Kyle Crown is the President of Crown Commercial PM. He holds a B.S. in business from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
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Over the course of my career in commercial property management, I’ve worked with owners from all different contexts and backgrounds. As I’ve written previously, communication is crucial in our industry because no two clients are exactly alike, and it’s on us to provide them all with custom-fitted service. But here is a handful of the broad archetypes we see most commonly. If you’re an owner, ask yourself if you identify strongly with any one of them in particular.
1. The Hands-On Handler: You want all the gory details of every action and transaction, which shouldn’t be a problem because you have every right to expect transparency when it comes to the management of your assets. You want to choose the color of the carpet in the conference room, and your property manager ought to happily let you. You want to read the 400-page owner statement packet like it’s a page-turner mystery novel, and you’ll get to.
2. The Set It And Forget It: The only thing you want to know about your commercial property investment is how much it’s netting you every month. As for everything else about it, you figure you’re better off saving that space in your brain for more useful information, like how much flights to Cabo cost in June. To that, your property manager should say: “Safe travels!” (or “Hasta luego.”) If you’ve entrusted your property to a top-tier manager, you deserve the opportunity to wipe your hands clean of the nitty-gritty, and they’ll have no trouble shielding you from it.
3. The Overnight Owner: You never planned to own commercial property but came into it by happenstance, either through inheritance or other unexpected circumstances. You don’t know the ins and outs of commercial real estate ownership, but you know you want to make the most of this unique opportunity. An experienced property manager will be able to unburden you of all the complex aspects of commercial management that you’re not trained to handle, without ever making you feel like you’re out of the loop or unqualified to understand exactly how your property’s being cared for. You’ll have long-term passive income if you just choose the right professional guide.
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4. The Stressed Expert: You do know the ins and outs of ownership, and they’re keeping you up at night. You’d be happy to pass off managing your property to somebody else, if only you could find someone with the expertise you already have. Bad experiences have convinced you that hiring a manager means settling for a lower standard of work than you yourself can provide. But the right property manager will go to great lengths to manage your property as if it were their own, applying investment acumen and professional expertise to serve your prized asset.
5. The Wildcard: You’re none of the above, or some combination of all the above, possibly a walking contradiction. You contain multitudes, and that’s OK! No one size fits all. If you identify with this type (no type), then congratulations: You’re the client property managers meet most often, and the one any true professional has built their business around serving. You’re one of a kind, and we appreciate that.
You might have noticed a pattern, something all these different types of owners share in common: An excellent property manager will gladly accommodate all of them and have no problem catering profitable services to their preferences. It takes all types, and so do we.
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