Jacobs Property Management celebrates 50 years of managing properties for local, national, and international clients.
Jacobs Property Management is a local, family-owned property management company that recently celebrated 50 years in the business, with a rich history, tight-knit team, and close client relationships as the company’s hallmarks.
Jacobs Property Management history
Father-son duo Everett P. “Jake” Jacobs and Delton Jacobs opened Everett P. Jacobs Realty Inc. in May 1972. The company eventually became Jacobs Property Management while maintaining Jacobs Realty Inc. as a traditional real estate brokerage, assisting buyers and sellers.
Shortly after opening the brokerage, Delton Jacobs graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in real estate. Around this time Jake retired from his job as a butcher at A & P Grocery with the plan for his real estate business to be a “retirement job,” says his granddaughter and Delton’s daughter, Amanda Jacobs, owner/asset manager of Jacobs Property Management.
The company’s website says that in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Jake and Delton worked to expand their business, becoming one of the two largest real estate brokerage firms in Columbia by the end of the decade. As the business grew, the shift began to merge the business of real estate with property management.
“Fast forward a number of years, they went through a couple of ideations; they did a franchise with Red Carpet — it was Red Carpet Realty for a while in the ‘80s,” Amanda says. “I believe it was 1990, Richard Mendenhall invited the two of them to sort of partner up with him in what is now RE/MAX, Boone Realty, so they merged the sales side of the business in 1990 with Boone Realty, but kept Everett P. Jacobs Realty Inc., open as a property management company.”
Initially, the property management side was meant to manage the residential investment real estate that the Jacobs team had started acquiring for “very close family and friends,” Amanda adds.
By the 1990s Everett P. Jacobs Realty Inc., became Jacobs Property Management, existing solely as a property management firm.
“At the height of our management, we were managing for almost 60 different private property owners and had a portfolio close to 500 individual front doors,” Amanda says.
When Jake died in 2013 at the age of 95, Amanda took on his shares of the company. Since that time, Jacobs Property Management has been owned and operated by Delton and Amanda.
Building a family
Being in the business for 50 years has earned Jacobs Property Management a wide array of clients. Although the company manages only local properties, its clientele extends outside of Missouri and even beyond the U.S.
“A lot of our owners don’t live here in town; they live all over the country,” Amanda explains. “The majority of our property owners are not local, so we are the day-to-day eyes and ears on their investment.”
Being someone’s eyes and ears is not always easy. Managing multiple investments is a significant task with an array of detailed responsibilities.
“The misnomer is that all we do is collect the rent and that’s it, but it’s so much more than that,” Amanda says. “We are the risk managers for the property owners. That means screening tenants. You really want to screen incoming prospective residents to make sure we’re putting the highest quality resident in place that we can. We’re eliminating risk where we can. It also means property preservation. We’re really managing these properties as if we own every single one of them ourselves.”
Managing multiple properties requires a qualified, well-rounded team. As a family-owned company, Jacobs Property Management strives to create a close-knit environment with its employees.
“Our team is really tight. We’re like family,” Amanda adds. “Even though the rest of the team isn’t family by blood, they’re family by experience and just being here every day. We’ve got really good longevity with our team, especially for a small business. We don’t have a huge amount of turnover.”
She continues, “We have an awesome culture within our company. We work really hard to provide the very best service we can with what we do.”
Looking to the future
As Jacobs Property Management neared its 50-year mark, co-owner Delton announced his retirement, passing most of his responsibilities to Amanda. After celebrating the business’s half-century anniversary, Amanda has “big plans” for the company, spending time with her team in 2022 to refine its management portfolio.
“We actually let some properties and some owners go. Not because we didn’t love them, not because we were angry with anybody, but because we’ve determined we’re not necessarily the best fit for this property,” she explains, noting that the portfolio review and evaluation led to being able to focus more on the properties the company has and the ability to “be really intentional with which properties are coming in.”
“That’s where our focus is right now,” Amanda adds, “just making sure that with our slightly sized down portfolio, we’re able to perform with excellence on a daily basis.”
1972 – Everett P. “Jake” Jacobs and his son Delton Jacobs opened Everett P. Jacobs Realty Inc.
1980 – Jake and Delton focus on expanding; by the end of the decade the company was one of the largest real estate brokerages in Columbia.
1990 – Everett P. Jacobs Realty Inc., partners with RE/MAX and begins managing residential investments and local properties.
1995 – Jacobs Property Management becomes official and exists solely as a property management firm.
2013 – Amanda Jacobs takes on her late grandfather’s shares and she and Delton become the owners and operators.
2023 – Jacobs Property Management celebrates 50 years; Delton Jacobs retires, passing his responsibilities to his daughter, Amanda.
Jacobs Property Management
573-449-2558
jacobspropertymanagement.com
