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The role of the Property Manager has undoubtedly evolved and expanded with increasing momentum over the past decade. In response to the tech-and-people-driven shifts in real estate management, property managers are saying that the focus of their role has made a necessary shift towards the tenant experience due to market demand. Website improvements are being made to make leasing efforts easier and so that the new tenant base associates the company’s brand with an elevated experience; from the website, to the exterior, to the lobby, elevator and seamlessly throughout the units and common spaces, te tenants want to be able to place themselves right into the environment without skipping a beat in their busy lives. Some developers, like First Gulf and the Hi-Rise Group, are steadfast on enriching certain geographic areas, like Toronto’s East End and Hamilton’s downtown core. When landlords listen to the city’s needs, including job creation and better infrastructure, the result is usually positive and rewarded with municipal grants and tax incentives. While listening to the city is often in alignment with the city’s working population and decision-makers, responding to every request can set developers and community members alike backwards in terms of progress. As tenants become more sophisticated, so do their demands Think: robot floor sweepers and self-tinting windows. These demands may be the latest trends and may add marginal convenience to the work day, the tenants do not often consider the ramifications of their demands, especially when it comes to safety and long-term maintenance and depreciation of proposed improvement. At a recent Bisnow event hosted at the Fairmont Royal York, one of the panelists likened a property manager’s job to a hospitality consultant. What used to be seen as an entry-level job in the real estate industry, now requires a greater understanding of customer service, asset management, event execution and marketing strategy. With growing pains come opportunities for growth. We’ve heard directly from property managers in the Canadian market who are challenged by keeping their colleagues engaged in the bigger picture rather than getting bogged down in the day-to-day operations - a difficult balancing act when you literally have to run from your desk if there’s a fire - in addition to the rising expenses and how to balance the budget with essential operating costs and the nice-to-haves. There’s also the risk of taking on an expense to help engage tenants and being unsure of how to measure its effectiveness or relationship to retention or even cost savings. The answer to this is data: look for the vendors that have a proven track record and can provide metrics. A great example can be seen using hOM’s ROI report here. And lastly, a call to action from a C-Suite leader and teacher of future Property Managers, Roman Brailovski, that asks aspiring real estate professionals to be open minded and encourages them to ignore any prejudices about the industry dissuade their decision to enter into the role. It may be more glamorous and satisfying than you think. Read on for the full interviews with high-level property managers: Roman Brailovski, Senior Director of Property Management and Operations, First Gulf 1. How is your company working to differentiate your brand? First Gulf has a very holistic approach to real estate; we are vertically integrated and provide our owners, partners and tenants an end-to-end experience in which we develop, build, lease and property manage our assets. Having all of these different services in-house affords us the luxury of coordinating efforts and ensuring that we actually build assets with long-term quality and occupant experience in mind. Also, having all of this diverse expertise working for one company allows us to customize our assets based on client requirements; we are not constrained by the need to introduce vendor driven off-the-shelf solutions and can really deliver what our clients want and need. 2. What are the top 2 challenges you currently face in your role? The 2 top challenges are also terrific opportunities: 1. Our tenants are very sophisticated. They understand building operations, technology and greater market trends among other aspects of real estate management. As such, we constantly find ourselves having to elevate our tenant engagement and experience programs and initiatives in order to meet changing expectations. We love this challenge because we are in the business of building relationships with our tenants and ensuring that we action their feedback, help develop their ideas and support their initiatives. 2. One of the main questions that executives in the property management/operations field grapple with is how to attract and engage young people and ensure that we have a diversified and inclusive workforce. Property management has changed so much over the years; from something akin to a necessary evil it morphed into an innovative/dynamic field and even a competitive advantage in some instances. However, getting that message out and revealing our multi-faceted field to a diverse interest base remains a challenge. One of the ways we bridge this gap at First Gulf is by working closely with Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, and particularly the Real Estate Management program. In fact, just in 2018 alone we have hired 3 exceptional students from that program in full time roles at our head office. 3. What advice do you have for new Property Managers entering the market? One of the main pieces of advice that I can offer is for new candidates to maintain an open mind about this part of the industry. Don’t let prejudices about property management/operations dissuade you from trying your hand at different roles within our industry. The most successful property managers are well-rounded; they have worked in a variety of roles and have a clear understanding of how all of the major components of an asset or a portfolio of assets work and interact with each other. It is important to keep in mind that because we work with so many different moving pieces (sometimes literally!) and varying stakeholders, no two days are the same in our field. Keeping that in mind may help new PMs persevere and capture opportunities when they arise. Mariane St-Maurice, Manager of Community and Tenant Experience, Dream Unlimited 1. How is your company working to differentiate your brand? Dream Office is developing new initiatives for our tenants to help them get to know us. This means active programming, engaging newsletters, and fun giveaways, to name a few, that help to put a face to the mysterious Landlord that most employees don’t otherwise think about or feel the need to know. We want people in our buildings to know Dream even if they’re not our main point of contact, because we want the everyday experience to be good for every person who enters our building. Dream has a unique culture and brand, so we really strive to find engaging tenant initiatives that reflect our culture externally. 2. What are the top 2 challenges you currently face in your role? 1. The first is communicating directly with tenants. We’ve historically communicated with one point of contact in each office and relied on them to disseminate the information to their colleagues, but we want to reach as many individuals as possible so they can be aware of what’s happening in their building, what exclusive promotions we may have for them, etc. We’re slowly improving direct communication through our new tenant app, dream+, and our quarterly newsletter, but there’s still a lot of room for growth. 2. The second challenge would be to change tenants’ behaviour: we’ve only been driving more proactive engagement in the last year, so a big part of what we’re doing is educating tenants on the programs that are available to them and what they stand to gain from them: a sense of community within their office building. It’s something that most tenants aren’t accustomed to, so we’re excited to make this the new normal. 3. What advice do you have for new Property Managers entering the market? Focus on the customers. Tenants want to have a comfortable office, but what will really make a difference is the personal touch from the people who work in the building. Get to know the individuals in your building, understand their needs, and build relationships with them so that they are comfortable coming to you not only with questions, but also with positive feedback and suggestions that can help you improve the experience for all tenants. Are you a Property Manager looking for ways to differentiate your brand? Contact us to learn how hOM's Community Management Platform can help you.
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