How do you hold onto good property managers? There are a few different strategies to apply in today’s competitive environment.

The real estate industry has been struggling to fill property manager roles lately, partly because a number of PMs left the industry after the stressful period brought on by COVID. 

With a lack of quality candidates out there, you need to have a clear strategy for recruiting and holding onto the best people. 

The following ideas will help boost applications and engagement across your PM team.

Assign more task-specific roles

Leading property management agencies are now dividing their Property Management departments into different areas, rather than having a team of people who try to handle every element of the process. 

You may assign people specifically to all or a few of the following:

• Business development/attracting new property owners

• Inspections and renter applications

• Contract management

• Property owner relations/accounts management

• Renter relations

• Marketing listed properties

• Repairs and maintenance

This gives you scope to hire people who are most personable and also look for those who are more task-oriented. 

When a great accounts manager doesn’t have to worry about open home inspections and assessing new renters, they will be able to provide the kind of attention clients hope for. 

This approach will save your team from feeling as though they have to be all things to all people. 

Have a career trajectory

There are always young or inexperienced people seeking a foot in the door. If you can hire a receptionist or administrative assistant who is willing to learn, you can include a training program and guide them into a property management role.

When you advertise a new position, be clear about on-the-job training and the potential to transition into more senior roles. This will make your agency more appealing.

You may also hit the stumbling block of property managers who have ambitions to be sales agents. In the past, some agencies have tried to avoid blurring the lines and prevented people from transitioning between departments. However, with competition being so tight, it may be worth investigating a career path option which can take a property manager into a sales role if that’s what they want. 

Focus on your marketing

Leading agencies are great at marketing properties… and great at marketing themselves as well. 

You need to stand out as an employer of choice and this will take a little ground work. Perhaps consider a series of videos, some interviews with your staff or a catchy social media campaign. This can help your job listings to stand out from the same old, same old out there. 

Add a ‘Careers’ page to your website so people can send their details, even if you don’t have positions vacant. 

Offer flexibility and perks

One of the downsides of a Property Manager role is the weekend work. You have a few options here.

One is to hire weekend-only staff. They could be students, working parents or people who are looking to get into the property industry. This frees up your full-timers and gives them their Saturdays back. 

The other is to have a rotating schedule so property managers still have a couple of weekends off per month. 

In terms of flexibility, you may also want to offer a working from home model, where your property managers only come to the office a few days per week or work full-time from home. 

There are new online tools like Gather Town, which make interacting via video call more seamless and casual. This platform basically has everyone in the same ‘room’ and you simply ‘walk’ over to a colleague to connect with them via video call. You can set your status to Do Not Disturb if you don’t wish to be interrupted. 

Set clear expectations

Many property managers quit due to burnout because they are spinning too many plates on a daily basis. Long hours and unrealistic expectations leave them too exhausted to keep going. 

People stay longer in their job when they know what’s expected of them and feel as though they can achieve their goals if they apply themselves and have the support of their superiors.

Hold regular training, have social gatherings or even shopping trips, and find ways to reward your property managers. This will help you set the benchmark as a quality agency to work for and make it much easier to keep staff for the long-term.