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As the dust settles from the chaos of the last two years, one thing has become crystal clear: businesses must expect the unexpected. With 2022 coming to a close, insulating your property management agency from disruption and headwinds has never been more important. Here are a few tips your agency should adopt to ensure the long-term health of your business in 2023.
- Focus on the market
With rising interest rates, inflation, and global unrest causing concern for businesses across all industries, it can be tempting to keep your head in the sand and avoid looking at current market trends. However, to future-proof your business for 2023, it is essential to be on top of the economic and demographic forces impacting the property management space. Take pause to look at industry reports, general market commentary and regulatory change in the property space, whilst remaining critical and trusting your intuition.
- Play to your strengths
Different market segments will have different needs, so it’s essential to play up the unique advantages of your property management agency. For instance, if you are a local branch, highlight your “local advantage” and emphasise the deep knowledge you have of the immediate area in which you operate. If possible, physically visit properties you manage, and meet new investors face to face.
If you have embraced new technology, use this to your advantage. Let clients know that you have a “digital employee” looking after their property and tenants 24/7, and explain how your agency is driven not only by experience but also by data and real-time insights.
- Adopt technology that will unlock efficiencies for your agency
One of the most significant issues property managers face is a lack of time, with maintenance requests, inspections and tenant communication leaving them with little time in the day to think strategically about their business. Ongoing labour shortages across the property industry are only adding fuel to this fire.
To cut down on time-wasting admin tasks, agencies should consider investing in productivity-enhancing property management technology to automate activities such as lease renewals and payment reminders. Implementing proptech can give you the time and headspace to focus on long-term business strategy and development by doing away with the minutiae of repetitive admin tasks.
- Fix the process first
Managing agents are always busy, juggling their time between urgent issues, relationship management and business development. But not all interruptions are worth the hit on productivity. To reduce disruption for portfolio managers, restructure into a “task-based” organisation where a dedicated person or function can handle incidentals like maintenance. Once these interruptions are centralised, streamlining and digital automation of those tasks become easier.
- Know your properties back-to-front
Whilst property managers should know the industry like the back of their hand, it’s even more important to have a deep knowledge of every building they manage. Now that COVID-19 distancing requirements have lifted, it’s crucial to prioritise inspections to prevent maintenance issues from arising down the track.
Keeping strict and diligent condition reports for every property you manage will help future-proof your agency and avoid any unpleasant surprises. To keep track of this data, integrate regular inspection reports into your property management software.
Tom Wallace is the chief executive of Re-Leased.
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