What Happens When You Treat Turnovers As A Process, Not A Fight

We compare Australia and the US on turnovers, deposits, and evictions, and unpack how consistent systems scale a portfolio from 30 to 400 doors. Kent from HIVE Property Management shares practical ways to lower conflict, speed make‑ready, and build trust with owners and tenants.

• investor roots in multifamily and unique buildings
• building a lean team with strict processes
• rent ready checklists and like‑condition standards
• when owners should ignore tiny wear and tear
• pre‑move‑in documentation to reduce disputes
• Midwest eviction timeline and lawyer involvement
• in‑house maintenance, pricing transparency, trust
• lead generation through cold calls and Google reviews

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Transcript

Global Perspectives On Property Management

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Welcome to today's episode. And I always get excited with speaking to people that are not based in Australia, which is exactly what we're doing today with Kent from Hive Property Management. Kent, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Hello, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I'm well, I'm well. So this one we have negotiated for those listening the time. So 8 p.m. Perth time and I think 7 a.m. your time.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

That is correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Excellent. So we so we've got that healthy balance, which worked out very, very well. And I'm delighted to have you on because I've been doing in the past, I have done some previous podcast recordings with people over in the US and over in the UK. And I just find it really interesting to explore people's stories globally. But also I think there is this thought that property management is like vastly different everywhere and is actually not as different as what people think. So we're going to explore a bit of that and find out a bit more about you. So I'm just going to hand it over to you. If you can do a bit of an intro about yourself and your background and sort of how you ended up with Hive Property Management.

Kent’s Origin Story And Early Investing

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, sure. Well, thanks for that. Yeah, I'm located, excuse me, in Cincinnati, Ohio. I guess whenever I tell my story, I always start with, you know, what got me into real estate was the house that I grew up in. I grew up in a beautiful tutor. And just from a young age, I was really intrigued with architecture and real estate from that house. And I went to college. I graduated in 03. And then I had, quote unquote, my real job for four years that I worked for somebody else. And, you know, my dad ingrained in me to kind of work for myself. And, you know, I wanted to get into real estate. I started doing the networking thing. And, you know, it was kind of pre-2008. And 2008 kind of creeped up. And I was walking into my work one day and I said, I can become a real estate agent. You know, that's that's relatively easy to do. You know, I have to pass the test and you know, so on and so forth. So I quit my job that Friday, and I was sitting in the classroom the following Monday taking the taking the classes. And then I got my license as quickly as you possibly can. I took my classes for three weeks, and then you have to sit out a week, and then I passed the test the week after that. So I got into real estate that way. And did the realtor thing for a while. At the time, my dad he he retired and he wanted to invest some money in some real estate, and it was just kind of perfect timing, kind of with the the cost of real estate. So we started buying, you know, four families, 10 families in very urban areas, walkable type neighborhoods. So then I was self-taught how to manage properties. Definitely a baptism by fire, you know. And then from there, then my daughter was born in 16. And I, long story short, was just kind of uh in charge of raising her, kind of a single parent type situation. She got a little bit older, and then I was like, well, what's the second act of my life? And basically what I did to kind of finance my life while I was taking care of my daughter, who sold some of the properties, and you know, she got a little bit older, and I was like, well, what's my next step now? And this whole property management thing was always in the back of my head. Uh I even remember when me and my dad kind of had a bunch of properties. I remember we were up to about a hundred dollars that I was managing by myself. And I reached out to a couple of property management companies, and it was kind of crickets, you know, I didn't find very good ones. Some didn't even return my phone calls, and that just always really intrigued me. So it was always in the back of my mind property management, property management. And I just remember one day I was just uh I was still doing the real estate thing with uh calling, I was mainly concentrating on investment type property, and I was getting a lot of no's. And I just remember, I was just like, I could tell people I do property management. You know, that's that's not a lie. I've I've managed a lot of property in the past. Went back to my desk, uh, start calling some more people and hey, I see you own this property. Oh, yeah, I do property management. Oh, really? Tell me about that. Immediately I was like, I am definitely on to something here. And yeah, so that's how I got my start. And at the beginning, it was just me. Once I got up to a certain amount of doors, I brought on what I call my partner to handle all the maintenance. And yeah, uh up to about 400 doors now currently.

Multifamily Context And Market Differences

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yeah, amazing. So I just want to go back with some of the language that was used. So uh you mentioned that your dad and you or maybe your dad would buy sort of I think you said four family, 10 family. Is that what is that what you called it?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, yeah, multi-family, yeah. Multifamily type unit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

So so that there's the equivalent for us as like strata and units. And I don't know if this is what you meant, but I do remember going to, I think it was a rent manager conference years ago over in Dallas, and and I found that that was what happened was a lot of people who became who started property management were actually the landlords and investors themselves who had bought these properties. And so when you talk about that, your your suggest or you're saying that like your dad or you would be buying like 10, like a complex, like a of 10 a building with 10 properties in it.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

No, a a building with 10 doors in it. So a 10 unit building or 10 doors, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, and and that like that for us is like super strange because for that to happen in like Australia, like that's a real big, a real big thing. Like that is super expensive. So is so that type of property, is that possible to be sold as separate doors, or is that is it set up over where you are where it's like you only buy it as a whole building?

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Yeah, you would just buy it at a as a whole building, and not to go down too far of a story, but I've the name. So in addition to me and my dad buying these multifamily properties, we started investing into like really unique properties. Like we renovated old firehouse, old theater, uh, old post office. So I always had a hard time describing what I did, you know, because it was real estate, but it was like different aspects. So that's like the hive, beehive type situation. Yeah, okay. So that's where the name came from. Why I'm telling you that is like the history and the story of those types of properties really intrigues me. And a lot of that comes from, you know, post-World War II, the the boom of um people, you know, having to build places for people to live. That's where all those multifamily properties kind of here in the Cincinnati type area came from.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah. And and that that is a little bit of a difference because, you know, it wouldn't be unusual for you to have landlords that that own 50 properties because they've got 10 buildings, maybe, or you know, five buildings with the properties in it, which is yeah, very, very different. Which leads us into the type of stereotypical person that is a property manager. So in Australia, very, very typical, you have a young girl that has started in receptionist and worked her way through into the property management space, where I would suggest that that looks a little different where you are.

Building Hive: From 30 To 400 Doors

SPEAKER_00 8:15

It totally does. You know, that's the one thing that when I kind of came across, you know, doing property management for other people, or sometimes I describe it as doing third-party property management. I was I was shocked. I was like, is nobody else seeing this? I saw great opportunity. And, you know, I came from the kind of realtor real estate mindset. And it's funny, it's like realtors think I'm insane for doing property management. Like, I would never want to deal with that. And the funny thing is, I kind of feel the same thing about what they do. I'm like, I would never want to do that. So yeah, it's I kind of call it kind of the wild, wild west. I mean, when I'm talking to people that are, hey, you know, interviewing different property managers, and hey, you know, I'm speaking to other, oh, please, I I highly suggest talking to other property managers, but I let them know I said, hey, just to let you know, the bar is kind of low in this industry because there's not a lot of I don't know what word to use. There's a lot of opportunity. I'll just leave it at that.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, yeah. No, that's that's really awesome to know. Um, can you so when I when I did explore some offices, which were, I think, based in Orlando, I there was a couple of key things that I remember, and I don't know if it was something that was specific for that agency or if it was a standard with with property management. And one of those things was when a tenant vacates a property and what we call a final bond inspection. So when a property manager would go through and check um and disperse the bond accordingly, I remember hearing something about how landlords would pay for like a bit of a like a rent ready type fee, fee sort of in between where they would just have it cleaned, pest control, and like minor touch-ups in between tenancies. Is that a thing or is that just something that might have just been isolated for that agency I spoke to?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

A little bit of both. I mean, that's something that we do, but I don't think everybody does it. So kind of a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Can you tell me what that process looks like? So tenant gives notice to vague, you go in to go check and disperse the bond. So what so what part of that is like a sort of a bit of a standard process with you guys?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

So just cleaning. Sure. Yeah. Excuse me. So we use uh Appfolio as our property management software. And when they decide to vacate and they do vacate, then we go in and through App Folio we can, you know, document the condition. And you know, that report then is kind of the genesis of returning security deposits and things of that nature. And then after that, we have a whole checklist and process of, you know, yeah, like you indicated, cleaning, having it potentially sprayed for bugs, obviously doing any cosmetic work that needs to be done. Because really at the end of the day, property management all boils down to systems and processes. So it's, you know, it's uh copy, paste, repeat on each situation. So that's kind of how it works.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

So but the tenant would pay for the clean and the tenant would pay for the pest control?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

No. So the way that I describe it to tenants that move in and uh regarding kind of security posit and move out, I always say, like, as long as the condition is in like condition that we gave you the keys, you know, you get everything back. What you're describing right there is that is kind of the gray area. You know, if there's anything that needed to be repaired that they damaged, yes, that would be the responsibility. But like kind of the spring, that is kind of on us. When I say on us, I mean our owners do pay for it, but we facilitate it. But no, that that is on the property management company to to do that, those part of the process.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

And so if they leave it reasonably clean, but they've missed an oven or missed the skirting boards or something like that, the owner just pays for that clean?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Or yeah, my philosophy, I'm pretty liberal with those type of things. When we start charging tenants and stuff, it's like when they can just completely blatantly do something really bad, you know. So we'll let a couple things slide, like the oven and stuff like that. That will, we would just cover that, or that would be in the cleaning fee. So yeah, that's kind of how that works.

Turnovers, Deposits, And “Rent Ready” Standards

SPEAKER_01 12:48

See, so I so I'm loving this, and I'm and I'm sorry to like it might not seem like a big, big deal to you, but it's such a big deal to us in Australia. And so I've just got a few more questions I want to ask you about it. Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

No, you're writing up, it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

I I am, I am, because I've got a I've got a thing that I need to, you know, get through. So I've got one more scenario. What about like tenants that maybe have accidentally like just chipped some of the paint on the walls or something like that? Like owner or tenant?

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Once again, it uh not to repeat myself, but how I always explain it to the tenants that move in is as long as the condition is in like condition that we gave you the keys, you know, when we get the keys back, everything's good. A situation like that, if if in my scenario, I would completely let that slide. You know, if they were a decent tenant, you know, they communicated with us, all was good. Where that scenario might end up in a charge to charge the tenant is, you know, if they left a bunch of trash there or they were, I don't want to say like they're unpleasant to deal with, but a scenario like that. So yeah, if all is good, it is definitely we when I say we cover it, the owner and is actually the one paying for the repair. So yeah, does that answer your question?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

It it does 100%. And I and and so like one last question in regards to it. How long would it take you to do that final report? Like if you were to go into like a two-bedroom unit, for example, how roughly long would it take for you to check that everything's fine? Is it just a walkthrough?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Are you do you have to go through a report or to be clear, like how long does it take from them moving out to us like to be there to do it or to actually physically do the inspection?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

How long to fit for you to physically go in and do the inspection?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Uh kind of depends on size, kind of depends on like what's there. Like we had a really bad one a couple months ago where I've seen a lot and I was looking at these pictures, I couldn't believe it. That I know that inspection took a lot, but you know, kind of a thousand square foot kind of one or two bed unit around here, maybe less than an hour or so to do, you know, to do the checklist and the report in that polio.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yeah, amazing. No, the reason why I'm just so fascinated with it is because final bond inspections are like, you know, a nightmare. Like no one really likes doing them. They're they're painful. And I know that would probably still potentially be the same for you guys. But where I feel like there is just a real room for improvement and progression in the industry is with the language that we're using when we're talking to owners. Because the problem is, I would actually go as far as saying it's sometimes easier to deal with a property that has been left in a crap condition because you just go and sort it all out, full clean, full this, full that. Where bond inspections are so difficult is when people have just missed one little thing. And we are in a culture where we would have a tenant who has put two chips on a wall, for example, and everything is great, and that owner is wanting compensation for two chips on the wall. And it's ridiculous. And but it's also, I feel like we have to take some responsibility with how we are delivering that to the owner. Because I just feel like we are we're really sweating the small stuff, and our owners are expecting us to sweat the small stuff, and it's very difficult. It's like it's really petty.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

So that was one thing that I noticed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah, no, I mean that, you know, uh a comment I made earlier, you know, it all boils down to systems and processes and regarding you know what we're talking about. I the most important thing is doing that pre-inspection, you know, capturing those pictures and then obviously doing it when they move out. Because then you have like a measuring stick of like to prove like, hey, this is what it looked like before and after. Because we've been there a million times where we, you know, we didn't do that, and then they move out, and then they have all sorts of questions, and it's like we don't really have a leg to stand on. And dealing with the tenants and the owners too, that we can supply visual proof, like, hey, this is what it was before, this is what it is now.

Fair Wear, Owner Expectations, And Language

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah. So, and we do have the ingoing report as well, but I guess it's just it's taken too literally, just about like the conversations that I've had with some businesses is like being curious at how our language might change the outcome. So, for example, in a situation where it's all been left beautifully, but there is two chips on one of the walls. So instead of, you know, focusing on that and just going straight to like compensation, or we've got to fix that, I wonder what the conversation would look like if we had called the owner to say, hey, just letting you know, tenants vacated, place has been left amazing. There's just a couple of, you know, a couple of extra chips in the lounge room wall, but the property's due to be repainted anywhere in a couple of years. So I'm happy with everything. Like and having that upbeat conversation. Because if we don't mention it, I where we where we get a problem is if we don't mention it, I promise you that that at some stage that client is going to come to you in a couple of years and say, why didn't you tell me there was two chips and why did you miss that? And they will think that we've missed part of our job. But I'm just wondering like whether like it just the even just the hearing the way you talk about it, it just has such a nice calmness and you know, very reasonable conversation about it. Like, you know, it's like for like if they leave it reasonably, they've been great tenants, great, you know, and that's that's how I would love it to be. And so I just feel like we could really learn something from that. And it's gonna take many, many years for us to get to that stage, but I would love to have that conversation going, you know, just getting started with our industry, you know, to work towards that. So yeah, thank you for sharing how you do it because I love I love hearing that. Now, there was one more thing that I wanted to ask you about, which stuck in my mind from my last visit, and that was around breaches and tenant tenants that default and they they don't pay their rent and you issue the notices and you get to a stage where the property needs to, I think, go well for us, it goes to court, it goes to magistrate. In Australia, our property managers have to represent the client and go to court and to action all of that. And I remember hearing that at some stage with you guys, it gets passed on to a lawyer.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

That is correct, yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

So can you talk us through tenant defaulting on rent and what happens and how much it costs and things like that?

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Sure, sure. Yeah, so you know, being in Cincinnati, we're in in the Midwest. So, you know, get you have the East Coast and West Coast. And why I'm mentioning that is I get calls from people from California or out of New York, you know, that own property here, and they will ask that question hey, what does the you know eviction process look like for tenants? And the the timeline, the cost here in the Midwest is way less, way easier than the coast of the United States. So basically it works like this is in a perfect world, you know, the rent is due on the first, right? I'm just gonna use kind of easy dates, easy numbers. You know, if they haven't paid by the fifth, we do issue uh a three, you're posted it, no, you have to issue a three-day notice and post it on their door. And there's a standardized form that you know you fill out and then it just says, hey, tenant, you owe this money, blah, blah, blah. So after that three days expire, at that point in time, then yeah, then we send it to our lawyer. And what our lawyer does is, you know, files it with the court. And but like you mentioned, it's the same thing here. You know, the property manager has to be at that in front of the magistrate. So, yeah, so three days expire, send it to the uh uh the lawyer. Then it's probably about two, maybe three weeks before we're in front of probably closer to three weeks before we're in front of a magistrate. And yeah, we got to be there, or one of the property managers has to be there. And then from there, if yes, they haven't paid and you know the magistrate agrees with us, they have about a week to be out. If they are not out within the week or after a week, excuse me, then we have to call the sheriff and they meet us out there. We have to have our guys there because we don't, we're it is our responsibility to move everything out onto the street corner. And we don't know what the condition might be, or you know, or you know, if it's like a big house or something like that. And yeah, then, you know, the sheriff, we open up the door with the sheriff, where it's our responsibility, responsibility to move everything out. And then after I think two days, three days, we are allowed to remove the stuff from the uh from the curb. I will say we don't deal a lot with evictions just because we what we center on is kind of more of the uh higher end clientele here. And I like to think we do a good job of setting expectations with people from from the beginning and you know, screening people and things of that nature. And those. They're all things that I you know tell new owners that come on board that might be you know on the edge about wanting to rent it out to somebody, their house or something like that, just knowing we have these, you know, uh these things in place. Yeah, the track record or these things in place to, you know, to cover them.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Yeah, okay. And then so when you talk about the lawyer going or you know, the property manager having to go to court, are you going with the lawyer or the lawyer doesn't have to go to or you just go by yourself?

SPEAKER_00 23:29

No, because the we have to be there with the lawyer because the first thing the magistrate says is is something to the effect, hey, are you the one that posted this on the door going back to that three-day notice?

Documentation, Pre-Inspections, And Process

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah. So you're more seen. Um, I think they would say that you're seen more as a witness to and I just I just love that system because I feel like it's really unfair property managers having to represent owners and sort of make those decisions without having any legal background. And it makes so much more sense that a lawyer would actually represent and that, you know, a property manager would go as as a witness say. And so I just I absolutely love that. I would love to see at some stage that come in because you know, I've got a young property manager who had to do court the other day and had to make a really tough decision on behalf of the owner, where the owner was going to lose a lot of money, but you know, she had to sort of come to an agreement then and there. And I just feel like it's so unfair for a young 23-year-old having to do that and have that as part of our property management job. And sometimes I just feel like constantly there are layers of responsibility put on property managers. And I just love, I just they were the two standout things that I just loved that you guys did and would love for more people in Australia to hear that and maybe put more pressure on our system to work towards that method. I just, yeah, it's I'm so glad I was worried that I hadn't got it wrong. So I'm so glad it was exactly how I remembered what you said. So it's good.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yeah, no, I know I agree with you because you know, when you go down to I I refer to as the eviction court, it's a stressful situation, you know, and you know, you're in front of the magistrate, the magistrate is talking fast. The magistrate might be using terminology you're not aware of. I mean, there's been times I'm standing in there with the lawyer and he's you know saying this, saying that, and I'm just like, hey, you know, I don't know, you tell me what to do. I yeah, I'm I'm paying you to kind of guide to steer this ship here. Oh, and you asked about cost too. We recently switched lawyers, but I mean it's a couple hundred bucks or something like that. You know, it's not like crazy money. Yeah, but the thing, well, the important thing here in the United States is finding somebody that specializes in that. So that's all that they do. You know, if you just kind of came across a lawyer that doesn't specialize in it, it would be a lot more expensive. But they do it by a lot of quantity, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yeah, yeah. No, I just I I love it. I just yeah, I hope this episode falls on the right ears for someone to start conversations around it. So that's sort of what I'm hoping for. So yeah, so good. Now the last question, oh actually, I've got two last questions for you. Yeah, two last questions. Does that may even make sense? Maybe not. Two more questions, two more questions for you. One would be what would be considered, and I know there's lots of factors, but what would be considered the average number of doors that a property manager would look after on their own?

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Define on your own, like just being a solo, like not any assistance, no back office type. Shh, that can vary a lot. Maybe I can tell my story, and that's you know, uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

What does your team look like? Yeah.

Evictions In The Midwest: Timeline And Roles

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Yeah, sure. So when when I got started, yeah, it was just me, you know, making the phone calls, and then I got up to 30-ish doors, and I was like, wow, I need like a quote unquote kind of a maintenance person. And that's when I, you know, reached out to this gentleman and brought him on board, my team. And then, you know, still making calls, still making calls, and we went from 30 doors to 100, literally over a weekend. And, you know, there was a lot of work to be put into that, but then it was like, oh, okay. And I'm like, all right, let me calm down on doing the prospecting. You know, we need to get our systems in in place. And yeah, it was just me and him. And then we slowly added more doors up to, we got up to about 180. At that point in time, we did have uh one virtual assistant out of the Philippines that I referred to as my funnel or our funnel, you know, just kind of all those different communications getting in an easy, like, hey, this is what needs to be done. So I think I don't, I don't know if other companies, other people could do what we did because I say that because I was very specific and surgical on, hey, this is how we do things. Like there's a famous quote by Henry Ford, you know, from Ford Motor Company, the Model T, the first car that he made, that he's, you know, it was it was a black colored car. And people said, hey, you know, and what he said is, hey, you can have any color as long as it's black, right? And that was my motto. Like, you can do it anyway as long as it is this way. Why I'm why I'm saying that is I feel like we had we could take, we took on more doors than maybe other people couldn't do just because we were very specific. This is how we do things, this is how we do things. I've noticed when that one time that you're like, okay, we will allow you to do it this way, it just mucks everything up. And then the owners are like, well, why is this like this? And then there's you know, two or three team members trying to fix something that if we just would have done it the way it should have been done the first time, it's a it's a smooth operating machine.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

So okay, so with your 400 now, so there's yourself. Do you still have the one offshore?

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Yes, we all I did leave out part of the story. So then we somewhat merged with another property management company that had more back office support. So yeah, we have the one offshore, uh uh two gals, back office, kind of a full-time bookkeeper, and then somewhat of a full-time maintenance uh team to support my partner.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Yeah, okay. So, yes, that actually sounds quite similar to be honest, in terms of headcount and numbers. The sorry, I've you've just given me another question, so there's still two more. And I I won't I'll wrap it up because I know that you've got to get to get it.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Oh, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

The when you say maintenance person, the so it's a full-time maintenance person that will go out and do maintenance, but they are still invoicing the owners for works.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

That's correct, yep.

unknown 29:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Well, uh or through Atfolio, through our property management software, which is an internal thing. You know, they do the work and then yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

So it's so they replace a door and then they just do an invoice through the system and the owner still gets deducted from the owner's income.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Okay. And people don't see that as a conflict or anything like that, as opposed to you subcontracting a separate contractor?

SPEAKER_00 30:23

You know, that is a very interesting question because you asking that question when I would be, you know, doing the sales role, talking to people, like, hey, we have an in-house maintenance team or maintenance staff. That was my assumption that people would have thought, like, oh, like, not that we're like double dipping, but like you very eloquently said the situation, right? So I would start asking people's opinion, like, hey, you know, like we have an in-house maintenance team. What's your opinion of that, as opposed to us, you know, kind of outsourcing it? And what I would tell people, I was like, hey, the advantage with that is, you know, we're controlling it. You know, we know, you know, if it's not done right, we we will make it right. And but I mean, the big thing is the first one, you know, we're controlling it from start to finish. And I I just straight up asked people because once again, I was kind of of the opinion, like, how does this look? You know, like we're controlling that also. A lot of people said, like, that that was the reason they came with us. It was a benefit, you know, that you know, we had that in place. My business coach, uh, you know, you know, Jason Hall with Door Grail, he has this saying, you know, uh, deals or business are done at the speed of trust. And that's what I tell people from the very beginning, you know, because they'll ask, like, hey, what's the pricing for maintenance and things like that? And I'll explain it to them, but then I will say that to them, like, hey, you're just trusting us that we're gonna be honest with you. And, you know, really, truly, that is the foundation of us working together is that trust that we're giving you a decent, decent deal. So did that answer your question?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

No, that that that I just love how you said that, like using trust because that's a really big deal. And I think that that should maybe be in more conversations that people are having, because nothing offends me more than someone who entrusts our service, but then wants to question what we do or things like that. So you've said that beautifully. So that's a really great thing for people to take away with having that conversation. It is trust. Like you they do have to trust that you're doing the right thing and that you're not gonna, you know, screw them over. So it's yeah, that's wonderful. Now, my last question, which I wanted to wanted to ask, was if you wanted to go and find more doors, more leads, what would be your number one go-to to find them? Like, what's your main lead generation source that works for you?

In‑House Maintenance, Trust, And Pricing

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Right. So I'm somewhat of a private person, what's referred to as a lone wolf, right? I'm not I I can be very outgoing, but I like my alone time. Why I'm why I digressed and told you that is my method is picking up the picking up the phone and calling people. And I when I started doing it, I'll never forget when I I remember kind of pacing around my computer, like literally fearful to call people, you know, because nobody wants to get be rejected. And I just remember walking around, walking around, like just you know, called and I called them and oh yeah, like the first person I talked to in this one afternoon. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, I'll I'll go with you. And I was just like, oh that wasn't that bad. I kind of like this, you know. So my method is calling people. What I did, I built a really great database where we specialized in property management, we're very surgical with the location. So there was a way that I got all these records of different property owners, and there was some data enrichment I had to do with it. And I just started calling people. And that's where I found the greatest success. I know there's other methods to find leads. And I'll never forget when I was with, excuse me, Building, our property management software, there was like this advertisement for, hey, we have leads, you know. I'm like, oh, okay. And I signed up for, you know, kind of a demo and they went through talking about it. And it was some sort of like marketing thing. And then there was other property managers in this thing, and I was and I was like, well, what's the cost of it? And then, you know, it was like 50, 75 bucks a lead or something like that, or something that I was like, yeah, there's no way, you know, I'll just make those phone calls. So that's the way that I do it. I feel that, yeah, I don't know, we just live in such a such a situation, such a society where we're just like, oh, I'm just gonna text somebody, I'm just gonna email somebody, and then I'm gonna wait for them to respond back. Screw that. I just like just picking up the phone call and and just going after it. I mean, though the the best story that I have about that type of prospecting is, and you you gotta have a short memory, right? You know, you might talk to somebody, yeah, yeah, no. You might talk to 20, 30, 40 people, no, no, no. You gotta keep going, you gotta keep going. But I'll never forget this. It was uh Memorial Day last year, two years ago. It's irrelevant. And I just I didn't want to do it. And it was one of those things that's kind of, I remember again, kind of pacing by my computer, like just man, nobody wants to talk to me today. Why do I want to do this? You know, finally I'm like, screw it, I'm gonna do it. So I sat down and I called 50 owners. Now, 50 owners, 50 properties, you know, that is gonna result into maybe one, maybe two, you know, decent leads. And I'll never forget first person I talked to, oh yeah, wonderful conversation. You know, it was a home run. I'm like, man, why was I, you know, fearing to do this? Or, you know, I was making up all these stories telling myself. So that was number one. From number two to 40, 49, nothing, you know, people hanging up, wrong number, number 50, wonderful conversation, you know. So it's like I I tell that story because you don't know what is right around the corner, you know. Uh the first one and the last one were great. All the other ones were necessary, you know, to go through, but uh yeah, calling people. That's how I do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Do you think that there is something to be said for making sure that the last phone call that you make in the run is a positive phone call as well, as opposed to you know, stopping at maybe number 48 where it was a negative? Like, have you ever like stopped on a negative and gone that's stuff that I'm not doing it? Or have you have you found like if you look back on it, you always wait for that positive one, then go, okay, I'm done. I've done well today.

Team Structure, Capacity, And Systems

SPEAKER_00 36:58

No, what is more important than that is consistency. Doing what I did that one day the next day and the next day, and doing it on days that I really don't feel like doing it and pushing through it and not telling yourself, like, man, I didn't feel like doing that. Telling yourself a story, man, I didn't feel like doing that, but I still did it, you know. Oh, and one other uh big prospecting thing is getting reviews. Getting reviews was one of the best things somebody told me at the very beginning, getting reviews. Uh, I I get Google reviews. I ask, you know, tenants, you know, owners we we work with, because that is an engine that has been built that you know, I get a lead or two, really quality leads per week that come to me that you know it's almost to the point I don't even need to do constant like outgoing phone calls. I can just let the the leads kind of come to me. So reviews would be a very close uh second.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Yeah, yeah. No, that's really great. I think people tend to forget about the reviews. And uh yeah, that that's a really great reminder. Well, I mean, I can vouch that you are someone that, you know, does jump on the phone or you know, does, you know, make contact because that's exactly how we got in touch. Yeah, exactly. I did the the podcast with Jason, who's great to chat with. And yeah, you straight up, I think you had emailed me, hadn't you, straight up after listening to that, saying, hey, just listen to your podcast with Jason, would love to, you know, have to have a catch up. And that's what we did. And it was it was great. And I do remember when you did that thinking, how cool is it that someone like reaches out and feels comfortable reach out because I feel sometimes like like I haven't thought of doing that with other podcast hosts that I've listened to. And then when you've done it, I was like, that's actually a really cool idea. Like I shouldn't, if I've listened to a podcast that I've liked, I should reach out to them and say, hey, you loved your podcast and you know, would love to catch up and and chat. So I appreciate you doing that with me because I I honestly hand my heart, like I love that that conversation. I love hearing what's happening in other areas. I think that if the just the the thinking, the thought-provoking, you know, seeing how it works in other places, like I find that incredibly interesting. And I think that it keeps us on our toes a little bit as well. So I get very, very thankful for your time and sharing that. So I I'm sure this will get to the right ears because you know what, I'm just gonna keep on halfing on about it and uh having more conversations like that so that you know, someone at some stage, whether it's 12 months, 10 years, 20 years, they, you know, they see that things can be a little bit different and easier for property managers. We don't have to be in an industry that just gets harder and harder.

SPEAKER_00 39:49

So yeah. Well, and that's uh one reason reaching out to you is you know, giving back is a huge thing I enjoy, and just giving back in this in property management is uh I enjoy doing. So that was another reason I connected with you and yeah, happy to chat with you.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Amazing. Well, thank you for your time. I appreciate it so much. And I will no doubt, when I hear of something else really awesome that you guys are doing, I'll be in touch and say, Kent, tell me more about this. How should we be doing it? So look forward to being in touch. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Take care.