Peter Lohmann's Mailing List - Issue #37

The Threat From Below

If you operate a residential property management business (or would like to), you've probably heard about the large number of PE (private equity) and VC (venture capital)-backed management companies. We even have a publicly-traded company operating in our space now. I consider these groups to be "threats from above".

I don't want to talk about them today.

This is what I want to talk about:

The word "disruption" gets thrown around a lot, but the original meaning has to do with large incumbents who get obsoleted by smaller, less-sophisticated, fast-moving upstarts who drastically undercut on price while delivering exceptional value to a narrow set of customers.

I don't know anything about Hemlane. But if Sean and guys like him are able to use it (with the small tech stack described here) to self-manage a portfolio of rental properties in a way that was not previously possible, we (professional property managers and their vendors) should take note.

For a certain set of our existing property owners (clients), this setup is likely ideal. These folks are using our company to manage their properties because they feel like they have to, but what if they knew self-management at scale (using technology for leverage) was an option? They get to retain control over certain functions like leasing & maintenance, while the technology automates a lot of the things they thought they needed a property manager for.

I think we need to watch this space carefully and not be too quick to write off tools like this as inadequate or insufficient.

Property Management Nutrition Facts

What if could spend more time on the phone with property owners talking about the value we provide, rather than explaining the fees we charge?

I'm playing around with an idea for a standard template, to make it easier for consumers to shop for property management and understand their "all-in" cost.

Would you be interested in participating in the development & refinement of a standard template like this? Please let me know. I plan to make it available for free to everyone on my website once complete.

Valuing a Property Management Company

We're almost at 2,000 readers, which is incredible. I'm going to start sharing some of my older content that new subscribers may not have seen before.

One of the top 5 most-read articles on my blog is all about how to value a property management business. If you haven't seen that article before, you can read it here. Highly recommended if you're thinking about buying or selling a management company. By the way - this is one of my favorite things consult on. If you're looking for advice on your specific situation, grab an hour with me here. I've done 2 tuck-in acquisitions personally (here at RL Property Management) and have advised on many more.

Closing Thought

Thanks for reading! -Peter

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