We recently attended the PMC (Property Management Conference) in Wellington. It was great learning for us and gave some fantastic insights as to how we can better serve our customers.
We were tickled pink when our own Seren Ball picked up the award for Property Manager of the year! Go Seren – we are very proud of you.
We mapped out all 27 of our regular business processes and one by one we are looking at how we can improve each one. Which technologies are available, when efficiencies can be made and where we can offer more sustainable/environmentally friendly solutions. The first one we looked at was our tenant finding process. How to give both property owners, existing tenants and prospective tenants “the greatest rental experience in NZ”. Here’s a brief look at the changes we made;
We work with the existing occupants (either owner/tenants) to ensure that the property is “ready”, decluttered and we also have a small amount of props (throws, plants, jugs, towels and fruit) to add some flair and colour.
Our adverts give prospective tenants enough information about the property to be confident enough to apply in advance of the viewing (not mandatory of course).
All attendees interested must book in for one of our twice weekly viewings and we keep in touch. They receives a links, texts and phone call reminder to attend and meet us! During the small viewing we CHAT. We establish who would like to proceed quickly. By using our 2 person team structure coupled with evening working it means the PM can be at the viewing and whilst their partner at the office will following-up and starting to process applications for the interested parties. All this can happen within 30 minutes of the viewing and it does!
Contact with the property owner enables faster approvals. After every viewing, from the viewing, the owner receives a video about how the viewing went and when to expect completed applications.
At the end of each week, we have a quick report that summarises the week of the campaign and identifies the pre-agreed strategy for the following week for the owner. We have a 4-week strategic plan for every listing (which aligns with a tenant’s notice period). The customised plan includes changes, tweaks and incentives to keep the campaign hot!
We’re so happy that this simple but effective idea has been recognised and as such we are proud to have been announced amongst the finalists in the 2022 Westpac Awards for Excellence in Innovation.
It was great to see the announcement by REINZ at the awards ceremony (over Zoom). We are delighted by the news and wanted to share it with you first.
We did it! We received the best award in property management across New Zealand and this is all thanks to you!
“Congratulations The Rental Bureau – REINZ Property Management Small Office of the Year!”
We so proud to be recognised for this award by REINZ. We know that we really and truly couldn’t have done this without the support from our customers, both tenants and owners. You have shared this journey with us and we can all take pride together in this great achievement from a small local business.
Big News – Minister of Housing Megan Woods made three big announcements this month. Here’s a quick summary of what coming;
As you know The Rental Bureau petitioned and made a submission in favour of this, as we want our great standards to be shared by everyone in the industry. It means that all PMs must be qualified and licensed to practice – we are very happy and very ready for this!
Again – super happy as since the Gluckman Report came out, there have been discrepancies between what is considered to be safe. The Tenancy Tribunal recognises the Gluckman’s minimum standard less than 15mu to be safe, however many insurance companies and the official guidelines are still working to 1.5mu leaving tenants, owners and PMs unsure how to proceed. This clarity is long overdue and very welcome!
The reason behind this extension is that state housing officials have been unable to meet their own deadline, and it’s understandable this has caused some unrest to say the least. However, the reality for our clients is that only 15% have periodic tenancies that were signed prior to July 2021. The remainder have the security of renewed fixed terms, which meant healthy homes compliance was triggered. We have 1% of our clients who will benefit from the extension and remain “compliant” the rest of you are job done and can sit back and relax!
Join us for a glass of bubbles and a great evening of networking. This one is not to be missed!
