We have always had onsite managers at all of our 12 parks in the midwest. We go off of the theory that in order for a manager to truly care about the park they need to live there as its their community.
But now that we have 100% online rent payments , were thinking that the manager doesnt need to live onsite and we could explore offsite managers as well for a bigger pool of talent. We have had a hard time training and conditioning our onsite managers to take the park to the next level and hammer down hard on violations in order for the park to look really nice. Some managers do but some don’t. Were playing with the idea of getting a more professional offsite manager that would have standards that were looking for. It would be part time and their main job would be rules enforcement and move ins and move outs. Keeping the park looking nice, safe and full. This would not be a 3rd party management situation, we would still manage all aspects of the park, just have our manager live offsite instead of in the park.
Has anyone tried this approach and if so how did you like it. What are the pros and cons and what mistakes should we avoid.
We’ve found that having someone onsite definitely helps with having eyes on the park every day, especially when it comes to property condition, violations, move-ins/outs, and catching smaller issues before they become bigger ones.
That said, just living onsite doesn’t necessarily mean someone is going to enforce standards consistently. A strong offsite manager who visits regularly, documents violations, follows up consistently, and is held to clear expectations could potentially be more effective than an onsite manager who gets comfortable or doesn’t want to enforce the rules with their neighbors.
If you go offsite, I’d probably make the frequency of property walks and reporting very clear from the beginning so you don’t lose that day-to-day visibility.
We have onsite attendants who do the bare minimum (by design) like taking photos and videos and handing out notices and not much more. Everything else is done centrally by our offsite team including regional managers who visit properties in multiple states. We no longer have the onsite attendant do the following activities: home showings, sales & leasing, rent collection. By centralizing, you get much better control.
Thanks for this info. Yes we have found the same thing that centralizing it make it much more efficient and professional. How do you handle the home showings and sales?
Home showings are scheduled by our customer service team with lockboxes on the homes. We request to see id before scheduling a showing. Sometimes, we have a full rental application through Zillow before the showing is even requested, so we somewhat know who will be there and if that person is qualified. The onsite attendant checks on the home and ensures it is locked at night.
The sales person calls to follow up after the showing. Documents are prepared in Rent Manager and sent from that system for electronic signature. Powers of Attorney for title transfers can be done by mailing with local notary or through online notaries or by having the onsite manager print and hand deliver. Title processing happens in our central office once the POA is mailed back. Titles from the BMVs are received in the central office, scanned, then forwarded to the tenant by USPS.
Unfortunately, title transfers require physical papers, so that is more cumbersome, but we feel safer with titles centrally located and not in the hands of the local attendant.
What about having onsite for the eyes on the park and hiring an inspection team that only chases that aspect?
Sometimes a designated team for things works to keep focus tighter. The cost would play out over all parks for one split fee for a team to go out, handle inspections and enforcement actions and that’s their job
Park managers are hit or miss and some do not like going out to inspect whether it’s the physical activity aspect or being the bad guy or a combo it can vary.
I do park consulting on all things..if I can be of service let me know.
Yes, you can easily do inspections with an offsite team. Sometimes the onsite team says there have not been violations in 6 months. We say we don’t believe it and send the offsite team and find 100 problems. This is why we put little responsibility in the onsite team.
Of course this varies depending on if you are paying closer to $500 per month or $80,000 per year. At $80,000 per year, I would expect the onsite manager to be a professional manager of all aspects of the property. At $500 per month, we expect almost nothing.