ELITE PM Issue 02 Sep Oct 2015 [FULL]

READER SURVEY:

FIND OUT MORE ON PAGE 31

LEARN FROM THE BEST #02 OCT/NOV 2015 AU$9.95 + POSTAGE

LESSONS LEARNT IN REALLY BIG BUSINESS 5 STEPS TO DESIGNING THE IDEAL WEEK

WHO’S BEHIND THAT DOOR? SAFETY TIPS FOR PMs

THE MATHEMATICS OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT WITH BOB WALTERS FRONT DESK TO BUSINESS OWNER

LAURA LEVISOHN IMPLEMENTING NEW TECHNOLOGY AS A TEAM MAKING INSPECTIONS EASY

Contents Regulars 004 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Mark Woschnak 006 READER PROFILE Katrina Burns, RE/MAX Hills & Country 008 UPFRONT News from the community 009 NUMBER CRUNCH Property Management Technology 016 BD MASTERY: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR GROWTH SO FAR?

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Tara Bradbury 018 P M MENTOR: IMPLEMENTING NEW TECH AS A TEAM Natalie Hastings 021 SEEN + HEARD: ARPM 2015 036 PM Q&A Louise Noakes, Justin Ferguson Property Specialists 040 THE LAST WORD Fiona Blayney

First Person 010 IT’S PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE Michelle Delaney 012 LESSONS LEARNT IN A REALLY BIG BUSINESS Brock Fisher 014 WHY I LOVE CASH-FLOW POSITIVE INVESTING Jason Wright

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Cover Story 022 FRONT DESK TO BUSINESS OWNER Laura Levisohn

Features 026 WHO’S BEHIND THAT DOOR? Bob Barrington 028 MAKING INSPECTIONS EASY Fiona McEachran 030 5 STEPS TO DESIGNING THE IDEAL WEEK Jo-Anne Oliveri 032 DIRECT CONNECT SPECIAL Adding new services for your clients 034 THE MATHEMATICS OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Bob Walters 037 PROPERTY MANAGERS GET MOBILE: MyMobilePM 038 LIFE’S TOO SHORT Trav Bell, The Bucket List Guy

38

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ISSUE 02 OCT/NOV 2015

epm.eliteagent.com.au MARK WOSCHNAK – Guest Editor mark@rent.com.au SAMANTHA MCLEAN – Managing Editor samantha@eliteagent.com.au MARK EDWARDS – Commercial Director mark@eliteagent.com.au JILL BONIFACE – Sub-Editor TARA TYRRELL – Feature Writer HERMANSYAH ASRORI – Web Master newsroom@eliteagent.com.au CHORUS DESIGN – Art Direction/Design thegoodpeople@chorusdesign.com DAVID BROADWAY - Cover photo shoot david@davidbroadway.com

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Postal Address: Suite 35, 4 Young Street, Neutral Bay NSW 2089 Telephone (02) 8231 6669 Registered by Australia Post/Print Post 100020180 EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS The publisher welcomes editorial submissions from individuals and organisations within the real estate profession. The publisher reserves the right to edit, modify, reject or contribute to the content of the material provided.

Some opinions expressed in Elite Property Manager Magazine are not necessarily those of its staff or contributing editors. Those opinions are reproduced with no guarantee of accuracy although Elite Property Manager Magazine endeavours to ensure those opinions and comments are factual.

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4 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

FROM THE GUEST EDITOR MARK WOSCHNAK CEO RENT.COM.AU

F

FIRSTLY, I’D LIKE to pass on my hearty congratulations to Samantha and her team for the launch of this magazine, which marks a milestone achievement in the evolution of our property management industry.

There is an abundance of information, trends and research that is yet to arrive and be shared in this evolving industry, and this new magazine helps bring together the many parts we all need to be aware of, contribute to and learn from.

In the first edition, we saw some great insight from exceptional people across a number of

topics. Engagement and communication between property managers and sales departments, the strategies for rent roll growth and efficiency, dealing with new systems and technology, personnel aptitudes and training are all important and current themes in these changing times.

This issue puts the spotlight on different types of technology available in property management, so with the privilege of a somewhat ‘helicopter view’ of the industry, I thought I’d share some observations that come from years of focusing on the rental process and PM teams, working with over 6,400 agencies, about 60 portal and software uploaders, dozens of service providers and feedback from over 350,000 renters every month.

From my own perspective, I started Rent.com.au over seven years ago and, like any growing business, have had to deal with the impact of technology, its efficiency in one place and its social and commercial impacts in another. Having had all the challenges faced by a growing small business, I

We all want better technology, but more than half the industry has not capitalised on the opportunity these mediums present.

can say the most important thing I’ve learned is to fit the use and adoption of new technology to suit the stage of business you’re in at any time. In the past 12 months we’ve experienced a 250 per cent growth in traffic, people and services, and again I am reminded about the fine balance of people and technology.

It’s clear the property management world today recognises a need to improve efficiency. A number of new technologies are being introduced to achieve this, including Property Condition Reports, Maintenance Programs and Inspection Management Systems, which will continue to improve in ease of use and flexibility.

Our recent market feedback indicates that the great

majority of property managers want to embrace new technology, but not even half (44 per cent) believe technology makes their life easier. Video and digital floorplans are emerging, but over 80 per cent of the industry is incorporating this new product-related technology in less than 25 per cent of their listings.

The verdict is out: we all want better technology, but more than half the industry has not capitalised on the opportunity these mediums present. It’s a classic case of the 80/20 rule, where some adaptive and IT-progressive agencies are making headway, and most agencies are catching up in their implementation because there are real issues of cost and training.

Trends also show that core technology tools, such as iPads and smartphones, are fast being used to improve presentations and referral programs. We’re also seeing a move towards services and applications shifting to the increasing flexibility of cloudbased computing.

Moving forward, I can see a renewed focus on the modern renter and how they interact with websites. Their expectations when looking at a property are undoubtedly going to increase in line with faster internet. 3D virtual tours, which a renter can conduct from the comfort of their own home, are one such example.

Further to that, I think the ability for an agent and tenant to interact through a video feed has enormous potential, offering the opportunity for remote inspections.

Other likely outcomes of technological advancement will be the further automation of paperwork processing, end to end. We’d be looking at advancements such as digital signatures and a better identification system to make that possible.

Services and portals dedicated to the renting process, such as Rent.com. au, will also improve the way properties are showcased to renters. There’ll be better ways for renters to filter and find what they’re looking for, with more intuitive searching.

Rent.com.au was started because I saw huge growth and opportunity in property management, the unaddressed needs of the renter and landlord, and that as an industry overall it lacks the empowerment it deserves.

As such, this magazine is fantastic and we look forward to continuing to raise the recognition of and support all property managers, and of course renters, for whom renting is becoming more of a long-term lifestyle choice.

Technology and its rapidly changing landscape will continue to grow, inspire and shape the industry. It’s exciting and dynamic - but at the end of the day it will always be the people and the quality of our relationships that make all the difference.

It’s all about finding your place and the right balance between technology and people skills as differentiators.

There are many stories that pay tribute to this, and we should all stop to celebrate the achievements in property management along the way.

Enjoy the read.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 5

READER PROFILE

TEAM SPIRIT Katrina Burns is a property manager with RE/MAX Hills & Country in Mt Barker, South Australia. Very much respected as a ‘no nonsense’ person with a careful attention to detail, Katrina controls the financial matters associated with running the property management department, ensuring it operates efficiently and to a high standard. She has also lived and worked in the north-west of Western Australia, been through a Category 5 tropical cyclone and loves to travel overseas.

What motivated you to get into property management?

Property was always an interest of mine. I’d already decided before I finished year 12 that I wanted to pursue a real estate career. I studied my first course online; after receiving my first real estate certificate I applied for and obtained my first property management position, and I’ve never looked back! I continued to study, gaining qualifications in accounting, business, real estate sales, commercial property and agency management.

After moving from Western Australia to South Australia, I began working with RE/MAX Hills & Country. This is now my eighth year with RE/MAX. What have been your biggest challenges so far?

RE/MAX Hills & Country was a small portfolio when I started. We had two property

6 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

management staff to begin with, then we experienced rapid growth and the portfolio grew to four times its original size. We restructured our entire department, introduced new software, redeveloped our policies and procedures, and employed and trained additional staff – all while maintaining our impeccable reputation and our high service level for our clients.

Who inspires you?

It would have to be all of the staff at RE/MAX Hills & Country.

We have the most dedicated and hard-working property management, administration and sales teams.

In your briefcase right now is…

I always carry my laptop, diary, notebook, business cards, USB stick and pens.

Tell us about something you couldn’t live without.

That would be my property management team. Every department needs a strong team that understands the requirements, supports each other and gets along well, and we’re fortunate to have a team like this. Our newest

property manager started with RE/MAX three months ago and the transition has been very easy. It’s a team that has the feel of having worked together since day one.

What are your technology must-haves?

My mobile phone, laptop and remote access. Together they give me the flexibility to be able to work from anywhere and attend to everything I need to when I need to.

What do you most enjoy about Elite Property Manager magazine?

There’s always something you can learn and take away from it. New ideas, something you can improve on and the advice and stories of others in the same industry.

What advice would you give someone just starting out in property management?

Training, training and more training. Learn as much as you can. Be professional and make communication a top priority for your clients. ■

Every department needs a strong team that understands the requirements, supports each other and gets along well.

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ALPPPS summit offers game changing leadership strategies Jam-packed with gamechangers, ALPPPS™ is a two-day property management leadership summit exclusively for principals, PM team leaders and career property managers who want to raise the bar in their business or career.

Taking place on 3-4 March 2016 on the Gold Coast, day one is headlined by the winner of season one’s The Apprentice Australia and Head of Business Development at Yellow Brick Road, gamechanger Andrew Morello.

Founding his first business at age 15, Morello now works alongside Yellow Brick Road’s Executive Chairman, Mark Bouris, and is shaking up the property industry. ireviloution Managing Director and ALPPPS™ Founder, Jo-Anne Oliveri, said Morello will teach delegates the power of zigging when others zag.

“Never be afraid to do things differently.

Morello is an expert risk-taker and delegates will come away feeling inspired and empowered by his business and leadership strategies that go against the grain,” Ms Oliveri said.

Day two of the summit will see international social media speaker and gamechanger, Adam Franklin, teach delegates cutting-edge ways to use social media to build their online brand and attract more clients.

Co-author of Amazon No. 1 bestseller Web Marketing That Works and co-founder of web marketing firm Bluewire Media, Franklin’s No. 1-ranked Australian business blog is shaking up the way businesses use social media.

“A trailblazer in his field, Adam’s innovative and powerful technology strategies will show delegates how they can use social media to take their business and career to the next level,” Ms Oliveri said.

Other gamechangers speaking at ALPPPS™ include one of America’s top motivational speakers, Richard Flint, international business coach Jacob Aldridge, Principal of ManageMe Peter Gibson, and many more.

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8 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

The name’s Bond… RentBond Coming up with the bond money between rentals is just one of the financial worries your tenants are likely to encounter. Now there’s a way to change that with RentBond.

Needing to find money for a bond at the same time as moving house is often a big issue for renters.

That’s where RentBond comes in. Offered exclusively through rent.com.au, RentBond is a revolutionary new bond payment plan designed to take the stress away from renters and make your job easier.

Your tenants will love you for this. If they haven’t received their bond back yet, you can provide a smooth and helpful solution to this issue. And best of all? This service comes at no cost to you.

It’s a smrter way for tenants to pay their bond. As a rent. com.au property manager, you have exclusive access to this product. A dedicated ‘admin centre’ will assist you. It’s security for you – because once a renter uses RentBond, the payment is 100 per cent guaranteed.

It gives renters an option to spread their payment over three to six months under a fully managed

RentBond scheme. You will still receive the full bond payment upfront.

It’s a win-win situation, offering a seamless transition for renters moving from one property to the next.

Renters can get up to $2,500, and there is no interest ever to be paid.

Your tenants can apply for RentBond online by visiting rent.com.au.

So now, your tenants have more cash to pay their rent – and you? A martini shaken, not stirred, of course!

Find out more at rent.com.au/agents/rentbond.

CONVERT SALES ENQUIRIES INTO MANAGEMENTS WITH REALESTATEBOOKINGS.COM Growing the rent roll just got easier. Realestatebookings.com enables business development managers (BDMs) to source fresh investor opportunities on a daily basis, providing more opportunity to convert them into landlords and power your rent roll growth.

For many years Realestatebookings' residential sales lead platform has been available to investors who make property enquiries online. But smart BDMs are using this as a total office lead engagement platform where they can follow up any fresh investor opportunities that are captured into the realestatebookings database.

Even if the investor buys an investment property through another agent, building relationships with investors can generate good business; they may still be keen for your agency to manage any properties purchased if their initial enquiry is handled well. You can develop rapport by assisting the investor on investment

decisions such as location, market appraisal, and rates of return.

The BDM platform enables your staff to nurture investors through the life cycle - from enquiry to sign-up. An automatically created investor database becomes a valuable digital asset for your office which can be used to keep in touch with them via market updates, investor newsletters and seminars.

According to Managing Director of Realestatebookings.com, Greg McCutcheon, when an investor inquires on a property their information is usually bundled with all other enquiries and pushed through a sales process.

“Unfortunately these valuable opportunities may never make it over to the BDM in the property management department. This potential lead can then sit in the salesperson's inbox and may go stale. Our system allows these leads to be sent to other departments, providing easier collaboration between teams.”

Visit realestatebookings.com.

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P 00 0000 0000 E s.marsh@boutiquepp.com 56 Chapel Road, Ashdan Valley, Your State 0000

Sarah Marsh | 0412 345 6789

Fridge Calendars – promote your profile all year round In an increasingly competitive and fluctuating market, the need for agents to build their profiles within their community is more prevalent than ever. Whilst technology and social media have changed the way consumers shop, it is often a faceless medium and most agents would agree that printed media is still the most effective way of building your profile.

Fridge calendars are a fantastic, cost-effective way to promote yourself and will literally stick around all year round. What better way to build your profile than to have your face or your logo sitting in pride of place on a fridge, 24/7 every day of the year. The kitchen is the hub of any home and the fridge in particular is a point of constant access. Fridge calendars are a proven method of instilling your brand into a consumer, making you top of mind when they need the services of a good agent. Fridge calendars have a unique utility as a promotional tool, having a functional purpose in any home or office and being visible to multiple people over a sustained period.

Printforce offers the largest range of fridge calendars for real estate agents in Australia, in a choice of card calendars with a magnet attached to the back, or as total magnet calendars featuring a heavy duty, fully magnetic back.

With a variety of styles, shapes, sizes and quantity options to suit every agency, every agent, every location and every budget, Printforce calendars are uniquely designed and manufactured in Australia, meaning local quality assurance and much faster turn-around times.

For more information visit printforce.com.au.

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FIRST PERSON

Michelle Delaney

It’s people who make the difference IN AN INDUSTRY WHERE TECHNOLOGY IS NECESSARY for

productivity, Michelle Delaney argues that what really makes the difference in property management is people.

The concept of a ‘landlord’ can be traced back to the Roman Empire. Back then, peasants were bound to the land, dependent on their landlords for protection and the provision of justice. As time has passed, the basic concept of the landlord providing a person with shelter still exists; but today

and mortar, it’s true. But without the landlords who own the properties and the tenants who live in them, a property management business cannot exist. So given this, why do most property management businesses focus solely on the product and not the people?

In an industry that ultimately hinges on client interaction,

ALL STAFF MUST KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THE TRUE NATURE OF THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP AND DO WHAT’S NECESSARY TO FOSTER IT, RATHER THAN JUST THINKING ABOUT THE PRODUCT. it’s overlaid by influences from courts, legislation and the general evolution of what we now know as property management.

Advances in business, education and technology have shaped the industry we’re in today.

But let me ask you this question: is it the industry that’s different, or are we different?

I have a firm belief that property management is all about relationships. The product we deal in is bricks

impact on our industry over time, with more platforms released into our markets; but a question here is ‘Does the industry truly understand the power of technology or just rely on it as a tool that collects, transfers, records and houses data?’ We must understand technology will only perform to its full capacity when we have a solid understanding of its use and its potential in the hands of trained staff.

The industry is already moving towards providing a complete suite of investment

communication and customer service, we seem to get caught up in the transaction rather than focusing our attention on fostering solid relationships. I often hear the saying ‘clients for life’ being thrown around, but do we as an industry really believe this is possible? If we do, then clearly our industry has to be about people.

Furthering this concept, it’s critical business owners and leaders ensure they have the right people inside their business. All staff must

10 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

know and understand the true nature of the client relationship and do what’s necessary to foster it, rather than just thinking about the product. As an industry we struggle in the recruitment sphere, essentially stemming from the fact that property management is not seen as a real profession but rather just a rent collection and maintenance service.

As leaders in the industry, we must ensure we have a stronger focus on learning and development, offering career paths to people, understanding the true meaning of leadership inside real estate businesses and knowing what our industry is really about.

The technology space has also had a significant

services, delivering a broader range of knowledge and client services to the marketplace. When our people understand the needs of both tenant and landlord and are able to satisfy them effectively, the concept of clients for life becomes not only a possibility, but an achievable reality. ■

MICHELLE DELANEY has been in real estate for almost 30 years. Her commitment and dedication to property management has seen her win major awards throughout her career, both interstate and nationally.

She heads up the Franchise Operations as General Manager of Living Here.

For more information visit livinghere.com.au.

E G D I R F S R A D N CALE R O D R CA TOTAL T E N G A M 2016

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Phone: 100 234 Email: t.le e@remax.co 5678 m. au

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FIRST PERSON

Brock Fisher

Lessons learnt in a really big business

BROCK FISHER TAKES AN HONEST LOOK back at the learning

curve he experienced when he joined Rental Express after managing a much smaller rent roll.

Before Rental Express, the biggest department I had worked in managed 500 properties. Now, working in a multi-layered business looking after 4,500 properties, with organic growth of 900-plus properties per year, has been quite an eye-opening experience.

Despite the challenges, there are great advantages to having a really large business which make it worth the effort. Economies of scale and the ability to spread resources and develop new things are big advantages. If you have a rent roll of 200 and spend $10,000 developing an owners’ app, that’s $50 per property. If you have 5,000 properties it’s only $2 per property!

The learning curve has been steep and confronting at times. However, it doesn’t matter how big your team is; the following has relevance in businesses of any size.

IT’S ABOUT TIME I could sum it up in one word, but that wouldn’t make for particularly good reading, so let me elaborate a little further.

I have a whole new understanding and an acute appreciation of the value of time that I never had before.

Both my time, and the time of others. The time it takes to do things, all things. The huge value in saving time. Where and how I am spending my time. Whether what I am doing at any given point in time is adding value.

This article could easily have

big deal. But multiply that by 20 and all of a sudden there goes the working week and all of the core duties that should be getting done.

I have learnt so much from the talented team I am fortunate to work with, but here are four of my favourites.

DON’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM. INSTEAD COACH, SUPPORT AND GUIDE OTHERS TO SOLVE THEIR OWN DIFFICULTIES.

DON’T GIVE THEM A FISH, TEACH THEM TO FISH BY COACHING Deeply embedded in my personality is a need to solve problems in a fantastic way because no one could possibly do it as well as I could – or at least that what I thought. It took me quite some time to realise just how selfish and egotistical that is.

While solving a problem may give me a nice feeling of satisfaction, it is hugely problematic for any business in a number of different ways.

One person spending 10 hours solving problems is nowhere near as efficient as 10 people taking one hour to solve the same number of problems.

Being the chief problemsolver in a business stifles the development of your team because it fails to upskill and grow them, leaving them less engaged and motivated in their roles. They do not get the morale boost that

been called ‘Realisations of a non-delegating perfectionist’, or perhaps even ‘Ways you could be inadvertently stifling your business’. I have found that working in a really big business amplifies all the habits and tendencies you already had but were possibly oblivious to.

Previously, if I lost an hour here and there solving problems for team members instead of coaching them how to do it, or dabbling in things that other people were also dabbling in, it wasn’t such a

12 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

1

comes with improvement and achieving things they doubted they could do.

So don’t solve the problem.

Instead coach, support and guide others to solve their own difficulties. With greater skills come fewer problems and better outcomes. Get your team members into the habit of bringing at least one possible solution when they bring a problem, and guide them to reach their own solutions rather than telling them what to do – or worse still, just doing it yourself.

One of the easiest ways to do this is when someone on your team comes to you with a snag ask them the simple question, ‘What do you think we should do?’ You might be surprised that nine times out of 10 they already know the answer. And if they don’t, follow up with ‘What are our options?’

Sometimes all a team member needs is someone to endorse or validate that they are on the right track when they are having a moment of self-doubt.

2

DELEGATING CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE Having spent 15 years as a notorious non-delegator, two years ago I discovered delegation and it has quite literally changed my working life. I just never really ‘got it’, I told myself, but the reality is I just resisted letting go and allowing others to shine.

I can thank our General Manager, Tara Williams, for the simple clarity imparted

by Figure 1 that assisted the proverbial penny to drop.

Leveraging the numbers and talents of our team gets things done faster and keeps our business moving at a brisk pace. Relying on one, two or even three people to implement all the improvements around a business just results in things

FIGURE 1: BROCK’S GUIDE TO DELEGATION Is it operations related?

Yes

No, it’s property management

Can someone else handle this?

Yes Great! Give it to them.

Pass it to Tara.

YOU CAN’T BE EVERYWHERE CHECKING TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE DOING A GREAT JOB, WHICH IS WHY YOU NEED EASY-TO-FOLLOW SYSTEMS AND GREAT REPORTING.

No Really? I don’t believe you.

OK, do it yourself OK, do it yourself.

never getting done, or taking an eternity to complete.

Coincidentally, two years ago I also put a Virtual Assistant on to handle much of the monthly reporting and compliance checks in the business that I was doing at the time. Rizelle is faster and more accurate than I was, and this alone saves me on average 15 working weeks a year – time that I can spend improving, developing and moving the business forward.

I have also been able to create and implement a whole range of extra checks and balances that I always wanted to do but never had the time.

In relation to the above two points, let me just say this:

OK, maybe Great! Give it to someone else.

If you give a team member the chance to shine, they generally will.

3

IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT Our Director, Chris Rolls, gave me a simple insight into what is actually really important to develop a growing business when he drew me a picture similar to Figure 2. It is the ‘important but not urgent’ things that result in efficiency gains and business advancement. These are the things in business where you find yourself using sentences that go a bit like ‘It would be great if we could…’, or ‘I wish this flowed better’, or ‘That’s not user-friendly –

FIGURE 2: THE URGENT IMPORTANT MATRIX

Urgent and unimportant

Urgent and important

URGENT

Not urgent and not important

Unurgent and important

IMPORTANT

why don’t we….?’

The challenge is that managers and department heads often spend most of their time getting bogged down on the urgent and important things – things that need doing now, sorting out the never-ending spot fires that happen in a property management department.

But this means that the improvement and growth of the business can falter because it’s not being worked on consistently, and stagnation is the result.

Putting it another way, you need to spend time working on the department and not in it. That’s where real progress comes from. Since I discovered delegation and changed my approach to problem-solving I have been able to spend a lot more time working in this space.

4

GET COMPLIANCE SYSTEMS RIGHT FROM THE START If you are going to be big you are going to be noticed and scrutinised, so you’d better be ready for it. Legislative compliance does not take into account business scale in any way. For example, the 10 days permitted to lodge a bond is the same 10 days whether you manage 200 properties or 4,500 properties.

But the checks and safety nets needed to ensure compliance in a 200-property office are vastly different to the checks and safety nets needed in a five-office, 4,500-property operation.

Exponentially different, in

fact; but it is still the same 10 days, so you need to be slick, streamlined and operate with bullet-like precision.

You can’t be everywhere checking to make sure people are doing a great job, which is why you need easy-to-follow systems and great reporting to catch the things that will inevitably be missed. Mistakes exist in all businesses, because humans make errors. It’s how you find and solve these that really counts.

If you skimp on your systems, compliance and data entry in the beginning, it will bite hard later. Thinking that little bit longer, harder and more bigpicture, and getting it right from the beginning, saves you a world of pain in the future.

When you find that you haven’t captured a particular piece of data or information effectively and you need to change the way you do it, it is painful to have to update 200 property files. But when you have to update 4,500 files, you learn very quickly to give it more time at the start.

Time is a precious commodity, so make sure you are maximising the use of yours. ■

BROCK FISHER commenced his property management career in 1998 and is a licensed real estate agent.

Brock works as Chief Operations Officer at Rental Express in QLD, one of Australia’s largest and fastest growing specialist property management businesses with a rent roll of approximately 4,500 properties.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 13

FIRST PERSON

Jason Wright

Why I love cash-flow positive investing

JASON WRIGHT EXPLAINS how he uses his personal experiences

as an investor to help clients grow their portfolios while growing the rent roll at the same time.

My mother bought a tiny rent roll in 2009 and in a very short period had doubled its size. After some coaxing on her part, I took the gamble, went part-time in my restaurant management job and started to grow the rent roll, not knowing where to begin.

Like any new BDM, I did all the obvious things: letterbox dropping, mail-outs and contacting existing owners.

Where I succeeded, however, was in helping first-time investors, everyday people

management specialists, I was able to build some incredible relationships with salespeople.

This ensured I was able to show my clients new stock prior to it hitting the market.

Eager to share my new-found knowledge, I literally grew our rent roll over the dinner table. Every time I went to a dinner party or had drinks with friends it was a new opportunity to talk about what I did. My passion was obvious and contagious. Careful not to give financial advice, I would

MOST EVERYDAY PEOPLE ON AVERAGE INCOMES CAN ONLY BUY ONE OR TWO NEGATIVELY-GEARED PROPERTIES BEFORE IT IMPACTS SIGNIFICANTLY ON THEIR WAY OF LIFE. buying their first property and subsequently buying others.

As mum and I built our portfolio in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, I quickly identified some incredible buying. Houses in good condition were selling for between $150,000 and $200,000, with returns from $220 to $260 per week. Brand new stock was available at $235,000 with returns at around $280 per week. As property

talk excitedly with friends and colleagues about cash-flow positive investment whilst suggesting opportunities throughout Australia, but always finishing with “I’m not an accountant or a financial planner; I’m just a guy with a hobby, so I recommend you seek independent advice.”

Until the end of time, financial planners, strategists and brokers will argue positive gearing vs negative gearing vs

14 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

shares. I’m not here to debate that at all. I simply want to tell you why I love positive gearing.

ANYONE CAN DO IT! Almost anyone with a stable income and a small savings account, or a small amount of equity, can buy their first investment. In South Australia, you can get started with as little as $15,000. Whilst lenders are starting to tighten their lending criteria, there are still some good deals. Add stamp duty and you can still get a house in Adelaide for under $200,000, with returns around $230 to $260 per week.

As a general rule of thumb: $1 return per $1,000 spent + 10 per cent = Cash flow neutral $1 return per $1,000 spent + 20 per cent = Cash flow positive.

THERE IS ALWAYS DEMAND FOR CHEAPER PROPERTIES As we come to terms with higher than average vacancies, there will always be a need for low socioeconomic housing. People fear low socio, but there are good and bad people in every suburb. A great property manager and the right insurance policy will ensure the client is safeguarded against bad tenants.

CASH-FLOW POSITIVE CAN STILL GENERATE CAPITAL GROWTH Friends and colleagues who are pro negative gearing will argue about the capital growth ratios. Most strategists will tell you that buying and holding almost always results in capital growth. My opinion is that the sky’s the limit on the number of cash-flow positive properties you can buy as long, as the banks continue to lend you money.

However, most everyday people on average incomes can only buy one or two negatively-geared properties before it impacts significantly on their way of life. Many young couples get caught in negative gearing and then face the reality of having to sell when one of them gives up work for a period, maybe to start a family.

Positively-geared properties give you the flexibility of additional income to increase your portfolio or take a holiday or pay for school tuition.

Whilst the capital growth may not be as high, when you weigh up no holding costs and no impact on your way of life over a 10-year period, the difference may not be that significant.

CREATE LOYAL CLIENTS When you build a rent roll based around helping people become investors, they quickly become raving fans. They buy a second, third or fourth property in a very short period of time and they refer their family and friends. As you’ve assisted in their wealth growth, they are more forgiving when you make a mistake. ■ JASON WRIGHT is an award winning property manager, trainer, mentor, and investor specialising in cash-flow positive investment. He shares his time between SA and Qld. Contact jason@ managedwright.com.au.

Business Development Mastery

Tara Bradbury

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR LEVELS OF GROWTH SO FAR? Similar to other areas of life, in business development the things that worked yesterday may not work today. But that isn’t a reason to give up, even if your results this year are not what you had hoped. Sometimes, says Tara Bradbury, you need to go back to where you started for the breakthrough.

D

uring July the BDM Academy held a free webinar on ‘What would you do if today was your first day as a BDM?’ Throughout the presentation I took the time to ask our attendees’ questions and one of them was ‘Are you happy with your rent roll growth for the first half of 2015?’

To my surprise, out of the 167 attendees only 30 per cent were satisfied with the results they have been achieving. This prompted me to think how I could help those in the 70 per cent turn around what clearly has been a slow start to 2015.

As many of you may know, on 14 July my world changed and I was blessed to announce the arrival of our first daughter. Those of you who saw me during my pregnancy would agree I was a little bit naive as to what to expect when becoming a parent. Every day my husband and I have been faced with an immense amount of delight and pressure from this little bundle of joy that requires 100 per cent of our attention.

You have moments where you think ‘I’ve got this’ and you work out a method that helps keep your child calm. Then within days those methods are of no interest to your baby and you say to yourself ‘Why isn’t

this working? She liked it a few days ago.’

The reason I share this with you is that prospecting for new business is exactly the same. For some reason we all seem to think if we keep doing the same activities that worked in the past the clients will just walk in, but those top-performing agents know it is just not the case. Every potential client you meet has different needs and methods of communication that work for them. You can’t expect the one-size-fits-all approach to work every time; to go from being a good agent to a great agent you need to be prepared to embrace change.

If you are in the 70 per cent, think back to your first day in the industry and how you approached prospecting for new business. Did you just sit back and wait for it to walk in the door, or were you proactive and focusing on your income-producing activities to achieve ultimate results?

If you are in the 70 per cent, today is the day to make the change. If you are in the 30 per cent, well done and enjoy my fast tips to help ensure you finish 2015 with a bang!

ACCOUNTABILITY Don’t go it alone! Be accountable to a mentor and

16 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

TO MY SURPRISE, OUT OF THE 167 ATTENDEES ONLY 30 PER CENT WERE SATISFIED WITH THE RESULTS THEY HAVE BEEN ACHIEVING. or someone in your team.

You will only hold yourself accountable for the goals that others know about.

PROVIDE FREE INDUSTRY UPDATES Don’t be afraid to share free industry updates in your local marketplace and focus on creating a profile around being the investment

property specialist. The more you give back, the more you will receive in return. To achieve the ultimate goal you need people to say ‘If you are looking for help with the real estate side of things I would highly recommend Tara from Wide Bay Prestige Properties; she is the investment property expert on the Fraser Coast…’

BUILD REFERRAL RELATIONSHIPS This is the perfect time to build relationships with professional service contacts in your area. Meet with accountants, banks, solicitors, financial planners, insurance brokers and loan specialists. Discuss the opportunity of sharing industry updates with potential and current clients. Or set up an investor evening where you share ideas and market updates relevant to your industry. This is a goldmine referral opportunity and one not to be missed!

Brainstorm ways to involve past and current clients by including testimonials in your marketing and promotion. If you are running an investor evening, encourage them to speak about some of the personal results they have achieved and the experience they have had with your agency.

Provide advice, resources and industry best practices through all your marketing and promotion. This will demonstrate that you have your clients' best interest at heart vs just trying to win the business on the day.

FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, AND FOLLOW UP! When you have responded to a new lead, or if you are working off an old database, make sure you have a system in place to follow up the client to win the business. In order to win the business over your competition you need to follow up, follow up and finally follow up!

ENGAGE AND CONNECT Ask open-ended questions to learn more about your client’s wants and needs.

Then (and only then) provide specific information about your agency and the benefits it provides in the context of their needs around investment property ownership.

BUILD A CLIENT FOR LIFE SYSTEM IN YOUR AGENCY Don’t just win the business and expect that to be enough. To encourage more opportunities out of your landlords and tenants you need to connect with them on a regular basis. Provide good news stories, share market updates, call them, ask for feedback on the service and finally find out if they are look at growing or expanding on the current investment portfolio they have. Don’t let your competition sneak in and work with some of your hot contacts because you’ve let the relationship cool down.

With less than four months to go of 2015, you still have time to turn your year around and get back on track with your goals. Embrace change and focus on the basics that worked for you right back when you first started.

Don’t just stick to the same daily routine; get out of your comfort zone, try new things and regain your burning desire for success. And of course, don’t forget to follow up! ■

ENSURE YOUR CLIENTS FEEL THE LOVE Go the extra mile and send a thank you card or congratulations message for a significant occasion. Clients love feeling appreciated and this is a great way to generate more business from contacts.

TARA BRADBURY is the Director of the BDM Academy. She shares her business development ideas and strategies with property management BDMs and principals. For more information visit bdmacademy.com.au.

For a great client newsletter, you won’t need to type a thing.

Give your clients a newsletter that is: • Interesting to read • Able to generate leads • Professionally written and designed • Can be tailored to suit your needs • Won’t cost the earth … and won’t impact your client time in the slightest!

Download a sample today! realestatenewsletters.com.au

epm.eliteagent.com.au 17

Property Management Mentor

Natalie Hastings

BRINGING THEM WITH YOU: IMPLEMENTING NEW TECHNOLOGY AS A TEAM Keeping your team up to speed can be difficult when it comes to implementing change.

Natalie Hastings demonstrates how to lead from the front to achieve a smooth transition.

T

he real estate industry has been changing at a rapid pace, with technology giving smaller teams the ability to handle greater workloads while offering their clients superior property experiences.

For those of you who are industry veterans, think back to your ideal week of a decade (or even two decades) ago. In all likelihood your days were consumed with ‘heavy lifting’ communications, including phone calls, snail mail and slow paper-based admin processes.

Since then, new technology has maximised every one of our working hours – and as a profession we’re keen adopters of new tech, starting with mobile phones and website development before, more recently, investing in sophisticated property management software and beginning an earnest conversation with the public using social media.

In such a fast-paced and responsive profession, it is easy for a business to suffer from ‘change fatigue’ – something that causes teams of people to become negative, tired and demotivated.. Costly in both a monetary sense and in terms of morale, change fatigue is the result of new

responsibilities or learning having been mismanaged into a team.

Implementing new property management software into an established real estate business is complex but may be an important step forward for anyone looking to streamline their services whilst growing their rent roll.

I’ve experienced first-hand the anxiety and concern of teams who have been through too many changes to systems, processes and technology too quickly.

It’s not that change itself is the issue here: it’s change mismanagement and poor implementation that is at fault. Change is rarely well

I’VE EXPERIENCED FIRST-HAND THE ANXIETY AND CONCERN OF TEAMS WHO HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOO MANY CHANGES TO SYSTEMS, PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGY TOO QUICKLY.

18 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

managed and, without your team’s full ‘buy-in’, the positive changes you hope to make by implementing new technology or essential systems and processes will be difficult to implement.

So what can you do to engage your team fully when adopting new technology that requires substantial learning?

How can you prevent change fatigue while minimising negativity towards ‘newness’?

WHY SHOULD WE CHANGE? Unless your team understands why a change is needed, it is very unlikely they will get on board with the project. Don’t use negative reinforcement here – scaring staff with

negative consequences should they not comply rarely creates good outcomes. Instead, talk to them about the benefits of change: how the proposed changes will help them, why change is imperative to their success. As a leader, you’ll need to ‘walk the talk’ here. If implementing new software, don’t delegate knowledge to a member of the team who becomes a go-to for everyone – you must adopt changes and lead from the front.

Bring your team together and explain the situation, and the subsequent changes required. Let your team know what you expect of them and ensure that it’s an ‘all in this together’ message.

ENGAGE AND EMPOWER People dislike feeling forced to do anything: there’s a natural resistance to being out of control. Take steps to overcome this resistance by giving your team a sense of change ownership, allowing them to generate problemsolving ideas as a group.

Whether you book out brainstorming meetings or ‘change retreats’, stay on-point when it comes to why change is necessary and what your expectations are of the team – then facilitate useful discussions to get the ideas flowing. Ensure ongoing engagement by appointing team members responsible for change projects or actions;

accountability is key here.

Got a team curmudgeon who hates change? Put them in a position of responsibility – they’re likely to flourish in a leadership role and won’t want to fail, making them an ally.

FASTER, FASTER After all that team brainstorming, you’ll likely have lots of ideas. It’s time for you as change manager to cull many of them. Long lists of good intentions can be daunting, so categorise the list into ‘easily implementable’, ‘needs planning to execute’ and ‘nice, but not necessary’.

Act on the ‘easily implementable’ immediately, so that your team can see

at last.

change in action. Then go on to create a change plan which incorporates other ideas you’ve discovered as a group. Identify responsibilities to change, timelines for change and dependencies; accountability is everything when it comes to making changes stick.

Take property management software change implementation, for example: your change plans would involve team training in blocks relevant to their functions, exporting data successfully into the new software and creating a ‘systems and processes’ manual to manage workflows changed by the new software.

your property.

managed.

By ‘being the change you wish to see’ and fully explaining the benefits of the changes you intend to bring about in your business, you’re not only likely to minimise change fatigue: you’re more likely to bring your team with you into the future in a more productive way.

Remember – create quick wins after brainstorming change with your team, recognise achievements in the process and allow the team to take responsibility. ■

NATALIE HASTINGS is the Managing Director of Hastings + Co. For more information, visit hastingsandco.com.au.

now.

in real time.

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Realty Bytes

Alister Maple-Brown

PRODUCTIVITY AND PERSONALISATION: THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY While it is impossible to predict exactly what the future holds, there are definite trends emerging which will shape the course of the next decade. Alister Maple-Brown from Rockend looks at some of the things that may be on the horizon.

T

en years ago smartphones, social media, tablets and wearable technology were non-existent. Today it’s almost hard to imagine a world without it all, especially when we now interact with each of these platforms on a daily basis.

However, believe it or not, this is just the start!

Technology is set to expand and innovate in incredible

seconds, transforming our expectations for the way we receive it.

Google Alerts is a great example of this. We are now able to customise the data we wish to receive by creating an alert for topics or keywords that interest us, filtering out facts we deem non-relevant.

Social media is another example of a selective stream that pushes information to us. Our Instagram feeds are

experiences and products personalised to suit your needs; a trend that is set to impact dramatically on business interactions, sales and productivity.

INTEGRATION Technological integrations will see a huge shift over the coming decade, with more products, systems and software integrating and creating an enhanced user

ONE EXAMPLE OF THIS IS AN INTERACTION BETWEEN MERCEDES-BENZ AND THE NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT, ALLOWING IT TO COOL OR HEAT AN INDIVIDUAL’S HOME BEFORE THEY ARRIVE. ways over the coming years. While it is impossible to predict exactly what tomorrow holds, there are definite trends emerging which will shape the course of the next decade.

INFORMATION We are now digital citizens who receive, process and transmit higher volumes of information than ever before.

In this digital age technology connects us to the world’s information in a matter of

personalised and tailored to suit our preferences, providing us with live updates of information 24 hours per day.

This shift has resulted in people wanting information directed and delivered to them, rather than needing to search for it. This will only continue over the coming decade as advancements in technology will create data that is increasingly more intuitive, anticipatory, transparent and personalised.

Expect to see consumer

20 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

experience. New technology is coming to the market that demonstrates the selflearning and communication between systems.

One example of this is an interaction between Mercedes-Benz and the Nest

Learning Thermostat, allowing the it to cool or heat an individual’s home before they arrive. This is just one example, but the future will see multiple systems integrating. As this trend escalates, the friction of use between products will decrease for the user, which is positive for everyone.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY? Real estate professionals will be able to streamline their businesses even further, saving time, dispensing with manual data entry and eliminating the need for multiple pieces of technology by using highly integrated systems. This New Age technology will see real estate professionals working more efficiently, productively and proactively, which in turn will provide businesses with additional opportunities to expand.

The future of technology is exciting and the possibilities and potential are endless. ■ ALISTER MAPLE-BROWN is the CEO of leading property management software provider Rockend. For more information visit rockend. com.au.

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22 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

COVER STORY

FRONT DESK TO BUSINESS OWNER

WHEN LAURA LEVISOHN

started in real estate as a receptionist she didn’t have a definite career plan.

Now, with almost 20 years’ experience in all aspects of real estate and a business owner herself, Laura is self-motivated, positive and committed to her job and her clients. Having been nominated for (and won) several prestigious property management awards, Laura spoke to Samantha McLean about some of the ways she has put her own stamp on this very successful business.

I

T WAS BACK in 1991 when a very young Laura Levisohn first sat down at a desk in a real estate office – as a receptionist. She never would have imagined one day she would be a 50 per cent owner in the same business.

Back then, it was called McCamey & Co (located in South Perth, WA), owned by husband and wife team Warren and Lynne McCamey. “I was pretty young but thought it was exciting that I was dealing with owners who were investors and then coming back and dealing with tenants and putting them in homes. I started picturing myself in years to come

being that investor.”

Laura continues, “I guess it was a huge eye-opener for me to see all the different aspects and just how buying one property provides so many opportunities. Not only do you have the opportunity to rent it and have it return income, but you also have that opportunity to add value to it by renovating it and selling it to get a good profit.”

It was seeing the benefits of investment that inspired Laura and while taking a break from the company she also bought and renovated properties. At one stage, she had 11 houses on the go.

“That excited me and inspired me, and I thought the experience and knowledge I gained from doing it for other people would then help me as well.”

After experiencing a marriage breakdown and then returning to the same business after 10 years, Laura’s property management career really took off. With the business now operating under a new name and owned by the son of the original couple, Garrick McCamey, Laura was made head of the property management department. Within a year, she was a 25 per cent shareholder. When Garrick decided to sell at the end of 2014, Laura bought another 25 per cent and sales agent Lee Riddell bought the other 50 per cent.

Today they operate the company together, with Laura focusing primarily on business development – something on which she prides herself for increasing the success of the business – and Lee managing the sales under the new name of M Residential.

“When I came back into the business I made a few rapid changes. For example, our PM department was organised as task management (as opposed to portfolio).

We had a lot of people working on one property – a tenant liaison officer, a leasing consultant, someone who liaised with the owners. After a year I could see cracks in the system where no one was taking accountability and it was enough for them to say ‘Oh, that’s not my role. You

"DON’T HOLD DOUBT WITHIN YOU. LOOK AT WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND TRUST YOUR PROCESS IS RIGHT. HAVING THAT CONFIDENCE IN WHAT YOU’RE DOING IS KEY." should have done that.’

“I decided I’d change it all and bring it back to portfolio management, with a leasing consultant and myself doing all the business development and my property managers just managing properties, which is what they do best.”

Laura particularly attributes the company’s success to the team of property managers working with her. A major point of difference is that Laura doesn’t employ anyone who already has experience in the industry, only those who are inexperienced and ‘who have just finished their education’. The reason

epm.eliteagent.com.au 23

COVER STORY is that she prefers to mentor them and train them to work to her systems and business platform – which means they get taught good service habits from the word ‘go’. And, when it comes to finding the right people for the job, it is attitude that is most important. As the business is built on solid checklists, procedures, policies and templates of every letter a property manager may need to use, Laura is easily able to pass on her knowledge and skills to new staff members. “If they have the right attitude,” she says, “I know I can teach them the skills they need for success.”

However, Laura also freely admits that having people come in so young does have its drawbacks, particularly as the young women tend to leave to have children; but with persistence and by testing different techniques (including bringing the children into the office with babysitters), she has found that introducing the ability to work remotely has been the biggest benefit to the business.

“M Residential wouldn’t have the recognition that we have without such an amazing team and we have such great team culture and loyalty. The last people to leave the business did so to have children, so I’ve been changing how we work in the office to allow those girls to come back on and work on a part-time basis, or to work remotely as assistants for our full-time property managers.

That just means I’m not taking them away from what is a really special time for them starting their family, but I’m still giving them the ability to be a part of the team and employed.”

Staff members are able to log in remotely and work on exactly the same system as they would if they were working from a desk within the office.

There is no concern from Laura about managing her team because they are all well trained and very loyal.

“It’s such an amazing thing for my business, because my team know my systems, they already know my processes, they already know the properties. I’ve seen people a bit sceptical about having remote workers whom they don’t know that well. The fact that I know and trust these people who are in my team means that if they say to me ‘I worked five hours today’, I’d never have to monitor that because I have faith they’re being honest.

I’m also confident they are completing procedures correctly and in the way that I want them to.”

Next we discuss marketing, another area where M Residential does things

differently. There is a great relationship between the management and sales teams in the business; managers have direct access to investors, so keeping systems up to date and highlighting points of difference is key to creating new business.

“In our area, we’re the only ones using video tours in property management, plus some other points of difference such as online bookings. If I don’t win a listing, I know I didn’t sell my points of difference enough because I know we’re doing things our competition doesn’t do.”

And Laura says it’s often not about fees.

“I sent a survey out to our clients and what came back was really interesting to read.

Not only were they (the clients) happy with us, but it was good to get feedback on the questions – particularly where I asked ‘When you first looked to take on a property manager, what were the main deciding factors?’ Out of the options

"GOING FOR A RUN IS OFTEN THE BEST TIME TO CLEAR THE HEAD OF ANY WORRIES AND COME UP WITH SOLUTIONS TO ANY ISSUES, OR SIMPLY A GREAT START TO THE DAY." listed in our survey, fees came out as the third most important, yet this is the first question we’re always asked. But it was really interesting to know this is not the deciding factor for the majority of people.”

Those that know Laura say she is a bundle of energy who manages to pack a fair bit into each of her busy days. She says her stamina is down to keeping fit and healthy, and being prepared the night before. She also talks about the benefits that physical exercise has on the mind that allow her to make the time and effort to look after herself in between juggling her busy career and motherhood.

“I’ll get up at 4:30, go to the gym about 4:45 for an hour and a half, come back and get ready. Keeping in mind that I’ve already done everything I possibly could the night before, I eat breakfast, get changed, drop my sons at school, go into the office and set myself up with an ideal week in my office so I can keep on track and not fall behind. Going for a run is often the best time to clear the head of any

24 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

worries and come up with solutions to any issues, or simply a great start to the day.

“I’ll go through my emails, block out some time to do my business development management work, go back through my emails and my diary system to see everything I need to do for that day. Then I’m home, preparing for the next day and then I go again.

“By the time I get to work [after an early morning gym session], I don’t have a foggy head like, ‘I’ve just rolled out of bed; quick, give me my coffee’ - I am absolutely ready and raring to go! I think it’s really important for everyone to have that in their lives because they’ll be amazed what a difference it makes to their productivity and their focus during work.”

Laura continues, “I also go to a nutritionist; I was having a chat with her the other day, and she had read an article saying that an unhealthy person only works 43 effective hours in a month, compared to a healthy person who works 149 effective hours in a month. And that’s just in their work life. Imagine the benefit for every other aspect of that person’s life!”

According to Laura, there is always something to do when it comes to her business, and in the next 12 months she hopes to focus more on the business management side of things.

“I’ve got so many ideas running through my head at the moment that I just want to be able to commit the time to get those ideas in place and underway. I also want full recognition for M Residential and a win at the Leading Property Managers of Australia for Property Management Company of the Year. We’ve been the finalists for the last two years and I want the win!” she laughs.

Lastly I wonder whether there was anything she would tell her younger self starting out in property management, knowing everything she knows now.

“I would tell my younger self, ‘Don’t hold doubt within you. Look at what you’re doing and trust your process is right.’ Having that confidence in what you’re doing is key. The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given was that you can do anything if you’ve got the right focus, commitment and passion. You’re not going to please everyone, but you have to fix your path and work on that.” ■

Laura will be presenting at the LPMA West Coast Conference in Perth on November 5 and November 6. To find out more, visit lpma.com.au.

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BEST PRACTICE

Who’s behind that door?

PERSONAL SECURITY IS A MAJOR CONCERN to real

estate agents as the job involves a high degree of working alone or in remote areas. Bob Barrington from Lone Worker Safety looks at a range of technologies designed to help keep your staff safe.

I

T IS PART AND parcel of the industry that agents frequently work alone at clients’ properties, leaving them vulnerable and at risk from the behaviour of other people - prospective buyers, landlords, tenants. Agents have been and continue to be subject to threat, abuse and assault in the course of their normal work.

Incidents of verbal abuse are common.

Principals are often worried about the safety of their staff. In the ACT recently a young female agent felt she had to call for help because she thought the client was more interested in her than in the property. A property manager in Queensland recently reported 200 cases of verbal abuse in just the last 12 months!

In Australia, a person conducting a business or undertaking must manage the risks associated with remote or isolated work (lone-worker), which includes ensuring effective communication with the staff member.

Agents regularly travel and work outside normal hours, meeting with people they don’t know, often behind closed doors; and for much of their working day are isolated from the assistance of people they can rely on.

Working alone increases the risks of any job. Agents’ exposure to risk arises primarily through lack of access to assistance in an emergency and exposure to violence, including abuse, threat and assault. In addition to actions by other people, agents are also exposed to everpresent risks of vehicle accident and breakdown, trips, slips and falls, and medical emergencies.

As an employer, do you know where your agents are – not just where they’re supposed to be? Do you know they’re safe?

And how would you know if they needed assistance so help could be sent to them quickly in an emergency?

Fortunately, there is a range of technologies now available to estate agencies, from the simple to the sophisticated, to help maintain regular contact with lone working employees, reduce risks and promote peace of mind for both the staff member and management.

So here’s a quick rundown of some of the technologies currently available to help you manage the lone working risks your agents face every day.

MOVEMENT RECORDS AND TELEPHONES Not exactly high-tech, but simple systems and procedures can often work well to improve safety for your lone workers.

Check in/out boards, shared diaries and calendars are cheap, and can easily let you know where staff members are meant to be and when they’re due back. Regular phone calls, texts and emails may be all that is required for staff members to check in to say that all is well. Mobile phones have proven to be a lifesaver in the growing number of areas with adequate mobile signal coverage.

However, in/out boards, shared diaries and calendars tell you where your worker is supposed to be – not where they are, and they don’t automatically alert you when a worker needs help.

They rely on other staff for the safety of your agents in the field – to receive calls, emails and texts, and be alert and react to the non-receipt of messages. People get distracted in a busy office, caught up with other work and customers, and sometimes forget. Recently an investigative

26 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

journalist told us how the police promised to come to her assistance ‘if she wasn’t out in half an hour’ – then forgot!

PERSONAL SECURITY SYSTEMS Personal Alarm Security Systems (PASS), being wireless and portable, may be used when moving around and working in deserted workplaces, for example. These will usually include non-movement sensors and panic buttons.

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS For geographically remote locations, a number of satellite options are available in Australia across different networks. These vary depending on the service required (for

IN ADDITION TO ACTIONS BY OTHER PEOPLE, AGENTS ARE ALSO EXPOSED TO EVER-PRESENT RISKS OF VEHICLE ACCIDENT AND BREAKDOWN, TRIPS, SLIPS AND FALLS, AND MEDICAL EMERGENCIES. example, voice/data) and so have a range of price plans. Coverage varies across the country depending on the network; even getting a satellite signal can be problematic in some locations. Satellite systems include satellite phones, including the capability to turn your smartphone into a satellite phone, and personal trackers for emergency assistance when a lone worker needs it.

DISTRESS BEACONS Distress beacons should be considered where life-threatening emergencies could occur, for example when travelling on lonely outback roads. These devices include Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), designed to be used on land, and EPIRBs (Emergency Position Indication Radio Beacons). On activation they send a distress signal via satellite which is then routed to the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra and then to the police.

ALARMS – ELECTRONIC AND VISUAL MONITORS Don’t forget the lone workers back in the office. Who’s first in in the morning and last out at night? Who comes in to work on the weekend or mans the office by themselves at lunchtime? And don’t forget the ‘accidental’ lone worker, when a staff member finds themselves alone unexpectedly and possibly unprepared.

Electronic and visual monitors offer protection, as do panic alarms sensibly located and linked with a security company to respond.

DEDICATED LONE WORKER DEVICES These are separate, dedicated devices that are often deployed to high-risk workers, for example workers in hospital emergency rooms and prisons, where there is a high risk of sudden assault. One such device is designed to hang around a worker’s neck or clip to their belt and incorporates their identity card. However, these devices can be expensive to purchase and operate, and are an additional device for a worker to remember, carry and keep charged.

SMARTPHONE APPS Smartphone apps use GPS and mobile networks to keep track of your staff in real time. This means you can know where they are and be notified automatically in the event of different trigger events, such as panic, duress, non-movement, expiry of a timed session, or a missed check-in. They can be quietly working in the background to help keep your staff safe and only alert the manager when a response is needed.

When that happens, you will know who needs help, what the emergency is, exactly where the lone worker is, the task they were doing at the time and what you need to do about it.

Apps range in price and function from free or cheap to proper lone worker management solutions. The best have been independently audited and offer features such as discreet alert capability (so you don’t have to unlock your phone when you need to call for help), two-way audio communication and management tools such as usage reports and audit trails of past sessions. Some can be linked with professional third-party monitoring organisations for users worried about missing an alert, like after hours.

CONCLUSION No technology is guaranteed to keep your staff members safe. However, lone worker systems that are supported by effective policies and procedures, training and the continuous development of a safetyconscious culture will help security become second nature and help keep agents safe when working alone. ■ BOB BARRINGTON is the Chief Safety Officer and CEO at Lone Worker Safety.

For more information visit staysafeapp.com.

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SPONSORED

MAKING INSPECTIONS EASY

THERE ARE MANY AREAS of your property management

business that need to work smoothly and efficiently to enable you to keep your clients – both landlords and tenants – happy. One of these areas is property inspections. Fiona McEachran talks to some experienced property managers to find out how they use technology to make the process more efficient.

T

HEY ARE A critical part of the job of a property manager, but both the actual inspection and all the administrative work it entails can be very time-consuming.

What inspections do property managers need to conduct?

An inspection needs to be done when a landlord’s property is appraised or taken on to be managed, just before a tenant moves in, on a regular basis while tenanted and, especially, when the tenant moves out.

Karen George is a Console GatewayLive client, Property Management Director at Richardson & Wrench Caboolture in Queensland and winner of the R&W Property Manager of the Year award in 2014. She explains the four different types of inspections that her office conducts: • Appraisal Inspection • Entry Inspection • Routine Inspection • Vacate Inspection Appraisal Inspection: This is the first type of inspection, when the property manager goes out to a property to conduct an appraisal and determine what rent should be set. They take along a checklist

detailing what they need to look at to assess the property, as well as a listing form and a management pack, which includes a breakdown of their services and prices.

Entry Inspection: This is the second inspection, and it is performed with a lot more attention to detail. The property manager uses a detailed checklist and report to go over the property and takes photographs so that the landlord and tenant can agree on the exact condition of the home at the moment that the new tenant moves in.

Routine Inspection: In Karen’s office, her team agrees the date of the first routine inspection with the new tenant when he or

28 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

she signs the lease. This sets the expectation with the tenant of their responsibility to look after the property and report any maintenance issues as they arise.

Their routine inspections are then carried out on Tuesdays; they are split into zones, so that each zone is covered every three months.

Vacate Inspection: This is also called an Exit Inspection, and Karen’s team does this once the tenant has moved out of the property. This is to ensure that the property is in a similar state to when the tenant moved in. If the property is not in a similar condition the tenant may have to get some work done, including additional cleaning or possible repairs.

When do routine inspections need to be done?

Routine Inspections are usually carried out every three months; in some states they cannot be done more frequently than that.

Tenants need to be given a minimum of seven days’ written notice.

How are inspections performed?

There are many elements required to minimise the time spent on inspections.

Conducting and recording the process correctly can also help with any disputes

device and sync back to GatewayLive to be attached to the condition report, but it is important to keep in mind that you cannot take photos of the property interior during a routine inspection unless you have the permission of the tenant.

Another great new feature to help you get more done is the ability to log maintenance requests directly from the app that will sync with GatewayLive back in your office.

or issues that may arise between the landlord and the tenant.

Inspections can be carried out manually, using a notebook and/or a checklist with a pen; they can also be performed using the latest technology – an iPhone or iPad tablet. This is where Console’s GatewayLive inspection app – LiveAgent – really comes in handy, saving time and money.

What is LiveAgent?

LiveAgent is the property inspections app, available on both iPhone and iPad, which synchronises with Console’s GatewayLive property management software to make inspections faster and easier. The app is free to GatewayLive subscribers and is the only app on the market with true two-way integration.

How does LiveAgent make inspections simple?

The app has recently been re-built from the ground up with property managers’ needs in mind. You can create and set up inspection templates based on the size of the property you need to inspect – one bed, two bed, three bed, four bed, and more. You can create as many templates as you need and open them quickly and easily within the app.

You will also be able to see your inspections colour-coded to match the inspection type you need to do – Entry, Routine or Exit.

Can LiveAgent reduce the time it takes to do inspections?

Before you get going, you can copy across

YOU CANNOT TAKE PHOTOS OF THE PROPERTY INTERIOR DURING A ROUTINE INSPECTION UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PERMISSION OF THE TENANT. past inspection data, so you can see what was written and documented the last time you were in the property. This saves you having to either carry around the file or spend time looking back over previous notes and reports. Then, when you are out on the road, LiveAgent displays the upcoming inspections by time and date, for easier filtering and viewing.

The integrated Apple Maps functionality also means you can get a bird’s eye view of the properties scheduled for inspection.

Then you can plan your journey more efficiently, by deciding the order of properties you will visit.

How will I get more done during the inspection?

While you inspect the property, you can speak into your iPhone or iPad with the voice-to-text recognition ability (available on certain devices that have SiriTM and voice-to-text functionality), allowing your comments on each room to be entered with speed.

You can save high resolution photos for each area or room directly onto your

Does the speed and professional reporting of LiveAgent impress landlords?

Zoe King is a Console GatewayLive client who loves LiveAgent. She is the Director of Property Management for Hall & Hall Real Estate in Mt Eliza, Victoria.

When the property managers in her office were doing inspections before LiveAgent, they were doing everything manually, using tick sheets for documenting their inspections. These checklists would then sit in a pile in the office for weeks, waiting to be typed up.

Now the notes are made directly in the phone, transferred to the computer, and then printed off and posted with a cover letter to the owner.

“The efficiency is amazing. Using LiveAgent is much more time-effective.

We now send professional-looking, typed reports, with notes included for each room, straight to the owners within a day,” says Zoe. “Also, sending photos with the notes is very important. Our owners can read about the maintenance issue and see a photo, so it has reduced the number of phone calls from owners who need more information.” ■

FIONA McEACHRAN is the Marketing Manager for Console. For more information visit console.com.au.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 29

PRODUCTIVITY

5 STEPS TO DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE

IDEAL WEEK

TIME MANAGEMENT USING ‘THE IDEAL WEEK’ as a concept may seem simple enough.

However, the fact remains many principals and their property management teams are still struggling with being as productive as possible with their available working hours. Luckily, help is at hand with Jo-Anne Oliveri’s top five tips on organising your week for success.

I

N ORDER TO DESIGN truly effective ideal weeks that manage your team’s time effectively, you must first understand time-motion.

Time-motion involves breaking down tasks into smaller tasks, identifying the sequence of smaller tasks, measuring the time taken to complete each of those tasks and also taking into account other factors that impact time.

Not only must this process be done for each task, but for each team member who will be carrying them out.

Undertaking this time-motion process allows you, as the principal, to design truly effective ideal weeks – ones that boost productivity, performance and profitability for both your employees and your business. Here are five steps to implement this process.

1

IDENTIFY, PRIORITISE, DEFINE First, list all the tasks completed by your property management team. Then break down this list further by identifying the smaller tasks making up each large task. Next, prioritise each of these smaller tasks. For example, rental receipting needs to be completed before arrears processing in order to complete arrears breaching and tenant caution contact.

Finally, define the objective of each task so you are clear what needs to be achieved to determine its completion.

For example, the objective of application processing is to have the successful applicant agree, sign and pay for the tenancy within 24 hours of receiving the application.

Once task identification, prioritising and defining have been completed, you are now in a position to assign tasks to the right team member for the right amount of time.

2

TASK FLOW Assigning tasks to the right team member for the right amount of time before it then moves onto the next team member is known as task flow. As the principal, it is your responsibility to identify which team member completes

which tasks and when, why, how and the timeframe they complete them in.

This ensures that tasks are completed consistently and compliantly, and time is therefore efficiently managed.

As there are numerous minor tasks within each one, larger tasks may require many team members. For example, when it comes to tenancy renewals, your portfolio manager must first contact the property owner and tenant to negotiate the rent and tenancy

IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY, IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR CLIENTS TO WAIT UNTIL THEIR PROPERTY MANAGER IS AVAILABLE IN ORDER TO RECTIFY THE SITUATION.

1PM

1PM

2PM

2PM

3PM

30 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

3PM

term. Once negotiated, your property management assistant then needs to prepare the tenancy agreement before your receptionist can hand it to the tenant to sign.

Understanding task flow is therefore paramount when it comes to designing ideal weeks that maximise the use of time while ensuring tasks are completed consistently and compliantly.

3

MAXIMISE OPPORTUNITIES Once you have identified, prioritised, defined and assigned your business’ property management tasks, the next step is to call a team meeting. Despite the fact that all employees’ ideal weeks will ultimately be different once designed, it is important

that task scheduling be discussed as a team beforehand. Therefore, the objective of the team meeting should be to identify where time could be optimised.

For example, when it comes to property inspections, you could save time and money by scheduling this task at different times on the same day for each property manager. This could also result in only one agency vehicle then being necessary. By aligning your team members’ roles and property portfolios at the outset, you can identify ways to maximise the use of time and resources when designing your team’s ideal weeks.

4

PORTFOLIO TIME SHARE Portfolio time share benefits not only your business and team, but your clients too. For example, in the event of an emergency, it is not acceptable for clients to wait until their property manager is available in order to rectify the situation. As such, the most effective way to ensure that there is always a licensed property manager in the office is to implement portfolio time share.

This means that if there are two or more property managers, their ideal weeks should be almost exact opposites. For example, when one property manager is out of the office, the other should be in the office. This not only maximises the use of time, but ensures that your clients are always kept happy too.

5

COLOUR CODING Task colour coding is imperative when you are designing your team’s ideal weeks. This may seem like rather an unimportant step, but it can in fact help reinforce your business systems.

Your team’s ideal week task colour coding should match your agency’s checklist colour coding. For example, if your new tenant checklists are purple then all new tenant tasks on your ideal weeks should also be coloured purple.

Visual recognition is key to creating effective ideal weeks, as it helps your team implement your business systems with maximum efficiency.

Once you have worked through these time-motion steps and taken into account other important factors influencing time,

you are now in a position to design truly effective ideal weeks.

As you should understand by now, ideal weeks cannot simply be replicated from team member to team member; each one must be designed for the individual and consider how and when that individual completes tasks. Ideal weeks should also be dynamic documents that change as your business changes.

It may seem like a long process, but once you have designed and then implemented these truly effective ideal weeks, your property management team and business will enjoy increased productivity, performance and profitability as a result. ■

JO-ANNE OLIVERI, CIPS, TRC, Founder and Managing Director of property management business solutions company ireviloution, is an international real estate identity who has trained over 500 agencies and thousands of agency owners and property managers worldwide. Visit ireviloution.com to find out more.

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SPONSORED

DIRECT CONNECT EXTENDS PARTNERSHIP REACH TO INSURANCE, SMOKE ALARMS AND CONVEYANCING YOU MAY ALREADY BE USING THE SERVICES OF DIRECT CONNECT; as one of the

biggest connection companies in Australia they have been helping people move house for the past ten years. What you may not be aware of are some of the fantastic new services on offer from Direct Connect, making life even easier for your clients when it comes to moving. Story by Tara Tyrrell.

A

S REAL ESTATE agents and property managers, there’s no doubt you’re often faced with questions from your tenants about how to make the moving process easier.

We all know the hassles that come with moving from one property to the next – including getting the utilities connected, insurance, organising removalists.

In recent times, Direct Connect has expanded its services into new areas that have not previously been covered by the traditional niche home connections industry, with new and emerging

connections services now accounting for over 20 per cent of its business.

In a win-win for all users, Direct Connect have signed a new partnership agreement with Real Insurance to develop tailored new insurance products for both movers and real estate agents, as well as a referral program designed to open the market further by working with Real Insurance customers directly.

A second new referral program with Eziconnect, part of the TSA Group, will also refer customers to Direct Connect in a new agreement, in return offering Eziconnect services to find the right

32 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

phone and internet solutions.

And Direct Connect has also signed partnerships to extend its mover and agent offering, with conveyancing services through Slater & Gordon’s Conveyancing Works and Smoke Alarm Testing Services (SATS) to test fire alarms for agents, landlords and movers.

The SATS partnership offers a new service that will dramatically increase the number of smoke alarm checks across the nation. With an average of 58 Australians killed in a house fire each year, this new service is certainly imperative. The service includes an annual maintenance program

which will be offered to a further 800,000 homes nationally through the 3,200 real estate agents currently working with Direct Connect. It is designed to better protect tenants, landlords and home buyers.

Direct Connect CEO Paul Docherty said the service would streamline the process for agents and landlords, who must ensure smoke alarms in rental properties are properly maintained to improve safety for tenants.

“Research shows that a working smoke alarm can save lives, but most people don’t realise these alarms need regular maintenance. In fact, a lot of people remove alarms and batteries when accidentally triggered. This service will give agents access to a best-practice testing and maintenance program to roll out across thousands of properties, potentially saving lives.”

Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella also welcomed the annual maintenance program and the impact it will have on improving home fire safety and compliance with state legislation.

Direct Connect have also recently implemented new Visa card technology, including payWave, for real estate agents.

Mr Docherty said innovation and investment were key to the industry’s growth. “Real estate agents are increasingly seeing the value of partnering with a home connections expert. A specialist moving partner provides a valueadd to existing relationships, a competitive difference and also drives efficiency within their business.

“Innovation and strategic partnerships are key to opportunity, which is why [we work to] create bespoke products and services that meet the actual, real-time needs of users and agents.”

From managing connections to electricity, gas, phone, internet and Pay TV, to arranging removalists, hire trucks, cleaning services and insurance – everything is taken care of by Direct Connect! And best of all, it’s a free, noobligation service!

Direct Connect are among Australia’s most highly recommended companies when it comes to taking the hassle out

“DIRECT CONNECT SAVES THE AVERAGE CONSUMER 74 MINUTES WHEN ORGANISING THEIR OWN MOVE

BY BRINGING ALL OF THE ELEMENTS INTO ONE PLACE AND PROVIDING EXPERT RECOMMENDATIONS FROM A SUITE OF PROVIDERS.” “Agents who use this smoke alarm testing and maintenance service will be able to offer tenants increased peace of mind that the home they are moving into is a safe home. Landlords will equally enjoy greater confidence that their tenants, as well as their assets, are protected,” she said.

Along with their new partnerships, Direct Connect are dedicated to making moving day easier. The company is continually improving its technology to enhance the moving process and to allow agents to track the status of their clients’ move and connections.

Their new agent-friendly website is designed to make information more accessible and to provide an improved experience for the user. The site feeds directly into property agents’ commonly used Rockend REST software and MyDesktop, increasing the integration between agents and Direct Connect. The site is mobile-responsive for smart phones and tablets.

of organising your client’s next move.

In fact, Mr Docherty said the average move arranged by individuals took 103 minutes to arrange and eight phone calls to connect essential services.

“Direct Connect saves the average consumer 74 minutes when organising their own move by bringing all of the elements into one place and providing expert recommendations from a suite of providers. Agents have recognised that moving assistance is something their increasingly time-poor customers are

craving and it is fantastic to have their support,” he said.

Direct Connect helps thousands of customers every week to move premises without any hassle, even offering an Always On Guarantee to ensure their services are connected on the day they move in.

You’ll also be glad to know that Australia’s leading agents and national industry bodies gladly support Direct Connect, which has agreements with more than 3,200 agents and offers end-to-end moving services for around 800,000 properties. They have long-term partnerships with major real estate firms, including LJ Hooker, Raine & Horne, Philip Webb, Metro and Methven Real Estate, which alone provide access to 140,000 properties under management, and they have moved more than one million people.

Raine & Horne’s Chairman Angus Raine said the DCA service undoubtedly added value to clients.

“A simple, hassle-free moving process is a good thing for customers and agents alike.

That Direct Connect is innovating in new areas contributes to Raine & Horne staying ahead of our competitors [by providing] added value to clients,” he said.

Direct Connect is also backed by national industry bodies: Real Estate Institutes of Australia (REIA), Victoria (REIV), New South Wales (REINSW), Queensland (REIQ), Northern Territory (REINT), South Australia (REISA), the Australian Capital Territory (REIACT) and Western Australia (REIWA).

Ms Mercorella said Direct Connect’s expansive and unique service offering, supported by strong agreements with agents across the property industry, suggested that in five years arranging a move would be extinct.

“Moving can be an extremely complex, stressful and time-consuming process for many people. Being able to offer movers a reliable and proven specialist service improves agent relationships and can be a point of difference in a competitive market,” Ms Mercorella said. ■

If your clients are concerned about the moving process, help them move in the right direction by recommending Direct Connect. For 10 years, Australia’s leading home connections experts Direct Connect has been taking the stress and time out of moving for more than one million customers. Direct Connect employs approximately 170 people nationally, with its core workforce and contact centre based in Melbourne, offering 8am-8pm service Monday to Friday and 8am-5pm on Saturday. Direct Connect is still the only home connections expert company able to offer the ‘Always On Guarantee’ to guarantee working essential services on the day a customer moves into their home. Give them a call today on 1300 739 805 or visit directonnect.com.au.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 33

PRODUCTIVITY THE PROBLEM WITH NUMBERS AND AVERAGES IN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT There is a lack of reliable data about the property management industry in Australia. Sure, there are various surveys done from time to time, but how reliable is the information in these surveys? And, sadly, not everyone tells the whole truth about their businesses.

I have recently carried out some research into the property management industry through my client base and through the membership of LPMA (Leading Property Managers of Australia).

Here is a summary of my observations.

AVERAGES The questions here are ‘who is average’ and who wants to be ‘average’? Australia is a big country geographically; demographics and business sizes are very diverse, so it is hard to define what ‘average’ looks like.

NUMBER OF PROPERTIES UNDER MANAGEMENT When it comes to the number of properties under management, how many properties do you really manage? Are lost managements hiding?

My advice for business owners is to drill down on the rent roll numbers showing in your property management software. Check your Management Fee Ledger to see what properties are not generating fees each month. Maybe lost managements that you don’t know about are sitting there.

The mathematics of property management TIME FOR A MATHS REFRESHER WITH BOB WALTERS to

ensure you fully understand your business' performance.

34 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT BUSINESS PLAN According to my research, more than half of Australian real estate businesses did not have a written business plan for their property management department! That is a cause for concern in the industry.

SEPARATE PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT Seventy-nine per cent of businesses had a separate Profit and Loss Account for their property management departments. A good result!

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PROFIT Twenty-one per cent of offices did not know what their property management profit was. It was good, on the other hand, to see that 79 per cent of business owners knew what profit they were making from their rent rolls.

The average percentage profit on gross annual revenue of researched offices was 21.81 per cent. My comment about this is that if you are not making at least 20 per cent profit on gross annual revenue, why would you want to be in the property management business?

Could it be that the business is merely a babysitting service for the real estate sales business? Or that the business owners don’t care about profit and are just using the rent roll as a retirement nest egg?

That’s fine if you are not motivated by profit in operating your property management business, as long as you know why you are in the property management business. Property management is more fun when the bottom line is healthy.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT BUDGET Seventy-four per cent of researched businesses had a budget for their rent roll. However, that still meant that approximately one in four businesses did not have a budget.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Net growth The average net growth over the past 12 months across researched offices was 33.7 properties.

Business development strategy Half the researched offices had no business development strategy in place.

Some offices reported difficulties in maintaining momentum in the growth of their rent rolls and challenges with business development staffing.

Business development managers Sixty per cent of offices do not employ a business development manager.

Property managers handling new business Based on my research, the problem is that (on average): • 20 per cent of their time is spent on repairs and maintenance issues • 20 per cent of their time is spent on inspections and reports • 25 per cent of their time is spent on leasing properties • 20 per cent of their time is spent on rent arrears and associated issues This leaves just 15 per cent of their time to be spent on prospecting for new business.

So very little business development activity usually occurs and rent rolls grow very slowly or not at all.

REWARDS FOR RENT ROLL GROWTH I asked the question ‘Do you pay your property management staff a commission

for gaining additional properties to manage?’ It was disappointing to see 24 per cent of offices not paying their staff any commission for additional properties.

The biggest percentage (36 per cent) paid a new business commission based on the dollar value of the management gained.

Popular reward schemes Some of the most common new business reward schemes I have seen include: weeks rent, an amount payable for increase in properties managed, or even a set amount per property. But these schemes unfortunately lead to sub-optimal behaviour, such as doing anything to get the business, including discounting. In the case of a payment on

ONE IN THREE BUSINESSES RESEARCHED HAVE NO CLEARLY DEFINED KPIs FOR THEIR KEY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES. THE BUSINESS OWNER AUDIT – WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW ABOUT YOUR RENT ROLL? Do you know the following key information about your rent roll?

• The average weekly rent of your properties • The average management fee percentage of your properties • The average monthly management fee revenue of the rent roll • The average monthly sundry income of the rent roll • The percentage of sundry income over management fee revenue (hopefully more than 15 per cent) • The average yearly total property management fee revenue per property • The percentage profit generated by the rent roll • Gains - how many, by whom and the sources • Losses - how many, by whom and the reasons • Lettings - how many, by whom and the sources • Periodic inspections - how many are being carried out • Rent arrears – percentage of the rent roll more than seven days in arrears

an increase in properties managed, this may inadvertently penalise your team member for non-preventable losses.

There are a lot of business owners around Australia who will happily pay three times the annual management fee revenue to buy someone else’s business relationship – that is, buying a rent roll.

Using Sydney rental values as an example, if you are prepared to pay $5,000-plus to buy someone else’s business relationship, how much would you pay for one established by your own team?

My suggestions for incentives • Incentives should be achievable • The incentive scheme should be completely transparent • Incentive payments should be made quickly (as soon as the management is secure) • Awards should be public to develop a competitive environment • Achievements should be celebrated by all.

PREVENTABLE LOSSES FROM THE RENT ROLL I asked the question ‘Do you provide any form of monetary penalty on property management staff who lose a management through poor service or a mistake?’

Seventy-one per cent of business owners do not penalise their property management staff for a preventable loss in property management. Business owners, how can you correct bad behaviour without some type of consequence?

Landlord clients rarely change managing agents for reasons other than unforced errors. These unforced errors are normally caused by a lack of training and the absence of documented systems and processes.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS One in three businesses researched have no clearly defined KPIs for their key property management employees.

My final message to business owners: You really need to understand the maths of your rent roll and your business as each metric can affect others; and to maximise both your happiness and your financial returns you really need to make everything really count. ■ BOB WALTERS is one of Australia’s leading authorities on residential property management. For more information visit bwt.com.au or for more information on the upcoming LPMA West Coast, visit lpma.com.au.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 35

PM Q&A

Louise Noakes

Justin Ferguson Property Specialists Cammeray

When did you start in real estate?

I started my real estate career over 13 years ago, back in 2002.

can often be challenging, but being able to reach an outcome where all parties are satisfied is rewarding.

values, and my mother for her family values, which I try to mirror now that I have my own small family.

What made you choose a property management career?

From an early age I was interested in real estate. This was probably due to the fact that I come from a family with a background in property valuation.

Initially I thought I would like a career in sales; however, an opportunity was given to me to join a successful agency as a junior PM. From there I haven’t looked back and absolutely love what I do.

I love my role as department head of the property management team here at Justin Ferguson Property Specialists. The most satisfying part of my role is getting to oversee a successful, growing rent roll and team.

What is unique about your team?

We are a really close-knit team and pride ourselves on our local knowledge. We recently undertook training with a psychologist to gain a better understanding of the different personality types – how each prefers to be addressed and the method of communication that suits them best. This has really helped with both our current and new client relationships, whether they are tenants or landlords. We’re always on the lookout to try new and innovative things!

What are your plans or dreams for the next year?

I’m expecting my second child in February, so I’m looking forward to some quality time with the family.

MICHELLE RICHMOND

As a property manager, what are the biggest challenges that you face?

The biggest challenge that I have faced over the years is being a mediator between tenants and landlords. This

What was the most memorable property you have ever managed?

In my early years as a property manager I was located in Western Sydney and had a number of ‘unfavourable’ properties to manage. I recall one vacant inspection where you literally had to dodge the cockroaches throughout the apartment. I’ve never seen anything like it again, thankfully.

36 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

WE ARE A REALLY CLOSE-KNIT TEAM AND PRIDE OURSELVES ON OUR LOCAL KNOWLEDGE. What’s the best advice you have been given?

Listen to all sides of the story before acting.

What are your most important values?

The most important values for my business and life in general are trust, honesty and loyalty.

What are the key features in maintaining healthy relationships with landlords and tenants?

Communication is key! Always keep clients, whether they are landlords or tenants, up to date with both good news and bad news. If you live by this you can’t go wrong!

Do you have a mentor, or someone who inspires you?

My parents inspire me – my father for his work ethic and

How do you relax outside real estate? Do you have a favourite sport or holiday destination?

I have a very close family so we spend a lot of time together on weekends and holidays. I’m hoping to plan a trip to Thailand in the next year or so; we stayed on a small island a few years back and it was the most beautiful place I’ve visited. I can’t wait to go back.

If you could have any three people at your dinner party, who would it be?

To be honest, I wouldn’t invite anyone famous. I rarely catch up with friends lately because of everyone’s social calendars, so I’d love an evening with three of my closest girlfriends.

What are your predictions for the real estate industry for the next year?

As more development stock comes onto the market the rental industry will become more competitive, with the potential for an increase in vacancy rates and softening of rental income.

What advice would you give someone starting out in property management?

Learn as much as you can from your colleagues and listen to other people’s experiences. ■

SPONSORED

Property managers get mobile!

If you are a property manager, landlord or tenant, your life could be about to change!

Using a new app called MyMobilePM, landlords and tenants can have direct access to all their tenancy details including rent due dates, routine inspection dates, when rent has been receipted and more, without the need to contact a property manager.

Story by Tara Tyrrell.

THE NEW MOBILE app, MyMobilePM, launched in September, is designed specifically for property managers. It provides a handheld mobile information system to save time, minimise disruptions and allow you to focus on really servicing your customers.

The MyMobilePM App is the brainchild of real estate agents and experienced property managers Sharon Whorlow and Breearne Byrne. As the daughter of a real estate agent, Sharon said that, like anyone in the industry, she was focused on continually upping the quality and improving their service offerings. She believes that although nothing can take away from the personal touch or the verbal communication between client and real estate agent, there is room for

technology to make the industry work more effectively.

The first of its kind, MyMobilePM is a downloadable app that will initially read data from REST, Console and the CoreLogic RP Data Property Management software. With access to this information in real time on your smart device, your job as property manager promises to become a whole lot easier.

Sharon notes that if the property manager is busy it can be quite unproductive to be always answering straightforward queries, and sometimes the process of playing telephone tag can be pretty inefficient. The app takes care of all these questions and answers by eliminating the need for the ‘mundane’ but important information exchange.

Says Sharon, “As property managers, we get such a high volume of phone calls each day and I thought there must be a better way of providing our clients with the information they need, faster and more effectively. We also felt that, with today’s technology, these things should be readily available on a handheld mobile device, immediately, accurately and cost effectively.” And so MyMobilePM was born.

One example of the efficiencies that MyMobilePM offers is in the area of maintenance. Tenants are able to report maintenance issues electronically, allowing property managers to allocate the correct tradesperson quickly. The electronic information enables the chosen tradesperson to see photos of repairs needed and quote more rapidly and accurately, speeding up the repair process. The app will also list financial statements, copies of statements, advice on when the rent has been paid into bank accounts, status of repairs, routine inspections and more.

Another area where the MyMobilePM is

really great is in emergency situations, as PMs can access their portfolio information on the go 24/7 on any smart device.

“These are some basic tasks that can be provided ‘at a glance’ by anyone using our app, which releases you to focus on service. All of us in the industry are dedicated to customer service, so we want to spend more time on relationship building – anything we can do to minimise disruptions is a bonus.”

WITH ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION IN REAL TIME ON YOUR SMART DEVICE, YOUR JOB AS PROPERTY MANAGER PROMISES TO BECOME A WHOLE LOT EASIER.

Everyone wins with MyMobilePM – landlords, real estate agents and investors.

It is the first app to eliminate costs, such as those incurred when communicating via SMS, and allows property managers to save time and provide a better level of customer service.

The app can be downloaded easily from iTunes. Any real estate agency that subscribes to the app can also provide access for their tenants and clients.

“We developed MyMobilePM to make us more efficient and effective as real estate agents and property managers. We expect 1,000 users by Christmas and the next version, with extra features, is already in development,” Sharon said. ■ For more information call 1300 813 635 or visit MyMobilePM.com.au.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 37

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Life’s too short Trav Bell is widely known as The Bucket List Guy. Believing life is definitely too short, he recommends that everyone writes down a list of things they want to do before they die to help them work out their priorities in life.

L

IFE IS TOO SHORT – we all know that. But with our busy business lifestyles, how many of us take account of it to live our dream, reach our goals and exceed all our own expectations?

We met the self-proclaimed ‘World’s Number One Bucket List Expert’, Trav

38 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

Bell, at this year's PPM Conference, who insists that taking care of your own needs and doing things that are fun from time to time will actually help you become more successful in business.

After 20 years in the personal fitness training industry, Trav had 21 personal training studios franchised around Australia. For Trav, though, sitting in an office managing these gyms was not enough and he ended up feeling unhappy and isolated.

“They say choose a career you love and you never work a day in your life, but I was working really hard and not enjoying it. I started to realise life is not about this, so if I was going to change anything I had to do it myself.”

It was at this point, feeling miserable, that he decided to make a change. He read a book by Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier, which he says changed his life. The book provides a three-step process, three intersecting circles: what gives you meaning, what gives you pleasure and what are your strengths. Once you work

those out, in the middle you’ll find your ‘calling’. When Trav completed this, his knew his ‘calling’ was to be a motivational speaker and took that as a sign.

“Really I was trying to heal myself rather than everyone else. I studied. Put on a talk and had 40 people there. It was crap when I look back on it (laughs) but I was packaging all the personal development stuff that I learned, business motivation theory and the like. I got about halfway through and I started talking about my list to do before I died... Since I was 18 I’d always had one.

“So, I started talking about that. I said, ‘Who else has got one of these?’ All hands were hands down, so I said, ‘Look, what would you like to do before you die?’

Everyone went nuts and started sharing.

At the end of it a lady came up to me and she said, ‘That list to do before you die stuff, it’s like a bucket list. You’re like the Bucket List Guy.’” And the rest, as they say, is history. From there, Trav went home and registered TheBucketListGuy.com. He became the World’s Number One Bucket List Expert and has never looked back.

According to Trav, to make a bucket list you don’t have to make sacrifices. It’s simply about changing your priorities.

“A bucket list is a tangible life plan, where our business plan or our career plan has to fit into our life plan. It doesn’t have to be to climb Everest or go up the Eiffel Tower. Just choose life before business.

“I know for a fact that most people could run their businesses, probably in half the time that they actually do, and get the same result. We all know that we procrastinate and waste a bunch of time.

“The fact is, when you’re not clear about your bucket list, and you’re not actively pursuing all the things you want to do and building up your list, of course you’re going to fill your time [with other things]. It’s the vacuum effect; you’re going to fill your time with work, rather than life.”

Trav says it’s important to distinguish a ‘to do’ list from a bucket list. So how do you go about separating those? He suggests getting it all down on paper and making it real, writing your list and making a conscious effort to distinguish the priorities.

“If we don’t write them down and make [the bucket list] even more conscious, we tend to prioritise and go with what’s the most important thing on our to-do list.”

Looking at all the tasks and to-do list items in your business, Trav believes you need to start with the things you’re strongest in. Delegate as much as you

can and focus on your strengths, rather than trying to fix your weaknesses. And know your value – don’t work for $5 an hour when your value is $100 an hour.

He recommends filling your days with the most valuable priorities and then outsourcing the rest to people who are better at the work than you, but who are cheaper, so you can get a clearer mind on your day-to-day tasks – at the same time giving you more happiness.

“At the end of the day, a bucket list is a really cool way of goal setting and, I dare say, a more specific and more personally meaningful way of goal setting as well.

“There’s a presupposition where you need to create time-flow and cash-flow in

“A BUCKET LIST IS A TANGIBLE LIFE PLAN, WHERE OUR BUSINESS PLAN OR OUR CAREER PLAN HAS TO FIT INTO OUR LIFE PLAN. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE TO CLIMB EVEREST OR GO UP THE EIFFEL TOWER. JUST CHOOSE LIFE BEFORE BUSINESS.”

order to do a bunch of the things on your bucket list. Get really clear on what you want to do and, obviously, why you want to do it – because it gives you more fun, adventure, fulfilment in your life. It gives you that sense of personal satisfaction.”

So what holds people back?

“Inertia. Inertia is created by ‘that’s all well and good for you, but not for me’. The thing that certainly shocks them out of their inertia is if something unfortunately goes wrong.

To put quite a negative spin on it, if we were given a cancer diagnosis, we would certainly re-prioritise life over work, wouldn’t we?”

But Trav’s message is simple.

“This is really about getting a piece of paper out and writing. I know it seems really, really simple, but get it out and write on it and think ‘what do I truly want to do before I kick the bucket?’ My mission is to help people live a regret-free life, not a regretful life. The last thing you want to be doing is getting to 80 or 90, or whatever it might be, and then looking back on your life and going, ‘I wish, I should have, I could have...’.

“Create a bucket list, but go one step further. Take action.” ■ TARA TYRRELL

TRAV BELL’s website TheBucketListGuy. com has great tips and advice on how to make the most out of both your business life and your personal life including downloadable worksheets.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 39

The Last Word

Fiona Blayney

NOT THE B-WORD Fiona Blayney is banning the word ‘busy’. And there are good reasons for it.

I

’m not quite sure when the realisation first came; it may have been at the moment where I found myself, yet again, answering the question of ‘How are you?’ with the response ‘Busy’.

Or perhaps it was hearing that same response in each conversation I start. It could have been on one of the many occasions where I find another person describing me as busy. Whatever the catalyst, and there are many more than I have mentioned, I have turned my mind to the notion of ‘busyness’ and all of the connotations this little word brings.

It’s been quite a journey since I stopped being busy.

Yes, that’s right; I’m no longer busy, and now I actually feel refreshed. My heart rate has dropped and I’m sleeping better and getting more done.

All from letting go of busy.

Right now you are probably thinking ‘What has she done?

How did she do it? Has she hooked up with the four-hour work week guy and typing this from a beach in Thailand?’

No, quite the opposite – let me explain. (Reading on will take you approximately 2.32 minutes, so slot that into your ideal week somewhere.)

Firstly we need to get clinical about this little word. If we refer to our learned friend, the dictionary, being busy is defined as ‘having a great deal to do’. I’m not convinced it’s that simple; for it to be so, we would need to believe that everyone can fit the same

amount of ‘doing’ into their day, and anything more than that is busy. I don’t agree.

Consider for a moment that we all work at different speeds, process information in varying ways, input a kaleidoscope of emotions and energy, require different rest periods, plus more; I think it only fair to adjust the definition. Being busy, according to Fiona Blayney, is ‘having more to do than would be considered normal for oneself’. And so there came the evidence.

Hi, my name is Fiona Blayney and I am not busy.

For those of you who have ever seen my schedule, your head is now spinning and you’re thinking, ‘Of course you are busy!’ But here’s where we are wrong; I do not have anything more to do than that which is normal for me, so therefore I am actually not busy.

This little word ‘busy’ has infiltrated our lives, yours and mine. It has weaved its way in as a standard response, has taken on a new importance in the definition of who we are as people, has given false meaning and purpose and ultimately sent a level of pressure into your day simply by its use.

I cannot imagine it being possible to get more done in a day than I already do, yet every time I told myself I was busy a message was sent to my brain and with it the associated stress and working speed to get even more done. I could

40 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2015

feel my heart race, my fingers take on a persona of the Phar Lap of typing, calls were more abrupt and there was a significant shift in the office as Fiona the tornado hit town.

That was the old Fi. I have now officially banned the word busy; it’s no longer part of my vocabulary. It hasn’t seen the light of day for a few months

I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING MORE TO DO THAN THAT WHICH IS NORMAL FOR ME, SO THEREFORE I AM ACTUALLY NOT BUSY.

and wow, am I better for it.

The B-word has been replaced with words like ‘productive’ and ‘efficient’, none of which provoke any negative response (well, none so far). In fact they have done the opposite. I am still getting through the same workload, perhaps even more; I am in flow more often and delivering higher quality results.

It’s amazing what impact one little word can have.

Next time we speak and you ask how I am, I’ll say I am productive; I’m looking forward to hearing the same from you. ■

FIONA BLAYNEY is the founder and director of Real+, an industry-first Property Management learning platform. For more info visit realplusonline.com.au.

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