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A Day in the Life of a Property Manager

Any residential or commercial property must be taken care of from both a physical and a tenant-relations standpoint, and that is what a property manager does. He maintains and upgrades facilities while acting as liaison between the owner of the property and tenants. In many cases, the property manager has the responsibility for attracting tenants to the property as well. Since most property managers are in charge of a number of properties at any time, the job can involve frantic work, unusual hours, and extremely difficult schedule coordination. 鈥淢y desk looks like a hurricane hit it all the time,鈥� wrote one manager, adding that his paperwork burden isn鈥檛 just large, 鈥渋t scares me.鈥� It takes strong communications skills, strong organizational skills, and a flair for numbers to handle this demanding position. 鈥淓verything that goes wrong is your problem,鈥� mentioned one property manager, pointing out that a property manager has the most client contact when disasters occur, such as a flooded basement, a heating system gone awry, or a burglary. This can be daunting for those who don鈥檛 perform well in crisis situations. One respondent told us that the best property managers are 鈥減roactive rather than reactive.鈥� The more they can anticipate potential problems and prevent them, the fewer they have to deal with. When things do fall apart, often due to short-sighted owners who won鈥檛 lay out sufficient money for upkeep, managers must respond quickly and decisively. More mundane tasks, such as collecting rent and coordinating garbage removal, cannot suffer because of unanticipated events. Many property managers feel that the best feature of the profession is the chance to work with a variety of people on a number of different tasks: 鈥淚 never know what my day鈥檚 going to be like,鈥� as one put it. 鈥淚 think I know. I鈥檝e made lists of stuff to do. But as soon as you cross one thing out two new things come up. It鈥檚 a race to keep on top of everything. I love it.鈥� While property managers spend a lot of their day dealing with paperwork and talking on the telephone, the problems they deal with vary greatly from week to week and month to month, giving most property managers a sense of creative challenge that keeps the job fresh. Onsite managers also have to show prospective tenants around the site and meet with resident boards and committees, which can mean evenings or weekends spent in meetings.

Paying Your Dues

Most major employers ask that property managers have a bachelor鈥檚 degree, although no formal requirements are inherent to the field. Coursework that proves helpful to candidates includes real estate, organizational behavior, mathematics, accounting, finance, logic, psychology, and public relations. A few property managers who were responsible for recruiting new tenants stated that marketing courses were helpful as well. After being hired, many people attend brief weekend or three-day training programs, sponsored by the hiring company, that acquaint them with the concerns and obligations of the property manager. Those who wish to become property managers in the public sector, for example in subsidized federal housing, must be certified, although the certification carries weight in the private sector as well. Professional organizations such as the Institute of Real Estate Management or the National Organization of Home Builders administer these exams.

Present and Future

While property managers can probably trace their roots back to the rent collectors in the service of extortionate landlords in pre-industrial times, in recent times the position is more of a liaison between owner and tenant. Property managers can look forward to a strong future. Commercial, residential, and industrial property development is expected to result from growth in all sectors in the upcoming decade, and these newly developed properties will need managers to keep them running smoothly. Property managers will still be at the mercy of local economies, but if relocation is not a problem, the field should be open for the next ten years.

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Quality of Life

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