I was having a conversation via LinkedIn message a couple of weeks ago with an industry vendor who made the comment “I’m surprised you still give a f*** about NARPM.” Now, granted, this particular vendor has been banned from attending NARPM events for the next few years because of breaking conference rules, but this isn’t an entirely unusual comment. I have heard other vendors and property managers say something similar (albeit not as strongly). The “surprise” that this vendor mentioned is likely because I’ve been a frequent critic of NARPM. Hell, I literally own the dormant domain name for reformNARPM. But my aims have always been to improve NARPM, not to discard it. So let’s talk about why NARPM still matters, and why you should still care.
What is NARPM?
I know not all of my readers are NARPM members, so let’s cover the basics first. NARPM is the National Association of Residential Property Managers. In short, NARPM is the NAR of SFR property managers (without all of the antitrust violations). For the longest time, NARPM was basically the only source of information for the PM industry. While other organizations like NAA and IREM exist, they are not geared primarily towards SFR third-party PMs. NARPM is just for us.
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When I entered the industry, we didn’t even have Facebook groups. If you wanted to talk to other PMs, NARPM was your only place to go. NARPM put on the two national industry conferences of the year (yes, there were only two). NARPM had the only training courses. NARPM had the only networking events. Etc. NARPM was it.
The industry has changed a lot since then. Hell, the industry has changed a lot just in the last few years. So some people might think that we have outgrown NARPM, and I can certainly see why that idea can take hold. But I think it’s wildly short-sighted, and I’m here to tell you why.
Have you heard about lead paint?
I’m just going to pick out a specific issue that has cropped up in recent years and use it as an example of why NARPM still matters, but we could pick many other examples also. The example I’ll use is the changes to the EPA Lead-Based Paint FAQs. The reason I’ve picked this example is that I’ve found among my consulting clients that it is nearly universally true that people who aren’t NARPM members have absolutely no idea what happened with the EPA on this issue.
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A couple of years ago, the EPA quietly changed the FAQ related to lead-based paint contractors. For as long as I’ve been in the industry, it was always the case that the EPA said that property managers had an exclusion, and as long as we used vendors who had lead-based paint certification, we didn’t have to have it ourselves. Suddenly that FAQ disappeared, and we started hearing stories of property managers getting hit with enormous fines for not having their own lead-based paint certification. We’re talking fines in the tens of thousands of dollars, with some even exceeding the six figure mark. NARPM was all over this, getting the word out that you needed to get your certification, and even putting on certification classes at certain events and in certain local chapters. Meanwhile, non-NARPM members didn’t even know this was going on…until the EPA showed up at their office door demanding to see records.
We still need NARPM. The guy who runs his own conference doesn’t talk to the EPA and HUD. The vendor putting on their own networking event doesn’t lobby Congress. Your favorite PM Facebook group doesn’t put on training classes. I could go on.
NARPM is a Community
I’m sure many of you have attended other conferences for HOA management, real estate sales brokerage, maintenance, etc. Compare those events to NARPM events. HOA conferences are like a bunch of intelligence operatives walking around looking suspiciously at everyone else. Nobody shares any information, because everyone looks at everyone else as a competitor looking to steal their business. NARPM has always been different. I think this is because the average PM doesn’t look at other PMs as their competition. There’s long been a saying in SFR PM that “the other PM isn’t your competitor, the self-managing landlord is.” I don’t “steal” a lot of clients from other property managers in my market. The vast majority of new owners we bring on have never had another property manager. Either they’re a brand new landlord, or they’re someone who was previously managing themselves. That’s pretty common for most PMs. And for that reason, we aren’t as tight-lipped about our business practices. That’s not to say that we’re violating antitrust laws and sharing things we’re not allowed to (NARPM is actually overly paranoid about this, in fact). But things that we can share are openly shared so that the overall industry can get better. There is a “rising tide lifts all boats” attitude within NARPM. We all understand that if we share best practices, it elevates the industry, which elevates our own business. Just yesterday at the Atlanta NARPM chapter meeting we had Spencer Sutton come in to give a presentation. Spencer is one the earliest employees at Evernest and one of their senior executives, and Evernest is one of the largest thirdy-party PM companies in the country now. Spencer came by to share the lessons that they’ve learned over the years and to help out their literal competitors. That’s what NARPM is. It’s property managers helping property managers out of a sense of professionalism and community. There’s no profit grab. Spencer didn’t get a big check to come share with us. He did it because he’s a believer in NARPM and its community.
I think it was Bart Sturzl, NARPM Past-President, who I first heard say “I could visit just about any town in America and if my car broke down, I know I have a local NARPM friend I could call for help.” I’ve heard that same sentiment from numerous NARPM members, and I’ve said it myself on occasion. In fact, during the pandemic, I literally put 40,000 miles on my car driving around the country on a road trip and visited many, many NARPM friends along the way. I even stayed in some of their homes. NARPM is a community. It’s not just a trade organization. And most active members of the community can tell you that most of their closest friends are their fellow NARPM members.
Access to Industry Vendors
Every SFR PM vendor worth their salt (and who isn’t crazy enough to get banned) understands that NARPM is the key to accessing the market for their product. If you’re a PM and you want to see the latest products available to our industry, then you need to attend NARPM events. Sure, you can get a small selection of vendors at other non-NARPM events, but there simply isn’t any other event on earth that draws as many vendors as a NARPM Broker/Owner or National conference. Part of this is financial. You can sponsor a NARPM event for $3k, but you’ll need to pony up triple that amount for many other events. Because of the number of sponsors that they get, as well as the number of attendees, NARPM is able to offer sponsorships at very reasonable rates to vendors, which means you as a PM attendee get access to a lot of early-stage vendors who don’t have giant marketing budgets. And because vendors are able to get more than enough leads just from the NARPM market, many of them don’t even bother to venture outside of NARPM events. Entire industry vendors have been built solely upon NARPM members.
When I meet with consulting clients who aren’t NARPM members, the conversation usually revolves around me telling them of the various industry vendors they could be using to improve their business, because they’ve previously never heard of any of them. Most of you don’t have the money to pay me to consult (I ain’t cheap), but you can sure as hell afford to pay a few hundred dollars for an annual NARPM membership. You’re crazy not to.
The Big One: Advocacy & Lobbying
All of that said, there is really only one reason you need to be a NARPM supporter: advocacy in Washington DC (and around the country). NARPM employs two lobbyists who work for us constantly to represent our interests in DC, and that’s on top of the volunteers that we have serving in Government Affairs (something I did for a few years myself). When we need Congressmen, HUD, the FTC, etc. to know what PMs think, NARPM is who delivers that message for us. You think the NAR does? Hell, half the time they’re on the opposite side of us on important issues!
There’s also the NARPM PAC (Political Action Committee). The PAC is used to make donations to lawmakers so that we can have a voice at the table. You think Congressmen and Senators listen to you if you don’t make campaign donations? While they certainly can’t admit it, the reality is that no politician is listening to you at all if you aren’t supporting their campaign. And individual support gets lost in the crowd unless you’re rich enough to make enormous contributions. No, most of us need the power of a large PAC to have influence. And while NARPM PAC certainly doesn’t compare to the size of RPAC, our influence has been growing, and lawmakers now frequently reach out to our lobbyists to solicit feedback.
Right now, as we speak, NARPM Advocacy is working on a repeal of the CARES Act 30 day notice requirement, improvements to Section 8, return of the EPA exclusion for PMs, protection of 1031 exchanges, ending reporting requirements for small businesses under the Corporate Transparency Act, and removing NIMBY roadblocks to encourage new housing and get lawmakers and the media off our back about the housing shortage (that government caused). And these are just some examples from a recent committee update. There are many more. We need NARPM Government Affairs working for us. This isn’t something that somebody with a private mastermind group or a podcast can do. Only an industry trade organization can do these things. And these things are essential for the success of our industry.
What about the criticisms?
I have been one of the leading voices in the industry critical of NARPM’s management and leadership. NARPM has plenty of problems. The “election” process for the NARPM Board is reminiscent of a Vladimir Putin election. There isn’t enough full-time staff and too much relies upon volunteers. There isn’t enough focus on membership growth. More resources should be devoted to Government Affairs. Conferences need a full revamp. I could go on and on. But Voltaire once wrote “the best is the enemy of the good,” and that’s quite instructive here. Yes, NARPM needs reform. NARPM could use a lot of improvements. But NARPM, even as it currently exists, warts and all, is an absolute necessity for the industry and for the success of your business. We can sit around and complain about NARPM (god knows I do), but we can’t just throw it out, because nothing else exists to fill the void. And frankly, anything that came along to fill the void would likely be much, much worse, such as a for-profit group just looking to suck money out of the industry.
So if you’re not a NARPM member, join. If you are a NARPM member, renew. Tell the Board all of the things you don’t like and what you want to see changed, but don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. We need NARPM. See below for a membership sign-up link and a discount code that NARPM was kind enough to provide.
Join NARPM
If you aren’t a NARPM member, go join right now! It’s dirt cheap. Here’s the link to sign up. Under the demographic information section, use this discount code that is specifically for our readers: UUBFNjm6
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Debate Me
Disagree with my take here? Have a different perspective? There’s nothing I love more than a good debate or even just an intelligent conversation. If you’d like to jump on a podcast recording with me to discuss this topic, please let me know!
PMAssist Industry Insights is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
