MultiFamily Blogging: Letter to The MultiFamily News Editor

Dear Diana Mosher,

I recently read a MHN blog post titled: Who Owns the Residents’ Experience? and I found myself a bit taken aback on a multitude of fronts. In the vein of pure professional and constructive feedback, I think posts of this nature demand a little more homework to include some real world example as a way of backing up key statements.

The article carries an interesting perspective but I think it’s a bit off as it relates to the property management world across the American landscape. So many of the REITs and privately held firms have made problem solving central to every role in the organization. Be it the Porter, Leasing Consultant, Property Manager and every position in between. And, they have been doing so for as far back as I can remember.

For example, when I worked for Equity Residential, we kept a lock box stocked with gift cards from various businesses around our community and the entire team had authority to “make it right” with any person who did not feel we were Making Life Easy [A thoughtful Equity tagline] for them. The team also had access to the use of concession monies if necessary. In that respect, it was not just the L.C. that owned the relationship, it was every member of the team, no matter the circumstance. Issues that made it to the home office were very rare and very extreme in nature.

Now that is not to suggest that there were not thresholds with regard to how much you gave away to right a wrong but the point is every person on the team was not just empowered but expected to take care of the people who spent both time and money with us.

On the point of pay; the lead and subsequent statements make it seem like the industry short pays leasing professionals in an effort to cause high turnover. I’m fairly certain that is not the case and maybe I just misunderstood the statement. In my own experience, I see L.C.s who make in advance of A.M.s and P.M.s in some cases. I think it really depends on the various comp structures out there. This point in the article does not seem to be well researched and is validated a bit by the qualifying remark in the lead paragraph.

As for churn and burn; I think this position more times than not is a stepping stone for other industries.  In my own experience, I’ve lost some great people to getting their degree in a discipline outside of the property management world. In essence, many good people use the position to earn some very good money while they go to school. Others work it until they figure out what they want to do when they grow up. And, rarely do I see an L.C. move into a corporate marketing role. Another point in the post where I yearned to see the premise.

Any more, P.M. firms are shopping the market for professionals outside the industry who bring a very diverse marketing discipline to the table. It goes way beyond most L.C.s capacity, background or wherewithal. Not to suggest it never happens but it is more of a rarity than a normal course of business.

To close, I very much enjoy the content provided by your magazine but this one fell a bit short.

Your Left Wanting Loyal Reader,

Mike Brewer