This one must be truly celebrated today!  Property Managers across the nation have done a tremendous job during this pandemic. A shout out to all the Property Managers for keeping up their head high, taking care of the tenants and landlords and delivering in this challenging environment. 

Rental market has been one of the hardest hit areas over the past few months. With national and international borders closed, dwindling migrant and tourist numbers and disappearance of international students, majority of the short-term/Airbnb properties have been repurposed and have flooded the market for long term leasing especially in and around the CBD areas in major capital cities.

In consideration of Australia going through one of the highest unemployment rates of all times and with significant risks for people losing the roof over their heads, the government had to announce major legislative and rental reforms. The situation was ambiguous at the start with details being released incrementally and it took a while for questions to be clarified. Property Managers had a tough time attending tenants and landlords calls as they were worried with what’s ahead of them while the situation was fluctuating every day.

I am extremely proud with the conduct and professionalism of our Property Management team especially our legends Mandy & Jericho who have done an outstanding job. They have bravely risen up to the challenge and have delivered in the need of the hour. From dealing with rental reforms, ban on open inspections, increased vacancy rates, increased listings, reduced rents, distressed tenants and landlords (with tough and challenging conversations many times), maintenance, investigating genuine hardships and the list goes on. 

Each time they have gone above and beyond and truly lived our company value of managing each property like our own.

In addition to facing these challenges, our PM team also had the mammoth task of leasing an additional 30+ new properties that came into the market as a result of our trusted clients settling their owner occupier or investment homes. It was a challenging task with ‘opens for inspection’ not allowed and having to arrange individual appointments while taking care of the safety, hygiene and social distancing protocols. Pleased to say that we have had great success with over 85% leased within a matter of few weeks and rest actively being managed.

The road ahead is not going to be easy with as what’s started is not going to settle anytime soon and looming stage 4 or harsher lockdowns in Victoria. With the learnings of past few months and additional support staff, our team is ready to take the challenge head on.

My message to all the tenants and landlords out there is to remember just like our front-line medical workers and many other essential service workers, Property Managers across the nation have worked selflessly in this crisis and remember they too are human beings affected by pandemic have their own families and have kids at home. So next time if you speak to them make sure to say “THANK YOU”.

Cheers to our heroes!

Chirag