Commercial and Residential Property Manager Job Description, Qualifications, and Outlook

The residential property manager job description entails taking care of a wide array of aspects involved in maintaining and administering industrial, commercial, or residential properties. They not only have to make sure that the properties under their supervision are well-maintained, but they also have to preserve their lease and resale value, as well as to handle all customer issues.

The job outlook is as favorable as the average for all occupations in the United States. This is owed to several factors, and because of this, as well as because of the moderately low pay when compared to the amount of work they have to do, the profession has been somewhat faltering as of lately.

Job Overview: What Does a Commercial and Residential Property Manager Professional Do?

People with the commercial and residential property manager job description and salary usually deal in planning, directing, and coordinating the leasing, selling, buying, or governing of residential, industrial, and commercial real estate properties. Back in 2014, two out of five property managers were self-employed.

The job description of commercial and residential property manager usually entails a wide array of responsibilities. Of course, these vary from job to job and from specialty to specialty, although most of them do carry from one place of employment to another. However, that isn’t always the case.

Commercial and Residential Property Manager Job Duties

Someone with the commercial property manager job description will have some different responsibilities than someone with the real estate property manager job description. Similarly, the residential property manager job description will entail somewhat different responsibilities than the apartment property manager job description.

• Surveying the local rental rates and establishing rental rates based on their surveys.
• Calculating depreciation, profit goals, taxes, and overhead costs.
• Advertising property vacancies, attracting tenants, explaining the advantages and services available at certain locations, and negotiating leases and property rental contracts.
• Paying bills, collecting security deposits and rent from tenants.
• Preparing annual budgets and initiating corrective actions for accomplishing different financial objectives.
• Analyzing variances and forecasting requirements.
• Investigating, resolving the complaints of tenants and confronting any potential violators.
• Maintaining property values and getting current tenants to give referrals.
• Taking care of repairs and planning renovations.
• Inspecting different vacant units and showcasing different units.
• Setting up contracts with snow removal and landscaping services.
• Contacting security patrol services and installing security devices.
• Determining and enforcing security guidelines and cautionary procedures and policies.
• Responding to emergencies and securing property for the employers.
• Collecting data to use in analyzing and summarizing trends.
• Maintaining personal and professional networks.
• Constantly updating their job knowledge by getting involved in professional organizations and exploring as many new opportunities as possible.
• Accomplishing as many of the organization’s goals as possible.
• Supervising and coordinating other employees.
• Keeping and maintaining records, supervising and taking care of vacant properties.

Property Manager Job Essential Skills

Management skills. Being adept at managing territory is the most important feature of a property manager. Also, being adept at managing resources and having advanced forward thinking capabilities is important for this professional. An understanding of accounting and financial principles are mandatory for a person with the job description of a property manager. Also, there are necessary superior supervisory skills to manage the business.

Communications skills. The property manager deals with customers directly, therefore he needs to have great active listening and interpersonal skills. This is mandatory in order to be receptive to the customers’ needs and wants and helping them with finding what they want. Also, decent prospecting skills are also necessary. A certain measure of professionalism is required when dealing with customers face to face.

Sales skills. This professional has to be always highly motivated for sales and wanting to meet more and more sales goals. He must have exquisite negotiation skills to be able to detect and sell to the customers’ needs. He must always close the deal.

Knowledgeable. An understanding of customer service and marketing principles is highly important for this job. As well as a working understanding of financial statements, budgets, agreements, and contracts. Also vital is a functional knowledge of grounds maintenance and building. Some proficiency in Microsoft Office and some property management software are also very useful. As well as being familiar with federal, state, and local regulations.

Becoming a Property Manager Professional

As with most job descriptions out there, particularly for those which involve some form of sales expertise or skills, one must possess certain skills and attributes in order to be good at their job. For example, someone with no sales or management skills could not properly work as a property manager.

Most employers choose to hire college graduates, however, it’s not uncommon for them to hire employees with just a high school diploma as long as their qualities recommend them. Depending on each state, some people with the property manager job description need have a real estate license, while others only need a moderate amount of vocational training.

Commercial and Residential Property Manager Job Description: Qualifications and Training

While a high school diploma is generally enough to qualify someone for the property manager job description and salary, some employers do prefer that their future employees have more of an educational background than that. Vocational real estate training and a bachelor’s degree in a related subject are a huge bonus, as are degrees in real estate, finance, or business administration.

As for the training that comes with the job, it is often lacking entirely. Unless a company is well established enough to afford wasting time training their managers, which they often aren’t, particularly not in this economy, people with the property manager job description often find themselves having to figure out the ropes of their profession on their own.

That is why someone with a silver tongue and superior organizational skills would be a far better candidate than someone with formal education but no management or sales experience or talents. In this industry, it’s one’s qualities and experience that take precedence over one’s formative and educational background.

Work Experience

Experience is a fairly big factor when it comes to the property manager job description and salary. According to payscale.com, the average property manager salary grows by more than $15,000 over the course of one’s professional career. Of course, the biggest influence experience makes is on one’s chances of getting hired for a more important position.

For example, a newly hired property manager with less than five years of experience won’t be getting the senior property manager job. It’s most likely that they’ll get the administrative assistant property manager position in a development company than that of administrative director.

Working Hours

Weekly hours for a full-time Property Manager are 45 hours. However, property managers sometimes must go at evening meetings with property owners, residents, community association boards of directors, or civic groups. Therefore, overtime is required, however, they usually receive compensatory time off for working nights or weekends.

While most of these professionals work in an office, it’s not uncommon for people with the property manager job description to spend their days away from their desk, supervising projects, meeting with renters, inspecting grounds, and showing apartments.  Some apartment managers might even be required to live in the apartment complexes where they work so that they are available to handle emergencies.

Job Outlook & Advancement Opportunities

The median salary of a property manager was estimated at $55,380 per year or $26.63 per hour in 2015, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. While back in 2014 the estimated median property manager salary was $45,561 per year, according to Payscale. So, it would seem like there is a trend for a steady salary increase for the property manager job description.

It seems the rate of employment for people with the property manager job description should 8% by 2024. This is as fast as the average for all occupations in the United States. According to the consensus, there are several factors behind this perfectly average growth.

Those with a college degree in either real estate or business administration, as well as those who manage to get professional credentials have the biggest employment opportunities. The growth rate is owed to the fading nationwide trust in the economy and in the real estate system.

Conclusion

People with the property manager job description generally have a wide variety of responsibilities, from setting up security protocols to dealing with customer complaints, and even supervising the maintenance and property value of the assets under their supervision. With a decent salary, but a mediocre job outlook, the occupations seems to still be recovering from the financial crisis.