ARTICLES

Shopping Center Property Management
in Los Angeles

What you need to know
As you read through these important factors related to your shopping center property management in Los Angeles, stop to consider the effectiveness of your own property manager (if you have one). If you own a shopping center in Los Angeles and you are not addressing all of these areas, you might want to start the search for an expert property management company.

Here are 7 key attributes your manager needs to maximize the potential of your property to be economically profitable for you:

1. UNDERSTANDING THE RIGHT TENANT MIX FOR YOUR LOS ANGELES-BASED PROPERTY
In order to know what tenant mix is right for your Los Angeles-based shopping center, the first thing you need to identify and understand is the demographics of the area…who your customer is…their age, income, ethnicity, etc. Then you need to identify other tenants who will complement the anchor tenant(s) in your shopping center. A skilled property management company should have its finger on the pulse of the changing demographics of the Los Angeles area or anywhere else you are considering an investment in a shopping center.

2. DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG NEGOIATION SKILLS
Your shopping center property management company must possess strong negotiation skills or it will cost you dearly. It is critical that a property manager knows how to effectively negotiate a shopping center lease and what pitfalls to avoid. Only an experienced manager who has repetitively conducted these types of transactions can be effective in negotiating the leases for shopping centers in the Los Angeles area. When looking for a manager, place a very high premium on negotiating experience.

3. KEEPING OPERATING COSTS LOW
For shopping centre owners in the Los Angeles area, operating costs will make or break you. While it is true that most operating costs are usually reimbursed by the shopping center tenants (if the leases were properly negotiated by the property management company), there are instances where they are not reimbursed and as a shopping center owner in Los Angeles, you could end up paying for them yourself, thereby reducing your profit and property value. Insist that your manager has a strong handle on ongoing costs and how to control them.

4. KEEPING UP WITH RULES, REGULATIONS AND ORDINANCES
There is a seemingly endless array of laws and regulations that shopping center owners in Los Angeles must abide by when leasing a shopping center. An effective shopping center property management company must help you avoid lawsuits by keeping both the shopping center and its tenants in compliance with all local (Los Angeles area), state and federal regulations and ordinances.

5. KNOWING AND UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT VALUE OF THE PROPERTY
Especially in Los Angeles, there are several reasons – beneficial to both the shopping center owner and its tenants - why the property management company must monitor the value of the shopping center at all times. Foremost, by monitoring the value of the property, the shopping center management company will be able to make wiser decisions regarding all aspects of the center and then advise the owner.

6. KNOWING THE ZONING LAWS AND REQUIREMENTS OF YOUR LOS ANGELES-BASED PROPERTIES
Besides being familiar with and understanding the general zoning laws and requirements of Los Angeles, your shopping center property management company should be intimately familiar with every property it manages, including the variances involved. As previously mentioned, by monitoring this information the property management company will be able to make more informed decisions on your behalf.

7. HAVING A PRO-ACTIVE AND INFORMED MANAGEMENT APPROACH
I cannot stress enough how critical and important it is that your shopping center management company operates proactively and is armed with all the facts when making decisions on your behalf. Especially in these challenging economic times, a property manager must be on his mark and monitor his tenants’ sales, their lease terms, the amount of rent paid versus the market rents, the competition in the marketplace and the industry trends, both nationally and locally.

The attributes discussed above are just a sample of things to look for when soliciting the services of a property management company for your shopping center. As an investor, you need a property management firm that really “handles” your investments – by protecting them, maximizing them and providing long-term value. Don’t settle for less. The wrong company in charge of your investments could be hazardous to your wealth and to your financial future.

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