New year, new direction for property management

If you hope for success as the manager of a residential property or aspire to become a property manager, your resolutions for the new year may include steps you can take to reach those goals. This may involve continuing your education and training in real estate topics or finding a new and challenging place to work.

Just as the recent global health crisis has affected so many industries, the world of property management has not escaped unscathed. With this career in your future, you will certainly want to think about some of these changes and how you can adapt to reach your goals and provide excellent service to your tenants.

Maintenance and other priorities

Tenant retention is critical for rental property, and the challenges of the past year have made this difficult. Tenuous employment situations may have made it difficult for some tenants to pay their rent. Like many, you may be hoping the economy will improve in upcoming months, but you should be prepared for this uncertainty and do what you can to retain those qualified tenants. This means offering excellent service, including:

• Incorporating more alternatives for face-to-face communication, such as apps, text alerts, email options and others
• Responding to tenant communications quickly and politely
• Finding new and creative ways to sustain social connections among your tenants, such as virtual events, digital happy hours, food trucks or drive-by festivals
• Remaining alert to the changing needs of your residents, potentially including updating the speed of your internet services, offering work areas with social distancing options and providing space for wellness, such as gardens or walking trails
• Creating a web portal where residents can submit requests, pay rent and participate in discussion boards

Because more people continue working and schooling from home, your ability to respond quickly to their needs will be essential. Therefore, developing a system for prioritizing tenant requests and handling maintenance needs as efficiently as possible should be a top goal. To that end, you may plan to build a highly skilled and motivated maintenance staff by hiring talented, trained and educated laborers. The nationwide shortage of such skilled workers means you should be prepared to offer a competitive salary with exceptional benefits to those who qualify.

It is likely that property management in 2021 will be less about appearance and more about experience. If you are willing to adjust to the rapidly changing landscape of this industry, you can significantly improve your chances of success.