Creation of a business dedicated estates agencies to the administration of properties, to offer management services of neighbourhood communities, garages, urban entities, and macro communities.
It can also include the administration of rents, assets, or accounting management, among others.
In addition, the business can be extended to other related activities, such as insurance brokerage, real estate agency and financial agency.
The main motivation of a property management agency should be the search for the greatest benefits for the community of owners, benefits that can derive from various actions, such as getting good conditions with banks, adjusting budgets of works with suppliers or carefully study community expenses to reduce them to the maximum.
Many times, existing communities will be administered, but some others will have to form new communities of neighbours.
Estates agencies
The business must always base its strategy on maxims of professionalism, transparency, and good management. For the success of the business the following aspects must be observed:
- Wide range of services. There are many functions that a property management agency can perform to contribute to the benefit of the community it manages, such as the preparation of annual budgets, the management of receipts, the keeping of accounts, the management of repairs and works in the community or the preparation of the general meetings of neighbours. If it is the constitution of a new community, you will have to request the necessary documentation, hire maintenance, and supply companies or prepare the initial budget, among many other actions. But these services do not have to be confined to the property, extending also to the management of rents: selection of the tenant, preparation of the lease or monthly billing.
- Specialization vs. diversification. The property management agency has two alternatives in terms of the degree of specialization of the business. On the one hand, it can specialize in the management of certain communities or according to what type of property; but it can also diversify its services for all types of properties and communities (shopping centres, offices, industrial parks, or private cemeteries, among others), and thus meet the demand of the greatest number of people possible. In any of these cases, the consolidation of the business is favoured by offering greater specialization and personalized treatment to the clientele and their needs.
- Diligence and transparency. By delegating the management of the property, the community of owners entrusts to the agency such important matters as the annual budgets or the contracting of maintenance services and supplies. That is why the agency must ensure that it will act with all the diligence and professionalism that is presumed and by the that has been contracted, informing the owners of all the eventualities related to the farm and acting sensibly and good faith.
Key activities of estates agencies
The key activity of a property management agency consists of all the tasks of property management, but it is also important to negotiate with the different professionals and companies that can intervene with their services in the development of such activity, in addition to marketing actions to publicize the business and customer service for questions, suggestions and complaints.
The housing market has been the hardest hit by the economic crisis since the housing bubble burst abruptly.
Now that the world economy and national-begins to recover slowly, this sector seems to be back in activity. In fact, in the first half of 2015, real estate transactions millions more than in the previous year.
However, the recovery is very marked by the assets in question, their locations, and geographies, according to the latest data provided by the associations.
As far as the proposed business is concerned, new opportunities are constantly emerging for the profession of property manager.
The market is increasingly differentiated and segmented, which allows us to detect unmet needs. Thus, although the competition is high, the number of specialists is quite small.
There is little professionalism and specialization, so the entrepreneur can find in this project a good business opportunity if he receives the necessary training to offer a personalized and quality service, differentiated from the competition.
Estates agencies threats
As for this, the property management agency should consider the threat of the following main competitors:
- Property management agencies of similar characteristics to the one proposed, which offer the same service and will exercise very intense competition. Therefore, it will be necessary to study the area in which the estates agencies business is located, the competing agencies that are in the surroundings and the best differentiation strategy that can be implemented.
- Real estate franchises, which also offer these services and whose competition will be the strongest that the business faces. They are backed by the brand and are widespread today.
- Real estate agencies that include in their offer property management services. The competition os estates agencies will be important but not as intense as in the previous cases, because many clients will appreciate the specialization of an agency that is dedicated exclusively to the administration of estates if this is the service they need.
- Tax advisors, professionals and freelancers of the economy and business. All these professionals are fully trained to offer property management services. They know the regulations and, if they have experience in the sector and transmit professionalism and good management, they can gain a loyal client portfolio and their competence can be one of the strongest.
