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.

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?

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 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!

That is a great idea.

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.