Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #119

Diagnosing a major problem at my PM company, Interviews with Rhome & Roofstock's Presidents

Author

Peter Lohmann
November 22, 2024

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

I Sent a Bad Email Reply to a Property Owner

I don’t get many emails from property owners anymore.

I used to get all of them, but over the last 5 years we’ve built up our property management team to the point that they handle nearly everything.

Once in a while though, an owner decides to cc me on something. I received such an email a few weeks ago (you can see the PMA renewal email he was replying to below it, having to do with increasing our 3rd party maintenance markup from 10 to 15%):

So here we have an upset owner. Notice the key phrases “Doesn’t pass the BS test” and “I feel like RLPMG is not trying to partner with me for success in managing my property, but is not looking for a larger cut of my return.”

Here’s what I sent to this owner in reply, 4 minutes later:

(His reply to that email was one word: “Wow.”)

So obviously, this was a dumb thing for me to do. I replied in a moment of anger and frustration, and nothing good was going to come from that. I think you all knew that already.

There’s more though. After thinking long and hard about this interaction, I came to a very scary but important conclusion. This little back-and-forth exposed what I believe is the fundamental problem driving churn here at RL Property Management (we’re going to end this year with ~25% unit churn).

Which is this: The owner was right when he said it doesn’t feel like we’re partnering with him for success in managing his property. He was picking up on something that’s unfortunately seeped into the culture of our company: Not actually caring about our clients.

And I know exactly how it happened. It’s my fault. Just look at the email I sent to that owner. Imagine the tone this sets at my company for our entire team, and how they in turn relate to our clients.

People do business with companies they believe “give a shit”, if you’ll excuse what I believe is the first-ever expletive in this newsletter. As I reflect on my own experience with companies, both as as consumer and as a business owner, it’s incredibly clear when the company actually cared about me as a customer, and when they didn’t. And that in turn had a massive impact on my likelihood of continuing to do business with them.

All the fancy automations and processes in the world cannot make up for this. And human beings are incredibly attuned to it. If they sense you care about them and what’s important to them, they will love you. If it’s clear that you don’t, they’ll go elsewhere.

When I pulled up our core values after thinking about this, imagine what I found. Out of the 5 original core values at RL, not 1 mentioned our clients. We later added a 6th that BARELY touches on them, and that core value wasn’t even my idea.

So yeah—the diagnosis is confirmed, and treatment is the simplest and most unoriginal idea in the history of business: care about your customers. And it starts with me. I need to find a way to again relate to our owner clients, because honestly in the last few years I’ve stopped relating to their needs, their pain points, and their desires. My guess is this will come by way of the same thing that I’m doing here: radical honesty and transparency. I welcome your ideas. -Peter

THIS ISSUE IS PRESENTED BY LEADSIMPLE

Wow, LeadSimple Does All This? 🤯

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You’ve got enough on your plate. Let us take some of it off.

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Watch me Build a Process in Real-Time

My goal with this workshop was to prove that you can get started with process/workflow improvements at your company FAST. It doesn’t need to be a huge lift. We use LeadSimple as an example but I tried to keep my advice and insights platform-agnostic.

Industry expert & consultant Kelli Segretto joined me for this one, and it was great to have her insights and contributions. If you’re been wondering how to get started documenting or automating your property management processes, I made this for you!

I keep forgetting to talk about my podcast, which has been releasing a new episode every Wednesday since late July! We’re nearing the end of this season, so let me highlight a few of the recent episodes in case you missed them:

The Power of Local Market Equity with Rhome President Charles Riska

Great discussion the history of Rhome and their unique approach to PM company acquisition. I love how Charles breaks down how Rhome thinks about valuing a local property management company.

Merging Mynd with Roofstock President Doug Brien

Doug shares candidly about the founding of Mynd and recent merger with Roofstock. I love how clear Doug is about the future of property management and the part Roofstock will play in it. Great listen.

New Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

  • Here is a property management company for sale in Sarasota, FL (asking $550k)

  • Here is an STR management company for sale in Champions Gate, FL (asking $275k, 38 homes)

  • Here is a property management company for sale in Branson, MO (asking $700k)

  • Here is an HOA Management firm for sale in Sacramento County, CA (asking $3.9M)

  • Here is an HOA Management company for sale in San Antonio, TX (asking $72k)

  • Here is a vacation home / HOA management company for sale in Mammoth Lakes, CA (asking $500k)

Industry News & Events

  • Brad Hargreaves just released the 2025 Real Estate Industry Event Guidebook. Great read (note: paid subscription required).

  • Gusto (payroll/benefits software) is running a special: $100 the first time you run payroll ($200 if you have 10+ employees). We’ve been using Gusto at my PM company for 10+ years and it’s great. Makes it very easy to pay RTMs, too.

  • Blanket just announced their new product to help property managers reduce churn: Retain.

  • Tony Cline just opened up applications for the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike for property managers. I applied; hope to see you there!

  • Want to work with me? I have a sales role open at my property management company! Competitive comp, great benefits, open to remote. Please contact me for details.

  • For some reason my LeadSimple University code for $285 off is still working… might want to grab a ticket before they close that loophole!

Closing Thought

That’s all for this week! Have a great weekend. -Peter

P.S. Did someone forward you this email?

Stats from last week’s issue:

Valid Recipients: 18,974 (accidentally sent un-segmented!)

Open Rate: 55.4%

Clickthrough Rate: 5.7%

Most Popular Link (211 clicks): PM Trends Report

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.