How to Improve Commercial and Retail Property Management Services for Landlords

As any property investment becomes more active in cash flow and income, landlords need special help with several things related to the overall asset performance.  That is where specialist commercial and retail property managers are well placed to provide unique services to landlords.   Are you prepared for top quality property management services?

Think about it.  What can property managers do?  They know about assets performance, property market trends, business movements, and future supply of space.  They are all strategic factors that ‘sit well’ in asset performance planning.

What Are Your Special Services?

Here are some landlord service ideas and systems to start with:

• The ‘handover’ of an asset to be managed
• Lease optimization and management
• Tenant placements and management
• Expenditure and capital works planning

Information in commercial and retail real estate is valuable; systems are critical.  Information helps with property decisions and directions on asset performance.  Use your information to boost the strategic focus of managed properties.

Property Management Solutions

Here are some special landlord services that you can merge into your property management solutions and particularly so for your high-quality clients:

1. Vacancy minimisation – look out into the future of the asset for some two years.  Understand the tenants in occupancy now and how they may need to change occupancy over the next two years.  Are there any vacancies that are coming up that you can negotiate early or reallocate?  What are the lease expiry dates inside the next two years and how can you manage the property through that?
2. Tenant expansion and contraction management – many tenants, have pressures of change in how they transact business.  Work with your good quality tenants to help them with those change and growth factors.  As the ‘online world’ is integrated into many local businesses, the requirements for ‘occupied space’ will change.  Be aware of how online pressures and business changes are evolving.
3. Tenant mix optimisation – in the case of shopping centres, you can position tenants in clusters where the customer focus and sales activity can be optimised.  A successful shopping centre is a product of careful tenant placement and improved customer offerings.
4. Business today is in planning the asset – every 12 months should be planned in asset performance.  That will evolve through income, expenditure, capital works, and lease decisions.  Establish a business plan for the asset.

So, you can take these services and make them ‘deeper’ and more direct when it comes to your good quality property management clients.  The next question will be ‘How much should you charge for these services?’    Larger buildings and those of high quality require a lot of time and the involvement of others.  Recognize that your services are valuable in asset performance and charge your property management fees accordingly.