I recently met a member of my marketing team at a vacancy to shoot some footage for social media. When we walked in the building, an alarm was going off. I immediately went through to the panel and silenced it. No one wants a video with an alarm blaring in the background. I then called my property manager, who let me know the technicians would be on their way shortly to manage the alarm. We proceeded with shooting some video.
As we neared the next property several miles away, to photograph and video a vacancy there, my property manager informed me the cleaning crew was onsite. We entered the space to discover perimeter seating still by the walls, a mountain of chairs nearing the ceiling, and the cleaners lamenting the state of the kitchen.
This is all in a normal day’s work as a property owner. You never know in what condition you will have space returned. You never know the property management functions that you’ll serve when you visit the property. For any aspiring owners out there, let this be a lesson: be prepared for the unexpected.
Hands-On Management
Our portfolio comprises over 4 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space in the Chicago suburbs. We have low portfolio vacancy, high retention, and excellent property manage-ment. We are one of the few landlords I know who work with tenants to help them achieve their dreams of opening a business, even when it’s less advantageous to us from a financial risk management perspective.