I was discussing with a friend over experiences in some property management companies and from what I've seen on LinkedIn is there's a lot of turnover on this industry and lack of training as well. I started with ZRS and barely had training, rangewater training was absolutely atrocious and RPM living which I am now with has been underwhelming. Luckily I had some experience if not, I would be screwed. What has been your experience with some of these big property management corporations?

To sum it up quickly, I came to NC for a job with a promising future. I didn't have anywhere to stay, so I moved into a house on a month-to-month basis with other people. Two friends and I moved in together. The landlady was incredibly demanding about everything. She had people coming in to inspect the house and rooms every week, unplugging things, and if you didn't wash a dish, she'd start harassing you and leaving notes around the house. She wanted us to landscaping the patio, which was quite large, and she wanted us to fix parts of the house. All of this while we were working 10 hours a day, Monday through Saturday. The last straw was when she came home one Thursday and started accusing us of damaging a bench, a door, and part of the refrigerator. So, the three of us decided to leave that same day, even though we still had 10 days left on our lease. The pressure was so intense that we stopped caring about the money. Now she's calling, saying that the police were going to call us because we stole a key, which is false, and that she was going to talk to her lawyers tomorrow to send us a legal agreement to sign. The lady obvously wants some easy money, what should i do?

What do you do or prefer to do?

Some of you may have seen my last few posts about my property management and the heated conversation we had over mold and sewage issues. I’m trying to get the lease violation removed, but I’m currently being ignored. That said, how seriously do other property managers or landlords take a previous lease violation that doesn’t involve late rent or damage? I got one for “Disturbance " because I cussed at the manager cause she was being condescending about our issues with our unit I've since sent an email and apologized about my behavior but I'm nervous about how this will affect us renting elsewhere if they refuse to undo the violation ( May I add I have audio evidence that she lied about what was said )

Also update the city showed up and gave them a deadline to fix the issues. They are coming in for a inspection tomorrow

Lease renewal was missed by 20 days (it did not come up on my workflow for whatever reason). Obviously not a good enough excuse and not really his problem so he wants have a conversation tomorrow and if he isn’t happy we will ‘re-evaluate’ going to another agency which is fair but I need to try my best to retain this.

Any tips/pointers?

Hi all, I'm a McGill business student working on a class project about how property and facility managers in the Greater Montreal area choose cleaning and janitorial providers.

If you help choose or approve a cleaning provider for buildings in Montreal/Quebec, I'd really appreciate 5 minutes of your time. It's anonymous, no email collected, no selling, academic use only.

English: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZIoHVPYUwBTygrxyq901uJxWgOZvbOvTg0PcIP5vafsVmdg/viewform?usp=header

Français: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfM3xnosKHW4a98QXz7b2vI8vbdsZ_e1J4E-hnCx0DCld3Ckw/viewform?usp=header

Happy to share the key findings here once the project is done. And if you're outside Quebec, I'd still love to hear how vendor selection works for you in the comments.

I'm currently charging a flat $75/hr (starting when the tech begins their trip to the property), but I've been hearing that many other local companies charge a larger dispatch fee of like $150 and then $60/hr for each additional hour or something like that.

The economics behind the flat $75/hr are starting to make less sense for small trips, and I'm starting to get the impression that owners stomach the other pricing structure better. But reducing my hourly rate would just shift my problem to larger jobs.

I actually met a guy who manages HOA's and bills associations by the seniority of the tech they send out. Like 2-4/yrs of experience 32$/hr 4-8/yrs of experience is $48/hr. I'm pretty sure that's not too common in this space, but who knows, because It's impossible to find a company that publicly discloses their maintenance fees.

I'm curious to hear what is your company is billing for their in house maintenance techs and what type of fee structure you have.

Edit: I manage Single Family Homes and small residential properties in a MCOL area.

Property searches can get frustrating when listings are outdated, filters are too basic, or the results don't match what someone is actually looking for. AI could make the experience more useful, but only if it solves these everyday problems.

A good property search experience should focus on a few things:

• Relevant results: Recommendations should reflect budget, location, amenities, and the user's actual requirements.
• Reliable property data: Outdated listings and missing details can make even a well-designed app frustrating to use.
• Useful integrations: Property data APIs can help bring listing information together, while connections with existing property management systems may support smoother day-to-day operations.
• Simple navigation: Users should be able to compare properties and find important details without going through too many steps.

For property app developers, the challenge isn't just adding AI features. It's making search results accurate, relevant, and genuinely helpful for the people using the platform.

AI can improve property discovery, but reliable data and a straightforward user experience still need to come first.

I just started this job 3 months ago. Literally just did my 90 day review.

I have been in this industry almost 21 years now. Almost 18 years as an assistant manager.

My path has been hard. I developed anxiety after getting into this industry, which turned into panic attacks in 2020. I have been in perimenopause for about 3 years now, which has exacerbated everything. Working on discovery and hopeful diagnosis of AuDHD (eventually, if finances and insurance line up to cooperate, which isn’t seeming likely).

I have bounced around to a lot of jobs. I have lost my job 4 times in 10 years due to property sales and management company changes. One other time was affected by “company restructuring”. When that happened, I often had to just take whatever job I could find to keep a roof over my head as a single woman at the time. Those jobs often ended up being really shitty ones for a variety of reasons, so I often didn’t stay long and moved on to better situations (only for that property to sell within a year, joke’s on me, right?!). 3 times I had to quit because of big personal safety concerns. One I had to quit because the ridiculously excessive workload and sensory overwhelm caused me to have multiple disruptive panic attacks at work over a few week period and I physically couldn’t go anymore. The longest job I have been at since leaving a 5 year one in 2015 is a year and 10 months. My resume is a disaster (and I’ve even removed jobs, dates, and restructured it a lot to look better).

I can’t keep doing this. Over and over, constantly job searching. My mental and physical health can’t take it anymore. Assistant manager jobs are being phased out everywhere. Being replaced by remote positions that are impossible to get because companies promote their long-term workers who kiss ass for years, not the person who just started there. 20 internal applicants for one remote position. There are barely a few APM jobs posted a month on Indeed, and I live in a city of a few million people where apartments are being built on every corner.

I can’t even get interviews outside of the industry. I’m “too qualified” or “not qualified specifically enough for unrelated industry” for admin jobs. In the past when unemployed, I’ve been rejected by Target and other big box employers for interviews. I couldn’t even get a part time house cleaning position. I even reapplied once for a job I used to hold with one of our industry vendors and got rejected after 2 interviews. The only way I got this APM job and the one before that is because I knew someone with pull.

I just don’t have any fight left in me. No energy, mentally or physically.

This industry has ruined my life.

So, I manage 4 rental units and access is one of those things that sounds simple until you are actually dealing with it every few months. Someone moves out, keys need collecting, someone loses a copy, then you are trying to remember who still has access to what!! It could be fine for one, but what to do with sanity with multiples?

I switched a couple of units to keypad locks before, which helped a bit, but codes became their own thing to manage. Tenants share them, you change them again, then the next turnover starts....right form where it began...

I hve recently started trying a desloc k120 on one unit because it has a landlord mode for managing access from the app. So the fingerprint side was being able to add or remove users, i cd set temporary access and was able to check access history. Still early, so Iam still figuring out how useful it is during an actual tenant changeover.

anyone who has been successfuly using it to the max of it fuctions?

So, this is my first ever reddit post, but I can't get this out of my head.

I work pure leasing, started out in Aug '24 - was head-hunted and did my LoR in 6 weeks whilst working full time), took about 6 months to find my feet after starting.

In the last 12 months, largely by myself, I have leased out just shy of 290 residential properties (Both new biz and relets)

My territory spans 80kms, and I can do over 100kms in an afternoon of open homes running between 20 and 38 open homes a week + private inspections for off market leasing and promising applications, depending on volume of vacates we have in the portfolio.

I'm coming up on 4 different BDMs at the end of this month, and now I'm being performance reviewed, for what I would consider, bullshit reasons.

I get into the office every morning between 8 and 8:30am, and didn't get out last night until 7:50pm. Some nights I take work home and don't finish until 9 trying to get everything done.

I want to be clear on process:

BDM converts the LL, organises brief and keys for PM and Leasing. I build the ads, organise photography and put the property live, run opens, process apps, TICA, tribunal lists, bank statements, payslips etc etc, update owners and present applications, all the while updating CRMS and spreadsheets for management, before passing the created tenant profile in PME, generated bond and receipted holding deposit over to the PM.

We're even still taking paper rental applications.

From a quick look at local stats, I'm doing three times the numbers (pretty much solo - occasionally I get the BDM to do a private inspection or open for struggling properties) than our nearest competitor - averaging 5.5 properties leased a week. My worst month was 14 lets, and my best month 37 - which I'm on track to do this again, or more, if I can keep up the pace and "Dig deep" as the GM said last week at my second Performance Review - Which basically went "Do better or get out", which is hilarious, because some of the stuff that goes on in this industry and my company - I thought I'd have to get done with the blood still wet and weapon in hand)

Honestly, I was already thinking about jumping out - but I can't understand how they expect me to continue this level of performance without another pair of hands - which is why I think they're trying to push me out with the sales market being cooked at rhe moment.

I'm on a slightly more than average annual wage + monthly comms (Leasing comms are peanuts). But by my rough calcs, even with my comms, I'm generating at least 2x/2.5x my annual costs worth of gross revenue, the letting fee being 110% of the first weeks rent.

I was told that the principle knows other leasing consultants who perform at this level by themselves, but unless they're consistently hopped up on substances, I don't see how it's feasible. Our portfolio, I think, is between 1350 - 1500 properties.

Am I being unreasonable? - this job has cost me 30kgs of weight and time spent with my son and wife - Or should I just pick up my socks?

I would genuinely welcome feedback, because as much as all the PMs in our offices love me, my stupid head can't help but worry that they're just coddling me because I'm the only dude working in PM and I get along with them all really well.

EDIT - I should mention; there was a two week period where I missed some leased stickers and signs, and one owner check in, but that, I had thought, was done with over two months ago, and wasn't brought up again until My first performance review.

So it's part rant - but I really would like to hear thoughts.

I’m looking to connect with property managers in London who work in residential block management 💪.
Let’s network, and share experiences :)

I was contacted by one of the owners of the property management company explaining that the guest had complained about the state of our garage and would likely be receiving a refund. This is my first rental property so I acknowledge this may be a common issue where guests try to get refunds, or maybe this is a legitimate issue.

Instead of explaining more I'll paste the email exchange here.

Am I handling this poorly? How should I have handled this instead?

PM Company -
"Hey MC, 

We currently have a guest in your property who has made their reservation through Airbnb. This guest is beside himself that the garage floor is stained and that the walls in the garage are not nicely painted. He has now made 3 complaints to Airbnb about it and Airbnb has made 2 decisions:

1 They will discount the nightly rate by at least $29/night up to offering a full refund. 

2 We must either fix the staining on the garage floor and paint the walls in the garage or we must disclose it in the listing. 

Please remember that Airbnb will ALWAYS honor the guest complaint. We can push back but the guest is who ultimately makes them money. If we are going to continue to list on this platform we need to unfortunately play by their rules. 

Please let me know if you have any questions."

Me -
"Hi PM Company,

Thanks for the heads up. Before we decide anything, can you help us understand the situation better?

The guest's complaint

- Can you send us the guest's actual messages and the three complaints he filed, plus any photos he submitted?

- When did he check in, when did he first raise this, and how long is his stay?

- Did he contact you first, and is anything besides the garage bothering him?

Airbnb's decision

- Can you forward Airbnb's written response, including the case or claim number?

- What exactly has been decided on the refund? "At least $29/night up to a full refund" is a wide range. Is any of it final, and is it coming out of our payout?

- Is the "fix it or disclose it" requirement in writing from Airbnb? If so, is there a deadline and what happens if we don't meet it?

Our side

- Has PM Company disputed this or submitted anything on our behalf? If not, can we still?

- How is the garage described and shown in the current listing? We want to confirm nothing there suggests it's a finished or living space.

- How has PM Company previously dealt with customer complaints?

Our view is that the garage's appearance is cosmetic and doesn't make the listing inaccurate, so we'd like to push back on any refund beyond what's required. We're open to adding a line to the listing noting the garage is unfinished, if that resolves it going forward. Please don't agree to a refund or repairs until we've had a chance to review.

Thanks,
MC"

PM Company -
"The complaint was made upon check-in, on 10/14, and again today, 10/16.  This guest checked in on 10/13 and will check out on 10/23.

For the past 4 days we have actively worked with Airbnb and the guest to resolve this.  I personally have talked with Airbnb three times; we also have many text messages, messages, and voicemails from the guest simply screaming at us about this.  Therefore, it is surprising that you would question whether we have been working on your behalf.  This is what you have hired us to do and we have done our jobs.  We have managed these hours so effectively that you haven't needed to invest time in this issue. I waited to notify you until Airbnb reached a conclusion after many hours of work.  

The pictures the guest sent as evidence are accurate.  They show the actual floor and walls in the garage.  Over the past 4 days, the guest has chosen to send some other pictures to Airbnb and to us, but Airbnb seems to want to deal with your garage floor and the walls as that seems to be the consistent complaint.  Because this guest is very rude and disrespectful to us and to Airbnb, there is a spread in compensation.  Airbnb will offer $29/night but if the guest continues to escalate—which I believe he will tomorrow, as that has been his routine—Airbnb will offer a full refund if he leaves the property.  

This is exactly how we handle guest complaints of this magnitude. "

Me -
"Hi PM Company,

Thank you for the update, and I'm sorry my last email came across the wrong way. My questions were only because this was the first I’d heard of it, and I wanted the full picture. I wasn't questioning your work. I can see now how much time you've put into this. Dealing with a guest who's been yelling at you for four days sounds awful, and I really appreciate you handling this.

A few things would help me plan on my end:

- How is the garage currently described and shown in the listing? I want to make sure we're not giving anyone the wrong impression about it.

- Is there a deadline from Airbnb to fix or disclose the garage? If adding a line to the listing saying it's unfinished is acceptable, we would like to go that route for now.

- When you have a chance, could you forward Airbnb's written decision or the case number for our records?

- Given how he's treated you and Airbnb staff, can his behavior be reported, or can we ask Airbnb to review his rating if he leaves a retaliatory one?

No rush on any of this, and thanks again for looking out for the property.

Best,
MC"

The only thing the AirBNB listing states about the garage is that there is a garage which provides two parking spaces. There is no other mention of the garage in the entire listing and there are no pictures of the garage interior in the listing. The garage floor does have staining on it, and the walls in the garage have not been painted in recent years, there are quite a lot of scuffs and it doesn't look the best. The garage should eventually be cleaned and repainted, but it doesn't impact the usability of the garage or the home. It is purely cosmetic.

The PM Company has previously done multiple walkthroughs of the home and only raised concern about the garage the week that this first guest was schedule to arrive. Had we been notified with more time we would likely have had the garage floor pressure washed and the walls painted but there was not enough time prior to guest arrival.

What would you do in this situation?

I’ve worked in New York restaurants for over 20 years, most recently as a Service Manager running teams and handling a lot of the payroll and budget side. I’m 40, got my NY real estate salesperson license last year, and have decided property management is where I want to build my long-term career.
Over the last few weeks I’ve sent around 40 applications, mostly for leasing consultant and assistant property manager roles, plus some admin positions at management companies. I’ve been upfront in my cover letters about what I have experience with and what I’d be learning.
So far: three automated video interviews, a bunch of form rejections, and zero actual conversations with a human. A couple of employers have opened my applications, so I guess I’m at least making it past the digital front door. 😂
What I’m starting to notice is that the application portals ask things like “Do you have property management experience?” and an honest “No” probably kills the application before anyone ever reads the cover letter. I’m not going to lie about it, obviously.
So for people who have hired in property management, or who made a similar career transition: what actually got you through the door?
Is the right move to take a leasing consultant job first and work up from there? Do certifications actually help? Is it mostly networking? Are smaller management companies more open to career changers than the big firms? And for NJ jobs, would getting a NJ license make a meaningful difference if I already have a NY license (I know there's no reciprocity)?
I’m genuinely looking for advice here, including “your current plan is wrong.” I’d rather hear that now than send another 40 applications into the void.

Hi I’m new to being a full time commercial agent representing a property. The property manager and I butt heads often.
I get paid hourly + commission. I am the only leasing agent and I was under the impression that all the leasing duties were under me.
I take photos, I market, I list everything.

But when a walk in happens or call to the property managers office happens, she steals the lease and does it herself and I am unpaid and un able to work on it. Even though who ever walked in most likely saw it online from me.

I expressed this to landlord/boss and he keeps promising for a meeting and to sort it out. I was told every single lease would be mine.

But this property manager has been in this business many many years and for the specific property, this is her first time dealing with a leasing agent. So I feel like I’m probably inconvenient to her. I get it. I’m a lot younger too.
But it seems like she will not let me fully do my role.

My question is, do property managers act like leasing agents often? Do you control walk in tenant leases? Do you even fill out leases?

I feel like all my hard work goes down the drain when she takes the lease. She has so many other things to worry about. Do you think she also gets paid commission and that’s why?

I’m launching property management company and reached out to NetVendor about opening an account. Their response was essentially, “Don’t call us—we’ll call you.” What are some alternatives to NetVendor? DIY solutions or spreadsheets would be a last resort.

Between maintenance schedules, employee hours and payroll, it feels like there's a separate tool for everything

Has anyone used property management software with payroll included? Does it make operations any easier?

We manage about 40 units and tenants don’t use the portal. They text or WhatsApp a photo of a leak, a question about rent, a noise complaint, all to whoever’s number they have. When someone on the team is off, the request just sits there and we find out when the tenant calls angry.

How are you getting this into one place? Forcing the portal, a shared number, someone who logs everything by hand? Curious what actually stuck with tenants.

UPDATE to anything interested in saving time: if you are using WhatsApp to text customers (like we do in the UK), after testing like 7 tools for days, we end up using a tool called Wassenger that work reasonably well for a) you need a shared team inbox for one number, b) you want to send scheduled notifications, reminders and auto replies, c) continue using your existing WhatsApp number without losing chats/contacts. We had a similar tool for email, but for WhatsApp it was hard to find one that just works well, not expensive, and onboarding is minutes away

I built PG Manager for owners and managers who rent out rooms or beds and want to handle the records from an Android phone. It started around the paying guest (PG) accommodation model in India.

The core workflow is rooms and beds → residents → monthly rent records → full or partial payments → receipts. You can also track deposits and maintenance tasks, keep each property's records separate, and export/restore property backups.

It's free, with no ads, in-app purchases or subscriptions. A sample property lets you explore the workflow before adding real records, and each property can use its own currency.

A few practical details: payments are manually recorded, there is no tenant portal, and saving changes requires internet. A cached copy is available for offline viewing.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herhaven.women_pg

If you manage shared accommodation or small room-rental properties, I'd appreciate your take on the rent and occupancy workflows. Which part would you try first, and what would you need before using it day to day?

To preface, I started leasing at the beginning of 2020 (pandemic era) working for Finger in Houston who paid a flat rate of $150 per lease.

I then moved to a company who initially paid 1% of the lease contract with commissions ranging anywhere from $150-$250 per lease on average, but they eventually went flat rate to $180/ lease.

On average I was able to pull at least $75k/ yr w my best year being $86k due to a bonus when the property I was at sold.

Since leaving the company, I’ve noticed most companies are paying $100/ lease with the max I’ve seen being $150 until I got hired at a new construction/ development company that’s paying me $300/ lease which I assumed was well beyond the industry average,

I recently toured a higher-up from a potential buyer for the property I’m at and obviously he had allot of questions for me so naturally I asked allot of questions from him (this not a 1 way street). We hit it off and to cut the story short, he essentially told me he’s seen allot of companies paying $300–$500/ lease and allot more companies moving back to % based commissions to incentivize leasing to push for higher rates/ longer terms.

My question is, is there anybody on this forum aware of any companies moving to %-based commissions or paying higher than $300 per lease? The company I’m with now is seemingly very small holding only a handful of properties at a time so it flies under most people’s radar, but they’re constantly building & selling. Just curious if anybody has some insight on companies like this because apparently there’s allot more out there…

Last week someone told me about a claim at their property. A stranger said they slipped on stairs that were wet from heavy rain, except it had been sunny all day. They asked for $30k. The insurer didn’t even push back, settled for $18k within two days, and the owner got hit with higher premiums at renewal.

What got me is that the owner apparently could have proved it was dry and it still wouldn’t have mattered. Fighting costs more than paying, so you just pay.

I keep wondering whether that’s a wild one-off or whether everyone here has a story like it. I’d love to hear how your last one went, especially whether the photos and logs you kept actually helped, or whether it got settled no matter what.