As agencies look to grow their property management arms, dividing responsibilities across specialised teams could be the key to managing workloads while unlocking further rent roll growth.
As small agencies chase growth through their rent rolls, adjusting systems and workflows could be key to unlocking scale, as one agency went from 50 properties under management (PUM) to 1,000 in just a few years.
H & B Real Estate advertising account executive Tim Oldenburg said that when he first joined the business, they had around 50 properties under management.
“We are now above a thousand rental properties,” Oldenburg said.
Oldenburg said one of the catalysts for growth was the realisation that they needed to change their workflow to alleviate some of the burden.
He said that in the early stages, the property management arm of the business relied too heavily on just one person.
“At the beginning, I was managing a lot of the clients personally. I would basically be their property manager and take everyone’s phone calls, and everyone would love me,” he said
“But I saw a massive issue with that: they also depend on me too much.”
“2023 was basically the starting point where we began to grow significantly. Before that, the first two years were probably a learning curve for me, learning my trade and the industry.”
Structure: The key to handling scale
Oldenburg said that after recognising the point of friction, he realised that a change in structure could unlock the next phase of growth.
“Having done every single task, the traditional model that a property manager does, not everything works,” he said.
“There are different skill sets, and I believe that one person can’t be great at everything. It’s better to split the departments.”
While numbers were his strong suit, Oldenburg said he found himself lacking when it came to the emotional aspect of managing clients.
He said the real tipping point came when a property manager left the business, having been burnt out by the sheer volume of work.
“That’s why we had to basically separate different roles.”
From there, Oldenburg said the business shifted away from a do-it-all approach for their property managers to splitting the role into a leasing department and a PM department.
According to Oldenburg, the relationship manager role largely consisted of communicating with clients and handling the day-to-day of the property, while the leasing department was responsible for increasing the value of the rent roll.
He said that while PMs were often afraid to push a rent increase for fear of a tenant leaving, having another staff member handle clients allowed him to continue to do what he felt was best for the business.
“That is probably the main reason that we have succeeded, because we would get properties that were heavily undervalued just because other agents didn’t want to increase it for that exact reason.”
How to begin growing a rent roll
Oldenburg said that there were two main ways agencies could expand their rent roll: generating the extra business or through acquisition.
While acquiring a rent roll could seem daunting, he said it was actually smoother than most expected if they knew what to look for.
“Acquiring a rent roll is interesting, especially when you do it for the first time.”
“But it’s actually not a difficult thing if you do it right.”
If businesses knew what red flags to look out for and ensured they were doing their due diligence correctly, Oldenburg said they could avoid falling into the common traps.
“If someone was to buy a rent roll, they need to see everything.”
“Every compliance certificate, every ledger, any authority, lease agreements or rent increase notices. You need to see these sorts of things and go through the documents four, five, or six times.”
He said that if a business was looking to expand their own rent roll through an acquisition, they should look to target a list with some capacity for growth.
“I don’t think buying a perfect-looking list at the highest price is the best. It’s probably better to look at something where the bones are there, but it has not been perfectly executed.”
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