic driving there, all that stuff. So we just say no, but it's not just, you know, you have a nice day. It's like, you know, I don't do it and here's why. It's because, look, when your property is maintenance, I'm not going to be able to get you the best deal, the best value. So let me help you find somebody that covers that area. So it's not just don't just say no and give them the bird, but help them still find a solution. It's just you're not the provider of that solution. You're the connector.
Andrew Smallwood
What I love about that example, where it kind of illuminates for me is there's a way to say no that harms trust. And ask, does this person had my back, are they really here to help me, and there's a way to say it like you just, actually builds trust and says, here, here's the outcome. I'm here to help. You have here's the experience working with us in a relationship we want to have. And this is outside that. So let me help you try to find what you're looking for elsewhere. I think people can see that that value that. But I mean, it's so easy to say, oh, this is a client, a good client, and maybe not think. So it's just easier to reflect.
Wolfgang Croskey
Yeah. I mean, next year, you know, $600 a month manager fee, it wouldn't be that bad. You justify it. You know, you just I think that's when you know you're professionals, when you can turn down money because it's what's best for the client and feel good about it.
Andrew Smallwood
So much about property management seems like understanding where you draw these boundaries on what you do, who you do it for. drawing those lines, clearly honoring them. Right? And hey, if you are going to step outside of it, doing that with intention and understanding, you know, what you're taking on there seems like crucial to success.
Wolfgang Croskey
Yeah, absolutely.
Andrew Smallwood
That's great.
Laura Mac & Carol Housel
And that wraps up another episode of the Triple-Win Property Management podcast. Thank you for pressing play. We hope you've gained valuable insights and inspiration.
The Triple-Win Property Management Podcast is proudly produced and distributed by Second Nature, where we believe in a Triple-Win, building winning experiences for your residents, investors and your teams with the only fully managed resident benefits package. Visit SecondNature.com to learn more and talk to an RBP expert in your area. If you have any questions or comments or want to weigh in on the conversation, we'd love to hear from you. Email TripleWin@SecondNature.com. That's TripleWin@SecondNature.com. Stay connected with us beyond the podcast. Visit our website at SecondNature.com to stay updated with upcoming property management events and articles. And don't forget, you can keep the conversation going in the Triple-Win Property Management Facebook group. It's exclusively for property managers. To receive even more valuable insights and updates, subscribe to our newsletter. You can find the link to that and much more in the show notes. On behalf of the Triple-Win community, this is Laura Mac, thanking you for tuning in. And on behalf of Second Nature, this is Carol Housel. Check back soon for another exciting episode. Until then, keep striving for that Triple-Win.