I’m often asked what I see as some of the biggest trends in the property management space, and this year I have one particularly clear answer: I see 2026 as a year where property managers are going to have to bring a lot of their toughest conversations back in person and over the phone.
We’ve survived in this industry by automating everything that we can, including a lot of our communications. But now our owner clients are expecting more face time with us, and scheduled email blasts or auto-replies just aren’t going to cut it.
So how did we get to this point, why are owners changing their expectations, and what kinds of conversations do we need to bring back in person? Let’s dig in.
We’ve seen a huge shift from in-person connection to online, text-based, automated messaging in recent years, both in our professional and personal lives. For property managers, who are always seeking more efficient ways of working, this has been a huge blessing. But as automation has made things faster for us, and COVID made face-to-face interaction more difficult, the change hasn’t always been positive for our clients.
Advances in technology have made it easier than ever to automatically schedule and send communications to our clients. Whether it’s delivering statements or providing updates on key maintenance tasks, task management systems and property management software can automate it.
In a lot of ways, this has moved the needle on how often things are communicated. Owners have come to expect immediate updates on all different projects, but that doesn’t always translate to a better experience. A lot of property managers made the mistake of replacing meaningful conversations with templated messages because it was just so easy. And for those who hadn’t automated a lot, when 2020 hit, they had to get up to speed quickly.
COVID-19 completely shifted how we communicate. It made “Zoom” a household term. But it also hugely impacted the rental landscape.
For one thing, the macroeconomic conditions that the pandemic created have led to an increase in “accidental landlords.” These are people who never intended to own rental properties, and don’t necessarily understand the requirements of owning a rental property in the same way as intentional investors.
There’s a whole wave of people who bought their first home when interest rates were low, intending it to be a starter home. Here we are five or six years later and those people are having kids and outgrowing their homes, looking to move into better school districts, or moving into new jobs. But they’ll probably never buy another at an interest rate that low, so they don’t want to let go of their mortgage.
Other people have inherited homes as part of the great wealth transfer, some of which were already rental properties. It’s created a generation of people who never planned to own real estate investments, so they’re left figuring out how to manage. They need instructions, education, and expertise from property managers like you and me.
This is all paired with a very specific shift in how real estate investments are seen. For many millennials (of which I am one), real estate investment has been seen as a far off dream. Something completely unattainable for so many. This is a generation who graduated college into the 2008 recession, who carried more student loan debt than anyone before them, and who didn’t see owning property as a realistic prospect. But then interest rates dropped, and they were able to buy into the market, finally. Now, with rent growth slowing and maintenance prices rising, their investments aren’t seeming like the magic solution they were pitched. It feels like Student Loans 2.0, if we’re being honest. However, this is another opportunity to educate, support, and reassure our clients. These investors are understandably a bit skittish, which will require additional hand-holding.
It’s no secret that markets are becoming tighter. There’s more competition, but our property owners are still expecting more. To me, that’s reasonable; with the amount of money that they have on the line with these assets, there’s a higher level of service expected.
As markets shift, we’re seeing a lot of newer investors—especially those that fall into the “accidental investor” category—experiencing some of their first real downturns, and they’re struggling to react.
Most property owners are being tough on lowering prices. They’re keeping properties on market longer, at a higher rent price, rather than dropping rents. Even builders aren’t lowering prices, they’re just offering incentives.
In my conversations with investor clients, it’s clear that even those who have been with us for a long time are feeling the pains of increased maintenance costs, higher property taxes, and slimmer margins.
All of this is creating an increased sense of anxiety. Newer investors who have never ridden out a market slowdown are getting anxious that they’re not seeing the returns they expected, and long-term investors are getting frustrated with an increase in expenses.People are stressed out. And when they think they’re at risk of losing the thing that was supposed to fund they’re future, they don’t want to just receive an automated email about it.
It’s a delicate situation.
In a lot of ways, our clients’ expectations don’t seem unreasonable; they just expect someone to answer the phone when they call. That was true a dozen years ago when I started in property management, and it was a consistent conversation before that. But that doesn’t make it easy to have the conversations when you do pick up the phone.
A lot of the talks I’ve been having with our investor clients recently have been around markets, especially about the realities of holding through a slowdown. One of the biggest lessons for investors is simply, “Expect to have some down years and prepare for it in advance.” The truth is that in almost all cases, holding is better than selling, but that doesn’t mean that owners want to hear it.
Investor education is one of the biggest opportunities that we have available to us as property managers right now. As investors get nervous, we have the opportunity to lead with our expertise and help guide them through it. We want our owners to start thinking about their properties as investments, and themselves as investors—not just property owners. Help them understand what it takes to be forward-thinking about big-ticket maintenance items, renovations, and more.
Maybe that means making short-term concessions to secure a long-term lease. Maybe it means investing a little bit more in property updates to keep rents competitive. It will depend on your exact market and your exact audience, but these are the kinds of conversations you should be having with your clients.
Here at Hendricks Property Management, we have a lot of small investors with only a couple of properties. A lot of them are folks who moved to San Antonio because they were in the military, fell in love with the city, and bought a home that they plan to move into to retire. In the meantime, they’re renting it out while they’re stationed elsewhere. These are the exact kinds of investors that need consistent education and reassurance, so I’ve had a lot of practice at it.
The key to this is not waiting around for your investors to call you. Instead, you should be picking up the phone and reaching out to them. Proactive outreach helps your investors know what to expect and to develop the right mindset to navigate the current market.
Not only does it help to reduce churn by showing investors the benefits of holding, but it also creates more value and trust. By delivering valuable insights and information, you position yourself as invaluable to your investors and develop deeper relationships with them.
Obviously it isn’t realistic to call up every one of your owners every week to have a conversation and calm their anxieties. But you can try to connect with your highest-risk investors once a quarter. Give them a call and leave a voicemail if they don’t answer. Even if they never call back, you’re making it clear that you’re there for them if they need it.
As important as real conversations are, I’m not saying you should turn off all your automations. I think automation is great! Task management tools are incredibly useful, and I couldn’t do property management without them. I’m just saying that there are situations where they aren’t the right solution.
It’s not about removing automation, but about interjecting when necessary to put more of a human touch on things.
The reason that personal conversations (whether they’re over the phone, on Zoom, or in person) have such an impact is that they’re like giving your investors a big hug. Your goal isn’t to solve all their problems in a single conversation. Instead, you’re just trying to let them know that you’re there to help when they need it. They’re not floundering alone out there. They have your skills, your experience, and your expertise on their side.
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