Elevating excellence in property management

The conference catered to Elite members of Ray White’s property management network, representing some of the best in the business.

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania property management business development executives Lauren Macpherson and Alana Bess opened the day which was centred around elevating through strategic growth and redefining property management excellence.

Managing director of Housemark Jonathan Bell and general manager Natalie South presented to the room of property managers and business owners about their experience organically growing their business from zero to 2,700 managements in just five years.

When Mr Bell (pictured below) began in the real estate industry in Brisbane, Queensland, he noticed that most offices were sales based businesses with a property management arm. By founding Housemark, he wanted to give some love to that part of the industry.

“My difference was that I didn’t come from property management. I didn’t have preconceived ideas about how to grow. If you give the work enthusiasm and set big goals, growth in property management is very much possible,” he said.

“Every agency says they have the lowest vacancy rates, the lowest arrears, so it’s important to try and change your points of difference. If you’re new or just starting your business, your pitch should be around personalised service, no one else is going to care as much as you and you are incentivised to get a good result for your client. But points of difference can and should change and evolve as your business grows.”

Ms South encouraged everyone in the room to sit down with their growth team and have their property managers practice their pitch and identify their points of difference.

“If you’re not practicing your pitch and it’s not evolving then you need to talk to someone in the business and you need to sit down with them and show them your pitch," she said.

She also pointed out the low hanging fruit that many property management teams miss, particularly those operating alongside a sales business.

“We have to start going to open homes, going to auctions and talking to our sales agents. Rely on your sales team, they are offering the lowest hanging fruit,” Ms South said.

“Every single person who interacts with your agency is an opportunity for potential property management engagement but you have to pick up the phone and have those conversations.”

She ended the session by asking the business development managers and principals in the room to consider how they can support the growth of their business every day.

Market leading business owner Peter Diamantidis of the Ray White Diamantidis Group based in western Sydney, and head of property management for the group of businesses Karl Von Riegen joined Tony Lombardi and Lenita Demetriou of Harcourts, Rata & Co on a panel about leading the way in property management. The panel, hosted by Ms Macpherson, covered topics including growth, dealing with changing legislation, culture creation and leadership.

Mr Diamantidis heads a hugely successful group of offices in western Sydney that includes a large sales team and property management division. His office was recognised as the number one Ray White property management office for net growth internationally last financial year.

He began with 200 managements and has since grown the business to more than 2,500 managements. While he was recognised as one of the top principals internationally for number of sales in the group for the 2023-24 financial year, he got his start in property management.

Whether someone is coming in as a receptionist, property manager or sales agent, Mr Diamantidis (pictured speaking above) will always sit them down and go through their goals.

“We always want to know what their goal is. We may want them to go this way, but they want to go that way, and we won’t know that unless we sit them down and talk through it,” he said.

“Through this we have been able to promote internal growth and progression within the business with people who want to step up and continue challenging themselves.”

Mr Von Riegen identified communication as a key aspect of dealing with legislation change in the property management space.

“We proactively push it out to landlords and tenants. At the end of the day, you can’t change it so you just need to communicate the changes effectively and help landlords and tenants prepare,” he said.

Mr Lombardi and Ms Demetriou identified the key attributes that make a good property manager.

“They need to be a strong communicator, they need to be able to build trust, both with their tenants and landlords. It takes a long time to build trust but it can be lost very quickly,” Ms Demetriou said.

“In terms of prioritising tasks, if you struggle with something, make it the first thing you do in the day, get it done and move on.

“And communicate effectively, be as proactive as you possibly can. It all comes back to communication.”