How do you stay sane when the pressure is on?

The week ahead of a conference is one crazy time for us here at Real Plus. So it seemed appropriate to discuss how to stay sane during the craziest, busiest times in this week’s blog. Imagine for a moment those times when the clock is ticking and people are counting on you, which wire should you cut?! The red or the blue!?

Whilst most of us don’t have to deal with the life or death dilemma of diffusing a bomb, everyday situations can sometimes feel like this. The landlord is breathing down your neck, you have three ingoings to complete before tomorrow, the computer you’ve been writing your report on just crashed, you’re running late for your open for inspection – our property management dilemmas can often be just as stressful relatively.

Learning how to remain calm in times of stress will not only have immediate composed effects, it can also over time, help you lead a happier healthier life. Here are our steps to take to keep your cool when the heat is on:

• Identify the Stress – Is your heart racing because some crazy driver just cut you off? Or is it really because of the major tribunal happening tomorrow. Think for a moment, what is really bothering you?
• Choose your response – Even if you can’t change the source of your stress, you can choose how you respond to it.  The appropriate response should depend on what’s causing it, most things can be resolved. Ask yourself some questions, will this matter in a week, a month, a year? How much control do I have of the situation?
• Take Action – Face your stress source head on as soon as you’re ready. Getting stressed or sitting around worrying or procrastinating isn’t going to resolve anything. Sometimes the hardest part is just getting stuck into it, once you’re into it you’ll be far less stressed and wonder what you were so worried about. 
• Make a Plan – Sometimes resolving a situation will take several steps, or you may have several things to get done. Write out a plan with attainable goals and time for completing each task. Then, just take one step at a time and just put one foot in front of the other.  (Think about how you can plan better for next time)
• Shake it Off – If a situation is beyond your control, or if it is not that important, then no use worrying about something you can’t change. Try deep breathing, distracting yourself with something else that makes you happy, visualise relaxing things, physically remove yourself from the location of the stress.
• Become Realistic – If you continue to be stressed, perhaps you aren’t setting yourself realistic goals or timeframes for completion, or expectations with your clients. Sometimes it can be hard to accept that we can’t do everything. Reduce the expectations on yourself either from yourself or those around you and learn from your experiences.
  
  Hope you stay cool as a cucumber next time the bomb is ticking! 

Are you getting real with yourself?

Pardon the pun, but here at Real Plus HQ, the theme of this week has been all about getting real! (Though of course our aim is that everyone gets the Real Plus property management platform into their lives.) What we have been focusing on this week is getting real with ourselves and helping our clients and members to get real with themselves too.

What do we mean by this? Very often in life or work there are things we complain about, wish we had, wish we were, could do, could be, or could change. The stories we tell ourselves about why it can’t happen, how long it would take, why we can’t change and blaming it on other people and external factors are what keep us trapped in this negative cycle.

The key to positive change within yourself, your work, and life in general starts with being honest with yourself. So for today’s blog let’s start by being honest with ourselves. It’s almost the end of July, where are we at with what we wanted to achieve this year? Are we on track? Have our goals diminished into the too hard basket? Have you been trying hard but not reaching your goals? Be brutally honest with yourself. You’re not fooling anyone except you.

Once you’ve taken an honest look at where you are versus where you want to be, tell yourself honestly what you need to do to get there.

If you’re not reaching your new business target, what can you do to fit more prospecting time into your week?

If you’re trying to lose a few kilos, what can you do to plan your eating and exercise better?

If you’d committed to work life balance but are still in the office at 7pm every night, what can you do to ensure you leave on time?

If you are trying to grow your rent roll but are not getting anywhere, what additional resources or training do you need to get there?

At Real Plus one of our office mantras is that we are not allowed to use the word “CAN’T”, so remember, there is no can’t, it is all achievable, you just need to find a way.

The truth can often be a little uncomfortable but it’s important to be honest and to “Get Real” with yourself as often as possible. In doing so, you ensure you are constantly moving forward towards your goals. So as this week wraps up, ask yourself honestly, did you achieve what you wanted to achieve this week?

If so, congratulate yourself and plan forward a bigger and better next week. If not, that’s okay, but it’s time to take a moment to ask yourself “why not?” Instead of blaming external factors, get real and look inside for the real answer. You may be just surprised at what you can achieve next week and beyond.

Are you getting the most out of conferences & training events?

Illustration: Oscar Ramos Orozco

With conference season in full swing, and of course ARPM 2014 (Australasian Residential Property Management Conference) just around the corner it is important to make sure that the time spent away from the office is both productive and effective. If you’re going to spend money to sacrifice a significant portion of valuable time that could be spent taking action, then we’d better make it worthwhile!

I’m a huge believer of taking time out to work ON the business instead of IN the business – but we get so busy keeping up day to day that we often forget to put time aside to develop and improve our service, systems and ourselves - time purely committed to getting better at what we do and how we do it.

So with this committed time, it’s important to me to be as organised as possible leading into the conference or training event so you can focus, actively listen and take in as much as possible; as well as ensuring that you walk away with tangible outcomes, projects to action and new ideas to implement.

Of course post-conference, we want to feel that we have got value for our money and time spent. So how do you measure the value of a conference? Is it the number of new ideas written down? Is it the number of business cards collected? Old relationships rekindled? Time spent brainstorming with your team? Are you just relieved to sit still and listen to someone else for a change?

The defining points of value may be different for everyone but to assist you in getting the most out of your next property management conference or training event I have a great handy document of the “Top 10 Tips to get the most out of Conferences and Training Events” – simply click here and we’ll shoot it over!

Changes to the NSW Residential Tenancies Act 2010

Under the RTA 2010, when an owner decided to place the property on the market for sale, a tenant was able to terminate a fixed-term agreement without compensation to the landlord (even if the landlord did not intend to sell before the agreement was entered into, but subsequently decided to do so)

The revised changes to the act this month will allow the tenant to terminate a fixed term agreement if the landlord notifies them of their intention to sell – unless the landlord disclosed the proposed sale of the property before entering into the agreement as required by section 26, then tenants will be unable to terminate the fixed term agreement.

As a reminder section 26(2) requires a landlord or landlord’s agent to disclose to a tenant, prior to the tenant entering into a residential tenancy agreement, any proposal to sell the premises but only if a Contract for Sale has been prepared.

We recommend that you include as part of your process when signing a new lease that the question is asked of the landlord if they are considering selling the premises during the fixed term. In which case it is necessary to disclose this information to the tenant to ensure that they cannot give notice should the landlord go ahead with the sale during the fixed term.

Real Plus have added a step on their New Tenancy Procedure template to ensure this step is added to your new tenancy process and we would suggest you do the same on your internal checklists and procedures.

Any queries on this don’t hesitate to call us on 02 8355 4999

Why do relationships fall apart at the vacate?

One area where relationships fall apart time and time again is at the end of the tenancy. Across all of the agencies we work with, this is one area of property management that whilst a company might have a great internal system, the system fails when it’s not communicated to the tenant or landlord thoroughly.

As a result, much time is spend to-ing and fro-ing between the landlord and tenant arranging the vacate inspection, finalising payments, reporting on the inspection and finalising the bond.  A lot of client frustration and misunderstanding, and hence conflict comes from a lack of communication of the process. Often we know that things are under control, or what the next steps are but we are not communicating this to our tenants and landlords.

Clients are more likely to get frustrated with us when they feel like they don’t know what is going on or when delivery expectations haven’t been set. We know from our end that things are being taken care of and a system is being followed.  However, from the outside looking in, the clients don’t know what we do every day that makes up the process and may feel that areas that have not been communicated to them are areas that are not in control.

To lift your success and avoid stress in the vacate process:

• Automate – automate how your vacate process is communicated. Instead of just sending a letter confirmation, give the tenant a step by step guide of how the vacate process will run.
• Systemise – firm up your internal procedures for the vacate, when was the last time they had a review and you looked at how you can streamline the process?
• Over-communicate – Quick messages to the landlord and the tenant to tell them where things are up to, even if you know they are under control, will stop them chasing you for an update on things, saving you time and stress.

We’ll have many more tips on vacating and communication during our next educational webinar on Creating the Ideal Vacate – click here to register. 

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real TV where you can watch the webinar, 'Creating the Ideal Vacate'

Hearing Vs Listening... You can hear but are you really listening?

As I close my eyes I can recall very clearly my father’s voice as he said to me (on many occasions) growing up, Fiona Ellen Blayney “you’re not listening to me.” I’d protest that I was, even to the point of repeating verbatim his dialogue only to receive the response, “Fiona you are hearing me, I want you to listen”.

Flash forward to 2014 and these words carry far greater meaning in my life, the difference between hearing and listening be that to a client, colleague, friend or family member carry an intense difference which can really define the result of the conversation. In my business world this will certainly impact the advice that I give and the decisions that my clients make.

Over to you for this to be considered. Are you listening to clients? I mean really listening? Or do you hear what they say, pay lip service and carry on brandishing every landlord or tenant with the same brush, the same approach and the same thoughts simply because it is a “similar situation”.

The similarities between events, people and properties should not ensue that you provide same advice, or take the same actions, thinking everyone wants the same outcomes. How do you really define the difference? It’s through listening. A few tips to get you to listen rather than hear…..

1. Close your mouth, and open not just your ears but your mind. Clear the thoughts of previous conversations and situations
2. Stop thinking about how you are going to respond and instead take time to ask questions and dig deeper
3. Get to know the “talker”, when you can understand things from the other perspective you will have a far greater ability to listen
4. Focus! Remove the distractions that prevent you from giving your total attention in the discussion. Turn off emails, social media, and ignore the phone or others attempting to take up your thoughts.
5. Be Real, Be Present. Whilst another person’s perspective may be completely different to yours, you may think them irrational, or unreasonable – remember you are not them! You have not walked a day in their shoes, to them whatever is happening at that moment is significant enough to require this piece of communication, honour it and respect them

These are just five elements of what is the maze that is communication; I truly believe that one of life’s best skills is the art of effective communication. One of my favourite business writers is John C Maxwell, I’d love to give you a copy of the abridged version of his book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. Click here and we’ll send it off to you!

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real TV where you can watch the webinar, 'Communication Concepts: Hearing vs Listening'