We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Raven Reinmuth. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Raven below.

Raven, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, what’s an important lesson you learned at a prior job?

The most important lesson I’ve learned in my career—and one that has greatly shaped my role as a property management company owner—is the importance of the business model in delivering quality service. This realization stemmed from my firsthand experience working under a team-based model at a previous property management company. It was a challenging experience that ultimately shaped the way I run my business today, using the portfolio model instead.

To give some context: the team model is structured to maximize scalability for the business owner. A single property manager oversees a vast portfolio of usually 300 or more properties, with specialized teams—leasing agents, maintenance coordinators, bookkeepers, and more—handling specific aspects of management. While this may look efficient on paper, the reality was quite different.

At that company, I observed how the team-based structure negatively impacted every level of service. Property managers were so overloaded that it was impossible to truly understand the properties, owners, or tenants they were responsible for. Most duties were delegated to other overwhelmed team members, creating confusion about accountability and frequent errors. Clients often didn’t know who to contact, tenants felt ignored, and vendors became frustrated with miscommunications. This resulted in higher tenant turnover, wasted money on maintenance errors, and dissatisfied property owners. The stress and burnout among employees were palpable, leading to high turnover and perpetuating the cycle of poor service.

This experience was a turning point for me. I realized that the portfolio model, though less scalable and potentially less profitable for the business owner, was far superior in terms of service quality and overall satisfaction. In the portfolio model, a single property manager handles a smaller portfolio—typically under 100 properties—and oversees every aspect of management. This allows the manager to develop meaningful relationships with owners, tenants, and vendors, as well as a deep understanding of each property. Errors are rare because responsibilities are well-defined and manageable.

When I started Raven Real Estate Management, I chose the portfolio model because it aligned with my values of providing excellent, personalized service. I wanted to ensure that every client felt supported, every tenant felt heard, and every vendor enjoyed working with us. This structure has allowed me to create long-term partnerships, minimize errors, and deliver the high standard of care that property owners, tenants, and vendors deserve.

Raven, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been doing property management for most of my adult life. I was working at a restaurant and wanted to get into real estate, but I wasn’t sure what direction to go. I started studying for my real estate license and took the first entry level real estate job I could find – which happened to be a leasing agent position at an awesome property management company in Boulder where I learned a lot and made good friends.

I ended up loving the industry, and knew I wanted to go off on my own eventually, so I jumped around to different companies, learning their models and doing jobs in different aspects of the business so I could learn.

I started my property management business, Raven Real Estate Management, in March 2023 with zero properties and have been slowly and steadily growing ever since! We manage residential rental properties in the Denver and Boulder, CO metro areas. We manage all types of properties from small single family homes/condos to small and medium/large sized multifamily buildings. We handle every aspect of management for our clients from leasing and maintenance to providing monthly operating reports and year end tax statements. We take pride in staying up-to-date on all the new legislation affecting our industry in Colorado (of which there is a lot in recent years!) as well as truly caring about our tenants and prioritizing the tenant experience to keep good tenants long-term!

At previous companies I worked for, learned a lot about the importance of how the company is structured. At one job, I was a property manager with over 300 properties in my portfolio, and I had a team under me (maintenance coordinators, leasing agents, operations, bookkeeping, etc).
While scaling vertically this way might make sense as the owner of the company can maximize profits and try to streamline things this way by having fewer staff and more properties under management, I found that it was rife with issues.
Managers cannot reasonably handle 300+ properties and have no real relationship with clients this way. It leads to lots of mistakes and miscommunications between the team, often unclear divisions of responsibilities, poor or no relationship with owners, vendors, and tenants, and is a stressful fast-track to burnout for the staff.

The way I structure my company is quite different and more of a portfolio model, where one property manager handles a much smaller portfolio (usually 75-100 properties max) and is responsible for all of the management duties for their properties.
This way, everyone has one point of contact (their property manager), the manager is able to get to know and visit each property, tenant, vendor, and owner, and there is a lot less stress and far fewer mistakes.
I find that even though this means that the company cannot grow and scale quite as quickly, it really sets us apart from the competition because clients love to know that they have only one point of contact and will be working with someone competent, who will get to know and care about their assets. I know that if I were a rental property owner looking for a management company, or a tenant looking to rent, this is exactly the kind of set up I would look for!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I worked hard to maximize my earning potential while I was still an employee by pursuing higher-paying roles and consistently increasing my value. In just a few years, I was earning nearly four times what I made when I first started in the industry. I achieved this by strategizing, continuously learning, and dedicating myself to excelling at what I do.

To further support my goals, I worked nights and weekends at a restaurant, allowing me to save as much money as possible and become debt-free.

When the time came to take the leap and start my own business, I had saved enough to focus entirely on my new venture without the need for a second job. Looking back, I’m so glad I took this approach—it gave me the financial freedom to fully commit to building my business.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Referrals are everything—I think most business owners would agree!

I’m fortunate to be part of an amazing networking group and a tight-knit community centered around a shared hobby. Most of my clients have come directly from these groups or through referrals from people I’ve met there. Over time, word-of-mouth referrals have started to snowball, with many becoming second- or even third-tier connections.

For my business, doing excellent work for my clients and putting myself out there to connect with the right people has been the only advertising I’ve needed. When someone is happy with our services, they’re often eager to share their experience with others. Google reviews have also been a huge asset. As far as I know, we’re the only property management company in the Denver metro area with only 5-star reviews!

In property management, I typically manage properties for years, which allows me to build ongoing, long-term relationships with my clients. This consistency keeps me top of mind when it comes to referrals. Since I communicate with clients at least once a month—sometimes more—they always have my contact information handy, whether it’s for a question or to recommend my services to someone else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ravenrealestatemanagement.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ravenrealestatemanagement/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562146749860
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/raven-real-estate-management/