The work order report looked better because residents had given up. They stopped believing anyone was coming. That was The Harbor. At one point, the property had 500+ open work orders. Later, it was down to 6. The old owners never knew the real number. We did. We walked every unit and asked every resident what was broken. Boy, did they tell us! 🤑 Over 50 HVAC units were not working in July. Work orders are not just maintenance tickets. They are a trust meter. When residents stop believing the team will show up, they stop calling. The report gets cleaner. The asset gets worse. No normal maintenance tech can work miracles with that kind of backlog, so we brought in contractors to help the team catch up. You cannot push a string. You have to pull it. That is how I think about problem properties. You do not yell at the team and hope the spreadsheets improve. You give them enough help to stabilize the property. That extra cost is often overlooked in distressed acquisitions. But you pay for it either way. In turnover. In bad reviews. In the upset residents. In a team that gets buried before it ever has a chance. By the time Adrian and I walked it, the turnaround was already showing. Terry and Gerson had helped drag the property from chaos back toward control. HVAC issues. Bad reviews. Vendors who had stopped showing up. Dryer vents ignored for 5 years. Residents who had learned not to expect much. Then the team started fixing things. Same day if they could. People started believing the team would do what it said it would do. That is when a property starts telling you the truth again. Thanks to Adrian C Danila for having me on the podcast. He is a leader in our field. They don't call him the Godfather for nothing. He knows just about every major player in our space. https://lnkd.in/exhFcBib