Property Management Growth with DoorGrow

Want to make your life easier when it comes to property management? Once it's adopted, try the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) Standard of Accounting. It's going to positively change the industry! Today, I am talking with Brad Larsen, who played a major role in the development of the Standard of Accounting. Also, he's the founder of RentWerx (formerly Larsen Properties) and host of the Property Management Mastermind podcast. You'll Learn... [04:28] Why: Standardize language and charter accounts for industry. [05:15] How: NARPM participation and vendor selection of ProfitCoach. [08:33] Going from General to NARPM Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP to NAAP). [09:31] System/process to get it adopted; won't be a perfect solution immediately. [10:38] NARPM's value add and thank you to industry; training provided at conferences. [12:45] Embezzlement: It's going to happen to you as your business grows and scales. [14:05] Examples of how to use NARPM Standard of Accounting. [17:56] Goals: Create common language, adopt industry standards,compare metrics. [18:02] Acquisitions: To acquire or be acquired, NARPM standard makes you look better. [18:17] Comparing numbers, data, and metrics; and knowing what to do with them. [20:20] Transition to follow Standard of Accounting is simple. [22:16] 87% of statistics are made up - people believe almost anything; businesses need to be comfortable with numbers. [23:41] Need designation/certification for stamp of approval on Standard of Accounting. [26:51] Concerns about who controls what and how much of standard. [29:10] NARPM standard helps improve property management industry's reputation. [31:12] Audits are available to build a level of confidence, safety, and certainty. [32:13] Examples of metrics that help your business make the right decisions and compare against competitors. Tweetables Going from General to NARPM Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP to NAAP) Goals: Create common language, adopt industry standards, compare metrics To acquire or be acquired, NARPM standard makes you look better. Resources Property Management Mastermind Show Property Management Mastermind on Facebook RentWerx NARPM ProfitCoach Intuit QuickBooks DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Are you a renter struggling to find a place? Feeling frustrated? Or are you a property manager/owner who would like to be able to manage, monitor, and show your properties without having to manage, monitor, and show your properties? No problem, you just need self-showing technology. Today, I am talking with Pini Lackner and Edward Gonzales of Rently, which allows prospects to visit rentals themselves when it's a convenient time for them by using self-showing technology. Rently's technology helps optimize and systemize the showing process to lower operational costs. You'll Learn... [05:18] Statistics show that 70-80% of people looking online for places to rent tend to be window shoppers; can be frustrating and time consuming for managers to reach them. [06:08] Property management involves building/keeping relationships with prospects. [06:48] After self-showings, Rently performs an application follow up to get feedback on a property without having to rely on an agent. [07:23] Some are concerned that there's too much risk involved; fear factor fades because of Rently's reputation and self-policing system based on info from prospects. [10:22] Those interested in Rently's technology have a growth mentality; there's no better way to grow your business geographically. [11:17] Benefits include lower operational/staffing costs and shorter lease cycle. [12:05] Considering Rently as best way to optimize business operations while lowering expenses and not losing touch with properties. [12:42] Self-showings are its backbone, but Rently is a fully encompassing platform - not just a bunch of lockboxes. [13:50] Rently Keyless addresses the increased prevalent use of smart homes. [18:02] Regaining control restricting access is instant via Rently after a tenant leaves. [18:55] Rently provides homeowner reporting, metrics, and analytics to know what's going on with properties. [21:07] Initial reluctance to self-showings has eased, so managers who don't use it now will lose their competitive edge. Tweetables About 70-80% of people looking online for places to rent are window shoppers. Self-showings create positive pressure to report things. Self-showings are its backbone, but Rently is a platform - not just a lockbox. Resources Rently Rently Keyless Pini Lackner's Phone Number: 323-375-5773 Pini Lackner's Email How Technology Is Changing The Real Estate Market NARPM DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Are you a business owner whose background is focused more on sales than marketing? Do you only have a minimal understanding of property management? You're not alone, and that's why Kasey McDonald founded a property management training academy that educates business owners. Today, I am talking to Kasey about business development manager (BDM) growth and marketing strategies. She has 20 years of real estate experience, predominantly in property management. Kasey shows business owners how to set up and structure their property management businesses, as well as what is needed to in terms of BDM to focus on growth and profitability. She's passionate about property management and wants to do what she can to improve the industry and other people's businesses. You'll Learn... [03:30] Four Doors to Revenue: 1) Deals; 2) Doors; 3) Duration; 4) Dollars. [04:23] BDM is not just about the landlord/investor, but retention with tenants; know importance of a service to consumers. [07:10] Kasey's education and coaching process focuses on a business's vision around goals and targets for growth; need to have realistic KPIs for team members. [09:30] Who is a BDM? Prospecting force in property management who has a mindset/skill set to grow rapidly and adapt to strategies. [13:07] BDM Job Description: Prospecting to increase number of doors, and research quality and type of property; building different relationships with vendors. [18:35] Other BDM responsibilities include marketing and understanding their market to be the local expert; you should know everything to pull in your target audience. [20:00] BDMs should make and bank at least 10 connections per day to achieve 20 to 30 new doors a month - 50% conversion of becoming clients. [21:36] Sales Pipeline Stages: Connections, follow ups, appraisal evaluation, research vs. decision, and conversion. [26:12] Lead generation is challenging for salespeople; if they don't have leads, they have to prospect and focus on generating leads by understanding their demographic. [29:05] Batch tasks and use technology to make things easier; different technologies impact and reach different people in different ways. [33:36] ABCs of being a BDM: Personality, attitude, and work ethic; need to be passionate and driven, have conversations, and overcome/negotiate objections. [38:55] Focus on marketing and communication strategies that use video because email is becoming obsolete; text messaging, walking door-to-door, and flyers are still effective. [46:25] Tenants tend to have a negative perception of landlords/managers because they don't do maintenance or fix things; discuss your procedures/processes with tenants. Tweetables It's not just about how many doors you manage, but the level of income from each. BDM is not just about the landlord/investor, but retention with tenants. I'm a big believer that not all business is good business. Marketing Strategies: Do more guerrilla marketing tactics or go old school. Resources Kasey McDonald's Email Property Management Training Academy Close.io LeadSimple DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Are you an entrepreneur trying to figure out what you're going to do with your life? Going from company to company to make money and find something you enjoy? During your career journey, you can learn a lot and build a network of people who come to you one day and ask for your help. You may end up with too much demand and work 80 hours nonstop every week. Today, I am talking with Taylor Hou, who faced some of the same struggles. Clients kept coming back to him. Why? He discovered that there is great demand for people to clean up businesses' financial and accounting books. The majority of property managers aren't bookkeepers or don't have accounting backgrounds. So, Taylor realized that if clients were willing to pay him to do their bookkeeping as a service, he could start a scalable company. APM Help now offers several services to more than 25,000 units. You'll Learn... [05:15] Property management industry's accounting duties are regulated via bank reconciliation (bank recs) where every bank account transaction is in some software. [06:36] 3-way tie out accounts for uncleared deposits and checks, which are liabilities. [08:42] Instead of one bank account per property, property based accounting keeps track of property balances. [10:05] Financial diagnostics report lets you troubleshoot to identify where money should be; transfer money to your account - if you don't, it's in the wrong place. [11:12] APM Help is currently only available for AppFolio, but offers a level of expertise needed to understand how to do everything compliance related. [13:40] Software makes bookkeeping easier, but bank recs need to be approved by a broker; software companies can't take on such liability, but APM Help can. [14:19] Humans make mistakes; audit your checks and balances by using Google's Eating Your Own Dog Food methodology or an audit program you create. [15:32] APM Help's tool goes into your software, grabs necessary data, and crunches numbers related to state compliance requirements. [16:00] Top issues and red flags include security deposits in the wrong bank account, unaccounted for tenant liabilities, prepayments, and commingling of owner funds. [18:50] Don't do or control everything - prevents growth and ability to scale; outsource bookkeeping, accounting, and compliance audits. [21:42] Accounting and Product Software Expertise: APM Help knows what works and doesn't to be able to make decisions that move clients forward. [31:45] APM Help provides three main services: On-demand consulting, daily bank recs, and full charge bookkeeping. [35:17] APM Help is a resource for those needing to buy or sell a company; performs an audit to determine the financial health of the business - what it's worth. Tweetables If you're not doing bank recs, you need to do them. Pivotal 3-way tie out is the Holy Grail of where you want to start. Humans make mistakes, but most don't have a gazillion checks and balances. We eat our own dog food. We're always hiring great people. Resources Taylor Hou on LinkedIn APM Help Tripletiedout AppFolio QuickBooks Propertyware Buildium ResMan Yardi AppFolio on Glassdoor Google's Eating Your Own Dog Food Pilot NARPM Rent Manager DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Today, I am talking with Mark Smukler of Bixby about property management and technology. Bixby is a building amenity platform/tenant portal app that helps management be more efficient by streamlining communication, work order management, payments, document storage, and any other component of tenant-related activities. Also, it's a virtual/mobile concierge for tenants to find services, such as housekeeping, dry cleaning, moving, storage, and public transportation. It's a win-win for everybody! You'll Learn... [06:40] Bixby's end-user interface aggregates different tools into a single platform that costs less and is specific to the real estate business. [08:35] Bixby is modular and flexible with features that you can turn on or off. [10:08] Bixby's development principle is that it doesn't build anything that it's not asked to build; every single thing in its product was a direct request from a customer. [11:10] Bixby integrates with smart home devices and creates a world where property managers and tenants have one central hub, instead of multiple apps for a property [12:25] Bixby enhances the property management business, it doesn't disrupt it. [13:08] New generations are comfortable with new technology, but older ones still use old technology; Bixby works with your current system - if it's not broken, don't fix it. [14:20] Manage more with less; it's difficult to gain economies of scale in property management because it is a high-touch, maintenance-oriented business. [15:25] Bixby cuts down the number of phone calls and time spent communicating with tenants, collecting rent payments, and locating documents. [16:08] Real estate assets can be monetized beyond rental income; providing housekeeping, dry cleaning, and other services to tenants generates revenue. [18:52] Set Up a Bixby Account: Go to livebixby.co/signup; Bixby costs $1 per apartment per month, or, if you have fewer than 20 units, it's free to use. [20:44] Bixby Branded Application: White-labeled with a client's logo, color palette, subdomain, hosting, and name. [22:35] Bixby partners with other businesses, including Coord to let tenants find, reserve, and pay for parking, and TransitScreen for information on public transportation. Tweetables Manage more with less Integration is key; Bixby integrates different features into one platform Bixby is much more of an enhancement than a disruption Resources Bixby Buildium Rent Manager RealPage's ActiveBuilding Zendesk Property Meld Tenant Turner QuickPay PayLease Coord TransitScreen DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Nobody knows the rental market better than a property manager, and nobody better than a property manager who does real estate knows how to help real estate investors. Today, I am talking with Sam Kwak about real estate investing as a property manager. Sam's philosophy is: I don't manage anything that I don't own. He prefers to buy properties and manage them or at least understand how the business works. You'll Learn... [03:35] People who don't necessarily have anything in terms of wealth can become real estate investors, buy properties, and rent them to create income. [05:25] As a partner, Sam is part of the everyday operation of property management; he's in the office, sees what's going on, and does consulting and advising. [05:58] Property managers need to understand their numbers, cash flow aspects, possible expenses, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and the market. [06:35] Property managers have a better understanding of where to invest; if they understand the market, they know what to buy to have a healthy cash flowing asset. [08:09] Education is key; Sam helps new or beginner investors learn a skill set focused on acquisition, negotiation, and understanding business expenses. [08:45] Acquire properties without using your own capital and credit; learn to acquire properties using the concept of owner financing and raising capital for owner financing. [11:35] Different states and municipalities have different rules; find an attorney who understands the creative side of investing and how to work with an installment contract. [14:15] If you understand how to legally, ethically, and morally put together deals, capital finds its way to you; money will come, if you provide value and want to help people. [15:10] Not all partners are made equally; work with a partner who is of sound mind, values what you do, and has the character to backup their integrity and honesty. [18:55] Once successful, don't be blinded by confidence and think you're invincible; adapt a coachability mindset and become a student again. [24:10] Some say real estate investing is quick, easy, turnkey money - that pipe dream is oversold and over promised Tweetables Anyone can be an investor, buy properties, and rent them to create income. I'm in property management because I know what goes in it, what goes out. Money will come, as long as you're providing value. Resources Sam Kwak Sam Kwak Podcasts Sam Kwak on YouTube Sam Kwak on Facebook Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Mike Michalowicz on the DoorGrowShow DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Are you a property manager? Is maintenance your biggest cost or time suck? Does it keep you from growing your business? You can't expect to grow a company when you're stuck in the operations piece of it every day. Today, I am talking with Ethan Lieber of Latchel, which helps property managers with maintenance and growth. You can get stuck where you have to hire and hurt your margin or you're growing and just can't keep up. You're behind on work orders and that's not good for anybody. It's not good for your business, tenants, and property owners. Latchel builds solutions and services to try and fix that problem. You'll Learn... [07:10] When thinking about the growth of your business, that comes from the way you acquire your customer scalable and how you get scalable lead generation. [08:00] Frontend/Backend Scalability: If you're only bringing in new customers and increasing units, there's going to be a problem if your operation can't handle that growth. [08:25] Latchel focuses on making maintenance scalable; grow without worrying about creating your margin or being able to fulfill any promise you're giving to customers. [08:45] Latchel realized that technology is support for a process, but it can't be the process; so it offers maintenance software backed by an actual human-based service. [14:00] 3-step process for a call: 1) Determine if it's an emergency or not; 2) Send possible emergencies to in-house team member; 3) Send out a vendor/contractor. [15:35] Companies should create a preferred vendor list/network to send out vendors that they partner with when bandwidth is not available. [16:35] Human Side vs. Automation: Beautiful thing when you can combine expertise and the human mind with technology; use technology to reduce inaccuracies. [18:55] Types of transformations of early adopters that implemented Latchel to offload maintenance with phone calls and coordination. [22:35] Property managers are careful about giving something up; if they want to grow, they have to delegate, give up control, and use a vendor network. [26:10] When Latchel works with any customer on taking over maintenance, Latchel builds boundaries to work under and sets clear expectations. [41:00] Latchel makes life easier for maintenance coordinators by earning trust; transparency becomes important, especially through documentation. [44:50] Latchel works with property management software through an add-on service, but is looking into API connections to integrate with existing systems. Tweetables Latchel builds technology to make its human process more efficient Latchel frees you up to grow but keep your margins healthy It's a beautiful thing to combine expertise and the human mind with technology Resources Latchel Homey Keep Property Meld SuperTenders EZ Repair AppFolio Propertyware Buildium Rent Manager Rentec DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

As an entrepreneur, how can you build a sizable, significant business? Is there a problem you can solve for customers? Save them time and money? If you can offer a good, quality product and there's good margin in it, then you may have a great idea for a new business! Today, I am talking with Thad Tarkington of FilterEasy. He describes how his company started due to personal experience with filter issues. He had no background in air filters, but saw an opportunity and jumped at it. After all, entrepreneurship is like skydiving without a parachute, and sometimes you have to make the parachute on the way down. You'll Learn... [05:08] How Thad went from being a solo-preneur to having a team; started his company in 2012 with one partner and now has almost 120 employees. [06:25] You don't know everything when you start a business, so find good mentors; the dollar amount you pay them is miniscule compared to your company's ROI and growth. [07:06] As an entrepreneur, you start by doing everything; you slowly hand off responsibilities/tasks to allow your company to grow and flourish. [07:25] FilterEasy focuses on who it hires; must have an aptitude and skill for the role, fit in culturally, and be a self-starter. [11:38] Trust the process and that things are going to work out in the long term; be resilient and adaptive to keep moving forward, even if there's roadblocks. [15:37] Trust other people when you hire them for a job; they may not do things the exact way you would, but they could come up with things that are better and unique. [17:15] Interruptions are costly; eliminating interruptions is critical for you, your team, and your company to progress. [19:38] Done is Better than Perfect: To accomplish something, you have to get it done; nothing's ever perfect in business, and businesses are not perfect. [24:08] Culture: When employees are excited, energized, and passionate because the company is growing fast, it's hitting sales numbers, and new projects are successful. [31:05] If you're complaining about your team not being motivated and you don't have the business that you want right now, you're not the person to lead it yet. [37:30] Lead-gen and getting a business going can be challenging; there needs to be constant innovation and improvement. Tweetables No background in air filters, just saw an opportunity and jumped at it. Entrepreneurship is like skydiving without a parachute. Slowly hand off responsibilities to allow your company to grow and flourish. Entrepreneurs see opportunities everywhere. Resources Thad Tarkington's Email FilterEasy Provide Value to Your Clients with FilterEasy Gary Keller's One Thing Book Basecamp Slack DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrow Live

Property management is like a Rubik's Cube - you solve one side, which makes you feel great. Then, you go onto the next side. When you fix it, you mess up the first side. How do you get all sides to work together? Today, I am talking with David Kerner of TouchPoint Property Management. David sold real estate for about 15 years before investing in his own doors and handling rentals. He shares some tips on how he developed systems and processes to grow his number of doors. You'll Learn... [03:48] Difference between doing real estate and property management; going from cold calls to find new business to rental properties that offered residual income. [04:55] Vertical income streams: Managing properties could feed David's sales business, and the sales business could feed his property management business. [05:20] Property managers fear realtors getting into and doing damage to the property management industry; David was successful because he had a mindset from both sides. [08:15] David successfully transitioned from being a realtor to a property manager by knowing that if he did them both, he would not be great at one of them. [10:10] Once you make a decision, be 100% in to ensure success and execute it. [11:21] David learned everything he could to know the right and wrong ways to do things, and made himself available to customers. [12:40] He systemized and automated processes; many software programs are available to help make property managers more efficient and accountable. [14:36] David used DoorGrow's Seed Package to improve his Website and leads; landlords go on the Internet to find property managers. [18:20] People perceive property management as a commodity/service; the challenge is to shift that perception to being about relationships and taking care of clients. [19:49] David was able to break his first 100 doors in just a year; does it get easier after that milestone? Depends on you because there's new challenges every day. [22:45] David is now at the point where the number of doors is not the main factor - profit and smoothness of his business are key. [23:25] David attributes much of his success to the Seed Package to help him develop a company name, brand, Website, and sales process; he started creating revenue quickly. [27:20] Getting help vs. doing it on your own; if you're not paying for something/someone or have a plan to follow, it takes much longer to get things done. [32:40] David's biggest challenge is the entrepreneurial side; he wants to improve collaboration and customer service for his business to be profitable and run well. [33:45] David recommends making your business more efficient and systemized; focus on entrepreneurial and sales tasks, rather than day-to-day tasks. [36:50] David started implementing automation, checklists, and other systems right away; be consistent and focus on getting things done. Tweetables Once you make a decision, be 100% in to ensure success and execute it. Shift the perception to being about relationships and taking care of clients. Does it get easier? Depends - there's new challenges every day. Resources TouchPoint Property Management NARPM National Association of Realtors DoorGrow Seed Package DoorGrowClub Facebook Group

What are four pillars that successfully build and grow a business? Transparency, value propositions, stellar customer service, and aggressive pricing. Today, I am talking with Scott Brady. Despite being told by everyone to not become involved with the "Toilets, Tenants, and Troubles" of property management, Scott started Progressive Property Management in 2012. In a short period of time, he has grown his business phenomenally by rebuilding his website, marketing, and company to target self-managing investment property owners. You'll Learn... [05:38] Seekers are just starting out in property management; they get stuck by doing everything on their own instead of using marketing dollars effectively to hire others. [07:23] Scott built his company of the four pillars to make the floodgates open for generating leads; set up virtual offices and branches to help handle workload. [09:05] Real estate used to be a structured business, so the challenge was knowing how to get doors; SEO and ads are used to get doors for realtors to buy. [11:11] Scott is willing to pivot quickly when things are not working; focusing on resolving problems by adding doors, agents, and investors has helped him deal with changes. [14:35] Conducting product research and talking to clients is important to know what they want and need; serve as resource with connections to help them with pain points. [17:55] Embrace mutual affection marketing; clients need to know, like, and trust you before they will hire you - build and maintain those relationships. [19:20] Legislation is a constraint that drives innovation and need for property management; turns you into being more relevant to property owners and landlords. [20:37] Property management is a complicated business, position yourself as an expert. [21:56] Spend money on what works for you - whether it's seminars, direct mail, etc. [25:13] To get your first 100 doors, test different marketing channels to find out which gives you the best return and connect with experts, such as Scott, for pearls of wisdom. [28:50] Property management offers multiple streams of revenue: Management, real estate, maintenance, etc. [29:25] Create market share to help people recognize problems and how to handle them. [36:08] Growth is not the problem - it's covering marketing area geographically, and finding the right agents and training them properly. [36:45] In-and-Out Model: Hire the ding-and-dented to sell them on a path of opportunity - going from front desk to branch manager; no fear of losing employees. [40:30] Create marketing messages and lead magnets that pivot to: Do you.... [46:13] Constantly try to improve your marketing, sales, processes, and operations; embrace the suck by trying something new and different. Tweetables How hard is property management, right?! I've made every mistake in the book. My definition of Hell is 100 doors. Businesses only exist to solve a problem. We get paid to solve and fix problems. Resources Progressive Property Management Seminar in a Box Scott Brady Email NARPM Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen DoorGrowClub Facebook Group