Make sure your clients aren’t on the fence when it comes to engaging the services of a rental property manager. 

With so many people trying to cut corners on costs these days, some rental property owners may be considering self-managing their investment. 

Those of us in the industry understand how badly this can backfire, but at times you do need to remind your clients of the value you bring and take steps to maximise it. 

Here are some ways you can prove exactly how much your management fees are worth to rental property owners: 

Be proactive

If there is any way for your property owner clients to add value to their investment, they need to hear about it. For example, if a renter moves out and there is an opportunity to improve the home, it’s definitely worth sharing what the return on costs would be. 

Installing an air conditioner, freshening up the kitchen or doing a small renovation project to add a home office or additional bedroom to a larger space are all ways to increase renter appeal. 

You don’t necessarily have to wait for renters to leave either. Offer a regular review to your clients and inspect the property with a money-making eye. Of course you can’t increase prices mid-lease but you no doubt have plenty of rental contracts which are close to their expiry date. 

Streamline your interactions

Many older property owners prefer phone calls and letters, or expect to interact via email.

The next generation of investors may be more comfortable using a property management app or messaging system. This allows you to submit repair and maintenance requests which can be easily approved with just a few clicks. You can also share updates and notifications to your entire database or to individual clients. 

The advantage to your clients is less time spent focusing on the day to day care of their investment. If they were self-managing, they would quickly realise how much time these tasks can take. 

Introducing a property management app can have benefits for your team as well as your clients because it gives them a single place to keep track of client records, incidents and interactions. 

The benefit of this is less stress for your team, which means they will have more time for your clients… everybody wins. 

Focus on customer experience

In an ideal world, no rental property owner would ever have to wait more than 24 hours for their property manager to get back to them. 

Many agencies now structure their team so this is possible. They have people who are dedicated to customer care and ensure clients receive a ‘thanks for your message’ response at the very least. 

Providing this peace of mind will make the money your clients pay you worth it. It can have the flow-on benefit of increasing your referrals as well. 

Offer incentives

The value of your rent roll increases when you have clients who own multiple properties and have them all managed by your team. 

As part of your proactive communications, ensure there aren’t any hidden opportunities you may be missing out on. You can sweeten the deal of managing additional properties for individual clients by offering incentives and discounts so everybody wins.

You may also wish to offer incentives for referrals to new clients who come on board and stay with your agency for a set period like six months or a year. 

Talk about the value you offer

It doesn't hurt to share regular blogs, emails or even videos to remind your clients of how much money you are saving them. 

Post a case study or two about investment property ‘horror stories’ where owners end up spending thousands at the tribunal because they didn’t have a reliable property manager or a clear contract in place. 

You can speak about the importance of insurance and how a property manager will check to make sure you’re well covered. Another topic to mention is compliance with the many rental property legislations in Australia. In Victoria for one, rental property owners who do not follow the rules face being added to a non-compliance register, which may force them to sell their investment before they are ready to do so. 

From rapidly dealing with repair requests to skillfully evicting unreliable renters, property managers save clients from all kinds of pitfalls. However, your clients may forget if you don’t remind them regularly. 

Unless an investment property owner is retired, semi-retired and has property experience, the cost of management makes so much sense. When you’re friendly, reliable and can show your clients how to improve the value of their investment, you’ll be worth your weight in gold.