Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #101

My Property Management Podcast Is BACK

My podcast has returned with brand new episodes for Season 4! We’re now approaching 60 total episodes since I started in February of 2021.

For Season 4, I renamed the podcast from “Owner Occupied” to “Peter Lohmann’s Podcast” and updated the show art, to better align branding with this newsletter.

The first two episodes of the season are already live. In episode 1, Jordan Muela returned to the show to discuss his advice on starting a PM company from scratch. For episode 2, I had the chance to sit down with Brent Beshore and ask him how private equity thinks about property management.

You can look forward to new episodes every Wednesday from now until early December… including on my YouTube channel!

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Reply to this email, there are a few spots left for this season.

THIS ISSUE IS PRESENTED BY CITIZEN HOME SOLUTIONS

Citizen Home Solutions has proudly assisted over 200,000 residents, delivering a comprehensive solution that benefits both property managers and residents:

1. Branded Digital Platform: Give residents the power to set up utilities their way—online, by phone, or through self-service.

2. Cost Savings Guidance: Our dedicated Citizen experts performs a cost analysis of resident’s utility bills, saving them an average of $246/year.

3. Revenue Generation: Our service provides more revenue than any other in our industry, with commissions on six different products.

4. Intuitive Property Manager Dashboard: Our user-friendly dashboard allows property managers to effortlessly track revenue, monitor activity, and view utility account information.

I got a demo of their new platform and it is amazing!

Takeaways From my Crane Break in June

I take the month of June away from my property management business every year (I go full no-contact — no emails, calls, nothing).

This year was the smoothest yet. In fact, the company added about a dozen units under management while I was gone.

My dream is for all property management business owners to be able to do the same; in fact my partner Wolf and I are building out resources inside Crane so that members can take 1-week, 2-week and eventually 4-week “Crane Breaks” in just this way.

I always do some reflecting and recentering during this time. Some of my best and most transformative ideas & changes have come about because of taking this time away from my company.

Here are a few of my conclusions & changes coming out of June 2024. You will notice the theme is “clawing back more time to focus on my priorities”:

• I need WAY less media consumption (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, news). I installed an app on my browser to keep me honest. It limits me to 30 minutes during the workday on those websites.

• I’m now only scheduling meetings 2 weeks out. If it can’t fit in the next 2 weeks, I need to bump something less important, or it goes on the someday/maybe pile and no meeting is booked.

• No more podcast guest appearances unless the show has at least 50 episodes, or it’s tied to a sponsorship.

• Not accepting any new webinar panel invitations in 2024.

• Removed myself from some recurring meetings that were no longer relevant for me.

• Reduced the length but increased the frequency of one-on-one meetings with my direct reports (now weekly). This came about from reading the best book I’ve ever read on management in June.

• Dropped a mastermind I was part of (sadly). Just no time, and I’m all-in on Crane.

• Banned myself from signing up for new rewards credit cards (for the points bonuses).

• Removed Slack from my phone on June 1, and decided not to reinstall it.

• I’m going “hardcore mode” on the Getting Things Done methodology after re-reading David Allen’s famous book.

Have you managed to break away from your business in the last year? What’s been your biggest takeaway from that time?

New Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

• Here is a property management company for sale in Maine (asking $455k)

• Here is a property management company for sale in Eagle County, CO(85 properties, asking $450k)

• Here is an HOA management company for sale in Lee County, FL(asking $516k)

• Here is an HOA management company for sale in Delaware County, PA (asking $350k)

• Here is an HOA management company for sale in Southeast MI (asking $750k)

Industry News and Events

• Last chance to register for today’s Maintenance Workshop at 1pm ET!

• RealPage released an interesting 6-page response to the various lawsuits and articles accusing their “revenue management” software of keeping rents artificially high.

• Missed last week’s Peter & The Wolf workshop on To-do Lists & Tasks? The recording was just posted.

• Here’s a tenant suing her property manager & landlord for $1M after she slipped on water in a parking lot and broke her wrist. This is completely unremarkable in all ways, which is why I’m highlighting it here. It’s kind of insane that we deal with this kind of risk and stress every day as property managers, and it’s just accepted as a cost of doing business.

• Associa is relocating its Dallas headquarters at a cost of $56M.

• NAR has selected RentRedi as its official property management software partner. OK.

• I just posted for a VP of Operations role at my property management company. Our wonderful COO, Cathy Gainer, is moving to semi-retirement at the end of the month and I’m looking for a new operations exec. Please forward to anyone you know that might be interested. Must be located in central Ohio.

Closing Thought

- - -

Stats from last week’s issue:

Valid Recipients: 15,826 (note, this issue accidentally went out to a larger segment than the normal newsletter! Hence the larger-than-usual number.)

Open Rate: 42.4%

Clickthrough Rate: 9.4%

Most Popular Link (265 clicks): Maintenance Workshop Registration Link

- - -

Did someone forward you this email?

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

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.