How to Overcome Fear in Property Management

Welcome to Canada's Property Management podcast, your number one resource for investing, managing, and maximizing the value of your real estate assets. Now, here's your hosts, Carla Browne and Adrian Schulz, Canada's rental property experts.

Adrian Schulz (00:23):

Speaking of things we love, we love recession-proof, we love reoccurring revenue, and we love a business that doesn't have accounts receivable. How ironic that property management fits that bill.

Carla Browne (00:42):

See, you could have said that differently, Adrian. You could have said, "We love recession-proof, reoccurring, receivable-free," the three Rs.

Adrian Schulz (00:52):

Wow. Wasn't there a three Ps? Yeah, the three Rs of choosing the perfect business.

Carla Browne (00:58):

Yeah, the three Rs of property management. There we go.

Adrian Schulz (01:01):

I love it. So in all seriousness though, we are at such a weird time of this particular generation, given what we've just been through in the last two years. Who would have thought that owning a restaurant, a hotel, an airline, any sort of retail business, a dentist, everyone got closed? Everyone was shut down. It was totally out of their control in one way or another, or they had to significantly change the way in which we operated, and here's us in property management. There's one thing that will never change. People have to live somewhere. They need a roof over their head and someone has to manage that roof over their head if they rent. I don't know any other business that provides the safety and security of what real estate management can.

Carla Browne (01:59):

Many businesses were deemed essential when everything happened with the pandemic, us included, on the property management side, but it became really quick to realize that homes mattered. Homes are what mattered to people. Even look at all of the mental health posts that go out there. Having a home, there's this huge correlation, which is why we've chosen the Canadian Mental Health Association as our charity of choice this year, is that having a home is such a big thing about having mental health. I think that the whole idea of having a property management business has all of a sudden sparked interest in people that never thought that they might open a business. They were just going to be a real estate investor and have their own properties, but why not if you enjoy it? Why not look at it as starting to manage other people's properties as well?

Adrian Schulz (02:49):

What do you think, when you're speaking with potential office owners, what's the number one fear that you hear them state out loud?

Carla Browne (03:00):

They don't necessarily know all the regulations, but I would say the number one fear that I hear is, "How do I do it? Where are the systems? What about marketing?" They're worried about some of those bigger items, and just how do I run the business. I've never run a business and I'm like, "You're running a business right now. You have investment properties. That is a business, and now you're just going to be looking after other people's investments as well." I think most of them are like, "What software do I use? What systems am I using? How do I make that work?" Those are the main things that come up.

Adrian Schulz (03:36):

There's probably nobody better fit to become a property management business owner than a property investor with 1, 2, 3, whatever, number of rental properties because you're going to approach all of your investment property owners like an owner because you are one, and I think there's nothing more sellable than being able to speak people's own language than if you're already a rental property owner because I would think that people's fear is, how do I get business? I think that's the easiest part and the hard part that Carla mentioned, we've got that figured out for you, that you don't have to go through the pain of figuring it out on your own.

Carla Browne (04:28):

Yeah. For a lot of people, they get into it and realize, I don't like to manage the properties, and then they come to us, but a lot of people do like it and they want to make a business out of it. I would encourage you to have a conversation with us to talk about what that might look like because I think there's so many options for people. The one thing that I know, I learned this early on, is that real estate investors hang out with real estate investors.

(04:54):

So to your point, they have established some strong trust relationships amongst each other that might take me months or years to gain that trust if we're just having conversations and we haven't gotten to know each other. So take that trust of the relationship, and add in some of the systems and workflows and the software and everything else that we have, I think it can be a super great business in an industry that's only growing in Canada. We have more than 30% of Canadians who rent right now. It's growing all the time.

Adrian Schulz (05:31):

Especially with the influx of immigration. Isn't there half a million people allegedly coming to Canada in the next number of years?

Carla Browne (05:37):

Yeah.

Adrian Schulz (05:38):

They're all renters for the first few years of their residency in Canada.

Carla Browne (05:44):

I think in the States, renting is much more mainstream, and I think in Canada, it just continues to grow month over month, but there's so much opportunity for people. Why wouldn't you want to get into a business that you love?

Adrian Schulz (06:00):

Yeah. What are the first steps? Can you paint a picture of the journey of starting a property management business from the point of, "Gee, I'm interested. I'm a rental owner and I'm interested to having a business." What does that look like?

Carla Browne (06:16):

I would definitely go through some strong vetting processes. If you want to talk to us, certainly we can help you through that. We've got a number of steps along the way to ensure that we feel that you're suited to do this and that you really do want to do it, and I think that's important and that we're a fit for you. But I think a lot of it is if you're starting a business right now, you're taking on other people's investments, starting a business is that you have to have the mindset to do it because a business is not easy. I don't want to paint the picture, this is just easy, easy. Any business is a little bit hard. I used to think you had to be a risk taker. Instead, I look at it now is that you just have the courage to jump. You have to have the courage to do it but do your research.

(06:57):

So whether you want to do it on your own or whether you want to join a company like Real Property Management, you can get lots of information from us on our website. You don't need to call us. First of all, you can just go to realpm.ca, and at the top right-hand side, there is a big red button that says, "Franchise Opportunity" and you can learn a little bit more there and have a call with us. We're not high-pressure salespeople by no means. So have a call and learn a little bit more, but I think understanding that you are going to have to have systems, understanding that this is not done in an Excel spreadsheet. You're going to have to figure out how you're electronically collecting rent. There are these things that have to happen in order for it to be smooth, otherwise, you will be starting, what I'll call a great big headache.

Adrian Schulz (07:41):

Yeah.

Carla Browne (07:42):

Oh, I guess our podcast, Adrian, our podcast has tons of resources, right?

Adrian Schulz (07:47):

Yeah. Start by listening to every episode and find out how unique we are and average.

Carla Browne (07:54):

We've been doing this now for, it's not quite a year, but we'll have to have a big celebration that day. We have been doing this for a while, and every week we try to give some tips on landlords, whether or not you are a property management business or you're a self-managed. We like to think that we're trying to give some information that we've learned along the way from our experiences to help you and to ease some of that pain that can happen in this particular industry.

(08:20):

I've became very passionate about the industry and the fact that how we can bring the investor and the tenant together and what we can make this real estate asset do for investors, and being able to do that, it's very fulfilling for me. Then to know that you can go through a pandemic and not feel it. I shouldn't say that. Definitely, we had to deal with tenants and their hardship and investors and whatnot, so there was those kinds of things, but we're recession-proof. They're talking about Canada heading into a recession. People are going to need homes to rent.

Adrian Schulz (08:54):

The final thing that I think is of value is that we are not only a property management company that's national. Also, we have a family of real estate brands, which include CENTURY 21 Canada, as well as CENTUM Financial Services. So we've got the entire circle or what do you call it? Circle of success?

Carla Browne (09:16):

I do, yeah.

Adrian Schulz (09:17):

The circle of success of the real estate business. So if you're coming into our real property management system or the other brands that I mentioned, there is definitely a business opportunity for those seeking it, and there's no better fit than if you're already a rental property owner.

Carla Browne (09:37):

Now that's real property management.

Adrian Schulz (09:41):

Now that's real property management. You were waiting for me to say it. So Carla has fallen off her chair from laughter.

Thanks for listening to Canada's Property Management podcast. If you like this episode, please subscribe and give us a rating which will help us reach more listeners. Until next time, connect with us on social media and online at www.realpm.ca.