MFI: Epidemic in Third Party Management

By Julie Blank

I recently ran across a quote released in a white paper publication from a leader in the multifamily management industry.  To loosely describe the white paper subject, as to retain some anonymity, the discussion was surrounding the increasing competition in property management along with increasing client demand.  The quote was bothersome to me as a multifamily professional and infuriating to me as a leader.  It is reprinted here as follows: “We typically don’t distract regional managers and community managers with financial metrics.  If they push rents and occupancy, it trickles down to the bottom line.”  I could be taking this quote out of context so for the purpose of this article, let’s take it at face value to highlight an underlying epidemic in third party property management…………lack of personnel development.

Executives within management firms who are not coaching their management teams (Regional Managers and Community Managers) on financial metrics are doing a disservice to the career development of their associates; promoting a gap between owners and management teams; reducing owner confidence in management team capabilities; and losing a competitive advantage over rivaling third party managers.  In my experience, the more a leader arms their teams with knowledge and understanding of the impact of their jobs, the more team members are conscious of their actions and strategic in their approach.  In the end, all third party management companies perform similar duties; therefore, the biggest differentiator is the associates.  Thus, management executives need to respond to the challenging climate of third party management and foster the growth of their associates to rank themselves ahead of the competition.

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