The domain name whatsmyhomeworth.com.au has served me dutifully for over 2 decades both as a practicing real estate agent, and then as a modest lead generation business helping to successfully drive listing opportunities for real estate agents around the country.

I’ve now reached a fork in the road of my life where I’m no longer driven to do anything in particular with the domain going forwards. But I’m a betting man that reckons someone else will see an opportunity to pick up the ball and run with it to take it to its full potential. I have no need to sell the domain name, but i’d be a clod to sit on it and do nothing. So, for the next week or so I’m testing the market to see if there’s a genuine buyer ready willing and able to secure what I think is a significant simple and recognisable domain.

I’m making it pretty simple for anyone that’s a genuine buyer. All you need to do is click this link and follow the prompts. I’m open to sensible conversation, but lets not be wasting each others time with any silly talk. This isn’t facebook marketplace. Its definitely available!

Over to you! https://www.afternic.com/domain/whatsmyhomeworth.com.au

Have you ever heard a variation of the above, perhaps in reference to a work colleague? I have. Too many times.

It might seem cute, smart or tough to the cool kids but, at its best, it’s what you’d expect from shameless, tacky, sad, out-of-touch business dinosaurs whose management skills have been left behind in an era of misogyny and no respect.

Now I’m not saying every real estate business is ablaze with the same archaic ethos on how to treat their team members, but I can still see some burning embers and smouldering ashes on the horizon. And those embers and ashes need to be starved of the oxygen that fuels them, and some urgent back burning done, to prevent any future conflagration.

Currently, there are two very bright and very big red flags being waved at the real estate profession in Australia, and I have a genuine concern way too many in our profession are turning a blind eye and hoping those waving flags will go away.

For those still in ostrich mode, the breaking news is that those red flags are going to get bigger and the ramifications for those who choose to ignore them are perilous.

RED FLAG #1: Changes to Workplace Health and Safety Laws are effective from April this year.

Amended Work Health and Safety Regulations prescribe how businesses must identify and manage hazards and risks to workers’ psychological health and safety.

From April 1, business owners need to consider and review approaches to managing psychosocial risks and fostering mentally healthy workplaces. All staff must be able to enjoy a mentally

healthy work environment and return home at day’s end free from mental health challenges caused in or by their workplace.

The days of bullying, exclusion, imbalance, disrespect, and not providing team members a physically and mentally safe work place are over. No more talk of ‘teaspoons of cement.’ No more turning a blind eye to workplace conflict. No more acceptance of abusive language or advances from clients and customers being directed at your staff.

If you’re not sure if something is or isn’t right in your business, consider this test: Can you justify any of your actions by finishing the statement with, “Your Honour”? For example, “Yes, I told Sharon that when Landlord Joe called her a ‘useless mole,’ he was just venting and to just ignore it because he always speaks to our staff that way and he means well, Your Honour,” or, “Yes, I told Julie to just nip up and mop the floors and give the bathroom a clean before she left for home the other night, even though it’s not in her job description, Your Honour.”

RED FLAG #2: The continuing diminishing number of Property Managers entering our profession, and the alarming increase in the rate at which existing Property Managers are evacuating the profession.

In the context of those two massive red flags, the figures below from a survey of 773 Australian Property Managers should have almost every real estate business owner reaching for the Ventolin and breaking out in a cold sweat.

Reader discretion warning.
You may wish to get a cold cloth before you read on.

The survey shared:

53% of Property managers surveyed said they struggle with mental health issues and switching off after work

37% of property managers completely agree their job offers good career opportunities, down from 56% in 2018.

52% of property management offices have changed software over the past two years. Only 34% of property managers believe they have the tools they need to do their job properly.

Only 34% believe they have been given the training they need to successfully manage their role.

And wait for the crème de la crème.

60% of Property Managers say the biggest challenge of the job is dealing with aggressive or abusive landlords or tenants and…wait for it…only 38% of principals agree with that.

Do you hear the alarm bells and see the ticking time bomb here?

Seems to me that adopting a strategy of telling people to take ‘a spoonful of cement’ and harden the f#ck up in the current, or for that matter, any environment might not be the wisest of strategies.

It’s crystal clear to me that the workplace model in property management in our fine land is, in the main, broken; not irreparably, but definitely on life support and in need of urgent surgery. And it’s only a matter of time before the first significant claim is awarded against an ignorant business for not putting someone’s physical and mental well-being at the forefront of their obligations to employees.

It’s not just in the treatment of people in the workplace. It’s also about what’s expected of them in the workplace.

If you’ve
…been avoiding training new people up until now; or
…relied on poaching staff from other businesses by offering them more money but not giving them an enriched role in the business (and yes, I recently read a statement saying, “I don’t train property managers; I poach them instead.” WTAF); or
…been OK with overloading your PMs with unfulfilling work; or

…thought to yourself or expressed out loud that people just need to ‘harden up’ in your business; then…

there’s a very large karma bus headed your way.

The obligation moving forward will be to send staff home in the same fit mentality they came into work with, and that could mean restructuring an entire business so that they’re not overworked and realistic expectations are set and met by all parties.

From my perspective, the significant difference between property managers are those who can do higher-level tasks – building relationships, growing and retaining business, maintaining a client’s asset, and negotiating with tenants – and admin roles whose tasks can include lease preparation, bonds, maintenance scheduling, and tradesperson follow-up. And, honestly, the advances in proptech have enabled the idea of a global workforce for even a single business owner.

Property managers are locally-based face-to-face relationship specialists within a real estate business, and should be treated and paid accordingly. Admin roles, which aren’t public-facing, can be in-house or, more often than not, outsourced; in many cases, to VAs in a very efficient and cost-effective manner.

My crystal ball doesn’t show that the industry is going to be flooded with thousands of new property managers anytime soon.

So that means, treasure the ones you’ve got and treat them a whole lot better than many have been treated up to today. Start preparing to train the next generation of property managers. Restructure the department’s workload so the appropriate people are doing the appropriate tasks, so specialists are doing specialists’ work and admin tasks are being done by admins.

Invest in your team’s ability to deal with conflict and how to look after their mental health by booking them into specialty events like Hayley Mitchell’s PM Reach Mindset – Wellness – Resilience Events

You’ve got to start today. Otherwise, you may be facing a very expensive claim against you and your business soon.

Not sure where to start when it comes to using VA’s effectively and outsourcing those admin tasks?

There are options aplenty!

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Join my webinar The Challenge Of Change and How To Stay Relevant

Visit Cloudstaff or join me on a study tour to Cloudstaff’s HQ in the Philippines in either November or December to see how hundreds of Australian businesses like yours have lowered the red flags in their businesses.

Or keep handing out those cups of cement, and let me know how that strategy turns out for you.

That irritating question gets posed by my long and faithful dentist every six months for as long as I can remember.

Each time, I tell her the same porky, and she gives me a stern warning that I need to get into better habits. (Hardly breaking news for anyone who knows me.)

At the end of every six-month check-up, my dentist hands me a piece of paper entitled ‘Urgent Treatment Plan.’ This is supposed to consist of the work she wants to perform. What it really consists of is lots of codes, numbers, and names which mean absolutely nothing to me.

My fortunately numbed jaw starts to gape at the bottom line of $3,200 and the thought of having to spend yet another 4 hours in her chair.

So, every 6 months, it’s the same old story:
– Go to dentist.
– Get asked if I’m flossing. Lie and say ‘yes’.
– Depart with my Urgent Treatment Plan.
– Make promises I won’t keep: “Yes, I’ll floss more,” and, “I will definitely

make a booking for this Urgent Treatment Plan.”

So far, I’ve survived six visits to my fluoride farmer without my face falling off even with my broken promises. This has deepened my suspicion that my real-life tooth fairy is upselling me a plan that will fund the next Mykonos trip or newest Porsche. Other than a piece of paper with lots of confusing numbers and symbols, there’s been no evidence that things are getting feisty in my fangs.

Quietly, I was feeling confident after my last visit with her that all was well in the ol’ North and South.

Fast forward 5 months later.

Forgive me father, but I am weak of flesh and, in a momentary lapse, I strayed from my porcelain polishing friend and ended up in the reclining chair of a different dentist. (In my defence, this new dentist had a vacancy that wasn’t 3 months away and he offered exceptional car parking.)

Lying back in the chair, I had an eerie moment of déjà vu. The first words from Billy, my newfound man of molars, were…you guessed it…

“Have you been flossing?”

(Is this the dental version of ‘How’s the market?’ And has anyone ever said, “Yes,” and meant it?)

Anyway, I lied and said I had. He suggested I needed better habits. I nodded. He nodded. Both of us knew that I hadn’t and wouldn’t.

Then, it was business as usual. My new dentist poked and prodded, took X- rays, said ooh and ahh a lot, and gave my trusty choppers a buff and polish, making them sparkle again.

Visit over, on cue, he printed off my “Urgent Treatment Plan.” And yep, this one had all those mysterious codes and unrecognisable words and the total of $3200.

This time, though, something different happened. While I was still firmly strapped down in the dental chair, spotlight shining directly in my eyes, Billy turned on his ceiling-mounted TV and, tooth by tooth, showed me each and every stress crack, broken filling, and gap hiding behind my velvet lips.

Yowza! What I witnessed in that cavernous enclave had more holes than St Andrews.

Armed with this evidence, and with eleven simple words, Billy was able to book his next Santorini holiday: “Would you prefer to start your urgent treatment plan today or Friday?”

What could I say? What could I do? I couldn’t deny it any longer. The evidence was right there. The cakehole had definitely seen too much cake. My oral orifice was overdue for some observation. What Billy showed me, up close and personal, was that my once magnificent molars needed some serious renovation if I wanted to continue indulging my deep love for a medium rare 500gram rib fillet.

That Urgent Treatment Plan I’d, in the past, dutifully filed in my trusty rubbish filing bin wasn’t just another piece of paper with an unsolvable and easily ignorable puzzle anymore. No, seeing is believing, and I commenced my treatment plan with Billy that day.

Is this tome really about teeth? What am I really rambling about here? This Tale of Terrible Teeth is a metaphor.

We kid ourselves every day that everything is AOK in our personal and business world. But what has served us well for the last 20, 30, 40 or 50 years probably, despite our protestations or how much we try to kid ourselves we’re immune to this rapidly changing world, doesn’t serve us at all anymore. Our personal and business lives are in need of some attention.

Maybe you’ve acknowledged this already. Maybe you’ve even seen your own Urgent Treatment Plan for your business but, up until now, it’s been indecipherable to you. And maybe, just like flossing, you swear you’ll do it moving forward, but keep putting it on the back burner.

If you’re an avid reader of mine, you’ll know I’m more than a little obsessed with the sustainability of existing business models. Of more recent times, I’ve been specifically focused on the effective use of VAs (virtual assistants) in real estate businesses.

You see, I’ve heard successful real estate agencies and agents talk about how VAs have totally transformed the way they do business. But, just as I was skeptical of any Urgent Treatment Plan fixing my fangs, I was also dubious whether VAs trained in real estate and located in the Philippines could honestly have the skills, knowledge, and capacity to truly support the admin, property management, and sales support functions of a modern Australian real estate business.

There was only one way to make me believe, and that was to see behind the scenes – all the details – with my own eyes.

So, I traveled to the Philippines and Cloudstaff’s offices to spend real quality time with Cloudstaff VAs specialising in real estate. I can now say that I’ve been able to witness firsthand their work to help streamline the back-end engine rooms of hundreds of Australian businesses.

I can also confidently tell you that if you’re looking for your own Urgent Treatment Plan for your real estate business and cost-effective, reliable solutions to your PM, Admin, and Sales support problems, it’s time for you to face facts for yourself.

Whether you’re cautiously curious or simply skeptical or just plain sitting on the fence about VAs and how they can:
a) rid you of your HR woes;
b) help streamline your systems;

c) grow your culture; and
d) free up your PM leaders to focus less on leaky taps and more on positive growth;

then you should join me on my next study tour to the Phillipines in December. We’ll fly into Manila, visit the impressive and secure Cloudstaff buildings, soak up the amazing culture of the Philippine’s #1 Workplace, examine case studies of businesses just like yours, and, if you’re ready, meet and interview your own VA.

There’s a saying, “Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” If you’re going to continue to crumple up your business’ Urgent Care Plan and refile it into your own ‘special bin’ instead of directly addressing your business’ problems, which part of your business are willing to let go of?

Seeing is believing.

Like to know more?.. Give me a call on 0417630962, visit Cloudstaff online, or join my webinar on October 4th and let’s fix those cracks, broken parts, and gaping holes in your business today.