What if Property Management Companies Recruited Like Tech Startups?

Two guests are needed today because our topic is complex: attracting and retaining top talent for your property management firm. The specific challenge is that, according to Forbes, 60 percent of everyone in commercial real estate services will be at retirement age in the next five years. Even if you are a single-family residential property management company, are you attracting younger talent to your company and to the industry? There needs to be a shift from hiring people who just want to make ends meet, which is transactional and creates turnover, to hiring professionals interested in growing in the industry. The guests today are Joe Killinger and George Pino, who are experts in this field. Two sponsors make this show possible: NARPM, the National Association of Residential Property Managers, and PM Grow Summit, the annual educational summit for growth-minded property management entrepreneurs. Introduction: Joe Killinger and George Pino If you visit therrd.com, Joe and George provide resources for real estate services and the property management industry. There is tenant screening, property and renters’ insurance, and other tools. It’s useful for property managers and individual investors. Like many successful Property Management company owners, Joe and George got into the industry by investing in properties themselves. TheRRD is meant to help property management companies build better communities. They understand the challenges of managing properties both as individual investors and as property managers. State of the Job Market in the Property Management Industry A lot of times, the starting pay is pretty low in property management. The numbers are tight and lean, and you won’t necessarily retire on property management unless you get to a large size. Typically, the property management industry tries to recruit people at low income levels. Employee turnover is high, and often they have no interest in growing. They are happy where they are. In order to combat this, there needs to be a fundamental shift of hiring people who are interested in the field as a career rather than people who just want to make ends meet. Turnover costs money. When you lose someone, you have to train someone new and hope they will work. Property management is not a sexy career, so you need to reframe how you’re presenting the opportunity if you are looking for people who are looking to grow. Overcoming the Challenge of Better Recruiting Property management may not be sexy, but the real estate investor is sexy. Plenty of coaches are teaching independence through real estate investing. You can connect that to hiring employees for the property management field. You can position your job offer as learning to become a smart investor on someone else’s dime. People can learn the whole industry this way, from leasing to management to identifying investment opportunities. Go after and look for people who are motivated by something other than a paycheck. Consider reaching people who are interested in property management because they want to become investors. If you can offer them an opportunity to learn how to be a better investor, how to save money, and how to learn from the property management mistakes that have already been made –...