2018 NARPM Broker/Owner Conference & Expo Recap

2018 Broker/Owner Conference & Expo

The most anticipated event in residential property management came back in 2018 bigger and better than ever! The event sold out in record time. From April 9-11, 2018, business brokers, owners, managers, and major decision makers gathered at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas for business-changing results that paid off.

We kicked the day off with Rehab Your Business. A panel of experts shared quick-hitting segments packed with industry knowledge. There were three segments to this session — Technology, Risk Management, and Making Money.

Randall Henderson from Property Management, Inc. got #NARPMBrokerOwner started  with, “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said, “Yes, yes, yes!”

NARPM^® President Brian Birdy, MPM^® RMP^®, from PMI Birdy Properties, CRMC^®, welcomed #RehabYourBusiness goers. He charged attendees to gather three ideas from the conference to change the way they do business. He suggested networking with vendors, speakers, and other attendees. He suggested that people need to change their mindset about networking from social media to in-person. Those are ways he said attendees can make the most of a #NARPM conference or convention. The power of one of our conferences is to share what you learn, set up an implementation plan on the three focuses you chose, and then nurture the connections you made while at the event.

The first part of Rehab Your Business focused on Technology. Kellie Tolifson, MPM^® RMP^®, from T-Square Properties shared technology information about Hiring/Virtual Assistants: Options in Today’s Market. Costs of on-site personnel taxes, recruiting options, stress, employee drama, and regulations can be remedied by hiring virtual assistants.

Your Phones: Friends or Foes? Lucy Breen from VirtuallyinCredible shared how to provide outstanding customer service that drives positive online reviews. When you don’t answer your phones, it leads to increased frustration, business attrition, passive aggression, and nasty reviews. You also miss leads. Lucy Breen encourages owners to answer their phones.

With technology, Outsourcing is Money Value of Time according to James Alderson, MPM^® RMP^®, from Alderson Properties. He shared his secrets to live the way you want while still managing as many doors as you can. To make property management profitable, we have to outsource where we can. Outsourcing helps value your time, lower expenses, and improve the work/life balance. 

Kathleen Richards, MPM^® RMP^®, from Portola Property Management, Inc. gave the bottom-line on Streamlining Your Operations to grow and provide consistent experiences for your clients. Systems, processes, and procedures help us scale and grow our company with the employees that are in place. This increases the bottom line.

There has to be a balance between technology and the human element of any company. Marc Cunningham, RMP^®, from Grace Property Management and Real Estate gave tips on attracting & attaining the best people with Team Members: The People Component. Teams need to be led and managed. Your have to motivate and inspire your people; clarify what every person needs to do so they have clear expectations; and measure/record performance to give helpful feedback.

Then the Technology panel took questions to finish part 1- of the 3-part session. So much knowledge packed in such a small time. We were on on our way to revamping for success.

The Risk Management session started with Fair Housing: Property Managers, HUD, & Criminals… Oh My! It was time to talk risk management at Rehab Your Business with Scott Abernathy, MPM^® RMP^®, from Property Management, Inc. and PMI Professionals. The NARPM Code of Ethics and different area locations have different protected classes. You develop a long-term relationship with every person you put into a house. You have to judge viability, but also pass that judgement without discrimination against protected classes.

Part of managing risk is screening tenants. Chrysztyna Rowek, MPM^® RMP^®, from Lighthouse Cove Property Management gave details on Screening: Bypassing Your Biases. We need to view potential tenants as a whole person. There may be legitimate extenuating circumstances to find out why their credit is bad or they have been evicted. Have a conversation to ask “why”.

Insurance is a balancing act of risk management. Bart Sturzl, MPM^® RMP^®, from Bella Real Estate, Inc. discussed Insurance: The Transference of Risk. He broke it down, “Let’s talk about risk, baby. Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things risk can be.” Improper insurance coverage and setup can be costly for property managers.

Property managers often have attorney or tax expertise. Attendees learned Trust Account: Best Practices with Mike Mumford, MPM^® RMP^® from Bennett Property Management, CRMC^®. 1 in 3 companies of 100 or more people will be embezzled from. The average embezzlement goes on for 27 months. The average money stolen is over $150,000. Not managing risks associated with money can shut your business down.

Technology comes with its own risk. Stacy Brown of Real Property Management provided Technology Risk Takeaways. Technology risk starts with looking at what you’re doing to protect your company from a data breach. It takes a commitment that starts with you and filters down through your people. It is not a matter of if, but when.

The third session started with ways of Making Money and growing business. Sarah Laidler, RMP^®, from Accolade Property Management Corp got us started at Rehab Your Business with Marketing: Leading Our Teams to the “Win” with Communication. Doing something to make memories in your company adds an element of fun. Doing something outside of the box helps people let down their guard. People who feel appreciated stay longer and work harder.

Lead Generation and Sales: Understanding and Closing Leads in Today’s Market with Michael Krause from Atrium Management Company provided great advice for making money. Building relationships with REALTORS^® can create a foundation for leads. Nurturing relationships with industry professionals, listening to what they enjoy, can turn into on-going leads. Take a genuine interest in people to find leads.

Shawn Johnson, RMP^®, from Independence Capital, LLC shared how to bring in the money with Market Traction Through Social Media and Blogging. Mix up your social media approach and test it. Get creative. Think fresh. Inspire people. Add humor. Use video and images. All of these elements should be stirred into your social schedule if you want to make more money.

Rehab Your Business with Maintenance: Don’t Leave Money on the Table. Deb Newell, MPM^® RMP^®, from Real-Time Leasing, LLC, CRMC^®, provided vital information every property manager needs to know about maintenance. Having a proactive and comprehensive plan for maintenance saves your property management business money. It prevents setbacks and extra costs/stress associated with move out.

You’ve Finally Gone to Rehab. Now What? Eric Wetherington, MPM^® RMP^®, from New Heights Property Management, CRMC^®, gave Rehab Your Business the next steps to take action and make a return on all they’ve learned. He stressed the importance of giving yourself time to get away from your business, to clear your head, and think about your business. Think about your vision, mission, and values to create strategies that are right for your business.

Thank you to Rehab Your Business Committee Members, Randall Henderson and Lukas Krause. Thanks to our awesome panel of experts and our amazing attendees. We are so glad we went to Rehab!

Jennifer Newton, NAPRM Broker Owner Committee Chairperson, from Walters Property Management opened the general sessions to let the business excellence begin. The first day focus was Mastermind Groups. A mastermind group is a peer-to-peer mentoring forum that helps members solve problems with input and advice from others.

Gail Phillips, CAE, the NARPM^® Executive Director, introduced the importance of antitrust compliance in an association. That paved the way for NARPM^® Lawyer, Alvin Dunn from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP to discuss Working as a Mastermind Group — What are the Legal Basics? Antitrust compliance is very important to the association. Anti-competitive agreements are illegal. They have criminal penalties like jail and/or fines. Private civil lawsuits are also possible. It can lead to a substantial burden. Attendees explored antitrust through Q&A with NARPM^® lawyer Alvin Dunn.

Time came to liberate owners from the chaos of working in their business with Scott Beebe of My Business on Purpose. Scott Beebe shared his vision for overcoming fear and enhancing business. He said, “Vision without implementation is hallucination.” Key takeaways from Scott Beebe’s terrific presentation:

• Chaos is a default for most small businesses. Owners often feel like the business is consuming.
• People want purpose. There can be a synergy between home and work when we stop the chaos.
• Principals eat strategy for lunch.
• How do we write a song in our lives that people want to listen to? Find the song that doesn’t make more noise but serves you and people want to help you sing.

We learned to Mastermind via Podcasting: Discover the Far-Reaching Potentials with Brad Larsen, MPM^® RMP^®, from RentWerx in San Antonio. Brad and fellow property managers at RentWerks launched a successful podcast a year ago. Since that time, they have interviewed more than 20 guest. Brad issued a Podcast challenge: 1) Stop listening to music and gain knowledge from listening to Podcasts. 2) Narrow down the most valuable you listen to. 3) Listen to two Podcasts weekly.

We finished off the first day with a Live Mastermind Panel featuring Scott Beebe; Brad Larsen, MPM^® RMP^®; and Tony Cline, RMP^®, from HomeVault Property Management; Philip Scarborough, RMP^®; and Kellie Tollifson, MPM^® RMP^®. This mastermind panel helped explore the highs and lows of business. The discussion centered around real life situations we face in the business and home/life balance. They demonstrated how a mastermind group worked, while giving tips to bring home for attendees to launch their own groups.

Day two of #NARPMBrokerOwner started with digital expert Corey Perlman bringing Social Selling: A Step-by-Step Process to Turn Owners and Residents into Customers and Customers into your Digital Sales force. Key takeaways form his informative session:

• Social media platforms serve a different purpose along the sales cycle. When used with best practices, they can create new business opportunities, generate repeat business, and earn referrals.
• Generating leads, building credibility, staying at the top of mind by providing value, driving to the sweet spot, strengthening relationships, and earning referrals are part of the Social Media Sales Funnel.
• Don’t be distracted by shiny new social media sites. It adds unnecessary frustration. Focus on the platforms that serve your demographics and plant your flag there.
• Don’t be a Google Ghost Town: use ads, organic, directions. Paying to play on Google with a few focused/the right search words is a valuable place to plant your flag. You want to be seen on page 1 of a search.
• Don’t let negative reviews run you. Keep track of the sites where you have reviews. Have a plan ready to respond to negative reviews as quickly as possible. More importantly, encourage your happy clients and tenants to give you champion reviews on Google, Yelp, and other sites.
• Have a plan ready to respond to negative reviews. React without emotion and with empathy to try to help them fix the problem. Then after the fix, ask them to respond that their issue was fixed. If you can’t fix  a negative review, try to take it down.

Tim Wehner, MPM^® RMP^®, took the stage with Top Tech Tips to Take Your Business to the Next Level. Tech is necessary. With so many technology options, where do you start? The right applications and uses help make your business more productive and efficient. Why use tech? Tech helps us focus on what’s important — growth, improving customer experience, employee resources, and focusing on managing your business. Then Tim was joined by a panel of our partners to share how their tech and services help the property industry. We talked marketing trending tech issues with Brian Lebrant from Appfolio, Patrick O’Hearn from Rent Manager, James Wagley from Propertyware, Merrick Lackner from Rently, Heather Burlson from Yardi, and Zach Parsons from Buildium.

Three workshops then ran simultaneously for serious #NARPMSmart gains. Todd Breen from VirtuallyinCredible and Ben Sencenbaugh from The Realty Medics shared how to Go with the Work Flow: Leveraging Work Flow & Automation Technology Panel Discussion. Gregg Birdy, RMP^®, from PMI Birdy Properties, CRMC^®, provided the inside scoop on leveraging the power of video w/ Video 101: Making Great Videos. Mike Mumford, MPM^® RMP^®, from Bennett Property Management, CRMC^®, explained how to stay on top of fiduciary responsibilities to protect property management responsibilities with Accounting, Trust Funds, & Technology: Why We Need to Care.

The time came for the vendor expo to open. Over 40 vendors networked and shared their tools and services for property and business professionals.

NARPM^® President Brian Birdy, MPM^® RMP^®, for PMI Birdy Properties, CRMC^®, invited everyone to join us for our largest event each year, the #NARPM2018 National Convention and Trade Show in San Diego. You’re not going to want to miss it. Register now at: narpmconvention.com

Brian Birdy and Vickie Gaskill, MPM^® RMP^®, took the stage to introduce this year’s Past Presidents’ Charity Casting for Recovery that helps those diagnosed with breast cancer. We have already had donations rolling in for this year’s Past Presidents’ Charity Casting for Recovery. Attendees donated around $18,000. So many lives have been touched by breast cancer. We’re accepting donations and registration for the golf tournament in October: narpmconvention.com/past-presidents-charity-tournament

It was time for another series of three break out workshops. Who Should Your Next Hire Be? Steve Shultz, MPM^® RMP^®, from Blue Fox Properties, CRMC^®, Eric Weatherington, MPM^® RMP^®, from New Heights Property Management, CRMC^®; Greg Doering, MPM^® RMP^®, from GDAA Property Management, CRMC^®; and Michael Hodges, MPM^® RMP^®, from First Place Management, Inc. weighed in. Tony Cline, RMP^®, from HomeVault Property Management discussed How to Develop Your Branding Strategy to Make More Money & Future-Proof Your Business. Propertyware’s James Wagley deciphered where to draw the line between Human Touch vs Automation: What are the Risks & Trade-offs?

Ask & You Will Receive: Great Information, That is… Bart Sturlz, MPM^® RMP^®, moderated the following “ask & answer” session using tech to facilitate the discussion. Attendees asked the questions and attendees answered. This was the ultimate sharing of information and hot topics in this property industry Q&A series.

Time came for A TED-style Talk with Alex Osenenko from Fourandhalf & Jordan Muela from Lead Simple on Using NARPM^® Designations as a Competitive Advantage to Close More Business. Knowing how to package, market, and communicate the unique points of our designations can help property managers win the right customer and close more business.

We ended day 2 by learning Technology Tools that Drive Productivity with Andrew Propst, MPM^® RMP^®, from HomeRiver Group Holdings, LLC. There are tech tools that help kill the “busy” in your day and the day of your team.

That brought us to the last day of the Broker/Owner Conference & Expo. It started with examining why leaders fail. Mary Kelly joined #NARPMBrokerOwner to prepare attendees to be great leaders.

Sometimes it is simple things leaders do that derail their team’s effectiveness and productivity. Key takeaways from this empowering session:

• People need good leaders more than ever. It’s about getting people to do what you know they need to do. In easy times, anyone can lead.
• Leadership is hard when you’re doing it right, especially when you’re emotionally invested with your people. Who wants to be only a competent leader instead of an excellent one?
• Procedures need to be easy enough for people to do the right thing. If your people are not doing the right thing, re-examine your procedures.
• Small mistakes often lead to big problems. Big problems are the result of bad leadership.
• Leaders who lack a compelling vision and clear goals leads to disgruntled employees. People need to understand clear expectations and your future vision for them.
• There are 3 types of vision — positive visionaries, status quo visionaries, and negative visionaries. Your vision needs to be so powerful and compelling it inspires people to be positive.
• Creating uncertainty about the future is a path to failure as a leader. So are gossiping, poor communication, not caring, being unfair, limited understanding, and lack of appreciation.

Want to grow your business? Duke Dodson, MPM^® RMP^®, of Dodson Property Management, CRMC^® gave the Why? When? How? of Hiring a Business Development Manager. Why hire a BDM? Free up your time, refine your sales process, generate more leads, close more incoming leads, and grow your company. What type of BDM do you need — order taker, hunter/gatherer, or rainmaker? Examine what experience and skill set your potential clients need and the amount of salary you can pay.

Attendees then broke out from main sessions to the last rounds of workshops.

Successful brokers/owners Lukas Krause and Rylan Rozell from Real Property Management; Mike Catalano from Real Estate Connections; and John Bradford, MPM^® RMP^®, from Park Avenue Properties LLC; shared proven methods on Acquisitions: Finding, Valuing, and Securing Opportunities.

Do you know the true worth of your company? Tom Sedlack, MPM^® RMP^®, from 33rd Company, CRMC^®, shared Company Valuation and Strategic Corporate Cash Flow Analysis.

Mary Kelly discussed how true leaders can strategically plan and implement long-term programs that take advantage of talent and increase morale in your business in Master Your World.

One of the most challenging aspects of business success for more real estate professionals is marketing. Marc Cunningham, RMP^®, from Grace Property Management and Real Estate, talked about Content Marketing for Real Estate Professionals. Go beyond door or EBITDA multiples to actual profitability, strategic position, intellectual value, owner perks, benefits, and soft compensation to discover the multiples to discover the real worth of your company. He introduced different income, asset, and market-based valuation methodologies using Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis and future cash Free Cash Flow (FCF) projections.

Bob Mellinger from Attainium Corp. then presented a simulation that puts attendees in the throes of a real-life disaster as it unfolds. Attendees made critical decisions, dealing with the consequences of those decisions in real time. Time was crucial as we organized our fictitious employees to respond to all of the single family homes in our management. For the next 2 hours, everyone at #NARPMBrokerOwner were part of the fictitious Mid-Atlantic Realty Group. The importance of this exercise? While you are reading this, an unexpected disaster is causing a residential property management team stress and confusion. Is your team prepared to handle that? Emergency and preparedness planning has never been more critical to the safety and security of facilities today, regardless of their size, location, and industry. It’s really easy to know what should have been done after a disaster happens. It’s difficult to know what to do as a crisis happens.

We ended the 2018 Broker/Owner Conference by looking at The Future… Where Will Your Business be Positioned in 2020 and Beyond?

Steve Murray from REALTrends exchanged ideas on running a successful business in the real estate industry. Brokerage firms, both existing and new, will need to take advantage of the information around them and organize it to make great decisions for their business to prosper. A few numbers as take away:

• Household formation is running at 1.4-1.5 millions per year through 2015 (Joint Housing Studies Harvard).
• 22-24 million or 1 in 4 family homes were owned by investors as of 2017.
• Home ownership rates are now stabilizing and expected to remain through 2020 at 63.5%.
• This number will begin to fall again as homes are becoming un-affordable for average families.

Feedback indicated that the 2018 Broker/Owner Conference & Expo was a phenomenal event. We look forward to an even better event in 2019. Mark your calendar now, February 25-27 at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Stay tuned for 2019 #NARPMBrokerOwner registration to open in Q4 this year. It will sell out again next year. Register early!

A huge thank you goes to all of this year’s prized partners.