Management Agents?

curadh

Hi there. At the moment I'm running a small construction company, I also look after around 12 properties for people, handling the lettings and maintenance.
I dont see much future in new construction, and I'm fairly stressed from it anyway, so Ive been looking at blending my experience into something like being a property management agent. Most of whats expected wouldnt be a problem. The only things I could see to be a real problem would be the secretarial work involved, and also the accounting/auditing expected. However I'm sure my accountant would be happy to take this on.
Anyway, after reading through the apartment service charge thread, I'm a little confused as to where a management agent would actually make enough money to cover these wages/expenses, and come out with a wage and profit himself. One thing that was missing from the thread was a detailed breakdown of a management fee for the year.. I suppose its like anything else, the more you take on, the more profit you'll see.
Any suggestions or ideas?Where to start?What to expect?:)

Ste.phen

It might be worth finding someone who's involved in the running of their property and seeing if they'll get you a copy of their management company statement, just so you can get a rough idea of how much money goes on X,Y,Z.

I'm a little fuzzy on the distinciton between management companies an agents, but i gather it's usually the management *company* that gets tasked with chasing down non-payment etc. which should be a relief to you as the agent.

Just take the cash and change the lightbulbs. (if only it were that easy :P)

markpb

The management company is the legal entity created by the developer to own the estate or apartment block. If there's too much work for the developer or owners to do, they hire a management agent as a contractor to do the day to day work. It depends on the owners how much work to ask the agent to do. In some estates, they do all the work and the directors just sign off end of year accounts, in others they're involved in a lot of the decisions, etc.

curadh, I guess how you get on as a PM depends on the type of estate or apartment block you take on. Some will require a lot of work, others will require almost no work at all. The reall difference isn't in the annual things like contractors, staff, etc it's in the day to day issues. They can be very time consuming. If you get a few estates which require very little work, it means more money for you _but_ if you take on too many, your service will be shoddy and you'll lose business and get a bad reputation.

There's at least one ex-PM who reads the A&P board, they should be able to give you a better idea.

curadh

Thanks for the replies, yeah from reading that thread people dont seem too impressed with their management companies/agents. I know well how long it can take to get some things sorted out though between liaising back and forth with tenants, coming back to touch up paint, being the middle man etc.
Even still though I reckon I could give a better service. Any ideas how I'd go about getting some contracts? Take out a loan for €20k and begin a ruthless advertising campaign i suppose!

markpb

To be frank, the best way of getting into the business is probably to make some developers your best friend. Lots of MAs only get contracts because they partner with a developer and get in when the estate is being built. Then the owners either don't have the power or don't bother to change the MA so you're in forever

curadh

Jeez what an appetizing business to be in, wink wink, elbow elbow. Maybe its the guidance counsellor for me then!!

davros

Our management agent makes sure that all of our income/expenses go into/out of our management company account. They don't even sign cheques on our behalf.

They send us an invoice for their services which we pay like every other bill. They know their internal costs (wages, premises, etc.) so they can set their fee to make a guaranteed profit.

Unexpected expenses related to the running of our complex come out of our account and do not impact the agent's income.