Apartment Jobs

I recently had the tremendous pleasure of hearing real estate industry expert and visionary Christopher Lee speak at an Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) conference about his new publication, entitled “Transformational Leadership in the New Age of Real Estate”.  Christopher has a “tell-it-like-it-is” attitude in person that is mirrored in his writing. His perceptive document sets out the likely future of the real estate industry and outlines the factors that may be important to achieve success in the decade ahead.

In his talk to IREM, Mr. Lee made several thought provoking observations, but one in particular stands out for its value to those of us in the industry.  Mr. Lee predicts that in the course of the next ten years, our industry will face an exodus of founders, senior-level executives, and experienced professionals. He forecasts that by 2025 more than 65% of present senior leaders will have left their roles. Mr. Lee comments that, “the combination of the exiting Boomers and a lack of infusion of young/next-generation talent (Xers who aren’t ready and Ys who are still learning) will result in a potential talent vacuum.”

Further evidence from federal labor data indicates that the numbers of jobs in the real estate industry have been growing at a minimal level for some time. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of real estate and community association managers had increased from 145,340 to 150,850, a gain of only around 5,500 at a time of growth within the industry.In addition, projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that real estate property management will have an average of only 7,800 new job openings per year up to 2018.This presents challenges both to those seeking to gain entry to the industry, but also to those already working to differentiate themselves from their peers in order to excel in their chosen career.

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia

There are many reasons why we need to recruit. We live in a world where there are unlimited opportunities for advancement and success. So, it stands to reason that your team members come and go based on their own personal career aspirations and opportunities that present themselves.

It’s always wise to know individual team member’s personal goals. You should ask them what these are at the initial interview and then discuss it at monthly one-to-one meetings. By knowing what your team member’s long-term career aspirations are, you are then able to manage your team, business, and service by design.

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia

Currently, there are many challenges facing the property management industry. I believe the property management industry is unknowingly creating many of these challenges because they are not identifying and addressing the real problem. I consider the real problem to be how principals operate their property management business.

Problem number one comes when principals need to find a new team member, the “Property Manager”.

So did I get your attention?  I know, I know, you don’t want to be replaceable because then they will… replace you!!!  YES they will because you will be PROMOTED because you are so awesome!!  So in preparation for your promotion to assistant, manager, director, supervisor or whatever title you are striving for you must make sure your team is ready to take the reins and RUN!  Here are 4 things you MUST do to ensure that they are:

1.       Let them stumble, and even fall!  I said it, let them fall – it is okay to have them make a decision about something that may not have been the decision you would have made or that is the absolute best decision for that time.  Of course you want to mitigate the losses and ensure that you are not losing money for the property but let them make a decision about a customer that is upset about a rental increase or one that has been late for the 10^th time and still wants you to refund their late fee.  Having your employees make bad decisions is a teaching moment for you to not only gauge how they think about tough decisions but also to see how they react when they are confronted with making a bad decision.  The best inventors made 100 different prototypes of the wrong thing before they stumbled upon the right one!

2.       Show them a budget!  Yes, share your budget with your teams.  Help them understand how you derived your numbers, what they mean and what happens when you hit those numbers or miss those numbers.  Make sure that you help them understand the cost of every concession, the cost of every turn and how much a lost renewal can cost the property and how it all relates together.  Understanding the budget is part of developing a ‘career employee’ rather than a ‘this is my job employee’.

Learning is a lifelong endeavor. I have almost collected a full alphabet of designations after my name; not because I particularly love being a student but rather because I know it is essential to refresh and update my knowledge so that it remains current in the face of both a business that constantly evolves and an economy that is ever changing. It is a truism that change is one of the few certainties in life. Viewing this in a positive way, the more open we are to change, the better equipped we are to adapt to changing work circumstances and new challenges.

This is going to be a pretty subjective conversation, I am sure, but we have talked a lot about mystery shops, and Billi Jo Suiter made the comment, “If used as a teaching tool I think they hold immense value, however when used as a means for termination and fault finding they then do more harm to a team than any value they could have had.”  We’ve discussed this a lot on here, and my stance has always been that yes, the primary goal should be training, but what about those that are simply bad employees?  For example, there are some people who simply have a bad attitude (not just a “bad day”) or are simply too lazy to try to do a good job.

So the question comes down to, can you train someone on how to have a good attitude or not be lazy?  What if it is not just that the person is going through a rough patch – what if that is their fundamental personality?  We can’t simply let them be, as a bad attitude can be a cancer in any office, so do you all believe that this type of person can be trained to see the bright side of life, or is it something that can’t be rectified and they need to be let go?

Back when I was still with a property management company, I used to regularly poll my managers and on-site marketing people to gauge their satisfaction and stress level. I was regularly surprised by the level of stress, or perceived stress, that many of these managers seemed to labor under day in and day out. What was causing it? Was it me, my owner, co-workers, policies, pricing, marketing, competition? The weather? Their hair? Sometimes I was really quite nonplussed. So I decided to go deeper, get more into the root of the problem.

Once I could rule out most of the above, aside from the fact that my owner at that time was quite possibly a lunatic, I came across a completely different cause – the person themselves. Many of these managers had the same basic job, same performance, same salary, similar living situations and family lives as non-stressed managers. What were they doing differently? Freaking out about nothing, for one. Doing many things which caused them stress, for another. Have you ever had a day that just seemed to start off bad, and then get progressively worse? If you sit and analyze that day, somewhat removed from its outcome, it is interesting to pinpoint where things may have gone wrong. Did you wake up late? Run out of gas? Miss an errand, forget an appointment? Drink a few gallons too much coffee? Did you show up to a meeting unprepared or a few minutes past acceptable? Were you short with a person who you should have indulged in conversation, or dismissive of someone whose ideas could have helped you? We have all been there. Many of us have had each of these happen, sometimes all in just one day. But how many of them are avoidable, how many can you prevent? I can’t go into the psychology of why some people self-sabotage, but I do explain to my employees and consulting clients that certain people, certain types, have these instances happen much more frequently than others. Not just unlucky, but people who build their own road blocks and then drive right into them. Repeatedly.

Work stress is avoidable and manageable. Especially in this industry – while not dismissive of the factors and elements that can make it maddening, they are hardly unmanageable. Ticked off supervisors? Please, not a big deal if you can prove that the problem is being addressed or was not yours in the first place. Mad resident? It isn’t that hard to make them happy when you listen and empathize. Eventual eviction is also a tool for the chronic complainer. But there are so many things we can do, in this business and in life, to keep us out of these mood destroyers and time wasters. Wake up early. Plan ahead. Prepare, read up, think a few steps beyond. Surround yourself with other people with good habits, not those that may bring out the worst of yours.

A memorable line from one of the Godfather movies — “It’s business, not personal.” turns out, is one of the most important and yet the most ironic things I have learned in my career. As a manager, I find myself forced to make unpopular decisions almost every day. And so, I deal with the impact or perceived impact that my decisions make on my employees on a regular basis.  I try to follow the mantra of “it’s business, not personal”, but sometimes it feels personal, even to me - an obvious example being in cases where I am ending an individual’s employment with the company.

When I first began making decisions that I knew would be unpopular, I initially became quite discouraged and started to second-guess my decisions.  However, I soon realized how unproductive this was and instead began to focus on a more forward thinking perspective. When I have doubts about how I may have handled a situation, I consider the alternative actions I could have chosen and try to identify a more appropriate response for future situations. Of course, it is impossible to remove all uncertainty and guarantee that future decisions will be correct, but focusing on actions is a more positive behavior, while also not forgetting consequences. By setting goals, one takes a more objective approach and removes some of the emotion and defensiveness that can arise from an error. There are several practical steps any individual can take to manage performance effectively.

Yesterday I was reading an update from a great blog posted on this site.  It was a lively discussion concerning the need for a college degree to advance your career.  The topic really got me thinking about my own journey and how I had achieved my career success without a college degree. 

First let me state; this message is not about skipping a higher education and taking your chances in life.  This is about the emotional side of career success, not the tangible skills you will receive from a formal education.  

(These are excerpts from an NAAEI press release, with the exception of the last line.)

As the nation’s unemployment rates slowly recover, the apartment industry continues to see strong demand for new employees in order to keep up with a growth rate that is expected to increase as people opt to rent apartments.

Approximately 35 percent of U.S. households are renter households, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That number is up 4 percent from 2004. It is likely to climb even higher as the number of renter households increases anywhere from 360,000 to 470,000 annually over the next decade. Ultimately, that increase will translate into the creation of more well-paying jobs in the apartment management industry, which has come through the recent recession relatively unscathed by the layoffs and downsizing that have plagued other businesses.