Hi, I’m Mike Dunfee – the 2022 and 23 President of the Long Beach Orange County Chapter including the South Bay Chapter of NARPM, which stands for the National Association of Residential Property Managers.
If you are a residential property manager, you may be asking yourself if should I join NARPM? If you own rental property, you might be asking yourself does it matter if the property manager I hire is a member of NARPM? Today, we will attempt to answer those questions.
NARPM is the national trade association for the residential property management industry. It is made up of thousands of property management businesses and professionals focused on servicing residential properties that include single-family homes, individually owned condominiums, and multi-family apartment buildings that are 15 units or less.
If you are trying to grow your company or even just do a better job with the “doors” you already have, NARPM is where you can learn current “best practices” as well as be introduced to new technology and the latest property management tools. Furthermore, the National Association of Residential Property Managers provides a forum that helps members stay up on all the ever-changing laws and rules affecting property managers. NARPM makes the industry better by making you better.
Sure, some members just pay their dues so they can support the industry, get on the directory and put the logo on their website. That’s great and thank you for your support.
However, you will get much more out of your membership by attending local chapter meetings, taking classes, and attending conferences. This is the best way to learn what is going on out there in the industry and a great way to jumpstart your property management business.
The chapter meetings are where you make connections with local vendors servicing the property management industry in your community as well as other property managers in your marketplace. You will also get to hear speakers and participate in conversations that are important to property managers in your neighborhood. Plus, there are occasional social events where you can mix, mingle and start to build long-standing relationships.
Every year there is a National Conference in October and the Broker Owner Conference in April. There are so many state-specific rules in California that there is a special CALNARPM State Conference specifically for us California property managers in May. Like the local chapter meetings, these conferences also offer the possibility of making industry connections but on a much larger scale. More importantly, you can have meaningful conversations and learn from other property managers across the state and country.
You will get to network with owners of small management companies with less than 100 doors as well as owners of large companies with several thousand. They may be new to the business or veterans with years of experience. You will be surprised at how willing they are to share their knowledge with you.
If you are an achiever, you may even pursue one of the National Association of Property Managers professional designations like the Residential Management Professional, RPM®, or the MPM®, which is the Master Property Manager.
They even have one for property management companies called the Certified Residential Management Company or the CRMC®.
If you want to take it to the next level, you can get involved by becoming part of the NARPM leadership. Serving on a board or committee is one of the best ways to get to know people. It is nice to know you can always pick up the phone and call one of your cohorts to get advice or talk something over. After all, these people will eventually become your friends.
If I were a landlord looking to hire a property manager, I would only consider NARPM members. Now that you know the National Association of Residential Property Managers exists and what it does for property management professionals, why would you ever consider hiring a property manager who was not a member? I would personally seek someone active in the organization.
Look, there are more demands placed on rental property owners these days than ever before. If you are going to hire a management company to advise, guide and represent you, hire someone plugged into the support of our national trade association. Hire someone who is committed to continually learning and improving. Hire someone who contributes to an industry you count on. Hire a NARPM member!
Dunfee Real Estate Services, Inc.
DRE # 02026232
