The owner of Real Estate Gym says property managers are fund managers for investment properties, but they have never framed their narrative that way for owners.
In The Property Management Excellence (PMX) Podcast with REB director and Managed co-founder Alex Whitlock, Tom Panos said one of the most valuable professionals in Australian business is the property manager, but they are not making the most of their role in a property investor’s life.
As per Panos’ blunt assessment, a property manager overseeing 200 properties in a city like Sydney or Melbourne is effectively a fund manager of $200 million in assets, but most PMs have not phrased their role that way to owners, prospective clients, or, critically, even to themselves.
Panos argued that the framing matters because it changes how property managers conduct themselves in front of owners. When an owner understands that they are partnering with someone who understands the scale and significance of their property investment, they listen differently.
“The minute you feel like you’re dealing with a pro, you listen to this person because they've earned the right to actually say, ‘This is how we do things’,” he said.
Panos contrasted the Australian property management industry with what he has observed in the UK, where he works several months each year. He said the distinction between the sales team and the property management team in the UK is often indistinguishable – both carry the same sharpness, personal brand energy, and confidence.
In Australia, he suggested, property management has been allowed to operate as a secondary function, often positioned beneath the sales team in status and investment.
Panos noted that this status hierarchy makes little commercial sense given the underlying economics of an agency. When a real estate business is sold, the sale side of the business contributes very little to the valuation. The rent roll carries almost all of it.
“It’s not unheard of to hear businesses that get sold for $5 million or $10 million – and all that value is in the PM,” he said.
Speaking from firsthand experience, Panos said when he left agency ownership to focus on training and education, the single greatest financial loss was giving up ownership of the property management business.
“If I buy a property for $1 million as a rental, I’m going to get realistically $50,000 a year and then take costs out. If I buy a rent roll at $1 million, mate, we’re talking about you getting $300,000 coming in. And somebody else pays for all the maintenance.”
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