Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #179

Call Center or Personal Relationships: You Must Choose

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what the future of property management communication with rental owners is going to look like.

Some of this has been spurred by changes we're making at my own management company, but a lot of my thinking is in response to new data about the preferences of rental owners (more details coming soon via the 2026 PM Trends Report, in collaboration with Harris Poll and Jordan Muela).

Specifically, the responses to that survey make it really clear that when a property owner contacts their property management company, response time expectations have never been higher. I'll save the details for the actual report, but suffice it to say that if you're taking more than 30 minutes to get back to property owners, they are extremely unhappy with you and becoming more unhappy by the moment.

To meet that expectation, your property management company is going to need to look more like a call center, with employee (CSR) performance measured on availability, response time, and support ticket time-to-close. I've seen this done effectively at a very large management company, and when done well, it really works. But the entire company has to be oriented to this structure, and it has to be a maniacal focus of leadership. At this company, those things were true and so for them it was effective.

There is another path, though.

I reflect often on my relationship with Chase Bank (unfortunately, antiquated state laws preclude me from banking with Enterprise [not sponsored or affiliate, I just like them]). I have a personal relationship with a Chase business banker. His name is A.J., he lives in my city, and whenever I have a question or a need related to business banking I just call his cell.

Put differently: I call my banker, not my bank. By the way, in case you had any doubt, I'm not some hotshot at this bank. Our accounts are no larger than most of yours reading this.

And you know what happens if AJ doesn't pick up? Absolutely nothing. I don't freak out. I don't start posting Google reviews about how Chase Bank doesn't answer the phone. Instead, I just go about my business, confident that A.J. is going to call me back as soon as he wraps up his current phone call or finishes his lunch. And he always does. I'm willing to be way more forgiving (in terms of response times) with a human that I have a relationship with, than I would be if I called the main Chase business line.

Let's bring this back to property management. If a rental owner has a personal relationship with a specific person at your company and can call their direct line or cell, things are going to play out in a very similar way. If they have a question or a need, they're going to call their property manager and if the property manager doesn't answer, they're probably perfectly fine to go on with their day confident that the property manager will call them back.

Put differently: They call their property manager, not their property management company. But for this to work, each property owner has to be assigned to a specific person (property manager) who is their primary point of contact. Put another way, your PM company must be set up in a pod or pod-hybrid model of organization).

[As I write this, I’m wrapping up an incredible week on the Mayan Riviera with nearly 50 Crane members, spouses & team members. 0% vendors, 100% connection. Crane applications re-open in early April.]

This is the alternate path to turning your property management company into a call center. It's the path we’re pursuing right now at RL Property Management, and I'm excited to report back with results as we complete this transition.

What I’m confident isn’t going to work moving forward is hanging out in the middle. That is, not having the perfect pickup rates of a call center, but also not designating specific team members to specific owners. That’s a recipe for angry rental owners who will begin complaining that “I can never get ahold of anyone at this company.”

I think we’re going to be forced to choose one of these two models in order to keep up with evolving owner expectations. Will let you know how this plays out for us; stay tuned.

360+ Doors with no W-2 Employees.

Yes, you read that right - hundreds of units under management with no employees. Sounds too good to be true, but Matt Luke has built some incredible systems and processes to make it all happen. AI handles leasing. AI handles maintenance intake. LeadSimple powers automated workflows. Vendors execute. He oversees with a ruthless focus on removing friction everywhere in the business (I love the part where he explains his philosophy on the impact of solving friction in business).

Uniquely, Matt doesn’t position himself as a property manager at all. He positions himself as a wealth advisor—helping owners think long-term instead of month-to-month. Well worth a listen.

(Available on Apple Podcasts & Spotify)

Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

• This PM company in Los Angeles County, CA is still available (asking $420k, ~$156k revenue)

• 650-door property management company in Minnesota for sale (asking $900k, across MF, SF, and HOA properties).

• PM company in Harris County, TX (asking $192k with ~$187k cash flow).

• Another Los Angeles PM company (asking $450k, ~$200k annual revenue)

• This residential PM company in Albuquerque, NM is asking $525k (~$521k projected 2025 revenue).

Sponsored by PMU. I don’t know this for sure, but it feels like Property Management University is about to drop something big. They’ve become the go-to for structured onboarding, risk & compliance, and talent development. Stay tuned for more...

Industry News & Events

• Zumper announced a new ChatGPT integration for rental search. “Once users add the Zumper app from the ChatGPT App Store, they can initiate natural language queries such as “show pet-friendly rentals under $2,500 with in-unit laundry” and receive up-to-date listings, property details, photos, pricing, and embedded links to schedule tours or contact property managers — all without leaving the chat interface.”

• I don’t post about the for-sale listing portal wars much, but I thought this framing by the WSJ was interesting. “Compass Wants Zillow to Hide Homes from You.”

• Miami Beach condo property owner and maintenance worker accused of kickback scheme of hundreds of thousands of dollars, investigators say.

Closing Thought

A few quick things before you go…

• Last week’s issue went to 20,954 readers (59.4% opened, 5.5% clicked)

• The most popular link was the article on Automations vs AI Workflows vs AI Agents: Understanding the Key Differences (319 clicks)

• Property managers: Your professional trade association is NARPM. You need to join if you’re not already a member.

• Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here.

Software I’m using to scale my 700+ door property management company:

Note: These are affiliate links, but I’ve been recommending all these companies long before any financial arrangements came into place.

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.