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Tips and Trends
Stop Applying Residential Approaches to Commercial Property Management

While the business of commercial and residential property management appears to have many similarities, they are fundamentally different and require a different approach to run successfully, from both a personnel and software perspective. All too often commercial property management is run with residential property personnel, and legacy software systems - a model that is increasingly agreed to be broken. As part of a recent webinar, we spoke with Wendy Thompson, owner of Wendy Who? a highly respected professional property consultancy, and Jason Luckhardt, National Manager of NAI Harcourts, the world’s largest network of owner-operated commercial brokerage firms, on why residential approaches don’t work for commercial properties. Watch the full webinar or read below for key takeaways: Why residential and commercial property managers are not made equal While it may seem like a simple transition, not every residential property manager is made for commercial real estate. And vice versa. At its core, the driving motivations between leasing residential and commercial assets are starkly different. “People don't have the necessity in life to have occupied commercial premises, it's a choice that they make, whereas people have a necessity of a roof over their head. So you start off with two very different bases in terms of property management. ” - Jason Luckhardt. These differing approaches then directly affect the service offering and landlord expectations associated with the role, which of course then flows through to the job description and ultimately the appropriate personality type of successful candidates. The role of a commercial property manager is extremely technical and complex, while a residential property manager is largely concerned with efficiencies around property maintenance and tenant satisfaction, From understanding legislative requirements in every region they work in, to managing tax, completing accurate lease administration, and ensuring all compliance is met by both tenant and landlord, the role is extremely business development focused. Being able to interpret macro and micro level reporting and offer timely advice to landlords is another part of the role and requires a person who thinks critically, and is extremely efficient. Given the difficulty of the role, and the vastness of the responsibilities that fall under it, a key component to the long-term success of the property manager, and therefore the business as a whole, is the need for appropriate available software. The importance of fit-for-purpose commercial real estate software “It's so critical to have good systems to be able to help you manage and simplify complexities so that you can focus on the landlord’s investment and maximizing the income to the agency.” - Wendy Thompson. When it comes to commercial real estate management, good reporting is imperative. Whereas a residential property is bricks and mortar and contains one type of tenant, commercial properties can be much more complicated. A multi-level property may have stacking plans, different business usages, car parking - and unique utilities. In a property such as this the landlord will want to see a detailed breakdown of expenses, track the vacancies, negotiate leases and identify the efficiencies in order to be able to derisk their investment and maximise the value of the asset for the owner. This requires both a level of macro and micro reporting that residential software simply cannot supply. "You need a system that allows you to put data in and analyze it locally to look for efficiencies. That's really where you're going to win business” - Jason Luckhardt The complex nature of the amount of information required to manage a commercial property portfolio effectively is not only a brain tangle but hugely time-consuming. Having a software system in place that is fit for purpose also greatly reduces the amount of admin time property managers spend inputting information and double-checking data. A good software system will automate everyday reminders and critical events, ensuring you are reminded of upcoming activities so that you don’t miss a beat, which in turn frees up time to get on with building your business. “Having a software program that makes it simpler for you at the end of the day is so important.” - Jason Luckhardt Of course, there are many services that are the same in managing residential and commercial properties, and this is why so many businesses persist in using legacy residential software with a few workarounds. But given the many unique challenges that commercial property managers face, this model is the business equivalent of fitting a square peg into a round hole. Check out our latest FREE guide on the ins and outs of making the transition from Residential to Commercial Property Manager and our expert tips like the ones above.

Tips and Trends
Why Creating The Right Leadership Culture Is Really Important

We always hear about the importance of leadership in business, but seldom does it seem that typical business management pays attention to the fact that leadership, or the lack thereof, can be instrumental in influencing talent in a business and keeping the churn out. Traditional management techniques tend to suggest that team members are easily replaceable, requiring little more than a new job listing to fix the gap in the chain. But as a lot of leaders can attest, people bring with them skills and knowledge outside the job description. So this means businesses and therefore its management need to create the right infrastructure to harness good talent. This is now as important as ever, as the workforce trends to a younger average demographic with differing expectations, the demand for alternate management styles is at an all time high. But in the past, the peak of management was seen as to plan and command. But the modern workforce wants something different, and for businesses stuck in the past, managing without leading is an expensive mistake. Let’s get to the facts... More than 30% of the workforce is now made up of Millennials, according to Pew Research Center. Millennials want to work somewhere that shares their values. Indeed’s Job Hunt report found that a recommendation by someone in your professional network, not including a colleague, typically accounted for how 26 per cent of people found their next job. And then 19 per cent of job hunters are looking for greener pastures because they’re dissatisfied with their current job. And just 36.7% of employees are engaged at work, according to Gallup. In this particular Australian report by job searching site Indeed, we can see that employees who are not engaged do not do their best work and are at risk of leaving your company. They want to feel like their work has a purpose and makes a difference – they want a good culture fit. A global Deloitte report looks at how today’s organisations exist in a glass door era, where every corporate decision and interaction “is immediately publicly exposed and debated”. Recent research shows that in most companies, engagement levels are low. According to Gallup, under 15% of the global workforce is highly engaged. These numbers demonstrate that there is a lack of refined process around measuring engagement – things like performance reviews and the determination of career growth prospects – that is ultimately resulting in low levels of employee confidence in their organisation’s ability to drive the desired culture. There is an interesting school of thought that says companies should treat employees as customers and consider them as volunteers in their position, not merely workers filling a role. It may be a left-of-field concept but with the birth of websites such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor and even Facebook in some instances, the power of transparency is at the fingertips of the employee. With this global shift, as outlined in Deloitte’s report, employee motivations have changed and there is a legitimate focus on purpose, integration and work-life balance. And now more than ever, we can see that an organisation’s cultural reputation is paramount. True leaders build reputation and nurture talent Clearly this shows that reputation – both formally and informally – counts. And one of the best ways for a business to tarnish reputation is by bad management and poor leadership, while one of the best is to be seen as a standout in the jobs field for work-life balance and strong management. Employee motivation is central to driving success and business leaders motivate their employees. Managers that fail do so by making common mistakes, whether that’s to downplay and pigeon-hole talent, devaluing creativity, individuality or critical thinking. Google is a great example of a company people want to work at. Why? Because it treats its employees as more than oil in the machine, giving them an exceptional work environment, whether that’s free snacks, drinks and meals, or chill out time and space, or hire scooters, for example. Google applies its data analytics to staffing, finding, ”periodic one-on-one coaching which included expressing interest in the employee, and frequent personalised feedback ranked as the No. 1 key to being a successful leader” for its staff. Okay, so why is toxic culture so bad? Management is the group that builds and cultivates that culture, so when leadership is lacking or management's bad the culture becomes toxic. We’ve all seen it in workplaces from across the jobs market: people leaving unannounced, the new hires get left sitting at their desks without proper on-boarding or, worse still, are simply thrown in the deep end with high expectations on instant output. When culture is bad, people pack their bags and leave. It’s that simple. Projects are disrupted, plans are dropped, and expenses balloon out. The costs of turnover can run from the tens of thousands of dollars to more than two times an employee’s annual salary. Not only is there a financial cost, but also the danger and difficulty of finding someone who can fill the void of the past worker.

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