Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Tuesday Edition #15

Real data on today's landlords (finally)

Author

Peter Lohmann
May 05, 2026

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

Welcome to Issue #15 of the Tuesday Edition! Not interested? Click here to opt out (you’ll still receive the Friday editions).

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Who are today's landlords? (we finally have some real data)

Not every attendee at the NARPM Conference & Expo in Louisiana last week made it to the final keynote session. Three-day events are tough… travel schedules, competing obligations, people peeling off early. Totally understandable.

But the folks who stuck around for the closing keynote got something pretty rare in our industry: actual data on what residential landlords think and feel about professional property managers.

That keynote featured Jordan Muela and myself, and we used the stage to unveil the 2026 PM Trends Report - a 73-page deep dive built on research Harris Poll conducted in December 2025. The dataset comprised of 500 rental property owners across the U.S., each managing ten or fewer units.

(Not available online just yet… We’ll release the full digital version soon!)

Here's why we did it…

The people we most need to understand as property managers are also the hardest to reach. Individual small landlords in America aren't on LinkedIn, and they don't hang out in any consistent group. Getting a hold of them and understanding their intentions is genuinely difficult.

The original PM Trends Report came out about 18 months ago, and as far as I can tell, it was the first serious look at the rental owner population in years. It covers who they are, what they value, where they find property managers, how satisfied they are, and what makes them walk away. The 2026 edition builds on that with fresh polling and more granular breakdowns.

Jordan and I are data guys. We wanted to bring some science to what's actually going on with these folks.

Today's landlords are generationally mixed (more than you'd think)

One of the more interesting findings is that today's small landlords span every generation. Here’s a generational breakdown of the 500 respondents:

This isn't just demographic trivia. These generational splits correlate meaningfully with how owners perceive property managers, which services they prioritize, and how likely they are to hire professional management at all.

Throughout the keynote, Jordan and I showed how every data point in the report can be sliced by demographic - giving PMs a much richer toolkit for understanding the clients they serve and the prospects they're trying to win.

The four types of landlords:

Probably the most immediately actionable framework in the report is a behavioral segmentation model that splits landlords into four groups.

  • Expanders are growing their portfolios with no plans to sell. These are your prime growth clients, motivated buyers of services who'll likely add doors over time.

  • Holders are neither buying nor selling. They're stable (not growth), and a reliable retention base if you're focused on long-term client relationships.

  • Repositioners are buying and selling at the same time, actively rotating their portfolios. They tend to demand more hands-on service because of the complexity and frequency of their transactions.

  • Exiters are selling without reinvesting. They might generate revenue in the short term, but they carry the highest churn risk. A group to monitor - not invest heavily in acquiring.

These headline stats will make you rethink things…

Beyond the segmentation, a few numbers in the report flatly challenge some common assumptions in our industry:

  • 72% of landlords have no plans to buy more property. And most of them said they hire property managers primarily for stress relief, not to maximize ROI. That's a big deal. Pitching yield optimization and financial performance metrics may be way less persuasive for most landlords than emphasizing peace of mind, reliability, and ease.

  • 75% plan to use AI tools to find their next property manager. If you haven't seriously thought about your digital presence and discoverability lately, this should prompt that conversation.

  • 74% are comfortable with AI handling property management tasks. Early adopters of AI-driven services may have a real competitive edge in the years ahead.

  • 90% would accept lower cash flow in exchange for a better tenant experience. Read that one again. For an industry that often frames its value proposition in financial terms, that number suggests the emotional and experiential side of property management may be a much more powerful selling point than most firms are leveraging.

As Jordan wrote in the report: "The landlord population is dynamic and changing." The generational shifts the data uncovers make it possible to anticipate where the market is headed. As the composition of the landlord pool changes, so will the expectations, preferences, and behaviors PMs need to adapt to.

We didn't try to walk through all 73 pages during our keynote (we would’ve been kicked off stage). Instead, we curated the most compelling snapshots and used them to show both the depth of the data and the practical ways property managers can apply it to sharpen their business decisions.

If you weren't in Louisiana, the report is where the full picture lives. We'll be launching the full digital version soon, so keep a close eye out.

-Peter

THIS ISSUE IS PRESENTED BY SHOWMOJO + TENANT TURNER

It's 11pm. A prospect has questions:

  • Is the unit pet-friendly?

  • What's the application fee?

  • Do they meet the income requirements? 

In most leasing operations, those questions sit unanswered until someone gets to their inbox in the morning. By then, 65% of renters have already leased with the first property that responded to them. 

This is the scenario ShowMojo and Tenant Turner built their AI Virtual Agent for. Not AI for the sake of AI — but a specific answer to a specific problem that's been costing property managers leases for years. 

The Virtual Agent answers prospect questions instantly, pre-qualifies leads against your criteria, and schedules showings automatically — at 11pm, on weekends, whenever your team is offline. The prospect gets answers. The showing gets booked. Your team shows up in the morning to a pipeline that kept moving while they slept. 

The takeaway: the after-hours gap isn't a staffing problem. It's a systems problem. And it's now solvable. 

PM Company & Vendor Updates

Podcast Archives: 20 Years Leading NARPM with Gail Phillips

Broker/Owner just wrapped up (I had a blast! Did you?), so I want to wrap up our recent NARPM podcast theme with last season’s conversation with Gail Phillips, who retired as NARPM's CEO after more than 20 years at the helm. (S5 E13)

Gail walked NARPM through the journey from a few hundred members and paper rent checks to the national force it is today. We get into the real story behind NARPM's antitrust saga, how fee models and tech reshaped the industry, why some local chapters thrive while others struggle, and what she's learned about leadership and delegation along the way. She also shares what the "haters" get wrong about NARPM, and her advice for the next generation of association leaders. Enjoy!

(Also available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.)

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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.