Commercial & Retail Property Managers – How To Know If Your Landlord Hates You – Part 2

knowledge and detail

Some property managers really don’t have the attention to detail and extensive knowledge that retail and commercial property management requires. This is a common problem in the industry where property managers come from residential property management with little or no training for the new commercial and retail properties they are asked to manage.

If they don’t have the knowledge required for the tasks they perform, then they need to be trained (and fast). There is a big difference between working on a residential property and then moving the same person to take over and manage a commercial or retail property.

Losing the trust of the owners

When the landlord is getting to the point of not returning your calls and not accepting your recommendations, you have, in effect, lost your trust. They may tolerate your poor management style for the foreseeable future, but there’s a good chance they’ll change property managers soon.

The situation can be reversed and will require effort and concentration to do so. Understanding the landlord is part of the process to fix the problem.

So what is property management all about?

Successful property management is not just a matter of controlling tenants and cash flow; it is primarily about forward-looking control strategies and processes that enhance the owner’s ownership over the long term. The owner’s goals must be respected and pursued.

To accomplish this goal, know what you’re doing and have a reasonable understanding of the industry, tenants, and property type. Local knowledge is essential here.

Here are some of the critical factors every property manager must fully understand and control as part of the services they provide to the owner:

• Leasing implementation and management for property-wide leases is critical to the services you have provided. This will include the types and levels of rent that achieve the returns the landlord requires. Add to this current market leasing methods, leasing incentives, and the terms and conditions of a competitive market leasing package.
• Vacant lease marketing should occur to all local businesses so that vacant downtime is minimized. By identifying any lease expiration early, vacancy downtime can be minimized.
• Real estate asset revenue optimization is achieved through the efficient management of rent reviews, lease negotiations, rent adjustments, and the timely processing of all rental-related matters.
• Maintenance processes must be controlled and budgeted; This is associated with the good performance of the property, including the obligations derived from essential security, risk management, environmental and asset measures. This includes managing maintenance contracts and tenders where appropriate to achieve cost efficiencies with all of your selected contractors in balance with the correct levels of maintenance required on the property.
• Lifecycle management is a special skill. Includes the impact of property maintenance on current occupants, maintenance of machinery including older plant and machinery, restoration and renovation strategies to maintain the physical appearance of the property, and rent optimization given quality of the presentation of the property.
• You will need to keep track of comparable properties in the local area. This is so that they have minimal impact and disruption to your leasing mix, leasing strategies, and income stability.
• Management of not only leases but also the mix of tenancies must be done in balance with the property’s business plan. This is so that any relationship between the tenants can be shaped to improve the performance of the property. This is very relative to retail tenants and shopping malls. The surrounding community and business demographics will need to be considered here as part of the process.
• Communicating with tenants in a comprehensive and detailed manner will improve both property performance and property income. Good communication with tenants allows you to minimize any occupancy difficulties and possible future vacancies.
• A solid and detailed knowledge of the legislation, rules and all regulations affecting the property from an occupancy perspective is required of the property manager. Compliance with all of these factors will keep the property functional as an investment.
• Detailed reports must be submitted to the landlord so that they are kept informed of all property strategies and events. This will include all budgets, forecasts, lease mix, and lease strategies.
• As a property manager, you must be comfortable with technology and the concepts that involve technology in building operations and performance.

These are some of the main factors involved in the professional management of commercial and retail properties. Failure to provide these services will jeopardize the relationships you have as a property manager with the owner you represent.

It could be said that the person who provides these services must be intelligent, articulate, confident, well-informed and precise in their job function; you would be right. Good commercial and retail property managers are special people.