Marketing Communications Is Key to Property Management

BabsGbollys Properties a boutique real estate agency has highlighted the some issues in property management and also proffered solutions to them.

The MD/CEO of BabsGbollys Properties Ltd., Mr. Babalola Odunuga has decried the low level of awareness in managing owned property which is often seen as a daunting task. He said this often makes many owners to incur losses, when they are unable to tackle certain situations. Mr. Babalola Odunuga enumerated five problems that are quite common, while managing properties, and their possible solutions.  

Mr. Odunuga said “maintenance issues come top as buildings and individual houses need regular maintenance of the physical features, plumbing, and electrical systems. This is because anything can happen at any time, and repairs have to be attended to immediately to avoid inconveniences to tenants. The best solution for managing maintenance issues is to have a preventive maintenance plan in place same way you have a regimen for servicing your car, and you need competent professionals attending to the repairs as they arise.”

“Customer service excellence has always been and will always be one of our critical competitive advantages as we often strive to make a customer, not a sale. This is why even when complains about issues with other tenants; we make sure each issue is attended to as soon as it gets to us. Every complaint is looked into and never ignored, especially ones that show potential problems in structural aspects of the building. Our tenants often commend us for the speed with which we address their complaints as they are being heard and appropriate action taken.

In recent years probably due to the recession, the issue of not receiving rent on time has been on the rise and it is now a major issue faced by most property owners. While the defaulting tenants have a range of excuses at hand for not making. Missing or even late payments, all these concerns are often causes of apprehension for property owners. We are addressing this by going around sending reminders as due date approaches and collecting payments on the due dates. This has brought the rate of defaulting down considerably as tenants are now aware that they have to keep their payments ready on time. Another aspect is that we levy some penalty or late fees, which is a percentage of the total amount owed. This usually works as we are able to enforce it strictly and with precision and reason.”

Mr. Odunuga said profitability is challenge faced by owners and those entrusted with the management of property with some units laying vacant over a long period of time. “The right use of the various marketing communications technique will help in attracting tenants to the property. Proper advertising and good reputation about the property can make a major difference in getting the right tenants. Sometimes, even when all the units are occupied, the business might still run into losses and this could be for a number of reasons. This could be due to charging low prices to tenants or improper overall management. For assigning the proper rental price, it is necessary to have the property assessed to know the actual worth of the lodgings, and analyzing what people would be willing to pay. It also helps to do some research on what people are already paying at similar properties in the area. However, in most cases, losses occur due to improper overall management, and the best solution is to hire a professional property management company that is offering comprehensive services for handling all aspects of the property. This is what we offer at BabsGbollys Limited as can be attested to by our clients spread across the country.”