The other day I was explaining in a listing presentation for rental management how the real estate industry has been segmented in to several different professions. So I would like for you to review my statement and give me your feed back. Also this is the short version of the statements made at that meeting.

Each state has its own law and rules that regulate different industry and the standard of practice.  As changes in the economy in different locations around the country affect the real estate market place it has also affected the management of properties which is becoming more segmented in its self. Property management has become a specialized business/profession of its own.  When I stared out in the real estate business in the '70 we did property management as a necessary courtesy to our home owning clients, when moving away to another military duty stations. As, I myself have witnessed, in my local area, Killeen TX, the home of the Fort Hood Army Insulation, our local economy has changes from that of a single person's army in the early fifties to a married person army beginning in the mid-eighties. Our real estate housing economy has been making changes from one bedrooms housing over the years to families needing three, four and five bedroom housing.  We now have an abundance of one bedroom units, ? , (for a long time) and with our large track builders, building and surpassing the need for housing with our economic base of troops in IRAQ, we too are now seeing a very abundant supply of larger units available in our rental market.

So, have, I have set the stage for you:

The Owners Question; Now what do you do in the management of my property that cost so much?  As you know, filling our vacancies is getting more expensive every day with gas prices.  I began with a simple explanation and discussion, of the segmented market place, of homes sales agent verses leasing agent. As I realized, that we were using a very out dated business model.  As I indicated above, we use to provide a property management service to our home owners leaving the area because they could not sell and hope fully someday they would call us and say sell that house.  Well not any more, as the market has change, and so has the experienced agent wanting to make a living in property management and rentals business. I gave the owner a choice. We manage the property, and the owner's choice is how does he want me to lease it?

Of course, the owner wanted to save money, Then the question how long does he want to make the payments on the property while it is vacant, as they will be paying for advertising, running the risk of vandalism, or it he would like to fill the vacancy faster with a licensed agent working with the possible tenant, showing the tenant advantages of this property. The owners weren't sold on that expense either.

So I ask them if they wanted me to tell all the prospective tenants to come over and get a key with a photo ID.  And run the risk of a.) Thing being stolen, b.) Vandalism, c.) Property being left unlocked, and d.) The added cost of re-keying at the beginning of each new tenancy.

Property owners need to be educated on the need for full time licensed agent to, sell our leasing service and to move in prospective tenants now more than ever before as we are in a specialized real estate property management business. Signing lease is even getting very time consuming.

My Question to You as Property Owner, Do you want me to charge a fee for leasing in addition to your management service fee?