For the last 20 years I've worked in the property industry, particularly in the residential/commercial sales and leasing and the property development segments. For this reason, and the fact I'm an investor, I keep a close eye on the trends and what they may mean for the company I work for and its clients. Of course, as an investor, some of the information is relevant to myself.
As a manager at the company it's my job to direct my personal team, some 15 people; They do diverse duties and require different information and so I often deliver job-specific information that helps them perform their duties, engage with our clients more effectively and seem more skilled and professional. It also gives me a chance to sit one-on-one with them in a meeting that isn't an individual performance review and chat as I deliver the person-specific market statistics.
I also do the same with the sales team which is not directly under my direct control; There's 14 of them and whilst it would be more time-effective for me to do it as a group I never do as I prefer the on-on-one contact.
It gives them a chance to open up about any challenges they face without fear of embarrassment, for me to direct and guide them as required, also without them feeling embarrassed, and it's a nice time to build a little extra rapport with them. These meetings take place monthly and run for no longer than 15 minutes with no fixed agenda other than the delivery of some market statistics which you can see below. Of course there's quite a bit more, mostly specific to my company which I cannot divulge here.
I have some of these meetings today and this little handout sheet is what they will walk away with. This information is important for them to know as they can seem a little more knowledgeable when speaking with the public which, of course, makes them seem more professional...This brings them more confidence too, and better performance. I give them just enough to keep it simple, but enough to make them feel clever.
Anyway, I thought it would be cool to share some of the statistics with you here, just for fun.
These statistics relate to rental properties in the greater Adelaide area only, not statewide. Keeping in mind that outside of the greater Adelaide area South Australia is quite rural in nature...We don't work out there so these figures are the only ones that are relevant. I've collated these figures from an industry site that tracks the entire country from the property and investment perspective.
From left to right you'll see the average weekly rental price for units and houses in a dollar-figure and the three year percent of change, the vacancy rate and then the implied gross rental yield in a percentage figure.
I can drill-down on these figures to a weekly change however for the sales people I don't get too complicated...Blunt instruments and all. 馃槀
From the company perspective we have't seen a huge decline in weekly rental amounts due to the COVID situation, except in Adelaide city - That essentially means apartments in the city. These have declined in weekly rental price achievable by up to 30% which is pretty huge and not so good for city investors. Have a look at the vacancy rate spike since March this year.
The other interesting thing I've noticed is that with any property over a weekly rent-value of $450 has been incredibly difficult for my team to secure tenants for. This is unusual as it is typically a strong segment. This indicates that people are holding onto their money and seeking other more cost effective situations; Again, not so good for landlords who hold these properties.
There are so many cause and effect scenarios due to the COVID situation and it's my job to analyse them and help investors, and the company, mitigate the impacts and risk.
I spend around 6-10 hours a week studying figures like this, the more in-depth ones, as it allows me to determine the directions in which to take the business, which business to chase and which to let go. I can also better determine where to allocate resources. I also speak with our clients, I'm not just an in-office manager, and eighty percent of my day is spent with clients, our most valued ones, who often have millions of dollars worth of commercial and residential investments; This is why I have to know everything.
But back to the sales team on-on-one meetings...
I started doing this with them a couple of years ago, delivering the up's and down's the market experiences, and I find they have been really beneficial. Some of the sales team are very experienced and some quite novice so the meetings roll out differently but they always have a great result. With the newer ones it helps me build relationships and skills and the more experienced ones get to zone out with me for a bit, chat about some of the often more complex nature of our industry and bounce ideas off me.
Anyway, that's about it...Just a little snapshot of one of the aspects of my job.
I hope y'all are having a good week so far and the run into Friday is going smoothly. Don't forget to take a look on my post feed on Friday for the #weekend-engagement topic post for this week. We have about 115 hive in the prize pool to give away, just for your comment, so it's an easy way to gain a little extra hive!
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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