Hannah Carney: Having difficult conversations with owners

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Discussions involving money are especially difficult no matter who you’re talking to.

This doubly true for the real estate and property industries since we’re dealing with one of the – if not the biggest – purchase someone will make in their lives.

Hannah Carney of Schwarz joins us on Rockend Rockstars to share the challenges she has encountered in communicating with owners and what steps they took to solve their problems.

She also discusses a few of her management philosophies, the pressure on fees in a declining market, and the one piece of technology she can’t live without.

Watch the complete interview below for her insights.

Hannah Carney is the Office Manager of Schwarz Freshwater, famed for running her team with proficiency and efficiency. She has worked in the real estate industry since 2006 and prides herself on creating a supportive and nurturing environment for her team.

How they tell their landlords they have to lower rent

Never an easy thing to do, with the recent market downturn, Hannah, like many others, found she needed to lower rents throughout the agency to lease properties – which often didn’t go down well with landlords. To get around this, she and her team started doing weekly landlord reports, including a rent evaluation. Not only does this keep her landlords actively engaged with the property, it means that when the property needs to be re-let, her landlords aren’t blindsided by the change in price. This proactive engagement has made this conversation easier to have, and increased customer satisfaction across the board.

Improving service levels

The biggest thing Hannah says she has done to improve service levels across the business is to offshore her property management admin. This has removed the copy/paste paperwork that staff often hide behind to avoid getting on the phone and having a meaningful, personal conversation with their customers.

The role of technology

Hannah says the most important thing for their business has been moving all their software to the cloud. She has worked out the minute rate for her staff and uses that to assess whether a time-saving technology is worth it. The two pieces of technology she can’t live without are Property Tree and Inspect Real Estate. Because they are cloud based, it has been easy to integrate her offshore assistants and create an efficient and flexible environment.

*Rockend Rockstars is a video series in partnership with Property TV. As part of the series, property commentator Kevin Turner talks to some rockstars of the property management industry about their business, tips, and personal stories.

Watch more Rockend Rockstars episodes:  Emily Sim, Head of Property Management, Ray White Corporate. Tamsin Wilson, Head of Property Management. Belle Property Parramatta. Rosa Zocalli, Business Owner, Harcourts Vision.