Property Managers = Equal Partnerships?

I never have been able to figure out whether the Lone Ranger and Tonto were equal partners in the business of fighting against man’s inhumanity to man. There was the Lone Ranger riding Silver merrily along the trail with Tonto doing the bush-basing through the long grass of the prairie.Was that an equal partnership? And any time a ravishingly beautiful blonde damsel in distress popped into the drama, poor old Tonto never got a look in. Was that fair?

For whatever obscure reason, the Lone Ranger and Tonto always make me think of real estate principals and their property managers. Damned good question you ask….why?

You never get to hear when, why and how this mysterious partnership was formed so I’ll let you into a secret. When Tonto was just another troubled Comanche youth, his village was raided by the Mohawks and he was left to die alone on the prairie. A young Lone Ranger happened by and nursed him back to health and for ever after, Tonto was deeply indebted to the masked hero.

Still can’t see the connection?

How many property managers do you know who, fresh out of school, are employed by some Flash Freddie estate agent as a receptionist and as the business grew, was promoted to the heady heights of property manager? How grateful is that young property manager to the kindly principal who provided the opportunity for a ‘career’ in real estate ‘managing ’a property portfolio worth millions of dollars? Eternally!

Now, you may believe the principal acted in a kindly and beneficial manner by employing a young school leaver and providing an opportunity, but would the company’s clients also benefit from this generosity of spirit?

The annals of property management history are documented with tales of young property managers costing their clients thousands of dollars due to their inexperience and lack of knowledge. All you have to do is sit in the back of a Court / Tribunal Hearing and listen to the tales of woe from property owners whose investments have been wrecked and / or whose incomes seriously depleted as a direct result of their property managers’ neglect.

Property management is definitely the most challenging area of a real estate practice and one that has the greatest potential for destroying any business. It remains a mystery as to why the vast majority of real estate principals do not provide comprehensive training, mentoring and constant review of any new member of their property management team. In most cases it’s a “Here’s your desk, there’s the phone, now get on with it” approach to induction into the company.

In any partnership, there are responsibilities on all parties and it’s no different in the partnership between a real estate principal and their property manager. It’s the principal’s responsibility to ensure that their staff member has all the tools and training needed to perform their role at the highest level possible to ensure the company’s clients benefit from their business relationship. It is equally the property manager’s responsibility to willingly undertake the training required and fully utilise the tools provided to achieve this goal.

So it’s a “Hi, Ho Silver. Away” to all real estate principals and here’s hoping you’ll get your collective act together when developing a mutually beneficial partnership with your property managers.

Image Credit: michaelfeil.com