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Raine & Horne Darwin’s assistant general manager and part owner, Ilyse Elphick, recognised as one of Australia’s best property managers, says that property management represents “the capital” of a real estate business.
Ms Elphick said that it has a big role to play in the success of the agency, no matter the market that you service.
“It’s the asset you get to sell at the end of the day and it makes you money to keep your doors open when the sales market falters, as is currently the case in Darwin.”
She said that a good PM should have extremely good time management skills and the ability to read situations and respond accordingly.
“I don’t think any two owners or any two tenants are the same,” the property manager said.
“You need to adapt to the situation and the personality of the person you’re dealing with. If you can achieve this, you’re more likely to have better outcomes overall.”
She also said that communication is critical.
“As long as you’re communicating, owners and tenants don’t think there is just dead air. They know that you’re actually doing something.”
Uniquely Darwin
Ms Elphick said that keeping an open mind is also important, as dealing with unique and unusual events is part of the job, especially in Darwin.
To wit, she added that she recently dealt with damage caused by a flying quad bike that crashed through a kitchen wall.
“The tenant was just riding up and down the driveway and lost control and the bike flew through another tenant’s window,” Ms Elphick shared.
She also tells a story of a colleague that had a “terrifying shock” at a tenant vacate.
“She opened the laundry cupboard and discovered a king brown snake curled up in the laundry cupboard,” Ms Elphick said.
“Now when our PMs head out to some rural location for a vacate, they take a colleague because snakes just aren’t our thing at Raine & Horne Darwin.”
Ms Elphick said that anyone considering a career in property management should have “crocodile-like” thick skins.
“You must be a multi-tasking person who thrives whether you’re having good days or bad days,” the property manager said.
“You’ve also got to understand that you cannot clear everything off your desk every day. That said, if you can consistently go above and beyond for your owners, they won’t go anywhere else.”
Born and bred in Darwin, Ms Elphick took home the BDH Cup, an annual award recognising the best senior administrative officer involved with a real estate agency in Australasia, at the Real Estate Agency Best Practice Awards in 2013.
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