Page 9 - New England Condominium January 2022

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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