By Melinda
Rizzo
Special for
Lehigh Valley
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
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.
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.
The Wilkins & Associates Property Management Office is open 7 days a week. You can visit them online at www.nepamgmt.com.
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