» Our Gift… REFUSED… and RETURNED!

Our Gift… REFUSED… and RETURNED!

Now every week, I sit here and try to express to you all how passionate both Allens and the individual property managers here at Allens Property Management are. I hope in some small way you are getting a sense of what we are creating here and what our individual standards are. I do this each week because I believe it is the most important part of property management. If one is not passionate about property management, it falls in to the “it’s just a job” category. And to be honest, a property manager with that attitude is never going to deliver brilliant results. They will never fulfil the expectations of the company, the landlords or the tenants that work with them. And they will be miserable while they fail.

And to be brutally honest, you have to be passionate to survive the waves of dramas that periodically roll in. The passion is like a surfboard, if you will. It is the tool that holds you above the dramas (I would really love to phrase that differently… C#@P… But it doesn’t fit my metaphor!). The “surfboard” allows you to negotiate the waves as they crash around you. It is quite simply what holds your head above water and guides you to shore. (Oh my, aren’t I poetic today?)

Sometimes, when you can feel the swell of dramas rising beneath you, and your sixth sense says: “watch out”, you can feel a quick moment of “Oh S%#T!” as your mind scurries frantically, checking your actions, making sure all your ducks were lined up just in case this happened. But thankfully, that is just your intuition warning you of danger and trying to protect you. As you mentally check and prepare for the potential storm surge, you can relax a little because your consistent passion has future proofed you, the company and your investor.

So where am I heading with this? Well, it’s like this. One of the really cool things about Property Management is the acknowledgement you get for a job well done. The gift baskets, flowers and wine are absolutely wonderful and are very gratefully received. The chocolate overload delivered to Tracy one day was very impressive! And then I received a phone call last week from one of our investors that I think tops the lot for a genuine display of praise and gratitude…

He is one of our bigger investors. He is a long term client with a large portfolio that he steadily adds to. He is a wonderful landlord, very easy to deal with and he understands the business of balancing money with people and their actions. He also understands that our requests for new curtains, carpet and paint from time to time are to protect the marketable value of his portfolio. In general we don’t negotiate our fee. We believe we are worth what we charge and the steady growth of our roll supports that belief. We did however negotiate a discount for this man around eight months ago. It was a gift from us for his ongoing loyalty.

So imagine my surprise when he calls me in my role as manager last week and informs me that he would like to gift back to us the discount we offered. He said that he believed we were more than worth it and he is fully aware of all we do for a small slice of his rental income. He said he considered Allens a great investment and that he had always been happy with the service Allens provided. He added Allens are always “on top of it” and are very quick to sort any problems. Therefore, he would be happy to pay full rates and asked that we please alter our system to reflect this.

Wow! Isn’t that outstanding? So you see, I know our passion for property management is evident. And when we are rewarded with that type of attitude, it helps to feed and grow the underlying passion felt by all.

So I sit here and type this with pride and joy inside. We rock. And it is not just me that thinks so.

Diane Wright Manager,
Allens Home Rentals