The Property Management path is forking – are you on the road to success?

While most of South Africa is reeling, the property management space is growing as demand is not going to stop soon. This is largely due to significant increases in sectional title and HOA communities. Our community living sector is now the second biggest in the world (outside of the USA).

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As it stands, residential properties make up 89% of all registered properties in South Africa and are responsible for 71% of the total value of the national property market (a whopping R5.96 trillion as of June 2021).

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These figures are only growing, with over 60,000 new properties added to the market each year. Of these, 47% are in gated communities (sectional title and estates), and therefore subject to highly regulated management requirements. 55% of all new builds are also bought by investors, many of whom will require property asset management services of their own.

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Under the circumstances, it’s no wonder the property management industry (i.e. managers of Body Corporates and HOAs, and managers of rental portfolios) is firmly set to “full speed ahead”.

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The real question is, how many property management business owners are ready and able to brave this wave of opportunity without fear of getting pulled under?

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Realistically, the combination of new regulations, evolving market expectations, and rising costs of doing business are creating an unavoidable fork in the road for the industry. Some will rise to the occasion, riding the wave of opportunity to become more professional, profitable and growing businesses. Others will grow, initially, but then succumb to the pressure, becoming unprofessional, unprofitable and unsustainable as a result.

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So how do you make sure your business is one of the former, and not the latter? It’s not rocket science. The key lies in conscious decision-making, active empowerment and the agility to recognise and adapt to evolving conditions.

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We’ll be going into detail on exactly how to make the necessary shifts to move with the market and deliver on expectations at our upcoming ENGAGE event. Register here.

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In a Property Management context, that means taking the time to engage on strategy. Hiring capable team members and empowering them with the right tools, knowledge, and support to achieve their full potential. It means reviewing and evaluating not just operations, but also market conditions to deliver services that are more relevant, more valuable, and more visible than the competition.

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Those that can do this will inevitably outperform those that cannot – a fact that has already had a clear influence on today’s property management statistics.

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Our Team at WeconnectU is privileged to engage with more than 1500 clients utilising our solutions. Based on the feedback from our 2022 survey and meetings with our top clients it is overwhelmingly clear that the property managers experiencing phenomenal growth today are those who have embraced change in their businesses.

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These growing businesses have increased their fees (recognising their own value). They have prioritised meeting and exceeding their clients’ evolving expectations (ensuring those clients recognised their value, too). They have adapted and reaped significant rewards as a result.

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On the other hand, those property management businesses that chose to simply tread water and maintain the status quo earned less, grew less, and likely stressed more.

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It’s a hard truth to accept, but all evidence points to the fact that the same methods that got the property management industry this far are not enough to get it where it needs to go next.

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That’s not to say change is easy. We’re all human. Stepping into unfamiliar territory is hard. Business owners who capitalise on these opportunities, however, stand to grow not only their annuity income (hello, profit), but also their overall business value and long-term wealth potential.

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We live in a country of challenges, but it’s also a country of extraordinary opportunity. Now is the time to decide whether you’re ready to engage with that opportunity or stand aside for those that will. It’s up to us to build the resilient, sustainable and professional property management industry of the future. An industry where professionals are recognised – and paid – for the value they add.

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That’s our mission at WeconnectU, and we’ll keep pushing those limits so that you don’t have to. Let us help you fall in love with your business all over again, and together we’ll build a better tomorrow for us all.