hubbuzz blog

Property managers have a ridiculous job, when you think about it. Here’s a list of stuff that could come up in one day:

• Infrastructure issues – IT, power plant/utilities, communications
• Office staff issues – late or absent or new employees who require training 
• Late paying residents – there’s always at least one
• Residents angry about billing issues – there’s always at least one ;)
• Regional managers upset about vacancies - in some markets
• Maintenance stuff (beyond our comprehension!) - every single day

And then, of course, there’s the job itself – running an apartment property, putting the best possible face on it and making sure that everything contributes positively to filling the vacant units or retaining the current base of renters, all inside the budget. (The property manager made the budget and then corporate “tweaked” it – downward – but the property manager must execute on that budget and sometimes it ain’t easy.) You have to be pretty tough to deal with all that.

So how can hubbuzz.com help? We can help by remembering that property managers do have a ridiculous job and, therefore, patience is a virtue. We can help by remembering that we’re probably not on the top of the to-do list for that property manager – not today! (See list above – they’re worried about all that stuff.)

So making ourselves easy to deal with is our best option. Here are some of the things we need to do to be helpful:

• Use straightforward communications that get to the point. It makes it easier for property managers to figure out what the next steps are.
• Use more than one type of communication – email plus phone, snail mail plus phone or whatever combination works at that property. Everyone has a different style.
• Provide proof points, statistics or something that helps make a decision easier.
• Put the important stuff at the front of the communication – the property manager who gets to read all the way to the end of something is having a quiet day!
• Occasionally just put something lighthearted out there – we can all use a smile now and then. (Just don’t overdo it.)

I try and remember the list of things that every property manager is facing every day when I’m trying to get a decision or make some progress – and I try to remind everyone here to do the same. Empathy is a very powerful thing. And of course empathy can work wonders…in both directions.

Do you have more suggestions about how to have a good relationship with the hardest-working people in the property management industry? Let’s hear about them.

When hubbuzz.com was in its gestation period, pre-name, coming up with a name was quite a task – the difficulty of which we hadn’t expected. Apartments, neighborhoods, rent, spaces, places, digs, pad, home – these words, while all useful, are all very used. So we wound up with the concept of coining our own term, and it has served us well so far (though it’s sometimes difficult to communicate over the phone.)