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Stacey Moseley
Property managers should start charging clients more, a leading property manager has said.
At the recent Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) North Queensland Convention, held in Townsville, Malcom Riley, of MR Presentations, told principals and agents it was time to start charging more for all the services they offer, no matter how small.
“We are doing too much for free,” he told delegates.
“We are letting society expect way too much of from us and then become frustrated and disillusioned with the industry.”
Mr Riley is a recognised specialist in property management and is a former Queensland REIQ Property Manager of the Year.
With over 22 years of real estate experience, Mr Riley said he has seen the best and worst of the job.
“As property managers we deal with tenants with mental issues, domestic violence, drugs, alcohol, deaths, murder, suicides and most of our clients would have no idea,” he said.
“On the other hand we organise curtain cleaning and a huge list of other things that goes beyond our normal call of duty.”
According to Mr Riley, communicating the extra services you provide to your clients is the first step to increasing fees.
“You must talk to your clients about what it is you offer them and what it is you are being paid for,” he said.
- <p>I agree with Stephen Thompson's comments: agents need to work collectively to increase the fees across the board. At the end of the day it is important for the business to calculate their bottom line per property and determine what they need to charge to survive.</p>0
- <p>Whilst I agree with Malcolm, after 17 years in the industry I still see agents lowering commission to 3% and throwing in 3 months free on top of this, this is brininging property management to a all time low, the whole country needs to get on board. Isnt commercial mangement around 10% I know my work load is worth 10%.</p>0
- <p>Property managers are not appreciated by most landlords nor do they realise what work is involved in keeping up with the rules and regulations. Most property managers do not value there own net worth and discount there services to 5% management and rent collection this is ok if you have a high rent but if it is $300pe you are losing. With the increase of fuel and other costs you cannot sustain a property management business</p>0
- <p>Yes, increases would need to be done gradually over a period of time. Perhaps agents need guidelines on how much to charge for arranging to have curtains cleaned, what to charge tenants who lock themselves out, especially on weekends. We used to charge more if a staff member let them in than when the principal did so. These charges would need to be advised up front, of course.</p>0
- <p>Property Managers charging more has certainly been a trend over the last few years and will continue in the future. We charge more than we did 5 years ago and still have room in our market place to increase our fees further. In the old days property management staff were sourced from a sales person who couldnt make it or a receptionist who was pushed in. That trend has now changed and people actually want to go into property management as a career path, this will continue to allow fees charged to rise as they become a field of their own rather than an offshute to sales. Lets work as an industry to keep the fees up and stop undercutting each other.</p>0
- <p>Mr Riley is quite right many property managers underate their worth and if they were a bit braver could improve the income derived particularly from ancillery fees.<p class='break'>&nbsp;</p>My experience is that with excellent customer service and great communication together with a sensible plan,fees can be increased with little loss of custom.<p class='break'>&nbsp;</p>The added income should come without increase in costs so it goes straight to the bottom line and of course the rent roll value will be enhanced!<p class='break'>&nbsp;</p>Roll play the conversation between owner and Property manager and try renegotiating fees with say 10 or 20 owners to test the water.</p>0
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