Property Managers who work in teams

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by GeorgeStrathos, 10th Apr, 2018.

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  1. GeorgeStrathos

    GeorgeStrathos Member

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    I'm in the process of hiring a new PM.

    A couple of the larger agencies I've spoken to have told me they work in teams or pods.

    How does this generally work?

    Does this mean I need to deal with multiple people or only have the one point of contact?

    Would they all have specific roles they do, or does it just mean they manage more properties all together?

    Thanks for your input.

    G
     
  2. Kassy

    Kassy Well-Known Member

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    They don’t all seem to setup the teams the same way. I’ve had one pm where there was a contact for maintenance/inspections, one for accounts, one for marketing sourcing tenant, one for general queries - worked ok until it didn’t which was mainly from staff holidays or staff turnover. One of mine is still with a ‘team’ but I have a main point of contact and the others are co ordinated through them. I also have a couple where there is a person for accounts and a group of pms’ and I have a specific pm from the group as a contact and their is a BDM as escalation point if needed - I prefer this model.

    Be interested to hear how others are setup...
     
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  3. GeorgeStrathos

    GeorgeStrathos Member

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    Thanks for the insight Kassy.

    Would like to hear from anyone else with dealing with similar scenarios, pros and cons etc.

    Will let you know how I go
     
  4. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    Different places do it differently, ask them who your contact person(s) will be.

    It can work really well when done right. Using good or bad staff can obviously make a difference. Being tech savvy really helps
     
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  5. skyfury

    skyfury Well-Known Member

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    It may mean their turn over rate is very high.
     
  6. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Why?
     
  7. JacM

    JacM VIC Buyer's Agent - Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat Business Member

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    From my observations, things fall through the cracks when there is a task-based system in place where one person handles maintenance, another handles leasing etc. There is often something that doesn't quite fit anyone's brief. Or nobody realizes that nobody else responded to an enquiry.

    There will of course be some agencies that will set it up really well with the help of technology as @D.T. pointed out. But there will be some that will do it very badly indeed.
     
  8. JDM

    JDM Well-Known Member

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    We have a split between leasing, maintenance and accounting which works really well. Owners have a central contact person and the relevant people sit next to each other for easy communication.

    The issue is less about the structure and more about the workload. A property manager that handles 100 properties should deliver much better service than one handling 200 properties. The common issue in the industry is property managers being too busy due to handling too many properties.
     
  9. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    How many properties they can handle depends upon what roles they have though eg a-z vs just certain tasks. Also depends on our tech savvy they are and what systems & efficiencies they've setup.
     
  10. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    The pods circle their prey, then attack. Whether it's a multi-faceted group with experienced players from different specialist areas or just the pms, administrators, accounts etc working in their own silos. I prefer the mixed specialists.
     
    Last edited: 11th Apr, 2018
  11. Michelle Evans

    Michelle Evans Well-Known Member

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    We operate as a team. So we have over 300 properties, I have 15 years experience, Jess have 12 years experience and Nev has 8 years experience. The buck stops with me as the director, but we keep everything / everyone in the loop in case someone is sick or on holidays. I allocate some specific tasks at times, but I'm across the routines, rent reviews, maintenance - we also have a team S*** list on a large white board so we're all aware of any special issues that are being followed up. Portfolio management is great when you have an awesome property manager, but often it turns belly side up when that PM goes on holidays - 4 weeks a year without your main point of contact is where it can fall down.

    Good luck.
     
  12. skyfury

    skyfury Well-Known Member

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    because single point contact always changes
     
  13. Lil Skater

    Lil Skater Well-Known Member

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    Teams/pods/task based management can work very well, if implemented properly and a complete mess if it's not.

    Personally I don't like task based, having worked in an agency that attempted this it was boring, I found most tenants/owners didn't know who to contact and it meant that clients were bounced around the department. This was partly the receptionist not vetting calls properly, partly people not using notes in properties and partly not providing clients with a main point of contact.This was also an agency that had been portfolio based for years and they didn't inform clients what they were doing, so it was difficult and messy to implement.

    Being task based is fine, but I firmly believe your clients should still have the main point of contact - also use checklists, notes etc appropriately and make sure everyone does things the same way so if the main point of contact is away anyone can pick it up in the interim. In this particular agency they decided within 3 months to go back to portfolio's, which was just as confusing because they changed who managed what property - so all of a sudden I had properties in my portfolio that were originally in someone else's and vice versa :mad:

    Team/pod management works a little differently, in most cases this means 2-4 PM's manage a whole portfolio of anywhere between 300-500 properties. Large numbers, but regardless who you speak with they should all be across all properties. Again, if communication within the team is good you shouldn't have any issues and if someone is away it's still reasonably okay to manage (albeit busy).
     
  14. KinG3o0o

    KinG3o0o Well-Known Member

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    i thought its always been team based ?

    PM = maintenance and point of contact for both landlord and tenants

    Accounts always been separate for independence sake

    and leases always done by a BDM or what ever you want to call it.

    the bdm & accounts do help up the PM from time to time but they have their own main role to play.

    each PM have their own portfolio so they are in the know.


    i always thought this was the only setup.. good to know i am wrong.
     
  15. Michelle Evans

    Michelle Evans Well-Known Member

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    It would always depend on the size of the portfolio - I worked once and was the PM, and accounts, and the leasing agent... I had a receptionist, and a manager, this is for over 300 properties (apartments though so not too much distance between places). Other places I've worked I've had a portfolio where I looked after leasing, advertising, maintenance, owners... but accounts was separate as it was a large company - this was one of those times where things could go pear shaped when I went on holidays.
     
  16. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    I do not care, as long as results are good, and this you wont know till knee deep in it......generally.
     
  17. Tom Rivera

    Tom Rivera Property Manager Business Member

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    The usual set-ups are:

    - Portfolio. One Property Manager is the single point of contact for everything to do with all properties they manage. These set ups usually have support staff for administration, leasing, etc.

    - Task Based. Staff members specialize in a particular task across the entire office rent roll; such as leasing, maintenance, routine inspections, etc.

    - Pod. Two Property Managers share a larger portfolio.

    ____________________________________________________________________________

    Portfolio is my personal preferred configuration because I've always found that clients prefer a single point of contact and there is sole accountability (...and I'm a control freak). I personally have an experienced assistant who is almost never a client contact, but is across all the happenings in the portfolio. She gets paid as a full PM (like pod) but I still prefer to be the only point of contact and we both have different skill sets- I like the people, she likes the paperwork.

    Michelle offered a great explanation above for the benefits of a pod set up, people do go on holidays, and even more importantly- many businesses do have unavoidable staff turnover. I would think that hypothetically, from the perspective of a client with investment property(s), a pod set-up is probably the "ideal" configuration (although of course there are a thousand other considerations). It offers a double point of contact and a significantly reduced risk of losing information on changeover of staff.

    I'm a huge critic of task-based and I've never actually seen it implemented successfully. These set-ups are critically subject to high levels of communication between staff, lack accountability and once you factor in staff turnover- clients rarely get to speak to the same person twice!
     
  18. Jennifer Burns

    Jennifer Burns Member

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    Both our Canberra and Sydney agents have set-up the same way;

    - One point of contact for Administration (accounts, maintenance, lease etc)
    - One point of contact for Leasing

    Their reasoning was the 'two different personalities' are required for each part. Seems to work really well.
     
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  19. Tom Rivera

    Tom Rivera Property Manager Business Member

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    Is the leasing contact a Business Development Manager, or a Leasing Officer?
     
  20. Jennifer Burns

    Jennifer Burns Member

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    Leasing consultant which the BDM oversees
     
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