Obviously the primary responsibility tied to property management for houses is the maintenance of the general physical property. This means both ensuring that everything is operating properly (doors and windows, plumbing, electricity, etc.) and that everything meets the aesthetic standards agreed to (lawn care, painting, general cleanliness, etc.). Sometimes this responsibility also includes making capital improvements as determined by the property owner, so the manager may end up having to oversee the installation of new amenities and may be charged with handling the budgeting and financial requirements of such work.

The property manager is usually in charge of ensuring that the property is also in compliance with all of the laws and regulation related to residential property in force in the area. This means ensuring that the house meets the standards imposed by local fire, health, and safety standards as well as other community enforced matters such as waste disposal or homeowner association guidelines. More often than not, this is a major responsibility imposed by contract on the property manager and the penalties for noncompliance fall on the manager as opposed to the owner; therefore this is something that should be taken seriously.

All real estate also faces a number of risk factors, from things like fire and storm damage to injury liability for people injured on the property and so on. In general it is the responsibility of the property manager to manage this risk and take whatever precautions are necessary to minimize such risks and have contingency plans in place in case the threat is realized. This means the property manager should have a good understanding of the insurance contract on the property and be able to confidently discuss risk management options with the property owner as needed in order to minimize risk.

Property management for houses also frequently involves a degree of responsiveness and diplomacy if the house is being rented or leased by a resident tenant. The property manager is the “go to” person for the tenant, so it is important for the property manager to have good interpersonal and communication skills. Generally speaking, tenant expectations are high when it comes to the property manager meeting their responsibilities – especially in respect to maintenance issues – and the property manager has to be able to deal with this.

Finally, all of the above has to be done within the perimeters set by the property owner, who will usually impose a fairly strict budget for all property management expenses and expect the manager to handle most of the day to day problems responsibly without the active participation of the owner. This means that property managers should be good self-starters and independent thinkers that can determine what needs to be done and do it without being a bother to their employer. This is, after all, what the property owner is paying for.

When hiring a professional property management company, the terms of the arrangement are usually worked out in advance, spelling out precisely what duties are expected of the property manager and in the process the specific fees are determined. Obviously if the property to be managed is a vacant field that simply needs to be visited once a month, the fees will be a lot less than if the property is a high rise apartment building with hundreds or tenants or a popular shopping center with multiple tenants and a wide array of management responsibilities. Therefore it is utterly impossible to provide an estimate of the relevant fees for any particular management job without knowing the specifics of what the job entails.

There are also a number of other factors that may affect the fees for any particular management job. For example, the geographical location of the property to be managed can make an enormous difference with respect to price. One would expect that the management fees for a twenty tenant apartment building in Manhattan would probably cost a lot more than the fees charged for managing a similar building in Oklahoma City. Likewise, managing a property in the heart of a major urban center is likely to cost more than managing one in a rural area, as there are usually more management related concerns in an urban area (tighter health and safety standards, security, and so on) than in rural ones.

The industry sector also plays an important role. For example, the management of an office building is almost always going to cost considerably more than the management of a self-storage facility simply because the responsibilities and duties are much greater. Further, there are very specialized niches – such as medical buildings, airports, and campus facilities – that usually cost considerably more since the manager has to have a great deal of specialized knowledge in order to perform his or her management duties properly. There is no clear cut increase or decrease in fee amounts based on whether or not the property is commercial or residential though, as the fees are based on the manager’s responsibilities, not the type of property being managed per se.

Finally, the fees are also based on the company employed. Like most competitive industries, there are some management companies that focus on lower fees in exchange for more limited services and others that adopt the opposite approach: full service for higher fees. Consequently it is usually in the best interests of property owners to shop around their local market and get basic quotes before committing to any one company as there is no uniform fee structure in the industry. This means that prices are negotiable and other factors – such as the duration of the contract – may have a direct bearing on the property management fees.

Therefore it can come as no surprise that many property managers have found software programs specifically designed for this application extremely helpful. As is always the case when there is a variety of options available, almost everyone has their own favorites and swear by them, meaning that the “best” program is frequently determined by nothing more than the personal preferences of the person being asked.

At present there are more than one hundred and fifty different companies selling software packages that are advertised as being applicable to property management uses. Of these there are some that are only distantly related to property management and are being advertised incorrectly, but there are still more than a hundred legitimate property management software suites on the market today.

Applications can be found that specialize in particular types of property (multi-family residential, single-family residential, commercial, and retail property for example) and that can be run on any type of computer system; so the selection is truly enormous.

Further, since many of these software suites are quite expensive and many of the producers are less than enthusiastic about giving away free versions to reviewers, the amount of unbiased information available comparing these programs is limited.

So which program is best for you? First, and not uncommonly, your opinion may be utterly immaterial. Most of the large property management companies have their own preferred software programs that they use, so if you work for them you will be expected to learn their system and use it regardless of your opinion about its effectiveness.

Even if you are an independent property manager working directly for the property owner as opposed to through a property management company, you may still not have much say so in the matter. This is because frequently the property owner will have their own preference which they may or may not provide as part of the arrangement.

The idea here is that frequently this will give the property owner remote access to the system so they can see what the property manager is doing and be sure they are getting their money’s worth from the arrangement.

Assuming you do have some say so into the software program you will use – which is rather rare today – then it really is more or less a hit and miss type of process. Generally speaking, you want a software program that allows for a lot of amendment and modification, so that you can customize it to suit your own purposes.

Almost every property management assignment is unique and has its own particular issues and concerns that have to be taken tracked and scheduled, so having the option of customizing the software suite to meet your specific needs without having too much inapplicable screens and fields is important to ensuring the program serves its purpose of saving you time and energy.

According to data compiled by the US Department of Labor, in 2006 the property management industry employed some 329,000 people nationally and it was projected at that time that by 2016 the industry would add another 50,000 positions. This was, of course, before the recession and the collapse of the real estate market, which resulted in a huge upsurge in foreclosed properties and other properties being concerted into rental units, both of which require professional property management services.

These trends have also been reflected in separate surveys conducted by the business media. In 2006, a survey conducted by Money Magazine and Salary.com concluded that being a property manager ranked twenty-third in a list of the top fifty careers in the United States based on job growth, average salary, education needed and working conditions. Property management also came in near the top of the list in a similar survey conducted by CNN and Careerbuilder.com in 2007 that looked at the same general factors.

Though there are a few major national property management companies, in the United States the industry is still primarily dominated state-based companies simply because every state has its own unique licensing requirements that have to be completed successfully in order for the company to operate in the state. However, like most major industries, although property management is not utterly dominated by a few major companies, there are a number of national organizations and professional associations that represent the interests of the property management industry as a whole. One of the most important of these is the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) which has been in operation for seventy-five years and is a national leader in the industry offering a wide range of services, from accreditation to Congressional lobbying and almost everything in between.

Beyond IREM, information about the general industry, the industry’s best (and worst) performers and current issues involved can also learn a lot from many of the other national organizations directly linked to the industry. These other organizations include the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the Community Association Institute (CAI), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC, primarily concerned with commercial real estate), and the National Apartment Association (NAA). Each US state also has its own range of professional associations related to and involved in the property management industry.

Despite the fact that it is not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of dynamic growth industries in the United States, professional property management industry is actually one of the most dynamic and expansive ones in the economy today. Although the ongoing recession has hurt all industries to one extent or another, the property management industry – especially as it relates to residential property – has weathered the storm well.

The American property management industry largely developed in the 1930s, after many banks and other property owning entities foreclosed on large numbers of properties and realized that managing them required a degree of specialized knowledge. Since then the trend has continued unabated into the modern period, especially in today’s complex real estate market that involves large amounts of real estate controlled by entities (corporations, investment firms, real estate investment trusts [REITs] and so on). Buying a property as an investment takes it own specialized knowledge, but administrating the property once it is purchased is an entirely different matter.

Though the precise duties of a property manger depend on the position held, the type of company they work for, and the requirements of the property owners, in general it is safe to break a property manager’s basic duties down into five distinct areas:

(1) Managing the physical property. This responsibility usually means maintaining the property properly, making necessary repairs, and arranging for the maintenance needs of any tenants if applicable. It may also doing periodic inspections of the property – including individual living units – in order to guarantee that everything is in proper repair and is as it should be.

(2) Human resource management. This basically means overseeing all of the various employees and contractors that are used to maintain the property. For example, many properties either employ their own people or contract with services to provide basic property maintenance, routine cleaning chores, and most also have to deal with more specialized service providers periodically.

(3) Managing the property finances. Generally speaking, the property owners have their own requirements in respect to the financial position of the property itself, what the rate of rents and other monthly payments should be and so on. However, the property manager – as the owner’s onsite representative – has to ensure that these financial goals are met and maintained.

(4) Marketing and leasing the property. This is not always part of a property manger’s responsibility as sometimes the owners will hire independent marketing experts to handle this. Nevertheless, the property manager is almost always responsible for showing potential residents the property, explaining the terms and conditions, and negotiating leases.

(5) Legal compliance and risk management. Almost all real estate has to meet certain government standards and conditions (especially residential properties) and most also face potential risks (fire, storms, et cetera). The property manager is usually in charge of developing strategies to deal with these issues and ensuring that the property meets regulatory standards.

As is readily apparent, being a successful and effective property manager entails a lot more than simply answering the phone and dealing with tenant complaints. Further, as the property management industry is regulated (all fifty states require property management firms to be licensed) it has become an extremely professional industry easily on par with many other white collar industries in the country.