Topic: Property management can feel grueling right now.

Property management can feel grueling right now.
There is a ton of pressure to hit goals.
Old challenges got harder.
New challenges arise - day in, day out.
I’m hearing more - “exhausted, tired, worn out.”
I’m hearing less - “awesome, easy, fun.”
My goal: To understand and empathize.
What challenges are you and your team facing right now?

The silent days...no emails no calls no traffic

Megan Ortiz to the point it"s not fun.

Angry residents who want their life back. I get it. I’m there with ya but I don’t make the decisions. Please stop yelling. Also keeping everything locked and explaining 30 times a day after blasts that get deleted gets old. Additional reporting etc and we all have personal lives and concerns around this. It’s a lot.

Heather Everett King this. All of this.

Heather Everett King - It seems like a lot of resident unrest. I want to make sure I'm understanding you. Are residents just deleting important notices/updates and then getting angry they were notified? Then you said additional reporting. What do you mean by that?

Jordan Greek they are cranky. I understand that certainly. We just happen to be who they vent to and some days are more intense than others. And yes, they don’t read what we email so we repeat ourselves like a record! I need a hologram of myself to play my top 5 greatest hits! Our reports are more involved and every report involves year over year comparatives to track potential loss. And then the rent deferral trackers are another layer.

I spoke to three onsite teams this week and asked, "when was the last time someone called you, asked to understand what you're challenged with and offered to help?" They were so surprised.

Jordan Greek This is HUGE... For those that aren’t working onsite it’s hard to understand but the fact that you reached out shows that you CARE!

I manage on a Senior Property in Missouri. My elders are scared, sad and lonely. Breaks my heart

Lesa N Brad Garton - My goodness. I can only imagine. What has helped you and your team ease some of the stress?

Lesa N Brad Garton I'm in Missouri as well. I would love to help bring a smile to some faces.. Let me know if I could do something.. possibly have my property fill out/make cards, color sheets etc and I could mail them to you?

Starra Bright I have thought many times about pen pals.

Lesa N Brad Garton If you do, let me know.. we could exchange it in the office so personal information stays confidential

Lesa N Brad Garton I’m in Florida doing a brand new lease up! Would love to have our team send a few cards! Try reaching out to local schools too. They may have a way to get the kids to do something!

Not enough help we have two employees for all of our homes and fighting to get more is like fighting a rabid bear

Erin Jaurigui - Bandwith for sure. What isn't getting done or what do you wish you could do more of if you had more people?

These are all great answers. There is a general burnout feel across our portfolio. Sick of sadness and being scared.

Amy Sexton Horsley - I'm seeing a lot of that here. I'm intrigued about what is driving the burnout. It seems like patience is thin for both prospects and residents which I could see how that would weigh on a team. What do you think is driving it for your portfolio? Anything you're trying to change the emotion?

The exhausting attitude of people. The pandemic and subsequent quarantine has turned so many people unnecessarily nasty. My team just feels genuinely beat up, tired and abused.
Nobody seems to think that we are also going through this, but instead of trying to only keep our own households safe and healthy, we are trying to keep another 200 households safe and healthy.
We are tired of being yelled at.

Melissa de Jesús - Wow. That just hit home for me. You shoulder the emotions of your own family and then the emotions of 200 others.

Our company has been nothing but amazing during this challenging times. I guess it has to do with who you are working for. Keep up the good work, be positive and do your best.

Alfonso Escareno - Love that mindset.

I’ve been at 2 properties since the pandemic and both are incredibly different experiences. My first property in CA was a luxury building in Santa Monica. As soon as stuff shut down in March we have all of our corporate leases submit their lease buyout fees (11 units). Then we had a 3 residents come in pay their 30 days, pay their early buyout fee and say “I’m moving on Friday bye”. Then residents that did stay saw this as an opportunity to “help us out” by offering to transfer to a larger unit for lower than market rates. Occupancy tanked.
So I learned with luxury buildings, they have the money to cut their month spending and immediately go somewhere cheaper.
I transferred in April to a regular property in CO and our property is doing exceedingly well all thi s considered. We’ve maintained 94% or higher leased. One of our properties is currently 100% leased and occupied with only 1 renter on a deferral plan. We have a few residents on deferral plans at our other property because it’s larger but nothing crazy.
Fortunately the biggest challenge at my new property has been dealing with maintenance. During the shut down we could only do emergency orders. We sent NUMEROUS emails about this but work orders kept flowing in for light bulbs, batteries, filters, birds nests, spiders, moth migration etc. Then going online and leaving poor reviews about maintenance. We can respond how we actually want to and can’t remove them and it’s like “Gahhhh! We sent MULTIPLE emails about Covid. It’s covid not our team!” Then because we took over just a few months prior from another management company the timing was just a so it makes it look like our management company is doing a poor job when it’s not the case. So residents have been extra mean and demanding concessions for every little thing which it’s just how mean they are to me that’s exhausting.

Allie Gartside - That's tough being caught up in the transition and having to shoulder someone else's work, or lack-thereof.

To be honest, things have drastically changed since Covid. People have become insensitive and very demanding. The phones ring nonstop and often times it’s someone calling back to back without leaving a message which makes it really hard to concentrate when I’m talking to someone on the other line. Emails from the kindness residents have now turned into rude and threatening emails to the point where I don’t even know what to respond because it’s almost like a completely different person. The days are one thing after another and there isn’t enough time to do my actual work because I am trying to complete the requests we’ve received. There’s just no words, I go home everyday worn out and beaten down without feeling like I have accomplished anything.

Jamie Bentley I hate that too! When you have a resident in the office or trying to complete a task and the phone just rings again and again. Makes it so hard to focus then they don’t leave a message

Allie Gartside I cant even complete anything. All three lines ring ALL day. My ringer doesn’t turn off so while I’m on the phone it’s ringing in my ear and the person I’m talking to!!!

Jamie Bentley yes! We have voicemail for a reason. If you call and call and call and call and aren’t getting us on the phone, maybe we are busy helping someone else. They don’t leave a message then when we either call them back or they get through, it’s “Ive been calling you for HOURS. I was beginning to think nobody works there.”
Like, come on, please.

Jamie Bentley - Really appreciate you being so open about this. I can definitely see how you can do so much in the day yet feel like you were spinning your wheels.

Allie Gartside - Totally. It seems like the phone call might distract you from providing an awesome experience for your resident. Then you don't have the information easily available to call them back. That's a lot

Melissa de Jesús - When you do speak with them, what questions do they have? I'm wondering what their motivation for the urgency is.

TRAFFIC...omygosh...Closing percentage is phenomenal because the few people walking in the door want to move NOW. But, we really need a few more of those walking in...

Comforting to know others are feeling all this too..people's worlds are just too small right now...everything that is not important feels important and urgent to them....wish it was different and people slowed down and cared more...some do....but in this experience most have not.

I get it’s all about the bottom line to corporate and the owners, but there should be a level of appreciation for the shop-floor people.

Tony Leon that’s definitely been a mixed bag. We haven’t felt the love on the property level very much. I’ve seen others feeling on top of the world because of how they’ve been treated.

Tony so true. While corporate still hasn’t return to the office- on site has been expected to be at work day in and day out. The pressures have been higher for the numbers without really compassion for the exhausted employees. Especially for owners such as town centers where they are already losing a lot of money due to places being shut down. The pressure falls on us even more to keto the ship afloat.