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What does a normal day look like for you?
What’s normal?! That is the beauty of property management – no two days are the same. However, my days now involve team management, new business, trust accounting plus a bit of property management when the team needs me. Outside of work, I always start my day with an F45 work out and finish with an episode of some sort of terrible rom com on Netflix.
How long have you been in the property management industry?
I have been in the biz since I was 20 years old, so about nine years.
How did you start your career in property management?
I have a cousin who works for the Department of Housing, and another cousin who was in the industry so I thought I would also check it out. Initially I started as administration in sales, but found my real jam was property management and quickly moved into an assistant role.
What do you enjoy most about the property management industry?
Helping new investors! I love working with new clients and welcoming them into our team. Particularly clients who might have had a bad experience with another agency, I really love showing them how our team does things differently and restoring their faith in the industry.
What does the next 12 months look like for investors and tenants in your market?
Well if the first two months are anything to go by, I think the next 12 months are looking really promising! We have seen some really low days on market lately and some increases in weekly rents too. Our area is set for some major growth over the next 15-20 years, with a lot of development and new estates on the cards.
What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
How important it is to really listen to your clients and get to know them. I have found through experience (and maybe age too) that building a relationship with your clients, and getting to know them and their goals, really goes a long way in earning their respect and growing the business with referrals.
Do you have a favourite client story?
I have so many wonderful clients so choosing a favourite is just so hard. There is a young family of three siblings that we manage a property for though, they spring to mind as a bit of a favourite. We have faced some similar challenges in life recently and I will always have the time in my day to help them out. They live interstate and there have been some hiccups with the property since they inherited it. At Christmas, they sent me a beautiful gift and thank you card. Totally unexpected but I was so appreciative of the thought.
Any property management horror stories?
I think I have been pretty lucky over the years to have escaped a lot of the property management horrors you hear about – no drug labs, dead bodies or A Current Affair sort of stuff. I remember a long time ago a tenant abandoned a property and left their cat behind. As a massive animal lover, that was really sad and I felt a responsibility to help out. I remember at that same house, walking in to be absolutely eaten alive by fleas – my colleague and I had to actually take our shirts off and whack the fleas off before running out of there! That was one of the dirtiest houses I have ever seen. I should add a disclaimer to this one – it was a privately managed property that we took over.
