5 Tips for Successfully Managing Commercial Properties

Commercial property managers are often confused with residential property managers, despite vast differences in All County Property Management Cape Coral scope of work and property types. As a commercial property manager, you’re most likely responsible for the maintenance and operational oversight of business parks, retail spaces, storage units, or other kinds of non-residential properties.

Commercial properties, while sharing some similarities with residential properties (leasing agreements, tenants, etc.), come with a unique set of problems that widen the scope of a commercial property manager’s work.

Longer leases, common area maintenance (CAM), property wear-and-tear, and unexpected emergencies can sabotage a commercial property manager’s success. Luckily, there are some ways to prepare, prevent, and rectify many of these common detriments.

Here are a few tips to help commercial property managers stay sane and successful all year-round:

1) Invest in Commercial Property Management Software

The more time you spend in the workforce, the more you value the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.” This is where a good commerical property management software comes into play.

Managing office spaces, industrial centers, and retail properties involves a delicate juggling act with a plethora of information, transactional details, and regulations. A good-quality commercial property management software program will do the remembering for you, giving you the bandwidth that you need to focus on things that truly deserve your attention.

2) Know Your Space
It’s important for commercial property managers to have a thorough understanding of both their industry and the commercial spaces they’re responsible for.

Commercial properties are more diverse than residential properties and require more spatial optimization to account for renter types; businesses, restaurant spaces, and other types of industrial uses. Understanding the unique needs of each commercial property is vital to successfully managing these spaces. This is especially helpful when it comes to property-specific regulations, such as the increased safety measures in restaurants vs. the safety rules of an office space.

3) Always Be Upgrading

Making routine upgrades to your facility might sound expensive, but it can positively impact your bottom line. Today’s commercial renters are looking for newer spaces with more amenities – and you need to update and upgrade to compete. Updates don’t have to be complete renovations though.

Cheap but effective updates include upgrading light fixtures, smoke detectors, and smaller electrical appliances like fans, copy machines, and televisions for common area entertainment.

#4) Have a Proactive Property Maintenance Plan
Good commercial property maintenance should be considered a priority for any property manager. This can be daunting because simply keeping up with basic maintenance and efficiently responding to emergency maintenance requests isn’t enough. These are reactive approaches to property maintenance. Preventative maintenance will reduce the amount of required reactive maintenance, protecting both you and your tenants.

Keep Your Tenants Happy
Losing tenants is an inevitability. Businesses outgrow spaces, operations move to different states, and sometimes tenants just aren’t happy where they are. The latter of these things can and should be prevented. After all, it’s easier to keep tenants than it is to acquire new ones.

The best way to keep your commercial property bustling with activity and full of tenants is to create a safe, positive environment in every single unit. Performing upgrades and abiding by your proactive property maintenance plans are all part of the equation – but there’s more to it than that. Commercial property managers need to do more than know when to request a handyman, they need to be able to meet the needs of their tenants.

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