Blog / Property Management
Sue Maloney, The relationship between leasing and sales
Property management is an integral part of many real estate businesses and at Maloney’s in Canberra, Sue and Peter Maloney have merged management and sales to bring all business together.
Overseeing operations
With 1200 properties currently on her books and aiming for 1500, Ms Maloney knows how to make the position of property manager work. She explains her role as mainly revolving around new business, which means taking the initial phone call, attending the viewing appointment, listing procedure, overseeing applications and negotiation. She is also involved with rental property marketing and working with referral business.
“We make sure we reward owners who refer potential owners to us, and we reward them once they’re leased. And they know they can always contact me and talk to me. I’m always a part of their property so that’s key.”
To make all this work, Ms Maloney ensures she has a skilled team of 10 backing her up along the way with reception, leasing, management and administration. “We’ve got a great team behind us, which is absolutely paramount to our success. They are all on the same wavelength, they know when I say to them, quick do this or do that, they jump.”
A staff complement like Maloney’s means she can always plan ahead for the next group of properties to come online. “We’ve always got capacity for growth, be it by organic growth through new properties, or through acquisition. There’s always a little bit of fat in our business to grow,” she explained.
Sales orientated management
Coming from a background in pharmaceutical sales means Ms Maloney has a solid strategy when it comes to finding new business. This includes a lot of well-crafted advertising in local paper, The Canberra Times, which has also helped to build her profile, along with a strong website and marketing. Maloney’s also has a Referral Club where clients are encouraged to refer business in the monthly newsletter and are rewarded with a Westfield, David Jones or Myer voucher when they do.
Maloney’s doesn’t deal only with standard property management, but also has Accommodate, a high-end fully furnished property section offering shorter-term leases. “Our short-term furnished properties are achieving upward of $1000 a week, so they’re brilliant returns. We have a lot of absentee landlords because they were posted or transferred for three or four years so we really have to look after their needs,” Ms Maloney said.
From Accommodate grew Room Service, which came about because Maloney’s found it hard to find contract cleaners to service the short-term furnished apartments. “It’s also now doing a lot of work outside that, so that we can make some extra funds out of it,” Ms Maloney explained.
Ms Maloney uses her exceptional product knowledge to keep on top of the marketplace. “I’m always looking, seeing and researching. Before I go out and see a property I will always Google it.”
Listing presentation
Once Ms Maloney arrives for a listing appointment she explains it is important to take control straight away. “Look through the property, sit down and ask the vital questions and establish whether you want to do business with these people or not.” During this interview, of sorts, Ms Maloney ascertains whether they have leased a property before and their experience, why they called Maloney’s, the length of lease they want and particular needs and wants. “It’s really about seeing whether we can work with them - do they suit our style of management?”
Before a landlord signs with Maloney’s they receive a pre-listing kit which includes documents presented with beautiful images, such as a property management agreement and information about property management and the Maloney’s Online owner’s resource system. This material is presented so well it can be used as a listing tool.
“The whole thing is structured so I can guide people through with questions and constantly close on each point. If they’re happy with that point, you move on. If I’m not able to see someone, one of my leasing staff or a property manager can go through this very confidently and know they can do it without missing any points,” Ms Maloney said, explaining each listing presentation took 30-40 minutes.
One of the reasons for Maloney’s success is owners are dealing directly with Ms Maloney. “It’s amazing the response I get. People say, oh you’re Sue Maloney, you’re the owner. The buck stops with me so you can always talk to me.”
When it comes to the end of the presentation, Ms Maloney is still drawing on her sales techniques to get the owners to sign on the dotted line. “I’ll say, are we happy to go ahead now or ask those basic sort of sales questions. I try to ascertain whether we’re going ahead straight away, but if we can’t, I’ll certainly make contact in the next couple of days to make sure we do go ahead.” If they are unsure she will follow up, return with research on properties in the area or introduce them to the property manager.
Symbiotic relationship
Essentially acting in a liaison that she admits can sound “a bit fluffy”, Ms Maloney points out, “it’s actually a very important role to have that link between owners and the business. If owners ring and say they want to sell, I can make sure that conduit is continued through to the sales process as well.” She cites constant communication as the key to successful property management for feedback, concerns and just a market update, via phone, email, text message or whatever works for them.
For those looking to improve the leasing side of their business, Ms Maloney said days on the market, presentation and paying attention to detail were the key points to watch.
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