Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
When you have a portfolio of properties it’s important to engage the correct calibre of estate and property managers and agents. But, striking the right balance is something of a knack which one has to develop. We would all like managers who can behave autonomously, reacting to whatever is thrown at them without having to recourse to asking permission or advice with every bump in the road yet not behaving in such a way as to leave you in the dark when it comes to issues that concern you or big decisions which will have ongoing ramifications well into the future.
The entire reason one retains the services of estate management agencies is to have them take care of the day to day and the extraordinary efficiently and without fussing. The service necessarily ranges from keeping the lawns cut to mending roofs and even dealing with issues such as dealing with disputes over rights of way and public access to foot and bridle paths and planning.
Estate management used to be dependent on experience and common sense and these remain vital to a competent manager. However, with the diversification of the role and the diversification of the type who actually owns a large property or number of properties which all need maintenance and care means that simply knowing what an estate needs as the seasons change is no longer enough.
Today choosing your estate manager not only depends on their background as a hand and their progression to being able to take on an entire estate; today you’ll be looking into their degree in estate management too. Naturally their degree qualifies them to do everything that you’d off handedly expect yet it also qualifies them in some rather more ‘transferable skills’ as well. These might include data analysis, communication skills in the written and oral spheres as well as collating spreadsheets and creating presentations. They have team leadership skills and take time management very seriously. All this and they are able to translate what you want into a workable action plan and then divide the labour down into their team meaning that your vision becomes a reality with the minimum of fuss or inconvenience.
Estate managers today are expected to know the full width and depth of their trade, from the planning process to actually building the walls and putting the roof on, they’ll be adept in agriculture and rural affairs, conservation, investment and valuation as well as forestry and quite conceivably mechanics too. Honestly, if I was stuck on a desert island along with my eight records and the complete works of Shakespeare my luxury would be the modern estate manager!
@DanCash is an estate management specialist living on the south coast of England. Having dealt with real estate agents in the past he decided to take the plunge and start doing it for himself some years ago and has never regretted it.
Planning image courtesy © endostock - Fotolia.com
