Burst pipes, broken furnaces, deadbeat tenants - the stuff of landlords' nightmares.
Burst pipes, broken furnaces, deadbeat landlords - the stuff of tenants' nightmares.
Bill Swartz III walks a straight path between those two sometimes uneasy, partners in the rental property business. And he does it with a smile.
What's the secret?
"You have to treat everyone with fairness. The same rules for everyone," he said, "no matter what."
Swartz's company, Sherman Property Management Inc., located at 720 W. Market St in York, manages 450 rental units across York County. The properties range from tax-credit apartments to luxury condos, and well-placed office space to storage units. Many of the owners are local, but some are as farremoved as Washington state and Beverly Hills. They tend to have one thing in common - they usually own fewer than five properties.
"There are a lot of people who rent out the home they grew up in," he said. "(They) want to rent their houses, not for the money, but because they don't want to get rid of them."
Swartz saw a need in York County for a full-service firm for that group of landlords.
His company takes care of screening applicants, collecting rent, fixing broken pipes, answering late-night phone calls and everything else that makes renting properties difficult. Property owners pay his company to handle these things. They generally make the same or more money, Swartz said, because the units are occupied more regularly, which equals more rent collected.
"We try to take care of the houses as if they were our own, as if we were living there," he said. "We select owners who will let us do that. If they don't, we won't take them on. We've tried to build a reputation so our tenants know they're going to get a decent house."
And that reputation, he said is key to his success. In the late 90's, the then-28-year-old worked for the East Coast Property Management of Seaford, Del. He was site manager for Warehouse Apartments in Hanover and Pullman apartment house in York. Both are low-income, government-reguIated housing Pullman is exclusively for seniors.
In 1998, he told his boss, Pat Batchelor, president of East Coast, that he'd like to begin a company of his own, take over the properties he was managing for them and hire East Coast as consultants. Batchelor was thrilled.
"I've always measured my success by the success of the people who work for me," she said. "He had found what he thought was his niche. He was just ready." Swartz had paid attention, Batchelor said. He'd done everytlhing he was taught and followed the rules reliably. That was important, she said, because the government's housing regulations don't always make sense but must be followed, or the property owners lose money.
One of the most important things he learned at East Coast, Swartz said, was perhaps, the most difficult thing. As a young man Swartz had been a homeless advocate, accompanying clients to apply for apartments. Many were treated unfairly.
|
........ |
Sherman Property Management Inc.
owner Bill Swartz, right and Leroy Gamble, maintenance superintendent, hang a sign on an apartment on Philadelphia Street in York. Swartz says his reputation of providing decent homes is key to his success.
Often, he tried to get management companies, to bend the rules, to make an exception for one client or another. Today, his company has a solid rule-no exceptions.
Ever.
For anything. "That flies in the face of the homeless advocacy thing," he said, "but the federal fair-housing laws say you've got to give the same treatment to everyone, regardless."
His staff maintains files of local services for people who don't qualify for the houses he has to offer.
"It's tempting to try to sneak somebody in you think would be good, but you can't," he said. "We do it by the book. Sometimes that's hard, but it really is better for everyone in the long run."
Competitor Patricia Kehr, owner of Quality Property Management Inc. in York, agrees.
"You have to remember this is a business," she said, "You can't become personally or emotionally involved."
This isn't a business that makes people rich, either, said Kehr. Until money is banked to cover maintenance and the landlord is paid, there isn't much left for the manager. It took Swartz three years to turn a modest profit, $20,000 in 2001.
All the big-ticket items, computers, computer service and other office equipment, are in place now, he said. A big expense is payroll. He learned from Batchelor to surround himself with good people and pay them what they're worth.
He credits those employees with positioning his company now to more than double the size of the business. By 2003, he hopes to have 1,000 units, and he thinks he can do it because he and his staff laid the groundwork as they went along.
Every time a problem came up, he and his staff sat down and created a process to take care of it. It was slow going, he said, but it makes him confident his company can handle whatever comes at them.
"I've had momentum, almost like a running back returning the kickoff; you have to have and maintain that momentum," he said. "When things go wrong, you can't dwell on it. Things will go wrong every day. You have to be moving forward."
-Kate Rauhauser-Smith |
Copyright© 2008
Sherman Property Management, Inc.
