Another Property Management company?

When a new property management company launches, the overall response it is met with is “Another one? Why?”. Closely followed, by the second response “How is this one going to be different to the existing companies?”. Whilst others would see these remarks as limiting and negative, LevelUP Property Management grasp them as incentives to stand out and provide a unique service.

Change in the industry has been long-overdue. The government, professional bodies and property managers agree, with legislation and regulations being proposed to make this change happen. This is one of the aims LevelUp is wanting to champion.

“Another one? Why?”

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  • 68% of leaseholders do not believe their managing agent could resolve issues efficiently and effectively*
  • Just 6% strongly agreed that they felt confident in the managing agent’s ability to resolve issues effectively and efficiently*

If you scroll through a search of Property Management Companies, you will be bombarded with companies promising transparency, excellent customer service, high communication skills etc. But with the stats above, how many of these promises will actually be achieved?

They reflect the elephant in the room – change is needed. Start with improvements such as better response times, and these negative statistics will fall and keep falling. But these changes can’t be attained overnight, change can’t only come from legislation and regulations of the industry, it needs to be from the property managers themselves.

“How is this one going to be different to the existing companies?”

The answer to this question is not as straight forward as it seems, it opens a myriad of new opportunities and possibilities some of which may seem either quite intimidating or irrelevant to property managers, and leaseholders.  But what are fundamentals that go towards the answer?

Technology

The buzz word of the industry at the moment is PropTech, something that was never even heard of a couple of years ago.  In the age of ordering food, clothes, taxis to your door with a press of button and the increase of smart homes, technology is now a huge part of our everyday lives – love it or loathe it, there’s no getting away from that it’s here to stay.

Technology can play an instrumental part in improving the industry with AI, apps and portals being currently available and exciting new solutions being developed constantly, allowing all parties more control and choices when its needed, 24 hours a day.  A huge number of industries have seen digital solutions revolutionise how they work and the results they provide, something other sectors are now taking on too, including property management.

  • 91% of millennials use a smartphone*
  • 86% of Generation X’s use a smartphone*
  • 40% of boomers do not use a smartphone*

So, whilst it cannot be argued technology is a way forward, these statistics highlight the difference in needs for different customers.  This is one of the reasons why the personal element must never be under estimated or under utilised to ensure all customers receive a service they consider of a high standard. Unfortunately, the opinion of what constitutes as a high standard to the customer can differ greatly to those of the property manager, so what can be done to bring these standards to the correct level?

People

Whilst we have discussed the intervention of technology and how this is seen as a positive change throughout the industry, human interaction still plays the largest part. 

The role of a property manager is very different today compared to 5-10 years ago, we are now expected to be leaders in all regulation and legislation changes, fore runners in Health and Safety and experts in accounting – but shouldn’t this be so?

The introduction of improved training opportunities led by professional bodies, industry literature and resources, along with support of their company enables property managers to be fully trained experts and knowledgeable professionals in their chosen field.  This can only be a benefit to the company they work for and the clients they service.

Property management needs to be seen as a career choice not a role that has just been fallen in to through circumstances, with opportunities for personal and professional growth.

So why LevelUP Property Management?

LevelUP are different, we are proud to be.  We are committed to providing our customers with the highest levels of customer service – this is one of the core values the business is built on.

Our never-ending investment in people and technology are two of the full-time commitments we have made to ensure that everyone receives the level of service they require.  As proof we pledge to publish results of customer surveys with ongoing feedback, offer total transparency of all transactions and live interaction with professional property managers via the implementation of state-of-the-art technology.

Carla Bussey, Co-founder of LevelUP Property Management 

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