Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #91

My Takeaways from Broker/Owner 2024

I spent last week with almost 1,000 property management professionals(!) at NARPM’s annual broker/owner conference.

I’ve finally had some time to pull my thoughts together, so without further ado here are my takeaways:

1. NARPM continues to demonstrate a powerful ability to sell conference tickets. This has to be their most important asset. I also happen to think they do a great job with their conferences overall, a few nitpicks notwithstanding (more on that below).

2. Amelia Island is gorgeous. If you get the chance to go there, take it.

3. The energy of being around your property management peers is unreal. Especially for someone flying in from a state with no local NARPM chapter (like myself in Ohio), there’s just something unbelievably invigorating about hanging out with other PM pros for an extended period of time. Community and connection are superpowers.

4. The outlook of attendees was extremely positive. Everyone I spoke with was optimistic about their business and the industry, regulatory headwinds be damned. The harder and more complicated it becomes to manage rentals, the more we will shine.

5. I’m sensing a “changing of the guard” with regard to some of the early industry speakers, influencers and dealmakers. A number of folks that I consider to be “OG” in NARPM seem to be stepping back from the spotlight and content to let others take the stage (and the reins, if you’ll permit me a mixed metaphor). This seems healthy to me.

6. How big is the scattered-site 3rd party rental management industry? It seems there is no consensus around the total number of companies, nor their average number of units or employees. That seems like a big deal to me; we should know the TAM of our industry. Especially important for vendors and those who are acquiring PM companies.

7. We didn’t get enough time with our vendors! Two half-days is simply not long enough to mix and mingle with our partners in success.

8. The quality of the speakers was excellent based on the sessions I caught and discussions I overheard. These days I spend more time in hallways than rooms, but I know a successful conference must be anchored by quality content. I don’t see that ever changing.

9. I would love to see more podcast-style panel discussions (one-to-one) on stage. Re-convene does such a great job with this, and there’s no reason it can’t be done at PM conferences also.

10. The Crane dinner cruise was a personal and professional highlight for me. I’ll have more to say on that soon, but I highly suggest you sign up to be notified when applications open back up this summer.

    

    Crane dinner cruise at broker/owner 2024

THIS ISSUE PRESENTED BY PROPERTY MELD

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Efforts Underway to Standardize PM Operational Milestones & Metrics

I’ve been complaining for years that the property management industry needs to undertake an effort to agree on a standard set of operational metrics & definitions. For example, what is your company’s average turn time? How does that compare to your peers? When does a turn actually start and end, anyway?

Good news - ProfitCoach is actually doing this! They kicked off the effort at last week’s conference in conjunction with LeadSimple, together hosting a collaborative discussion in the “Process Lounge”. It was a big hit.

The purpose was to start building a consensus around the key milestones for core property management processes (eg, Lease Renewal Process, Application Process, etc). Once the key milestones are identified, we can start measuring and benchmarking important property management activities such as:

• Days on Market

• Time to Turn

• Lease Renewal Rate

• Rent Collection rate

• Eviction rate

It’s absurd that the industry doesn’t already have these foundational metrics clearly defined and benchmarked. Well, that’s changing quickly. ProfitCoach is moving FAST on this and I am throwing my full support behind the effort. It’s hard for me to articulate how important this will end up being for our industry. Just to name one example, imagine how much more powerful the software we use every day can become once the key milestones and metrics are defined industry-wide.

Excited yet? Here are a few things you can do:

1. Bring yourself up to date by watching the workshop I hosted this week with ProfitCoach execs Daniel Craig and Bradley Johnson. We go into detail on the methodology being applied and outcomes from last week’s conference.

2. Register for the next workshop.

3. Forward this newsletter to three property management peers who you think would be interested in staying up-to-date on progress or contributing to the discussion.

New Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

• Here is a property management company for sale in California (asking $500k)

• Here is a property management company for sale in San Jose, California (300+ doors, asking $1.4M)

• Here is a property management company for sale in Davenport, Florida (asking $225k)

• Here is a property management company in NE Florida (asking 2M).

• Here is an HOA management company for sale in Las Vegas, Nevada (asking $500k)

• Here is an HOA management company for sale in Michigan (18 doors, asking $225k)

Industry News and Events

• Colorado just passed a landlord-hostile rent control / lease renewal bill. It’s actually insane. Sam Dangremond has a great breakdown of it here. Warning, this will make you angry.

• I recently updated my Property Management Twitter List (I guess we’re supposed to call it 𝕏 now). It includes everyone I know of who talks about property management on the platform. Easily get updates from all of them with 1 click (simply follow the list). I did all the work for you!

• Second Nature’s Leadership Xchange is happening Tuesday, register here. These events are routinely excellent. All proceeds support the Pat Tillman Foundation.

Closing Thought

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Stats from last week’s issue:

Valid Recipients: 8,454

Open Rate: 54.7%

Clickthrough Rate: 8.2%

Most Popular Link (117 clicks): PM Company For Sale in California asking 5.2M

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