Day in the life of a Property Manager

It’s a dynamic and fast paced environment, a property manager must be an agile, quick thinker who enjoys dealing with a wide range of people on a daily basis.

To be successful, a property manager needs a variety of skills. They need to have excellent people skills, be a great listener, have strong negotiation skills as well as effective mediators and must be supremely organised. It’s a great job and it is not for the faint hearted.

No day is ever the same! The role is extremely varied, as we get to complete such a wide range of tasks. Obviously, some are more interesting than others, but the combination of the variety makes for an interesting and stimulating job.

You need to be a people person as much of the day is taken up with talking about their property - their home is their castle and it can take time. I always used to underestimate how long it would take, I have learned to go with the flow, be patient and allow 50% more time than it might take and take advantage of the cups of tea and the biscuits!

I love working with all the properties we manage, and I have a fondness for some of the older properties - they have so much character and history, the stories that they could tell. We wrote a blog recently about all the different types of properties we manage -  from modern residential to grade II listed buildings you can read it here.

It’s not desk based

It’s definitely not a desk-based job, it’s very varied and working with contractors is always great fun, and I’m still constantly learning - even after fifteen years working in this industry, I can learn something new every single day. I love the fact that as a woman in this industry I still get some surprised faces when I turn up and climb the scaffolding. 

During lockdown was challenging, as a people person I found it challenging not being able to see people, but we still did our best and still managed to see our vulnerable clients by setting up a team of volunteers to support their needs, do their shopping and collect prescriptions when needed. I visited many of them and kept in touch with full PPE and by talking through windows - it was important in such a challenging time that we reassured them that we were still there for them.

On the days when it’s back-to-back appointments it can be challenging to get the balance right, and we’ve noticed that since lockdown the business dynamic has shifted and we now get even more emails, so finding the time to respond in a timely manner can sometimes be a challenge.

No such thing as an average day!

There really isn’t an average day, so the typical tasks a property manager performs will range from emails and telephone calls, to conducting inspections at properties. This could be routine inspections, major works or emergencies, as well as private appointments with tradespeople, owners and tenants.

The skills of a property manager are in high demand - the emails come in 24/7 and phones generally start ringing early in the morning and continue well past close of business, so it’s important to manage our business boundaries and we wrote about this in a recent blog.

Skills Needed

Property managers also must undertake formal training to attain the relevant qualifications. Being a property manager was never identified by my careers advisor when I was choosing a career, I recommend the skills needed are numerous and varied from communication skills, negotiation skills, project management, planning skills, delegation, stakeholder management skills, high levels of diplomacy and emotional intelligence – and bucket loads of patience. 

I believe our role within the industry is hugely misunderstood.

As property managers we need to be extremely flexible as the job can be really reactive. We always plan as much as possible, and we plan for the unexpected, but sometimes a storm that causes roof damage or a burst drain, or a flooded bathroom can’t be predicted, it’s just the nature of our business.

The role of a property manager is not without challenges and managing client expectations is not always easy, as expectations are high and managing their realistic expectations and communication are so important.

Property managers are there to make life easier for the owner, to do all the work in the background. It’s like being the silent and invisible “fixer.” Despite being professionally qualified via the Institute of Residential Property Management and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, we are always learning on the job and that’s part of the fun and the stimulation. We really do live a culture of continuous improvement.

We’re fortunate at Fraser Allen because we’re not trying to be all things to all men, or women - we are professional Block Management experts and we’re really good at it.

We are all so thrilled recently to have been recognised by Property Management 50 as being the “one to watch in block management.” We’re up to date with current technology, and embrace it when it works for our clients. We think nationally and act locally and we get results!