How Property Management Leaders Can Achieve Better Work-Life Balance

Growth Opportunities: The Iceberg Report Right now in the United States, there are about 22 million single family rental homes and multi-family rental properties that have up to four units. Out of these, 14.3 million, or 65 percent, are self-managed by the investor or landlord. This offers a vast opportunity to the 32,000 small or mid-sized property management companies. There are a lot of social and economic factors that keep rentals in high demand. Over the next five years, about 8 million single family rentals will come into the professional management market. The opportunity is clear, and to take advantage of these opportunities, it’s important and necessary to establish trust between property managers and landlords and investors. This is one of the divides that’s keeping property managers from growing and acquiring new business. To effectively win all the new business that’s available in local management markets, property management companies need to demonstrate their value and give landlords and investors who have been managing on their own a reason to trust that their properties are better off with professional management. Tony LeBlanc and the Need to Establish Balance Any problem in an organization can be traced to the top. If the leadership is off balance, the team will never reach its potential. The CEO’s mood or the director’s attitude affects the team. Tony LeBlanc is a successful property management entrepreneur, and he made the choice to balance himself and his team to achieve better results. The business is growing and thriving because of his efforts. He spoke to Alex about the need to balance personal and professional goals, and why it matters to property management executives. Tony is from New Brunswick, Canada. He owns and operates a property management company, Ground Floor Property Management, with three locations, and he’s been in business for eight years. He was born into the field; as a child he lived in a building where his mother was the resident property manager. Tony worked in the technology field after college and began investing in real estate. Then, he got back to property management and built a company that went from 0 units to 1,000 units in two years. Advice for Fast Growth: Call Everyone This type of fast growth came from calling everyone he knew. Tony called all the Realtor friends he worked with previously and used his relationships and connections to quickly establish himself. There was a snowball effect from picking up the phone and letting people know he was in business. Property management is a people business and a relationship business. It’s hard to earn new business sitting in the office. Go out and meet every Realtor in town and anyone associated with the rental business. Connect and create relationships to increase the amount of business you’re doing. Fourandhalf note: We were at the recent Inman Connect San Francisco 2017 – Real Estate Conference, where high-powered real estate agents meet to stay ahead of the industry. Of the real estate agents we spoke to, the majority of them did not have a relationship with any of the property management companies in their community. It is important for property management owners to be aggressive in conveying their value propositions to people like real estate agents, where there is a great opportunity for a mutual partnership. Sponsor for Today’s Podcast – NARPM