As seen originally in the Colorado Real Estate Journal – Property Management Quarterly – January 2023 

This may be the area you spend the most time, but it’s also the area where you can give the worst impression to one of your most valuable commodities, your owner’s income stream. Are you the nasty property manager who does nothing but enforce rules and never really listens to your client, the tenant? Or are you focused on ensuring that tenant satisfaction is at the top of the scale, so your owner will have the best cash flow in town? Your owner will never be satisfied unless he has satisfied, prosperous and rent-paying tenants. Tenants are both a priority and at times a pain in the neck (or other places). At the same time, the rent they pay pays your management fee and ultimately your paycheck. Yes, they are important, and each one of them has his own special personality.

Focused. Focused property managers really do know their tenants, not just as lease agreements or numbers on the rent roll. They understand the businesses they are in and what makes them tick. How did COVID affect their business? Is it a family business or a big, giant corporation? Who are the real decision-makers, and who gives input to the decision-makers? Do you know what will make it successful as a tenant? Is it all about your rent collections, or can you see your tenant’s needs and work to help her see how the rules fit her needs? Knowing your tenant is about knowing her business and her lease, and her as a person. You need to be someone who can understand and learn the overall needs and issues from a broad and diverse perspective. Gaining this knowledge takes time. Time with the tenant, time reading and researching, and time asking questions. Questions are the best way to be a focused property manager. The more you ask, the more you know. Start your list of questions and bring it to the conversation with each of your tenants.

Inclusive. Who is your favorite tenant? I would expect for most property managers, the easier question to answer is who your most frustrating tenant is. Our job as property managers is to ensure that all our tenants feel they are part of the property team. Each tenant will have his own expectations of what that means. Your job is to ensure that each individual tenant knows that he has a place at the table and his input as well as his needs are just as important as each of the other tenants. This at times becomes a real balancing act. That 1,000-square-foot tenant needs to feel just as appreciated as the 10,000-sf tenant. The one with his name on the building may pay a bigger rent check, at the same time, it is important that every tenant gets superior customer service. Being inclusive with all of your tenants can seem hard at times, but the rewards are satisfied tenants, lower turnover and a happier landlord.

Strategic. Part of your job with your tenant is to know where she is headed. Is the tenant growing or shrinking? Is she having financial problems, or is she doing great? This also means you need to know about the industry she is in. Are you keeping up with the economic activity of the local market, of her industry, and of the regional and national markets? These are vitally important to your tenant. Information about industries can be part of your daily diet on your reading list. Local, regional and national publications give you what you need to know about individual industries, the economy as a whole and other factors that impact your tenants. Your reading list should not be a short one, and don’t forget to include the Colorado Real Estate Journal! While you do not need to know the ins and outs of all aspects of their business, you do need to know how their industry and their specific business is doing. Your owners know, and you should as well.

Dynamic. Relationships with your tenants should be ongoing and varied. Are you only talking to them when the rent is late? You need to know how their individual businesses are performing. The better you know them as individuals and businesspeople, the better you will be able to meet their needs. It is this focus on the tenants and their businesses that will allow you to focus on what is the right thing to do when decisions get tough. You will have all the facts because you have explored all the issues. Tenants do not have to be your best friends, but you should know how their businesses are performing. Interact with them in various ways. Emails and texts are great, but sometimes it is time to pick up the phone and have a conversation. A personal visit, lunch or a cup of coffee with your tenants is a great way to really understand them and their organizations. You need to get to know their needs and issues to be proactive in your relationship with your owner’s tenants. The better you know your tenants, the better your relationship with your owner will be.

Property Management Quarterly January 2023 Edition

www.crej.com

Picture of David W. Hewett

David W. Hewett

Executive Director Property Management, Olive Real Estate Group, Inc.