How to communicate your value as a property manager

“One’s perception is one’s reality.” It’s a common saying in life, and has a profound impact on the world of business as well.

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Customers are only willing to pay a price for a product or service if it matches their perceived value of that item. This phenomenon is one of the biggest challenges that property managers face today, particularly when it comes to managing sectional title and HOA communities.

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The significant amount of time that is spent on a community, and the value that is added by property managers to that community every month, is hardly ever understood by trustees, let alone individual property owners. The main reason for this is the lack of proper reporting by property managers to their communities.

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In most cases, property managers only report on the financial status of their community each month. This is, of course, one of the most important aspects of what is expected by the trustees, but there is so much more that property managers do – and so many more responsibilities that ultimately fall on trustees’ shoulders – that never get properly reported on. As a result, they never add to the perceived value of the property manager’s services.

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The two main reasons for limited reporting are:

1. Property managers use multiple platforms to perform their functions, making it very difficult to compile a single, comprehensive report.
2. Compiling these reports manually is extremely time-consuming.

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So, what should a property manager ideally include in their monthly report?

• Financials
  • Administrative actual vs budget
  • Reserve fund actual vs budget
  • Balance sheet
  • Debtors analysis
• Compliance
• Transfers conducted
• Warnings and penalties issued
• Any tasks performed by the property manager
• Payment approvals

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Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say, “Check your inbox – I just emailed all those details to you,” or, “We provide that info via real-time reporting on the client portal”?

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Unfortunately, if you’re using multiple platforms to perform your property management functions, that’s pretty much impossible. Thankfully, using multiple platforms isn’t the only way to do things.

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IPMS is the most advanced end-to-end property management solution specifically designed for the management of sectional title and HOA communities. With a custom-built financial solution as a backbone, fully integrated with all the key workflows of sectional title and HOA management, managing agents are now fully empowered to manage their communities with one, effective, central solution.

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Not only does IPMS enable all key departments to carry out their responsibilities with a single solution, it also empowers managing agents to report on all the key aspects of successful community management every month at the click of a button.

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IPMS also allows trustees to log into a portal to view live reporting at any point in time.

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With the increasing responsibilities laid on trustees, it’s becoming more and more important to ensure complete transparency between them and their managing agent. It’s equally important that clients, trustees and homeowners have a complete understanding of their managing agent’s value and the massive number of hours spent on their community every month.

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The only way to effectively achieve this is to ensure your clients receive a comprehensive monthly report or, even better, have access to detailed live reporting functionality like that provided by IPMS.