5 Property Management Tests for Commercial Real Estate Owners & Asset Managers

With current depressed real estate values and rents, capable property management is more important than it has ever been. It is the main contributor to value in stagnant real estate markets, because while there are prospects for rent growth on the horizon, rent increases could be two to five years off – depending on the market. Management focuses on conserving and building value NOW.

Most commercial real estate owners outsource the property management functions to a general brokerage firm that offers property management services or to a specialized property management company. Unfortunately, selection of the property management firm is often made with very little due diligence on the qualifications of a firm, the person who will actually be doing the managing, and the knowledge of the specific market where properties reside. Picture standing on a busy sidewalk and handing a stranger a suitcase stuffed with cash. In essence, that is the same as selecting a manager without due diligence, because you are handing the equity in the property to a mere passerby for care and custody.

How do you measure the job a management company is doing? This article attempts to help you figure that out, because it makes even less sense to settle for poor service from a sub-par management company then it does to blame all properties’ problems on th e management company.

Below are five tell-tale tests to check the performance level of your management (if your management service is in-house, this test can also apply).

Test #1 Few, if any, ideas for improvement come from the property manager for ways to improve the physical property or the leasing situation.

You hired a caretaker, not a manager. Managers understand the word “proactive”.

Test #2 Property management reports are irregular and hard to decipher.

There is no excuse for this and the situation is easy to fix. Have an Excel spreadsheet designed to supply only the information you want, or select one of several comprehensive and off the shelf software programs available. Examples of the latter are the MRI, Yardi, Quicken or Property Solutions software programs.

I prefer real-time, online file-sharing between the owner or asset manager and the property manager. This setup does double duty – you can access the information anytime you need it for a lender, partners, upper management, etc. Plus, real-time reporting will insure that the property manager won’t wait until the day before a property report is due to actually do something related to your real estate. A simple, inexpensive service like Go to My PC can set up a multiple user system and share management reports.

Test #3 The person you’d hired to manage the property seems to have disappeared and someone else is managing the asset.

You have experienced “bait and switch”, a situation where the well-rounded resume of an experienced manager lands the business for the firm but then it is it goes to an underling or trainee for handling. This happens in both very large national firms and in small local management firms. Protect yourself by putting a “Key Man” clause in the agreement that gives you an ‘out’ if the person you thought you’d hired isn’t actually on the job, or quits.

Test #4 The management firm location is some distance from the managed property and you are not certain how often the property is physically visited by a property manager.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, takes the place of property site visits. A property manager’s responsibility includes ongoing routine contact with tenants. That way, when lease renewal time comes up, there is no unnecessary re-negotiation or delay. Personally, I prefer hiring property managers who live and work in the same market as the property over a big- name firm in a nearby city. If there is not a qualified property manager in the local market and you must use someone in a nearby city, be very specific about requiring periodic on-site visits and what you want to know after each visit. Your manager needs to talk to the tenants face to face before problems arise, and emails, tweets or phone calls are no substitutes!

Test #5 You receive regular reports about the property, but no information about the real estate market where the property sits.

Your manager is doing half the job. To make educated decisions about assets, an owner or asset manager must understand how their property compares to others in the market and what factors are impacting the local scene. A market condition report is not a canned demographic service report from a subscription service – it is a first- hand, feet on the street report analysis.

A good property manager is invaluable and should receive incentives for peak performance. If the above tests indicate that your current management doesn’t measure up, it is time to have a heart-to-heart discussion. Incorporate the above requirements in to the management agreement. That way, if there is no improvement, you are free to look for other options among the competitive firms vying for business.

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.

Let us all admit that whenever you work at home it does not take long for things to become chaotic. This is because having a company as well as a home lifestyle does not gel together. However, if it is always your wish to own your work at home business; here are five home based business strategies you can apply in order to get the success you are looking for.1. Organize Yourself and BusinessThe two main aspects your home based business must have are your work area, as well as your time. When there isn’t any method or organization in your company as well as your home living, it is possible for you to be completely stressed out 24 hours a day. You will not have a clear start or finishing time, plus your place of work will become a mess the whole day. Try to organize essential records in document folders, and put them in a filing cupboard. Additionally, when you are filing, cautiously carry out labeling for customers tax details, finances, building contractors, providers, and so on. Keep things to do list on your own desk throughout the day, and tick them as soon as the task is completed.Even when your customers know that you work at home; there needs to be fix working hours when you can be reached. One example is, if someone is generating an income on the internet they should remember to supply a get in touch with form so that people can contact them on a twenty-four seven (24/7) service, By doing this they will set up their online business boundaries so that they won’t be getting phone calls through the entire evening hours. An additional way to make sure that company message or calls remain inside the appropriate perimeters is to arrange an independent business telephone line that has an answering machine. This allows you to keep track of messages or calls that occur after working hours without you getting trapped in using the telephone 24 hours a day.2. Telephone AppointmentsTry to keep your appointments regardless of whether it is face-to-face or via the telephone. Collect all relevant details about your customer prior to making the phone call. You see, the consumers will know if you are rushing about for documents or someplace apart from your working environment. Choose a peaceful location for your business phone calls so that your calls are free from background disturbances such as children crying, and so on. In most cases your customers will have an understanding of when they hear your children talking (at the back) a couple of times, however, if this takes place frequently some customers may doubt your professionalism and trust.3. Develop a Professional PictureUse items such as letterheads, pamphlets, business cards, custom-made labelling, and so forth to create a professional picture of your work at home enterprise. Items that are printed using your company logo will enable consumers, and colleagues to realize that you are seriously interested in helping them. Should you have an internet site, make sure that you add the address of your website to your letterhead and envelopes. Use pamphlets to generate more income by publishing a diverse pamphlet for every service or product range offered. Remember e-mail advertising, and post cards to past clients. These things are not only inexpensive, but they are very effective if you want to send birthday celebrations, special deals, promotions, vacations, recommendations, and so forth to your customers.4. Send Out Express Thanks Cards to Customers Cards written by hand to say thank you continues to be valuable in developing devotion and confidence with consumers. These small express thanks cards can do a lot, but they must not be utilized to market your up coming deals. Just compose a basic note saying thanks for his or her business; write the envelope with your own writing (not typed), and post it two or three days following a purchase of your product. You will be amazed at just how much this simple action can boost your consumers trust in you.5. Maintain Accurate Documents Keep a documentation of everything that happens in the business; such as things that takes place from day-to-day, or once a week objectives, to company accounts due, and company accounts receivable information. Even if you are not hectic, you must maintain accurate documents every day to guarantee organization once your company increases. In case you have numerous employees, it is better to employ a pay-roll accountant to maintain personnel pay out, and income taxes. An accountant also can help with general business financial situation, and taxation all through the year as your home based business develops.Since you learn to generate money with a home based business, understand that working at home isn’t a lot diverse from other companies. With the right organization, and marketing your home based work at home business is likely to develop, and become successful.