Property Management Success
00:23:00 · Tony Cline
Yeah, sorry.
00:23:01 · Casey Howe
[00:23:01] S2: No, I couldn't, I couldn't agree more with you. You know, I I think we I have naturally our company has naturally gravitated towards the investor, not institutional stuff, but an investor. Uh and I think that's it's based on two things. One is just sort of the market that I'm in. There's a lot of the they call them triple deckers. They're like six unit, the three-floor six unit buildings. And there um there's a lot of those. And so it's it's there's a market for there, there's a there's a gap in the market of, you know, there are companies out there that are national that will that will manage 300 unit buildings in Boston. And there are companies out there that and and agents out there that will manage like single family homes and duplexes. But like, in my estimation, when we started, there wasn't a lot of great companies out there that were managing like 20-unit portfolios or six unit buildings and things like that. So part of it's just we naturally fell there because that's what the leads we were getting. But what I've you know learned over time is I think where we add a lot of value is uh like we love having conversations with a 20 to 50 unit owner about like looking at their PL and talking with them about how we can improve their net operating income. Like that's the level of conversation that I like to have. And there's not as much competition, I don't think, to in other companies that are having that conversation and um and clients like it, and we can make them very happy by doing that. And so you're right, I think on a per door um profitability uh it it's gonna be well, I should say per door revenue is gonna be lower. I don't know, you know, our per door profitability isn't necessarily lower because where you might see lower percentages and things like that, there's also, you know, it's easier to manage one owner with 20 units than 20 owners with one unit. And so on the client success side of the house, I think our costs are lower. But yeah, our you know, our profit is pro obviously there's that other piece, which is lower percentages and lower rents and things like that.
00:25:04 · Tony Cline, Casey Howe
[00:25:04] S0: And that's why I think after you identify that target client profile, then you go through the income and revenue streams and figure out where where can you maximize your your income for that type of client, but also where can you reduce your expenses? And it all ties together. And so it's it's the whole picture. [00:25:23] S2: Yeah, it is. And the other, but the other nice thing operationally about let's call it a 50 unit building. And by the way, most of our stuff is these six-unit buildings. But yeah, you know, let's let's you know, operationally with a 50-unit building, it takes a long time to go to 50 different single-family homes and do an inspection, right? It doesn't take a lot of time to go out there for an afternoon and knock out 20 inspections out of, you know, so so there are some there are some operational efficiencies that come with uh multifamily too that do not exist with single family, which and so we lean into those where we can.
00:25:23 · Casey Howe, Tony Cline
[00:25:23] S2: Yeah, it is. And the other, but the other nice thing operationally about let's call it a 50 unit building. And by the way, most of our stuff is these six-unit buildings. But yeah, you know, let's let's you know, operationally with a 50-unit building, it takes a long time to go to 50 different single-family homes and do an inspection, right? It doesn't take a lot of time to go out there for an afternoon and knock out 20 inspections out of, you know, so so there are some there are some operational efficiencies that come with uh multifamily too that do not exist with single family, which and so we lean into those where we can. [00:26:02] S0: On the podcast, I talk a lot about the fact that I'm in the entrepreneur extraction business. So my job is to help extract the business owner from the business they built that now owns them, and they've created a business that competes with the lifestyle that they want to live as opposed to supporting it. And how do we get that back into alignment? And as you've grown, what have you done to take yourself off the front lines to be able to run the team? How are you running your team? Are you guys focused on KPIs? Are you running by uh an EOS or EOS-ish type framework? Just how are you able to manage the team where you started with you being the one person to now you have a team of people that are delivering the value and holding upholding your standards that you've set?
00:26:52 · Casey Howe
[00:26:52] S2: Yeah, uh so it's great. So I wouldn't say we're sort of EOS-ish. I just call it the houser operating platform. It's not we're not gonna like market that or anything, but it's it's not exactly EOS. There's some stuff in there we cut out and some other things that we added. But it's we do have an we do operate with a system. We you know, we document our processes, we have KPIs that we look at weekly and monthly. Uh, we have an accountability chart. I mean, we it's probably 80% of EOS that we've done. And I think it's great. Uh it's you know, the transition that we're going through now, Tony, is I have operated with sort of a head of client success and a head of operations, and then I had sort of finance roll up into me directly. We are transitioning this year into a full uh what you know you'd look at as an EOS um org chart, which is you know, the the I'm transitioning into like this visionary, and yeah, I um promoted my director of ops to VP of ops. And he's really everything is now rolling up to him. And I think I think we'll both be better because of that, because everything, you know, he'll have oversight into everything, but it also provides a great opportunity for me to go out and and do some some new things. And so what do I mean by that? Well, you know, the biggest things I think we've done to scale the team are are an account. The accountability chart is really big. Who who does what and who owns what, and how do we tie that back to a number? So I'm a big believer, like if you asked me to prioritize people or process, you know, I would if you have to pick one, I'd be 51% people and 49% process. All right, I'm not saying it's 99 and 1%, but it's I I I think that by having the right people in place and providing and having them understand they own a result, naturally you develop good processes as a company because of that. And and that we could argue that point all day long, but one way or the other, I could see both sides. Um, and so we've done a good job, I think, of giving people ownership of of results and clarity in what their roles are. And what I'm really excited to be doing now is I'm working through with my VP of operations. This is new for us, and we're trying to figure out how this whole, you know, how are we gonna sort of orient this thing going forward?
00:29:06 · Casey Howe
But for the first time in seven years since I started eight years since I started the company, in like when I did my annual review in the first week of January, I realized for the first time, like I I could do nothing this year. I could work not at all this year, and we would minus the epsilon attrition, we would the business would function fine. It would just stay where it was and potentially grow a little bit. And so that's a really good position to be in because that means I can take literally my 40 hours a week or whatever it is and put those towards something that I think are gonna grow the business outside of just running the business. Literally all of my time, maybe an hour a week, I'm needed in the business. And so, you know, where that time is gonna be going is doing, you know, I want to really get involved with um understanding, you know, really sort of on the sales and marketing side and branding, and you know, becoming more of a uh persona and and thought leader within multifamily management in in New England, um, not for managers, but for landlords, helping them understand what best practices are and things like that.