Eliminate the Headache of Managing Property from Abroad
4 min read
Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Sean Prendergast (second right), managing director of JN Properties, makes a point during the JN Group webinar, Securing Your Piece of the Rock, held on May 21. Listening on are (l-r) Karon Lewis, acting business relationship and sales manager at JN Bank and moderator for the session; Earl Samuels, assistant general manager and chief development financing officer at the JN Group; and Dwayne Berbick, assistant general manager, corporate affairs at the National Housing Trust.
With managing property in Jamaica from overseas a persistent challenge for diaspora investors, JN Properties Limited is underscoring that there are professionals in the local market who can eliminate the headache of managing real estate assets from overseas.
Speaking as a panellist during the recent JN Group organised Securing Your Piece of the Rock, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Sean Prendergast, managing director of JN Properties, highlighted that there is professional help available to assist with managing local properties, pointing out that many Jamaicans overseas rely on informal arrangements such as family and close friends who create a stressful conundrum for diasporans who are forced to manage the relationships while managing their properties from abroad.
He noted that his company has been responding to this pain point as more investors expand their holdings across both residential and commercial real estate in Jamaica. Trust, he noted, sits at the centre of the challenges. For many overseas property owners, the difficulty is not only in maintaining buildings or managing tenants, but in identifying reliable individuals or systems on the ground who can be entrusted with the care of assets while they continue to build their life in a different country.
“One of the biggest headaches for people who live overseas who own properties in Jamaica is who they [can] trust to maintain their assets”
Lt Col Prendergast
For residential properties, informal arrangements have often filled the gap. Family members or friends are usually asked to help look after things, but this does not always happen in a consistent or effective way. For commercial properties, the situation is more demanding, with leases to manage and rules to follow, making informal arrangements harder to rely on over time.
Lt Col Prendergast said JN Properties has sought to address this gap by providing a structured service that includes formal reporting, tenant screening and maintenance scheduling, aimed at giving investors clear visibility over how their properties are being managed.
“If you want a property rented, JN Properties will go out, find the suitable tenants, vet them and make sure they are able to afford the rental sums and that you’re making a good decision as to who you are putting into your property,” he said, pointing to years of experience, including managing assets within the JN Group, which has informed how the company approaches property upkeep.
“We make sure we provide all of the maintenance services, whether it is plumbing, landscaping, garbage collection, we arrange for electrical checks, air conditioning and generator servicing, the whole process,” he added.
Beyond routine property maintenance, the JN Properties head shared that the company’s project management arm also supervises developments from the planning stage through to complete construction.
He said the project management team guides clients from the start of construction, including advising on requirements before work begins, coordinating professional services and keeping the project on track.
“In Jamaica you know that if you don’t tie down the responsibilities of the construction contractors, your project budget can get out of hand, so we have structures in place to advise and to monitor the progress of the contractors,” he highlighted.
The importance of structure and oversight in the construction process was also highlighted by Earl Samuels, assistant general manager and chief financing officer at the JN Group, who urged diaspora investors to also ensure they are engaging certified professionals. He said accreditation and due diligence are critical to protecting investments and limiting risk.
“A lot of people want to get into the real estate business, but they don’t really understand some of the pitfalls and opportunities,” he said. “We recommend that you use professionals who are certified and are members of their professional bodies because you have to hold them to certain standards.”
Earl Samuels, assistant general manager and chief financing officer at the JN Group
The webinar, held on May 21, was hosted ahead of the 11th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference, scheduled for June 14 to 18 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James. JN Group, a legacy sponsor since its inception in 2004, is a co-chair of the conference.
The online session was attended by hundreds of people from across the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada the Caribbean, and other diaspora communities who are looking to retire, relocate or invest in Jamaica.
