Page 9 - New England Condominium January 2022
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NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM 
NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM  
-JANUARY 2022    
9 
of legal counsel—and to always read the small  
print. Most importantly, identify your wants  
and expectations and make sure they all get  
into the document in clear, concise language  
to avoid troubles later.  
n 
A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for New  
England Condominium, and a published novelist.  
He can be reached at alan@yrinc.com.  
the-ground approach to be among their best  
professional assets.  
Michael Refat, CMCA, MBA, is regional  
director for FirstService Residential in New  
England. He says, “One of the biggest impacts  
[of these past two years] is managers not being  
able to go to buildings. As property managers,  
we’re supposed to go meet the trustees, inspect  
the buildings, meet the on-site staff, meet the  
vendors. So now everybody is meeting virtu- 
ally, [and] the downside to this is that you don’t  
have that personal touch, that connection; you  
don’t get to establish a relationship that way.  
So property management has been negatively  
impacted by the lack of ability to go to the sites  
and the lack of ability to establish relationships  
with vendors, trustees, service providers, and  
on-site staff. And of course, when I don’t go to  
inspect the property as frequently as I used to,  
or I’m more restricted in my ability to visit the  
units, then my work is negatively impacted.” 
On the flip side of the equation, but with  
equal impact on property managers, is the fact  
that the residents in many multifamily prop- 
erties are themselves now part of this new re- 
mote workforce. Now they’re home through- 
out the day, noticing that the hallway carpeting  
is getting worn, or that they’re disturbed by  
their neighbor’s afternoon tuba lesson, and  
they expect their managers to respond to these  
grievances  right  away,  no  matter  the  day  or  
time. Claudine Gruen, vice president, director  
of operations for Garthchester Realty based  
in Queens, says that the volume of emails her  
staff receives is “overwhelming” and that “peo- 
ple have lost their ability to be patient.” Resi- 
dents tend to forget that theirs is not the only  
issue in a building or community, she says, and  
they assume that an ‘open 24 hours’ communi- 
cation platform like email implies a 24-hours- 
a-day response.  
All that being said, working remotely has  
brought some welcome balance into the lives  
of some managers who pre-pandemic might  
have spent hours on long commutes running  
between properties every day, then into the  
evening to attend board meetings, which are  
usually held after 6 p.m. to accommodate the  
schedules of volunteer directors/trustees. Now,  
rather than remaining on-site after a full day  
of work or traveling there just for the meeting,  
property managers can participate from any- 
where—and so can their board members.  
“Going virtual with everything is some- 
thing that I think is actually a positive that  
came out of the past two years,” says Alison  
Phillips, CMCA, AMS, CAM, vice president  
of multifamily and commercial at FirstService  
Residential based in Massachusetts. “I think  
it’s more conducive to everybody’s schedule  
to be able to do a virtual meeting rather than  
having to do it in person. Obviously, there are  
some associations that are still doing in-person  
meetings or have just recently restarted them,  
but [at] my associations, the boards are made  
up  of  various  demographics—I  have  some  
working; I have some retired folks—and vir- 
tual [meetings are] easy for all of them to be  
able to attend, because we all have different  
schedules.”  
The Digital Divide 
Refat feels that as time goes on, the speed  
with which technologies for successfully navi- 
gating remote work were adopted will have  
broader impacts on the property management  
industry. “I’ve seen many people in the in- 
dustry who could not keep up and eventually  
retired,” he says. “So as everything shifts elec- 
tronically, you have to be really up to speed on  
all the computer software systems, and to have  
that strong system in your home, or at least to  
be able to buy it. I upgraded everything—my  
computer, my workstation, my printer; I got  
a scanner—all so I can do things quickly, and  
am able to interact with the service providers,  
the engineers, the vendors, the work orders,  
the insurance claims. Everything is happening  
virtually now, so if you’re not up to speed, you  
may struggle.” 
While the fast pivot to virtual may lead to  
some early retirements or company consolida- 
tions, it may also open the door for a younger,  
more diverse cohort of property managers who  
might not have entered the field due to time  
constraints, such as young parents or some- 
one earning an advanced degree. With a larger  
technology skill set and more comfort navi- 
gating virtually, a new generation of property  
managers might think nothing of the shifts to  
remote work brought about by the pandemic.  
Refat contends that it might be a bumpy tran- 
sition, however, since these newcomers won’t  
necessarily have the benefit of the institutional  
knowledge transfer from their older counter- 
parts, nor the ability to learn from or ask ques- 
tions to a colleague in the office setting.  
“Our industry is a high turnover industry,”  
Refat goes on to say. “Managers come and  
go—I think the nationwide average is three  
to five years. So you always have newcom- 
ers.” Without the traditional office environ- 
ment, and with a new knowledge balance,  
training those newcomers and stabilizing the  
workforce will have to employ new strategies  
and processes. Maybe the younger folks can  
teach their elders the ways of Snapchat and  
GoogleMeets, but people who grew up in the  
Digital Age—especially after the interpersonal  
deprivations of the pandemic—might need  
some training on social interaction. Refat tells  
new hires, “Think [carefully] before you join  
this industry. Because you can’t just do busi- 
ness; you have to be a social worker, you have  
to have social skills. You actually have to pick  
up the phone and interact with the customer.  
You have to have some social skills, and some  
patience. Because we are one of the few indus- 
tries left where you still interact directly with a  
professional. That’s gone in most other indus- 
tries.” 
Vendor-Bender 
As the world approaches year three of the  they might suggest getting five. So there is a  
pandemic, the broader implications of months  little bit of extra work required on our end.”  
of shut-down, economic instability, supply  
chain disruptions, and staffing shortages have  co-op corporations are pulling the trigger on  
all taken their toll across industries. For prop- 
erty managers—who interact with all kinds of  because of shutdowns or restrictions early in  
providers from landscapers to elevator repair  the pandemic, or because of lack of financing,  
companies to insurance agents—the effects are  or simply because of the longstanding defer- 
exponential.  
Phillips explains that with limited staff—as  co-op  corporations. Tragic consequences  of  
well as the unpredictability of workers being  the latter came into stark relief in June when  
out sick, with COVID or otherwise—con- 
tractors are less willing to commit to jobs, lest  minium killed 98 people in Surfside, Florida.  
they risk overpromising and underperform- 
ing. Other vendors might be having supply  interest rates, tightened lending practices, new  
chain issues, so while they may want the job,  insurance  guidelines,  and the fact that more  
they aren’t sure when they will be able to actu- 
ally do it. And then a contractor might make  see repairs and upgrades made to their build- 
an about-face when they add another hire, or  ings or communities, has inspired boards to  
when another client cancels—which leaves the  accelerate timelines or add more projects than  
manager scrambling to get the contract in front  they would before. But for managers like Phil- 
of the board for approval. Gruen adds that all  lips, “We just do our job as the job comes along.  
of this fluctuation affects costs for both labor  And, you know, nothing ever surprises me. If  
and goods, so contract negotiations are com- 
plicated as well. 
“If we’re not on email or Zoom,” she says,  have to do it for all of my associations at the  
“we’re on the phone, dealing with vendors,  same time.” 
adjusting expectations on all sides of the equa- 
tion.  They  might  be  down  a  worker,  or  we  
might have someone out who normally liaises  sponses to the unprecedented health crisis we  
with providers, leaving added work for us. All  are living through is the reassessment that we  
of this is unpredictable, leading to changes or  have undertaken as individuals and as a soci- 
negotiations on the fly. It can get very stressful  ety to consider our priorities, care for ourselves  
at times.” 
“I’m doing some roofs at [a client] property  anced life over all. Phillips relays a story about a  
and [the roofer] can’t commit on timing,” adds  long-time vendor who contracted COVID and  
Phillips. “They know that they want the job,  nearly died. “Because of that, he’s reassessed his  
they just don’t know when their rubber roofing  life and what’s meaningful to him,” she explains.  
is going to be available. So it’s difficult for them  “He’s decided to take on a lot less work, to ap- 
as much as it’s difficult for us. They want to se- 
cure work, but they can’t make any promises as  spending the entire time working. In general,  
to when the work can be completed. And then  people have reevaluated what’s important to  
neither can we.”   
On the other hand, Phillips continues, “I  creased expense or having a smaller staff or not  
think for the most part, the boards understand  taking on as much work, but I think it’s going  
that there are things outside of our control,  to be a positive in the outlook of everybody. I  
because they’re experiencing it in their own  think people are just going to be more appre- 
lives as well. It’s not as though we’re coming up  ciative of what they have personally.”                
with some kind of unreasonable reason why  
we can’t perform work—it’s a very logical and  
public challenge that we’re all facing. So maybe  
they want us to get more bids than we would  
typically do—instead of maybe doing three,  
Added to that, a lot of associations and  
projects they had been putting off, whether  
ral mentality that exists in many HOAs and  
the collapse of the Champlain Towers Condo- 
That awakening, in addition to historically low  
residents are home during the day and want to  
a board asks me to get something, I’m used to  
that. So it doesn’t really seem out of place to  
Work-Life Balance 
Perhaps one of the more sanguine re- 
and our loved ones, and maintain a more bal- 
proach life differently, and to value life versus  
them. It might result in vendors having an in- 
n 
Darcey Gerstein is Associate Editor and a Staff  
Writer for New England Condominium.  
THE STATE OF... 
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