The NOI Mirage And The Metric That Really Matters Most To Property Managers

I Thought NOI Was Everything… I Was Wrong.

Up until now, I completely forgot the fact that my first contract in this space came from convincing a property manager that they needed to “sell more than just returns”.

They believed me, we started a podcast, grew a community, and developed a $40M+ client acquisition channel, and that’s why my career within the real estate investor ecosystem brought me to you.

But that was before I grew a network of real estate investors, and became a real estate investor, myself.

These days, I value the $#!T out of my internal rate of return.  

So it’s easy to fall in love with the idea that if a property manager makes me believe they deliver the best NOI in town, that’s who I hire.

But right when I was going all in on rental properties, one of my best friends was selling his entire portfolio, and putting it into the stock market.

His NOI was phenomenal… but something else mattered more.

He Took Less NOI To Have Less Headaches.

Owning rentals means you’ll have bad moments. It’s inevitable.

People occupying a space for a long time are bound to fudge things up.

THOSE are the moments when owners think about changing things up.

They could think about changing PMs.  Or they could think about cashing out and sticking it in the stock market.

That’s what my friend, Brian, did.

He busted his butt for 10 years to achieve financial independence through real estate.  Then the moment he had enough capital to create the cash flow he needed from the stock market, he cashed out his portfolio and did it.

That was shocking… especially because he did that 1 year into me getting real estate obsessed.

Thus is what he told me-

“No matter what you do, real estate will always come with headaches you don’t want to deal with.  I'd rather just put my money in the market, count on 7% compounding, and never worry about it again.”

I guarantee you the NOI of his real estate portfolio was higher than what he’s getting in the market.

NOI absolutely matters, but…

In the podcast community I mentioned at the start of this newsletter, we speak about cash flow all the time.

But we don’t call it the holy grail.  We refer to it as:

• The entrance to the dance.
• The key to scale.

Why?

Because NOI is crucial for providing your investors with a solid, standard experience.

Thinking in terms of your client’s NOI will 100% make you a better property manager—and differentiate you.

Just make sure you’re not setting yourself up to overpromise and under deliver.

If you can take an investor from making $200/month on a property to $1,200/month, there’s no doubt they’ll be willing to “eat more turds” to keep that kind of cash flow.

Our recent PMFB podcast guest, Jordan Muela nailed this point on our interview

But let’s be real—

Most conversations aren’t about a $1,000/month improvement.

They’re about going from $200/month to $300/month.

That’s why speaking in terms of NOI is a necessity, but there’s a metric that matters more when it comes to keeping clients.

I call it KTA.

The Metric That’s More Important Than NOI.

Another friend of mine was recently telling me why she decided to give 1 of her 5 doors to a new PM, and it didn’t make a lot of sense at first.

The returns were strong.

She has a deep, personal relationship with her PM… like- invited to kid’s birthday parties deep.

BUT…

When things got painful at 1 property, the property manager didn’t adapt to the sensitivity of the moment..

That led to the worst conversation in rental property investing-

“Why are we even doing this? Is this really worth it??” - spouse

That became the topic of conversation over too many breakfast nooks and dinner tables.

So she took that one property away from her PM and gave another one a shot.  Now, another property manager has a legitimate shot at her whole portfolio.

When times got tough, NOI had very little to do with that decision.  

It was all about reducing the most important metric for rental property investors, KTA (kitchen table arguments.)

The Silent Killer: The Invisibility Trap—and Why Even Good PMs Lose Owners

This is where well-intentioned PMs falter:

They only communicate when something goes wrong.

And when your main touchpoints are:

❌ Late payments
❌ Expensive repairs
❌ Vacancies and bad news

Owners start to associate you with stress—even if you’re delivering great returns.

That’s the silent killer.

Because when stress peaks, NOI won’t save you.

But here’s the thing:

Some PMs have figured this out. They’ve broken out of the invisibility trap by using tools like Blanket, and providing investor updates.

And that’s good. But it wasn’t enough in the two examples above.

Why?

Because the standard experience PMs work hard to build into their business, isn’t enough when things get messy.  The messy moments require critical attention.

And, as you know, they ALWAYS get messy, messy moments make KTA happen.

The Different Game: What Landlords Want

Good PMs today have mastered the ability to deliver a standardized experience..

And that’s awesome.

Standardization is crucial.

Owners need a reliable experience most of the time.

BUT

When emotions run high—when there’s a messy resident situation, a costly repair, or a frustrating delay—owners don’t just want standard.

They need super attentive, hands-on support.

And while we all know numbers matter, we also know  relationships are built or broken in the critical moments.

Which is why… if you can

• Deliver a solid, consistent experience for the day-to-day, month-to-month
• And have the bandwidth to provide exceptional, personal attention in the 1-2 critical moments per year

Then you won’t just keep your hard earned clients for the life of their investment, you’ll increase the time they’re invested.

But up until now,  you’ve needed to sacrifice personalization for the sake of standardization and scale.

That’s not necessarily true any more.

There’s No Silver Bullet—But Agentic A.I. Offers A Different Way

Property management is complex.  The amount of context that goes into every single little decision is insane.

It makes it hard to hire people and keep people.

It makes it hard to scale and not break.

It makes it really hard to deliver personalized attention and still love your business.

But the promise of agentic AI is one that will allow us to leave some of those assumptions behind.

Agentic AI isn’t just software that makes a process more efficient.

It’s a team member you don’t have to manage—one that handles entire workflows without oversight.

For example, our clients let Agentic AI handle 80-85% of all maintenance work orders.

What do they do with that time saved?

They…

1. Now have more time to focus on making the most important business decisions.
2. Spend more time with their families.
3. Or, most strategically—they use it to give their full, undivided attention to the most critical 15-20% of maintenance orders that really matter, because that’s where relationships are won or lost.

They free up their team to:

✔ Be available for last-minute showings.
✔ Speed up tenant turns.
✔ Step in personally when owners need that extra attention.

The New Way- Minding Your KTAs

Think about a world where the mundane tasks of property management no longer take up all of your time.

You can now build a completely different business.  A business that allows you to-

Control the standard, elevate the critical:
By employing agentic AI in your business, you can free your team to be present, overcommunicate, and add personal touch to critical moments.

Deliver the NOI, personally:
Using AI like Blanket allows your clients to see how much money they are making, but taking the time to go over it with them makes your their asset management expert.

Reduce KTAs (kitchen table arguments):
The best businesses scale the unscalable.  Having a proactive strategy for obssessive attention, well thought out communication, and personal touches were previously unscalable before agentic AI. Those are your best defense against KTAs.

This is how you make staying with you the easiest—and smartest—choice your owners can make.

At Vendoroo, we see ourselves as the Agentic AI partner that property managers need right now.  

We’ve already helped hundreds of property managers reduce owner churn all the while taking control of their business and living life on their own terms.

If after reading this article, you’d like to test out Agentic AI in your own company, I have two things to tell you:

• Welcome to the new way
• Say goodbye to KTAs!

Book a Demo Here and Let’s Get Started

See you next week!

Pablo Gonzalez, Chief Evangelist at Vendoroo.

‍