Topic: on site management

How do you maintain privacy, enforce operating hours, screen petty phone calls & not be ran raggedy while being a onsite property manager? Help!!

Be firm and clear (yet courteous) with your residents that you may be an on-site manager, but you are not a 24-hour employee. Notify your residents that you will charge (if your lease provides for it) for visits or phone calls after-hours that are NOT emergencies. You should have a separate phone number for the office; never give out your personal number. Do not discuss aspects of your personal life that you don't want the whole world knowing with residents, and do not discuss any resident issue with anyone other than that resident or other management staff who need to be informed.

You can be friendly with your neighbors, but you have to draw the lines of propriety. Your supervisor can help you determine what is and is not OK with regards to company standards.

If you set and enforce those boundaries, the nuisance issues during your personal time will dwindle quickly.

I hope I'm not misreading this but you seem a little burnt out. It's hard when you're the only one acting as an adult and professionally towards the nuts or those who believe you should be a 7-11.

Here are some examples, hopefully one will work with your situation.

If they're requesting after hours services, remind them the office is closed but you're glad to help them when the office opens at X'oclock. If they're banging at your door, when you open it and before they get a chance to say anything, ask: is this an emergency? That always catches them off guard. When it's no, refer to the first sentence of this paragraph. :P

If they're acting out of control you have every right to ask them to calm down, stop shouting, don't wave your hands in my face or point, and if they refuse to cease you have every right to tell them to leave your office or your door. If they refuse, tell them you are contacting the police, then do it. And always if it gets physical immediately 9-1-1. Let the tenant try to justify their action to the police.

To take it a step further we have a rules clause that clearly states how residents are expected to treat other residents, guests, vendors and property personnel. When they violate this rule with their self-entitled tantrum in which they attempt to objectify the staff by treating them any way they want to, including banging at your personal residence because they think you should still service them at whatever hours, then they are served with a very strong warning, with the rules clause inserted, and advised that further violations will result in termination of their tenancy.

I tell staff as well as remind myself occasionally, if nothing else make sure you behave professionally and don't engage with residents, that way if this gets bounced around between attorneys there's nothing that can come back at you.

But, if you just have to get into it, start with "Hey I am a person too you know!"

For those who like to play hard ball and claim discrimination because you pushed back and didn't let them walk all over you, remind them this has nothing to do with fair housing and a jerk does not have protected class status!

And as Amanda said, when you enforce the boundaries the nuisances that take away from your personal time will quickly dwindle. In other words, "resident training". I'd be interested to hear how it works out for you. if you need to occasionally vent, I'm all ears :)

Reminds me of one of my old jobs.

We are so customer-service focused, we forget we can turn it off after hours.

Sit down and make rules for YOURSELF. Then don't break them as you would expect your tenants not to break them.

This will help you feel more in control, which will reduce your stress.

Start encouraging e-mail requests. Tell them in a letter or in your newsletter why e-mail will get them a faster response.
1. You can get an e-mail immediately and can read it even when you are on a phone call.
2. You can reply why you are on the phone, so a faster response time.
3. You check e-mail more often than phone messages.
4. There is a written record of their request.

Anonymous, are you talking about creating a personal life outside of business hours whether or not you live on site? It will start with how you want to run your office. Ask yourself if you have enough staff, enough tools to do your job as a manager and then ask where you are regarding implementation of policies and procedures.

Do you have a call center to help screen calls? Do you use an old school answering machine or service for call processing? How big is your property? I mean, you must start with the basics. Small properties may utilize an answering machine for after hours or during tours. If you do that, you will have an access number to dial in to get messages. You decide when to return calls (sooner is always best, but people understand you don't work 24/7, even if you live onsite.) Do you have a leasing team to help? Then you need to cover emergency calls. These should call directly to the on-call service tech by answering service, call service, direct line company cell phone, or pager. Manager does not have to be the first point of contact for emergencies.

I always say it is up to the onsite team to "train the residents." You allow people to take advantage of you, so when this happens, you must learn to set boundaries for in person contact and telephone contact. You can do this professionally without offending your residents. Set appropriate office hours and enforce them.

In order to run any property effectively, you will need tools: internet, website, online application process, online work order submission, and anything else you find would benefit the team. But it all starts with effective communication between you, your boss and/or Corporate Office. Sometimes, you must research tools such as credit card payment processing and educate your boss. Once you have the proper tools, it works like magic. It will reduce your stress level and allow you to provide some proactive resident and property management. But even if you don't have "fancy leasing kiosks" you can do your job without being overwhelmed by interruptions, petty demands, and negotiations. Once your stress level is reduced, you may find passion once more for your job (if you are indeed burned out.)

If you live onsite and feel like you are always at work, then there is nothing wrong with changing clothes, sitting outside with a beverage and relaxing. You are allowed to have your own life. Just remember that you need a support system of family and friends (from the outside world, so to speak) because the last thing you need is to be every other resident's friend.

When I started in this business in 1985, my first property was a Section 8, on site manager. When I took over, I sent out a letter to all resident's and in that introduction I had gently reminded them of office hours, what constitutes an emergency, as well as some things that are not considered an emergency. The first time someone knocked on my door and wanted a package out of the office that I agreed to sign for, I ask them if this was an emergency. When they stated "No", I told them that they would have to pick it up during office hours.
You have to be strong and set your boundries. They will respect you in the end for it!

One other thing that I think is important is to not become too friendly with your residents. Many times I have met someone who I would like to have been friends with, but you really need to maintain your professionalism. Remember that "Familiarity breeds contempt." If you do something for them after hours, it will get around to others. therefore, choose your relationships carefully!

@ Woodwind Apartments, "Familiarity breeds contempt." If you do something for them after hours, it will get around to others. therefore, choose your relationships carefully!"

I much agree from witnessing this with my parents experience in owning and operating a 40 unit. They made friends with 80% of the residents. They get knocks on the door even at midnight. It drives them nuts. The minute they refuse a favor, rumors spread and the entire community turns on them. Lessons to learn. :)

Both my manager and I live on-site. There have been problems in the past about residents knocking on doors for non-emergency situations. We have since put signs on both of our doors explaining that if they knock for a non-emergency situation they will be charged a $50 "after hours" fee due upon knocking on our doors. It also provides the office number and how to contact emergency maintenance, courtesy patrol, etc. It works very well.

That is a great idea.

I can only speak for myself and not for others. I think it is a bad idea for the manager to live on property. If a manager lives on property, they can never stop being the manager. You are coming from the movies a tenant stops you. You are eating supper and there is that knock on the door.

To me if you are dedicated to your profession and as long as you are on property, no matter who comes there will be the need to solve, resolve, and or take action. I am not taking away from any of the excellent feedbacks from on here. I can only speak for me.

Here is what I learned as a site manager. If I lived onsite then I am always under the microscope of the other residents. I will not even go to the point of them coming after hours.

1. What happens if you have children and they get into it with other children; how do you handle it?
2. What happens if the neighbor living next to you thinks your music is too loud?
3. What happens if you are single male or female and have a guest?
4. What happens if your guest is questioned by the other tenants and there is a scene?
5. What happens if you were at a party had one too many and was driven home and one of your residents had and emergency?

I can come up with hundreds of "what ifs" when living on a property that you manage. It is not if there will be a problem; it is a matter of when there is a problem. I say, if your company has more than one property, and then live on the property that is not managed by you. Now you are just a regular tenant.

If you live on the property that you manage, you are never a regular tenant and it is inviting problems and for sure one will get burnt out because you can never relax.

I learned the hard way about living where I managed. Later, I got issues from communities where managers lived where they managed and sooner or later there were always issues. I always informed the managers that wanted to live on site, that if an issue came up between them and a resident on their property, that I could not promise to be Solomon, and that they better be prepared to hear something which they may not like!

Most tenants see having at least one representative of the management company living on the property and available 24/7 as a benefit. No one wants to wait for a call-back from an emergency line before a service can even be requested if they've locked their key in their apartment, the HVAC goes out and it's unbearably hot or cold, etc., etc., simply because it's after hours or on a weekend.
While being intimately familiar with the community through residence can be extremely helpful from a sales standpoint to a property manager or leasing agent, the danger of a job described as "full-time" becoming literally so by being constantly on call certainly exists.
The ideal compromise may be to identify or recruit a resident or resident couple willing to be the off-hours backup and provide other needed services, depending on the community, in exchange for free or significantly reduced rent.

I could not gain access to my building due to the door being broke. My cell phone broke. this is a low-income building and to replace my cell phone is a financial strain at this time. It is a very dangerous area and I am a 51-year-old disabled female. I could not safely walk through my area called The felony flats, so I knocked on the night time and weekend managers window. Again, I could not gain access to the buiding to knock on his door
I was met with anger and told I am never to knock on his door. this is his home. I told him about my phone and he said I had to figure something out, but his door or window is not an option. I can go to the office, but the office is only open during regular 9-5 M-f business hours. and he is never even there, since he is night time and weekend.

My question is, Can he actually forbid me from coming to him when the issue was the buildings fault, as opposed to me losing my keys or some other reason I actually caused?

Until just recently, I lived on site. I enjoyed it, as it gave me an even deeper investment in the community. I worked very diligently with my residents to help them understand what merited a knock on my door versus a phone call.

My philosophy, as I communicated it to them, was that I would happily answer a text or call, but my home was my space, and my time with my family was precious to me. If it were an emergency, knocking on the door was okay, but any non-emergencies were to be handled during business hours.

It took a bit of time to get that rule established, but once I got it in place they were really good at abiding by it. I'd see them when I would get mail, or when I walked my dog, and we'd chat as neighbors. If they brought up an issue, I'd ask them to text or email me to ensure I would be able to address it accurately. "My memory isn't what it used to be; if you'll email that to me, I want to be sure I get it right!"

It would get a laugh, and still keep the separation of work and home where it needed to be.