Anaheim Property Management Blog

We have recently starting adding real estate agents who want to both sell properties and manage them as well.   We give them the training, provide all the back office operations (rent collection, owner disbursements, monthly reporting, vendor payments, etc.) and they handle all owner and tenant issues for the properties in their portfolio.  This is not how property management is traditional done.  Usually, a property management company covers a large area, such as all of Orange County, hires staff to handle a large number of properties (this can be as high as 200 properties for each Property Manager) and tries to grow the company as big as possible. I have found that agents are interested in having stable monthly income that property management affords and many have grown tired of the “real estate income roller coaster”, that is, selling a home or two and then waiting around to sell a few more.  Here is why I feel real estate agents are the perfect person to manage properties:

• They Know the Area – We only allow agents to manage properties where they currently work or live. They aren’t managing a property in Pasadena if they live in Placentia.  They only market to, and manage properties that are no more than 15 or 20 minutes from where they currently work.
• They Provide Better Customer Service – Most agents only want to manage 40 to 60 properties. They are looking for stable income, not building a property management empire.  They have “skin in the game” and understand that if they manage the owner’s property well, that same owner might sell that same home with them in the future if and when they decide to sell.
• They Know the Business – Real estate agents already know how to execute contracts, most have worked with tenants, and many have prepared listings for sale so they know what it takes to make a property “rent ready”. We have to bring them up to speed on rental laws and how to navigate our property management software, but otherwise, they already possess many of the necessary skills.
• They Have the Time – Although a few real estate agents close a large number of transactions (convention wisdom is that 20% of agents close 80% of all the business) a large number of agents sell between 5 to 10 properties a year and have the time to utilize their elsewhere in the business. They have the time to provide excellent customer service in property management.

This is the proverbial win-win.  Owners get the tools, pricing and transparency of Progressive Property Management and agents step in to provide superlative customer service in their market area.