Topic: I oversee 8 assets in 4 different states. What are other regionals using to monitor things like opening of the model, office, and amenities when it’s hard to get to all locations as often as I’d like?

I oversee 8 assets in 4 different states. I’m curious what other regionals are using to monitor things like opening of the model, office, and amenities. There’s no substitute for walking the property yourself, but sometimes it’s hard to get to all locations as often as I’d like. Any suggestions?

I’d love to hear feedback on this as well! Such a great question

Mystery shops maybe good if you have doubts or want to make sure. Also are you utilizing opening and closing checklists?

I sometimes have a secret shopper or a person on the staff go and take pictures or face time me

I have some digital checklist though go canvas and they work
Pretty good. Just trying to get more detail.

Hire responsible staff.

I have been doing this for 25 years. Between mystery shops surveys, having a maintenance man reliable to tell you what’s going on, advertising on your ads to give feedback for a free gift card you can also place cameras in themodel and the office. those are a few of what I have done for out of state clients.

FaceTime with your manager on morning walks! It’s a great tool and they never know when you are calling

I love it- my regional almost never calls regularly (voice only) anymore always FaceTime! I feel like she is always accessible! It’s really makes it feel like she right down the street! And not so awkward when she is here in person

I just had an idea pop into my head. What if the next time you’re in town, you visit a few local businesses, make a connection with them and ask about cross promoting. Then as that connection grows, you could ask them to have one of their employees secret shop the community and in return you will allow their business to be advertised in your newsletter/office/etc...?

Alarm systems generally track activate on and off for the office and model if it is a designated unit.

Daily checklist for every site employee and cameras. I can manage from home or office.

If you can’t inspect what you expect on a routine... naturally some things can fall through the cracks. It’s hard for you to monitor an asset long distance... even with the right people in place. And if you have the wrong person in place.. you sure would hate to find out too late.

We have properties pretty far away from eachother. We are located in Long Beach but we have properties in Vegas and SF. Others around Long Beach are within miles and some are 50 miles away. Though most of them have cameras, I heard of this app where employees check in by taking a selfie of themselves. It communicates with the other person sharing the app. You can see backgrounds. Meaning- Where they are. A checklist due by 11am each morning might be an idea. But again. That’s doesn’t mean anything. Cameras might be the best result. And you can add the recordings to your phone. Good luck!

I live by “Inspect What You Expect”. My managers and I have a great rapport but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I just always assumed the things that needed to be done were always being done.

Info Tycoon is great tool for your sites . Daily , weekly inspections. You can check on a property from anywhere. You can use an iPad and they can take pictures of items..

This is a great tool! I would recommend looking at Leo 24/7 as well. They offer more compliance type inspections.

Smart rent is an easy way to keep track of everything

These apps and micro management tools are taking the “inspect what you expect” thought process to a new low. If you can’t trust that a Property Manager is managing the asset to the best of their ability then why have them at all?

Do you take your staffs word for it or do you trust but verify? I don’t agree with daily check lists but prefer to measure by my onsite visits. A PM is onsite every day. This allows a certain amount of supervision that an RM doesn’t have on a day to day basis. The oversight level is just different and has to be managed differently.

Melissa I have daily opening and closing checklists for the on site staff yes, my RM (and when I was an RM) would check on those during the quarterly audit. What I’m referring to is the newest wave of apps that many RMs and management companies are asking PMs to use detailing the times they are completing daily tasks, requiring photo evidence daily and hourly that they are completed.
We as PMs and RMs already have system softwares to track all activity, then apps to monitor the system softwares, then reports to account for everything. Why does my daily opening and closing checklist need to be video and RM monitored?

If a Regional cannot get to his assets monthly then there is more to this question of how to ensure daily tasks are getting done. Maybe Regionals should figure out a way to visit more often. Checklists are stupid. Daily checklists by 11:00am are stupid. Hire the right people - and that includes Maintenance who are committed instead of hiring warm bodies to fill a slot. Everything that happens (or doesn’t) is directly related to those who work onsite. Hire right, train and coach professionally and you’ll trust them and not need these checklists and cameras.

Melinda, I’m curious as to what your role is and how working without any sort of check list works out for you ? Lots of great folks in both the fire and police service as well, however, I don’t think either would work without some sort of written checks and balances.

We require monthly reports be completed at Month End Close. Corporate personnel create a monthly calendar that is very helpful to onsite managers but don’t require daily sheets be filled out and sent. If you have to micro manage the daily process then the system is wrong. I manage with my own task list but I don’t make others manage their days the same way. Relationships are built on trust. And the proof is in the pudding: high occupancy, low delinquency, resident surveys and reviews, and happy coworkers.

We require what we call The Daily. Basically a checklist for the leasing team that includes walks for their move ins as well as opening and closing duties. They are kept for 30 days so we look back on these during our visits.

And I have to say after temping at a variety of properties-COMMUNICATE with your team. Respect and mentoring goes a long way. The more the team feels you support and trust them, the more they want to do! Pointing fingers, hollering “you’re done” and showing no respect cripples that team you want to be trusting! It’s sad, I’m not sure it’s even a warm body in some of these positions-it’s a paycheck to live life. Morale falls low and team is just figuring out how to get by without being “in trouble” everyday!

I'm not an RM, I'm a PM if you have managers on your team that respect you and the company they will take ownership of the community. Mine is closing in 20 days. I still put in 100% my RM is wonderful I respect her, my company and my owner's.

Leonardo 24/7!!

Unannounced visits

I feel like this post was meant for my property. Same issues here. Nothing is enforced then we get blamed. When the reality is it falls back on the PM and Maintenance Super. They should lead by example but they dont. Sometimes i don't even want to go to work anymore. Its very sad

Just want to thank everyone for all of the feedback. I don’t want to be a micromanager. We manage all A+ assets, so we have big expectations for cleanliness and attention to detail. Just looking for creative ways to make sure we are holding our standard everyday. Thanks!!

I’m a leasing manager at my site. My leasing professionals have a daily checklist that the PM signs off on AND that isn’t complete unless we document one thing for improvement via service request.

This could mean asking for a light that burned out to be replaced or documenting a piece of furniture that was damaged/needs replaced.

My regional checks this occasionally when she’s in the office but if you need give daily feedback/coaching on it at first have it scanned to you.

Video tours

When you find what works for you, Greg, make sure you’re sharing with the teams. Teams need to know what everyone is doing, not so much as competition (although that helps for some personalities), but to gauge themselves and give ideas. They can feel left out if they’re so far apart from each other. Good luck!!

Plain and simple old fashion just showing up not announced. Make sure you have keys and codes.

I have heard great things about www.leonardo247.com/

This is a typical issue for most management companies and regional managers. We all tend to get spread so thin we are like ghosts! Everything mentioned here is great and effective - especially love the FaceTime thumbs up by the on site manager. I am not a huge fan of checklists for tenured teams that know what to do as it then becomes perfunctory.
VP of Marketing & Training roles have the very same problem. I ended up tapping a few of the best in the area to be "regional.......", call them what you want. We used Regional Marketing Facilitator and their job was to look at each of the sites from a customer's point of view. They would visit quarterly, at first on schedule but would also pop in at any time. This could be a current leasing professional who keeps that position & at the same time fills this role a few days a month. It becomes a fine line for that role to visit another manager's property. So the quarterly visit would be a thorough review, discussion, plan with regard to the property appearance, marketing, retention, leasing activities and the submarket. If the laundry room was filthy the report would say "laundry room needs urgent attention" or when inspecting the market readies it would be done alone with detailed notes for the people who needed to correct it. It's all to the benefit and success of the property and the team and it's conveyed that way at all times - not a means to bust a manager but to assist in success.
Feel free to contact me directly if you want more info! jumpstarttracey!gmail.com
But start with those random FaceTime calls!