Property Management KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) What Great Companies Track.

Property Management KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) What Great Companies Track.

Chris ClothierBusiness Member
Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes

This thread comes out of another forum discussion where I was asked about the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that my families' property management companies track.  We have a management company in Memphis, TN. that manages 2,421 properties and growing as of this posting.  In Dallas / Ft. Worth and Houston, we have a management company managing 572 properties and growing as of this posting.  

We use very basic KPIs to manage and track the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly success of our business.  Here is the previous thread that I listed questions an investor should ask before buying from a Turnkey company.  Many of the questions pertained to these KPIs.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/200...

Here are the KPI that we track:

  • How many properties do you manage?
  • What is the average rent per property? (also per zip code)
  • What is the average deposit per property? (also per zip code)
  • How many vacancies on the first day of each month?
  • What is your monthly vacancy rate on the first day of each month?
  • What % of signed leases fulfill their full term?
  • What % of full term leases will renew their lease each month?
  • What is your average # of months occupancy per property?
  • What % of properties have a maintenance call 30, 60 and 90 days after move-in?
  • What is the average number of days a property is vacant: 
  •      -  Original purchase to first tenant, or purchase to occupancy?
  •      -   After a tenant moves out, or move out to move in?
  • What is the cost of an average repair bill after move-out?
  • What percentage of billed rent is collected each month?
  • What percentage of collected rent goes to yearly maintenance on average?
  • How many dollars per property, per month are spent on maintenance?
  • These are just property management KPIs and they vary in importance.  We also have KPIs for our purchase team buying properties in the three markets and our renovation teams in all three markets.  

    I am going to give my dad, Kent Clothier, Sr a lot of credit here when I write that he has always instructed the company leaders that leadership of a business is easy.  You only have to track a handful of numbers to know if your business is healthy or not.  By tracking them, you will know well before the danger signs arrive that you need to change course.  Of course, the hard part is knowing which number to track....

    Feel free to add which KPIs that you track in your business.  Even small landlords with a handful of properties should operate like a business and have a set of KPI that they track.  Would love to read what others track in their businesses.

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    Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    11y

    @Chris Clothier

      Thanks for sharing... I suspect that many investors over time have no clue..

    Others who are number crunchers probably have it down to the penny.

    Maintenance and cost to do turn over is the killer to cash flow when I had our 300 plus SFR portfolio... Whether it came from the original rehab not being up to snuff ( which happens to all of us at some point something is missed we can't all be perfect everytime) to the most likely issue and that is tenant wear and tear. So if tenant is rough.. and then moves out and it takes a couple weeks to coordinate turn over then a few weeks to get rented up again you lost a month of rent... staying on top of the turn over is key.

    See this reply in the discussion

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    • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
      Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
      11y

      @Chris Clothier

        Thanks for sharing... I suspect that many investors over time have no clue..

      Others who are number crunchers probably have it down to the penny.

      Maintenance and cost to do turn over is the killer to cash flow when I had our 300 plus SFR portfolio... Whether it came from the original rehab not being up to snuff ( which happens to all of us at some point something is missed we can't all be perfect everytime) to the most likely issue and that is tenant wear and tear. So if tenant is rough.. and then moves out and it takes a couple weeks to coordinate turn over then a few weeks to get rented up again you lost a month of rent... staying on top of the turn over is key.

    • Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2013 · 63 posts · 11 votes
      11y

      Thanks for sharing this!  Important ones for us are (we are owner/managers): 

      Gross revenue (per property and in total)

      Netprofits (per property and in total)  

      Semi-annual equity check.

    • Sherman Oaks, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
      11y

      @Chris Clothier Looks awesome...you are hired! No wonder why you have 3000 under management.

      I might add - What is the annual appreciation % per property and also % per zip?

    • Chris ClothierBusiness Member
      OP
      Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
      11y
      Originally posted by @Drey Taylor:

      Thanks for sharing this!  Important ones for us are (we are owner/managers): 

      Gross revenue (per property and in total)

      Netprofits (per property and in total)  

      Semi-annual equity check.

       That is awesome Drey that you guys have those in place.  I also like that you track it in total.  That allows you to track over-all performance and not freak out if one or more properties go through a down period.  It lets you keep level headed as a business owner.

    • Chris ClothierBusiness Member
      OP
      Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
      11y
      Originally posted by @Matt R.:

      @Chris Clothier Looks awesome...you are hired! No wonder why you have 3000 under management.

      I might add - What is the annual appreciation % per property and also % per zip?

       Those would be great numbers to track and I am guessing that there is a way to find that in a format that you would be comfortable with online although I am unsure.  It is just so hard to determine if there has been any actual appreciation in low or slow (hell even in average) appreciating markets.  

      But you are correct.  For a management company managing $300 million in portfolio value for investors, it would be highly beneficial to be able to show where those properties are or are not appreciating.

    • Rental Property Investor · Phoenix/Lima, Arizona/OH · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
      11y

      Hah well, I guess we know who the TK operator of choice is. The same name just keeps coming up time and time again. Can you guess who...?

      @Chris Clothier - you're still not getting my money, but you are the only TK guy with whom I can't find anything to disagree about...in anything that you write - operationally, asset qualifiers, reporting, etc... I am not the most agreeable guy, so this says something :)

      Good stuff, Chris!

    • Property Manager · Birmingham, AL · Member since 2014 · 37 posts · 36 votes
      11y

      @Chris Clothier

      Seems everyone agrees on this being a very helpful post. I appreciate your transparency related to your business practices and KPI’s. Some we track that I didn’t see are. . .

      Related to leasing:

      • Showings per property
      • # of Applications (total and by property)
      • # of Approvals (total and by property)
      • # of Declines (total and by property)
      • # of Leases signed

      Related to new Owners:

      • Inbound Leads
      • Outbound Leads
      • Consultations
      • Signed Management Agreements
      • # New Units

      Related to occupied properties:

      • MRE’s – These are “Moving Related Errors” – this is where we drop the ball on a move in or move out.
      • # of touches a property manager has each week based on categories – touch = a drive by or visit to a property.

      Because we are in slightly different businesses, you probably track these in different ways. Thanks again for the informative post. I hope these help out as well.

      m

    • Chris ClothierBusiness Member
      OP
      Rental Property Investor · memphis, TN · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
      11y
      Originally posted by @Matthew Whitaker:

      @Chris Clothier

      Seems everyone agrees on this being a very helpful post. I appreciate your transparency related to your business practices and KPI’s. Some we track that I didn’t see are. . .

      Related to leasing:

      • Showings per property
      • # of Applications (total and by property)
      • # of Approvals (total and by property)
      • # of Declines (total and by property)
      • # of Leases signed

      Related to new Owners:

      • Inbound Leads
      • Outbound Leads
      • Consultations
      • Signed Management Agreements
      • # New Units

      Related to occupied properties:

      • MRE’s – These are “Moving Related Errors” – this is where we drop the ball on a move in or move out.
      • # of touches a property manager has each week based on categories – touch = a drive by or visit to a property.

      Because we are in slightly different businesses, you probably track these in different ways. Thanks again for the informative post. I hope these help out as well.

      m

       Great items Matthew and thanks for contributing for others to read.  Those are all important metrics and while they may not make the list of KPIs, they are certainly important and our team monitors them on a monthly basis.  

      I also think it is interesting that you have a touch metric.  You are probably set up as a traditional manager model where one manager oversees all activity on a set number of properties (?).  We do not use that model and instead have compartmentalized the business and built it based on other companies in completely different industries that we have operated.  So it is interesting to see what you guys have to track based on your model and what we have to track based on ours.

      Best of luck in Birmingham.

    • Investor · DFW, TX · Member since 2013 · 319 posts · 101 votes
      11y

      @Chris Clothier

      Awesome thread and great info, thanks!

      Are there any of the KPI numbers that you'd be comfortable sharing? Across such a large portfolio of SFRs, the %rent to maint expense, would be very interesting to see as it relates to the 50% rule ;)

      Also - evictions, and full stay leases - per the markets you operate in, kind of curious if there is any difference between Memphis and DFW

      Great stuff as always! With thanks,

      Dmitri

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