By Chris Cervelli of Cervelli Management
Property managers offer many services to building and facility owners, but many of the benefits are not truly realized until you do your math at the end of the year. It is obvious that they handle that annoying middle of the night call regarding no heat, or noise in the hallway. However, after you have done your accounting, it becomes evident where a managers value is.
It has been written that the rise of the city was most expedited by specialization. Technological and financial advancement has been most facilited because people realized that if each person specialized in a specific trade, the group as a whole would benefit, because each skill would be more advanced than if one person were trying to accomplish all skills and in such a respect would provide the most amount of good for the most amount of people.
Following this model, and as in most things in life, when you specialize in something, one benefits from economies of scale and an understanding of how to accomplish things in the most efficient manner. Property Managers specialize in building and facility management with the goal of creating the most value from the asset while maintain its structural and financial integrity. Let’s look at the financial side first.
Property managers often engage in ongoing relationships with Oil and energy distributors, contractors, and insurance companies which when buying in bulk can save money and thus enhance the value of a portfolio. This also applies to Equipment and material distributors, legal aid, and service professionals. If maintenance and cleaning companies are contracted to handle a large amount of units, they are more likely to be aggressive in price, and these savings can be passed on to the property owners.
Also, building managers relationships with contractors and professionals not only benefit owners from a financial side, but also from a time perspective. Very often when someone calls for repair service or professional services, it may take some time for a reply, or an answer. One of the main advantages of working with a property manager is their vast network of professionals that have contracts or receive continuous work from the management company. When contacted by someone whom they work with on a frequent basis, response time is minimal and services are usually of a quality grade, because these contractors and professionals want to perform well for good clients.
Property managers also maintain relationships with municipal agencies, building inspector’s, fire departments, police and other governmental officials to ensure proper compliance and quality of services provided which are important to the long term health of a building.
In the long run, a property manager’s responsibility is to enhance the value of a portfolio, and make it a hands free investment for the owner. When first hiring a Property manager, it may seem like they are taking part of the profits of the building, but really they are just taking a piece of the savings they are providing for the owner. Possibly even more important to an owner is peace of mind and knowing that a professional is watching their investment.
Chris Cervelli holds a bachelor's degree from Montclair State Universit and is a licensed real estate broker with 10 years of experience nad has obtained the highly regarded CCIM designation.