By Melinda Rizzo
Special for Lehigh Valley Business
Customer service, attention to detail, a can-do attitude toward clients and willingness to offer a flexible menu of tailored services are among the reasons Wilkins and Associates Property Management is celebrating its silver business anniversary this year.
Thomas Wilkins, CEO of Wilkins & Associates Property Management, Wilkins & Associates Commercial Brokers, WACB Property Management (formerly NEPA Management) based in Stroudsburg, said this basic recipe has built long-term relationships with clients, as well as forged new territory when a client needs change.
WACB Property Management also offers related business services to clients, such as real estate tax appeals and tax consultation, according to Wilkins.
“I still have the first contract we took 25 years ago,” Wilkins said of this year’s quarter-century anniversary.
According to Wilkins, the privately owned, property management firm offers a three-tiered menu of services including financial (book-keeping and record keeping), business administration services and operations and facilities maintenance and management.
“Our clients can pick and choose either one, two or all three of the services we offer for their property management needs,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins & Associates offers property management services for residential, multi-family, commercial, property owner’s associations, condo-townhouse and investment properties throughout northeastern Pennsylvania, including throughout Monroe and Pike counties.
Wilkins & Associates also is a Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate firm, offering residential, commercial and relocation real estate services.
OPTIONS FOR CLIENTS
The property management arm of Wilkins & Associates offers accounting and financial management, leasing and rental services, asset-controlled real estate and operation services.
According to Wilkins, offering various options to clients means addressing needs rather than forcing them into a one-size-fits-all box.
Clients include residential communities with townhouses and condominiums, banks, hotel/motels, third-party investor properties, corporate property investments and time share communities.
“The biggest challenge with managing time shares, which is a specialty market, is the (number) of owners, furnished units and the in-and-out exchanges on the property,” Wilkins said.
DEVELOPING A BOND AND TRUST
Kathryn Harper-Johnson, president of Northslope II in East Stroudsburg, said having one firm represent all facets of property management for the community’s private homes and “quarter-share” units made practical sense.
“It helps to have one contact, and work with one company for all the various things involved in taking care of our community. It just stream-lines things rather than dealing with four or five different companies,” Harper-Johnson said.
According to Harper-Johnson, the continuity of regularly seeing the same professionals is an added bonus.
“You develop a bond and a (strong) trust with the people managing the property for you,” Harper-Johnson said.
Harper-Johnson said Wilkins & Associates takes care of it all: from bookkeeping and financial planning to facilities, administrative duties and landscape management contracting including snow and trash removal and landscaping.
LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS
Not all clients have the same needs.
Jeffrey Weichel, treasurer of Stones Throw Property Owners Association, a residential community in East Stroudsburg, said bookkeeping and fiscal management are the only services for which they are contract with Wilkins & Associates.
“After doing our own books for several years, we decided to delegate those duties,” Weichel said of the all-volunteer board managing the homeowners association.
Stones Throw is a 119-home community, and Wilkins & Associates handles maintenance fees, member monthly dues and late notices.
Wilkins said business contract terms typically run three years, and he’s dedicated to establishing long-term relationships with clients.
“The majority of our clients are with us for the long haul,” Wilkins said.
The Wilkins & Associates Property Management Office is open 7 days a week. You can visit them online at www.nepamgmt.com.
