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Building a rent roll from scratch is never an easy proposition. Competition from established players is always stiff and winning over landlords as a start-up is a daunting proposition. So what’s the secret to Suzana Wade’s rapid expansion in the competitive Brisbane market and what exactly sets her business aside?
Speaking as a panellist on REB’s Growing Your Rent Roll Masterclass, Ms Wade said that there is “definitely opportunity” to grow in the current market. Running a lean team of just four staff members, Ms Wade has focused her time in core areas of her business where she has been able to have the greatest impact on winning new managements while running an incredibly watertight rent roll.
Locate Property has emerged as one of the fastest growing agencies in Brisbane. This is all the more impressive considering that Ms Wade has not had the advantage of leveraging off an existing sales business.
“I started from scratch two years ago. I’ve built my rent roll organically, and we’ll be over 200 pum by the end of this year. It’s been tough, but it’s been good – really good,” she shared.
With more than 20 years’ experience in sales and as a self-proclaimed passionate real estate business development manager (BDM), Ms Wade relishes the challenge of winning managements.
“I love getting out and chasing stock,” Ms Wade said.
“I’ve built an excellent network of lawyers, accountants and finance professionals, plus I get a lot of referrals from my landlords. I like winning managements.”
So what are the cornerstones that Suzana has built her business? To win landlords over in one of the toughest markets in recent history, a new agency has to have a watertight proposition. One of the first levers that agencies can be pressured into pulling is discounting the management fee. This is a path Ms Wade has refused to go down.
“I don’t negotiate my fee. I’ve built my business on referrals and the first thing I find out from landlords is, ‘Why did you call me?’ The service that my team delivers has just filtered through and that’s what landlords are looking for, that’s what justifies my fee.”
Service is an offering that most agencies would say is core to their proposition. So what exactly is the Locate Property difference, and how does it set them aside from the pack? According to Ms Wade, service comes down to more time spent with landlords and tenants, and less time on administrative tasks. “I’m hands-on,” she said.
“I’ve always got time to talk to my tenants and landlords. We don’t just send emails, we pick up the phone.”
It sounds simple, but time is a finite resource that is quickly drained. Locate Property runs a very lean team, and yet it has the capacity to focus on the areas of the business that are of greatest value. Working hard for the client – the value of this activity is clearly apparent in Locate Property. While most property managers have seen attrition to their rent roll, Ms Wade has seen virtually none.
“I’ve lost one management. Just one,” she said. How has she been able to achieve such impressive retention while achieving astronomical growth? Ms Wade revealed it has been meeting the challenge of diminishing cash flow for investors head on.
“As soon as rates started going up, I was in discussions with my landlords about the yields on their investment. You just have to pick up the phone; you have to be transparent.”
Through openly discussing the realities of the current market, and the pros and cons of selling versus holding property, Ms Wade has been in a position to add considerable value to her landlords.
So how has Ms Wade been able to build a business that allows her and her team to focus on the most valuable and productive activities, such as winning managements and working with clients?
As a start-up, she wanted to set up her agency in the best format from the outset. That meant looking for the best technology to empower the team to have the freedom to work in areas of the business that would deliver the greatest value to clients as well as the agency.
Ms Wade realised that finding an alternative to managing a true account was a major step towards freeing up time for the team to work with clients and building an agency that was geared for future growth. She chose Managed App and has not looked back.
“I’m not technologically savvy,” Ms Wade admitted. “I wanted a platform that was easy to use, and it’s all there – everything you need on your phone. I just couldn’t live without Managed.”
As well as enabling her to run the business the way she wanted, it also delivered better cash flow to her landlords. “Once I tell landlords that they get paid weekly, they just can’t believe it. That’s their rental income straight into their offset account – my landlords love it!”
You can watch the webcast back here.
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