I attended my first NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers) convention this past week in Austin Texas. I plan, in an upcoming blog,
to write about the Pro’s and Con’s of hiring a Property Manager. One of the reasons I will list is that I stay current on information that impacts
the business, from legislative changes, to Texas Real Estate Commission updates, to new services and products that benefit owners. NARPM helps me be
a better Property Manager. Here are some of the things I took away from the conference:
Thursday – I attended a 3 hour class on Ethics taught by the current President of NARPM, Brian A. Birdy. You can read the NARPM Code of Ethics & Standards
of Professionalism here: https://narpm.org/about/ethics/ In the class I learned about protecting the public, my responsibility to my clients, my obligations
to tenants, and much more.
Thursday afternoon there was a presentation by a lawyer from the State of Texas Association of Realtors who gave updates on changes to a number of the
forms we use in leases and property management agreements. There was also another presentation on Property Management and the law, including some case
study, presented by an attorney that represents Property Managers. The audience got to play the role of the jury, and I found it interesting how divided
the jury was about the facts of each case presented (the attorney said it is no different than cases he has seen go to trial, they are not as black
and white as you would think). My take away is to always keep my client informed and to be completely up-front and transparent.
Both Thursday and Friday I had a chance to meet with a number of different vendors with new products that I may introduce to my clients. The presentation
I learned the most from was about the difference between Service Animals and Support Animals. There is a key and distinct difference and it is important
to know these differences. I use petscreening.com for all my leases so any animals allowed as part of a lease are documented, are current on their
shots, and that the law is followed for any service or support animals.
I look forward to continued education being a NARPM member and will provide updates here from future meetings/conferences.
