Lookalike Day – not all managing agents are the same

Look-alike Day. This fun day was originally created to celebrate identical twins, clones, copycats and anyone else who you look like or, who looks like you.

On this day, people are encouraged to dress up and look like someone else. It could be someone you look up to, or a celebrity you are a fan of.

If you know the person, you could both dress alike for the day, spending time together, causing some fun.

A little trivia fun:

• It is said there are at least 7 people in the world who look just like you…
• There’s a decent chance that everyone has a doppelganger, which is down to the limited number of genes that influence facial features.
• An example of celebrity look-alikes are actor Will Ferrell and Chad Smith, Red Hot chili Peppers’ drummer, where the likeness is amazing.
• There is a one in 135 chance that a single pair of completely identical doppelganger of yours exists anywhere in the world, meaning someone who looks like your twin.

And then sometimes in business you might find that ‘competitors’ suddenly look like your business, or change their offering to look astonishingly like your business, or their content is suddenly very similar to yours. It can be a back-handed compliment!

However, remember all that glitters is not gold! Looking the same does not mean it is the same!

So, when it comes to property management companies, are they all alike?

Block management and property management companies may well look alike when you are searching for them online, however, in reality – they are not!

My advice is, to do your due diligence when looking for your first management partner or if you are looking to change the company you are working with. Dig beyond the surface, educate yourself so you feel confident in your choice.

What do bad block management companies look like?

Here are some ‘red flags’ to look for in feedback about a company:

Poor communication:

Emails are not answered in a timely manner, or unanswered completely. People don’t answer the phone, and worse still, they don’t reply to messages left on their answer phone.

When the phone is answered, you are passed from person to person within the company, and have to repeat your story several times, as no information has been passed on, when you have been referred onto the next person.

Reactions to problems:

When you report a small problem, like a new light fitting is required in the shared space, and nothing happens for months because it has got lost in a big process. This often happens in larger companies. There are too many rules that get in the way of good customer service.

Attitude:

A ’jobsworth’ attitude, or ‘a computer says no!’ mentality, when the agent or their subcontractor will not help out with simple stuff, or not go the extra mile because they are not being paid.  For example, a gardener who won’t repot a resident’s favourite plant, because it wasn’t on their spec sheet! Residents are made to feel like they are just pound signs, and not people 

Window Dressing:

Sometimes on the outside everything looks fine, but when you look more closely, jobs have been left abandoned, half finished.

The front of the property looks good, but when you look more closely, the back garden is unkempt by comparison to the front, woodwork has been painted to cover up problems that need repairing; therefore, problems are only superficially addressed.

Over charging:

The company are charging high service charges for work which is not being done. This can happen with more unscrupulous agents; however, you can always get advice from ARMA and The Housing Ombudsman Service.

How are we different?

At Fraser Allen Estate Management, we believe our clients come first, because, we wouldn’t be in business without them, so treating them with less respect than they deserve would be pretty foolish.

As you will know if you read my blog back in March, customer service is central to my business, so we would never, knowingly do any of the above.

Communication is a vital part of the way we run our business, as is our commitment to all of the other areas of our business.

As a team we regularly go above and beyond in our block management responsibilities. The properties we look after are people’s homes, not purely buildings to make us or their owners’ money.

If we took that latter attitude to running our business, we wouldn’t be expanding in the way we are. 

If you’d like to chat about working with us - please get in touch.