Managing a Flock

This morning I was reading the first few chapters out of The Purpose Driven Life book by Rick Warren and referencing scripture in the bible as the book pointed out different passages.  For me personally, sometimes I find it helpful to read a book to get me going in a particular direction and then spend time in prayer and reading what the bible says about topics that come to mind. This morning the Lord took me to the thought of "Knowing the condition of your flock" which I later learned is referenced in Proverbs chapter 27 versus 23-27.  Here in verse 23 the Lord says, "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds".  Often, I am directed back to property management and how important it is to know the condition of the property and how the resident is doing.  Is this kind of like knowing the condition of your herd? I think so...

Since there are only so many good investments in your back yard, we as investors are often buying properties outside of the areas we live, which is why it's so important to have a good property manager checking on the condition of the flock - in our case, physically going to the site to see everything that's going on.  Wouldn't it be nice if all our investments were close by? Maybe, maybe not? 

If you are not close to your investments, or you choose to spend your time doing something else besides managing the day-to-day operations of your property, then it's very important to have a manager who lives in the area and ensure they get by as often as possible. Here at Frontier, I am always encouraging the team to get to the property level as often as possible. To me, when it comes to managing property, there is no more valuable place to be than at the property checking on the tenant to ensure they are doing well and also observing the property to ensure its condition will support future revenue.

So, if spending time at the property is so important, ie checking on the flock, why don't we spend all day doing just that? Well, it's not because we don't want to, it's because in the property management business there always seems to be something commanding our attention and inadvertently taking us away from the most important thing we can do.. However, knowing this, we at Frontier over the years have added departments and divisions so our property managers can spend more time checking on overall condition and building relationships with residents.

Additionally, we want our property managers finding and handling the "tough cases"...tough cases may be a property bringing in less income than budget or when a property's expenses are greater than budget. In each of these cases, we consider these "opportunities", and we want our managers in the field doing all they can to ensure the trend does not continue into the following month. If revenue is light, we ask, "what's it going to take to get the property back on track"? If expenses are high, "what's it going to take to fix any maintenance items so the property will operate and support the revenue it generates for the long term"?

Below are a few of the non-maintenance and make ready departments at Frontier so our managers can spend more time in the field:

Customer Service - In bound calls from residents and owners - Courtney, Hannah, Dayna

Customer Service Manager - Allie

Leasing - To be filled - we use videos and prequalification questions to ensure we are only showing to the most qualified prospects

Property Management - Jessica, Gaby, Christian each in St. Louis, Sarah, Jill, Stephanie, Hannah each in Central Mo

Asset Management - Koddie combs through the financials and key reports looking for improvement opportunities

Finance Management and Accounts Payable - Vikki and Nicole - Pay all the bills, financial reporting, distributions, answer vendor and owner questions

VP Operations - Ani supports the property managers, accountability, looks for opportunities for improvement

President - Daniel - supports each division, accountability, executes the business plan for growth and profitability at property level 

CEO - Myself, Chad - supports the team, creates vision, growth and acquisitions of new investments

So whether you are working with Frontier, another manager or self-manage, it's a good idea I think to spend as much time as possible "knowing the condition of your flock". Whatever you love, spend the bulk of your time here, but whatever you do, never neglect or minimize the value of spending as much time as possible out in the field. It's not always the easiest thing to do, but hard to beat the value it creates for your residents and your investments!

Thank you for reading and Happy investing,

Chad