Apartment Management - a Really Ratty Business!

Please note that my purpose is seeking insight into a subject that has escaped me for years - not to criticize apartment managers or their profession.

My experience as a professional business manager is that people are selected for the great majority of jobs on the basis of their credentials [experience, skills, track record, etc.] that relate directly to the job description. For example, one doesn't expect to see a world class, plumber in an aerospace engineer position; nor is it likely that a professional surgeon would be caught managing steel workers atop a skyscraper. Most likely, professional plumbers, engineers, surgeons, steel workers, etc. focus the tools of their trades on their respective trade environments, are usually good at what they do and reasonably well compensated for their work.

So what is with the apartment management business?

The people who advertise Apartment Manager job openings are often quite lengthy with their job description and requirements. Job postings often include particulars like high school education, great communication skills, command of various computer software, marketing capabilities, ability to supervise vendors, etc. The advertised particulars could lead any reasonable person to the conclusion that possession of said particulars will result in a satisfactorily performed and compensated job. But there is, in reality, one great big "spook" that very rarely, if ever, gets mentioned!

The truth is that I have, in decades of property management experience, never once seen it mentioned; and the "it" is PEOPLE MANAGEMENT! The basic work is really simple - keeping a property filled with happy tenants by providing a comfortable and safe environment and maintaining the property to protect and enhance value for owners. At my level, managing hundreds of apartment homes is a piece of cake. But managing people may consume more time and energy than all aspects of managing a property. At any hour, someone calls about a "strange noise". Someone complains about neighbor' noises - voices, stereo, walking, running, yelling, fighting... Or it can be about parking, clothes left in the laundry room, suspected criminal actiivity and the list goes on and on and on..... People management can be very scary in many apartment neighborhood environments - scary enough that many managers [like wise little old men and women] avoid that activity. Permissiveness can take and has taken many, many properties right down the tubes.

Apartment property owners and management companies actually expect their onsite mangement to deal with all of this people stuff and pay peanuts for the effort. Management companies put up the jazzy web sites with descriptive buzz words and beautiful pictures. Visiting the property or apartment rating web site may prompt a state of wonderment as to whether or not it is the same property. And becoming a resident may turn out to be a world class nightmare in the aspects of sudden management lack of interest, deferred building maintenance and a host of other possibilities. Apartment managers may talk about poor compensation and apartment management companies may talk about how tough it is to employ talent - the old chicken or egg syndrome.

Surely there are exceptional companies and people in the business, but what does it take to boost the honesty and pride of this industry?

Remember that every day above ground is a great day!