Alex Whitlock, co-founder of Managed and director of REB, has identified three professionals who are indispensable in his investment journey. But he said that the two of them almost never communicate.
Whitlock has been an avid property investor for 30 years, and in that period, he has pinpointed what he calls an investor ecosystem – the small group of advisers who shape every major decision an investor makes.
“For me, as an owner, these three professionals are critical,” he said in The Property Management Excellence (PMX) Podcast with Finni Mortgages principal Eva Loisance.
“I buy a property from a sales agent – that’s a very transactional relationship, and then they’re gone. So, one is the PM. The other one is the mortgage broker. The third one is the accountant.”
Whitlock, who has purchased property across multiple Australian markets and now holds a portfolio that includes self-managed super fund acquisitions, said the property manager occupies the central position in this triangle – or should.
“The property manager is central. Once you’ve purchased, they are the professional. That is the custodian,” he said.
Whitlock argues that property managers are uniquely placed to identify opportunities for their owners because they see market movement before it appears in reports. They know which neighbourhoods are tightening, which properties are outperforming, and when an owner on their rent roll has probably accumulated enough equity to take the next step.
Yet in three decades of investing, Whitlock said no property manager has ever initiated that conversation with him.
“It’s funny – in 30 years of buying property, I’ve never once had any property manager come to me and say, ‘hey, look, we’ve got a relationship with a mortgage broker. Would you like to have a review of your situation, or your portfolio? Are you thinking about adding?’ Never once.”
Whitlock said the same trigger events that matter to a property manager – a lease renewal, a rental increase, or a maintenance discussion that reveals a property’s growing value – are also the moments an owner is most open to considering their broader position.
“It’s really rare to hear investors saying, ‘I just want about one or two’.”
“It’s never the conversation. People want to keep going until they hit their goal, which often is, "I don't want to work anymore, I want to retire early.”
“PMs don’t have to be a mortgage broker. But to actually have the confidence to have a conversation about saying, ‘I know my marketplace, your rent’s just gone up X per cent over the last three years… it looks like you may have gone up 20 per cent. It’s worth having a conversation with a broker’. No one's ever had that conversation with me.”
The property managers Whitlock regards as next gen are those who have moved beyond transactional relationships and built what he calls an organic connection with their owners – one that includes asking the questions that lead to growth.
Managed was built to help next-generation agencies win market share fast. It is the only comprehensive property management platform that exclusively delivers secure, instant, and automated direct payments from tenant to landlord, eradicating the need for a trust account.
If you’d like to find out how Managed can help power your growth, call Conor on 0452 298 394 or book a discovery call today.