Young & Ambitious: Looking At The Inspiring Story Of Young Ottawa Man

You are here:

Alexandre Traboulsi has been living in Ottawa for the past few years to study Law, but his career path had recently taken a different turn – a story he was happy to share with us. Meet our latest guest blogger!

How I got involved in Property Management

As I moved to Ottawa to pursue my University studies, I signed a lease in a newly renovated high-rise that was about to open its doors for the very first time. And as is often required by landlords, I had to sign a twelve (12) months Lease.

After eight (seemingly long) months of studying, I decided to apply for a part-time job in that very same building, in order to give back to the building and the Community that had now become my home away from home.

After an interview, I was hired a few days later with the express intent of only working during the summer months, before returning to the grueling schedule that the Law Program imposes. Little did I know that I would thoroughly enjoy my time participating in the day-to-day activities (from sales to marketing, to even maintenance), helping implement new systems and strategies and improving those already in practice. What originally started off as a four (4) months summer job, became two (2) years and eight (8) months of hard work and dedication, juggling between ever-growing work-related expectations and responsibilities and hours upon hours of readings and studying.

Likes and Dislikes

I came to learn that I have a certain affinity for sales, and leasing was definitely the part of the job that I enjoyed the most for the majority of my time at my place of employment. That being said, as more and more responsibilities were given to me, I started to see a different aspect of the business, yet one that is inherently tied to leasing: customer retention.

As we streamlined different aspects of our day-to-day activities and ensured a greater enjoyment of the premises on the part of our residents, we were able to reach 37% of renewals during my last year. For comparison’s sake, it is said that a good property retains approximately 30% of its residents. This represented a clear and positive indictment of the hard work put-in by a quartet of individuals that were able to take an underachieving property to new heights.

Many fields of employment can become a tad redundant over time. Property Management is not one of them. “There’s never a dull day here.” This is a saying that was probably uttered by myself or my colleagues every other day.

As Property Management is a field inherently tied to people and customer service, one actually comes to appreciate the odd “dull day” where everything runs smoothly and no metaphorical fires have to be put out.

The part that I enjoyed the least is, without a shadow of a doubt, turn season. This represents the period of time during which a large portion of our current residents move-out in order to make room for a new crop of tenants. This definitely represents the most hectic period as things don’t always go as planned, from residents not moving out on time, to outside contractors taking more time than anticipated to complete a designated task. These are certainly not what one might call “dull days.”

Current Role

I have recently been hired as a Leasing Specialist at Smart Living Properties, a property management company located in Ottawa. While leasing is always something that I will enjoy doing, I am currently more focused on implementing new strategies behind the scenes, both on the leasing front and the marketing front, as well as streamlining and automating different processes and procedures (on the accounting and management side of things), in hopes of ensuring a better experience for the residents and therefore a rise in our customer retention percentage.

Thank you for sharing your story Alexandre! Real estate is certainly a tough but rewarding industry to work in, and we are glad you enjoy it.