The Life of Property Manager From Dawn To Dusk

Property managers interact with real estate investors, tenants, contractors, city officials, home buyers, and real estate agents. The property managers protect the property interests of the owner and are the owner’s agent.

The troubles facing property managers is continuous and unrelenting. Managers must advertise for new tenants by promoting the advantage of the location and resident services, show the apartments and set the rental rates in conjunction with the owner.

However, this is only the beginning of the problems facing a property manager. Rent is that five letter word that challenges property managers sense of well-being. Managers must enforce the owner’s bottom line, and become rent cops. While the vast majority of tenants are honest, it is the residents that appear to be able to meet their financial responsibilities, filling their cars with Christmas presents, who decide that rent, which is ten days late, can wait for payment for the next forty-five days.

Tenant problems often arise when the Property Manger missed the fact that its new tenant skipped out on rent from the last apartment complex and found his way under your tutelage. The problem is complicated by the fact that the tenant skipped out and came to your complex immediately before the manager’s screening process failed to pick up this point.

When the manager reviews the lease with a prospective tenant, he or she correctly pointed out the no pet policy, praying that the pets have not already moved in. The manager quickly finds out after other tenants complain of dogs barking or smell cat urine in the hallways. This crisis now affects other tenants who unhappily gave up their animals to friends or dog pounds. The manager shifts between many roles from a rent cop to a pet cop, and the ten-day notice is given.

Then there is the call in the middle of the night with a tenant screaming about the water which is almost knee deep. This problem is more than embarrassing, and the manager now becomes a confessor, pleading for a resident’s understanding.

The manager is very mindful that the property taxes are now due on the apartment complex and was told by the owner that all the rent must be collected on time. Most of the rents are on time except for a few tenants, who appear to be flush with cash. They promise the rent in a couple of days. The manager now plays the role of Scrooge because the slow rate was during the holiday season and the rent due is beyond the grace period.

The manager is also the head of maintenance, which is one of the most fearful promises made to a tenant. The owner, of course, expects its managers to be the jack of all trades but it always turns out that the managers are not the masters of any.

There are other problems managers face. The evicted tenant yells that he will see you in court with his father’s lawyer. The entire security deposit is demanded back notwithstanding the burnt holes in the carpet soaked with urine, and the tenant says that he didn’t know he could not rent out his apartment to someone else.

A property manager is part of every aspect of the tenant’s community, on a personal level as well as a professional level.