Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #198

Author

Peter Lohmann
July 03, 2026

A no-fluff, twice-weekly publication for the property management industry.

My Favorite Three Metrics

I’m out of the business.

No, I didn’t sell my property management company. I just mean that I’m completely out of the day-to-day operations this year, more than ever before:

-I haven’t spoken to a client in over a year
-I skip most of the weekly leadership meetings
-I’m attending fewer quarterly EOS offsites
-There are people working here that I’ve never spoken to

Why? Well, mostly because I’ve been busy with a lot of other projects, including this newsletter (now twice-weekly), my podcast (now year-round), weekly PM news videos, PM Trends 2026, the NARPM Trust Chart of Accounts, Crane, and more.

I’m also a little burnt-out on running a property management company if I’m honest. Is it legal to admit that? Don’t send the property management police. The good news that I have a great #2 who takes almost everything off my plate. It wouldn’t work without him, or someone like him, running the business.

But this article isn’t about him, it’s about the 3 metrics I use to understand if my business is healthy without diving back into the weeds. Stepping back is one thing; abandoning my responsibilities to our clients and my business partner is another. So on a monthly cadence I’m looking at these 3 metrics FIRST, to understand if I need to dig deeper.

  1. Customers: Client churn. My favorite way to visualize churn is a trailing 3-month average that goes about about 2 years (see ours below). Client churn, as opposed to unit churn, shows you exactly what your customers think about your company. Each human that decides to terminate PM services is equally weighted here (rather than unit churn which can be distorted by large owners). So it’s a great way to see how your customer service & ops departments are doing over time. This collapses the entire business operations down to a single question: Do our clients value what we’re doing for them? If the answer is no, I dig in.

  2. Money: Net Income in Dollars. Most property managers default to thinking in terms of profit margin (eg 18%). I prefer to look at the figure in actual dollars (eg $285,000). I can’t pay my mortgage with margin; they require dollars. As you step back from the business and come to depend on owner distributions to feed your family (rather than a salary), this figure should loom large in the mind of whomever is running the company, and you should keep a very close eye on it. I really like looking at both the ytd figure, as well as the forecasted number for the year assuming the remaining months equal the average of the completed months, if that makes sense. Net income collapses all your finances down to a single question: Are we making money? If the answer is no, I dig in.

  3. Growth: Gross New Units Added. This is simply the number of new doors added in each calendar month (ignoring churn). Pretty self-explanatory, and again, it collapses all of your sales and marketing down to a single question: Are rental owners choosing to hire our company? If the answer is no, I dig in.

With those figures in hand for each month, I get a really, really great sense of what’s happening at my company. If they’re green, I’m pretty much happy to let my #2 run the ship how he pleases. If they’re red for a month or two, we have a conversation. If they stay red, big action is needed. If you’re looking for a roadmap on how to step back from your management company, see how comfortable you feel starting with these and let me know.

-Peter

THIS ISSUE IS PRESENTED BY LIVE OAK BANK

Acquisition capital for PM companies is a niche within a niche, and most lenders have no idea how to underwrite a business built on recurring management fees, tenant programs, and maintenance revenue. You end up spending half the conversation explaining how your business actually works.

Live Oak Bank's PM lending team already gets it. They finance acquisitions of PM books, adjacent service businesses (maintenance, landscaping, etc.), refinances, and working capital for growth. Already closed a deal with a seller note? They can refinance that too.

If you're evaluating an acquisition (or even just starting to think about one), it's worth getting them on the phone early.

Everything is easier when your lender speaks the language.

Most KPIs Are Just a Distraction

Most operators are staring at 74 dashboards and still can't tell you what's actually driving profit. On the new Lazy Leverage ep, Jon and I dig into a framework from Justin Roff-Marsh that cuts through the noise, and it starts with one question: is your business chaotic?

The fix: find your constraint (the thing that, when fully utilized, makes you the most money), then track two numbers: 1) productivity and 2) on-time task completion. That's the whole system.

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

  • Absentee-run property management company in Aptos, CA (asking $120k, 12 properties under management)

  • Boutique residential PM company in Roseville, CA (asking $300k, established 2015)

  • Another California property management business in Tulare County, CA (asking $745k, $565k gross revenue)

  • Property management and remodeling company in Cape May County, NJ (asking $450k)

Sponsored by RentEngine. My team uses RentEngine to lease units faster. Their new Fraud Guard tools catch AI-manipulated IDs and flag sketchy prospects before they ever reach a showing → Get a Demo

Industry News & Events

Closing Thought

A few quick things before you go…

  • Last week’s issue went to 21,927 readers (50.4% opened, 3% clicked)

  • The most popular link was… deleted from Alex’s LinkedIn 😞 (Give him a follow anyway.)

  • 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.

🤖 PeterBot Question of the Week

NEW: Register for a Delphi account (free) for unlimited chats/minutes with me, plus it saves your conversation history so you can pick back up where you left off.

If you have any pressing PM questions, chat with PeterBot, my AI clone (try the audio). It’s trained on almost everything I’ve ever written or said, and can help you talk through your most challenging PM questions and problems.

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.