Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #145

The Surprising Seasonality of PM Company Sales

I never gave it much thought, but apparently M&A activity in our industry is highly seasonal! Check out this finding from the 2025 PM M&A Report:

Clearly there’s a flurry of activity happening to get deals done before year-end, but is that being driven primarily by the sellers, or the buyers? I can think of arguments for both.

Let me know your thoughts, and click here to learn more about the new M&A report.

I Visited The Wolf’s Den

Joni and Shawn Wolfswinkel have been producing a great podcast long before I stepped into the scene. They were gracious enough to invite me to join them for episode #233.

In this episode I share my journey from control systems engineer to leading a thriving property management company with 700+ doors. Discover what inspired me to start RL, how the industry has evolved since 2013, and the early challenges I faced—along with my strategies for overcoming them. We also discusses the vital qualities of effective leadership, maintaining team motivation, and differentiating in a competitive market.

You can check out the video below or find it anywhere you listen to podcasts:

New Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

I’ve purchased 2 property management companies on the journey to grow RL. Next time, I’ll be using Live Oak Bank’s Property Management Lending Team* to finance the deal. This will give me a huge advantage, since I won’t be reliant on the seller to help me finance the acquisition!

• Here is a property management company for sale in Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA (Monterey County) (asking $1.6M)

• Here is a property management company for sale in Deschutes County, OR (asking $3.5M, 870 doors)

Industry News & Events

• Per Propexo’s CEO Reman Okoruwa, Yardi is the leading the property accounting software with ~14.5M units estimated on the platform, followed by AppFolio with ~8.8M. Full breakdown here.

• Alfred and Quarterra have merged (recall that Alfred purchased RKW Residential in 2022). New entity manages or controls 52k units.

• Wolf is hosting next week’s Peter & The Wolf Show without me! He’s going deep on AI phone systems for property managers. Register here.

• Rentvine acquired trust accounting group Bynnd (I had not heard of them before, but I think it’s noteworthy to see a PM accounting software platform acquire an accounting company).

• New York City just banned “broker fees”. Broker fees are a NYC-specific oddity where the tenant pays a one-month’s rent fee to the listing broker (that’s on top of the normal security deposit and first month’s rent). Think of it as a leasing fee paid by the tenant instead of the owner. Anyway, I’ve actually always liked that model because it provides tenants with a strong dis-incentive to moving (landlords incur enormous costs due to tenants moving). Tenants who move less should be rewarded for that, and broker fees were a way of doing that. Now the costs associated with leasing will be baked into the base rent and paid by all renters, regardless of how infrequently they move.

Closing Thought

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The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions. *Affiliate link.