Property management in general can be a tricky endeavor as the manager has to balance the interests of the owner against those of the local laws as well as the actual user of the property in question. When it comes to residential property – properties in which people live full time – these challenges are significantly compounded since the owners usually have stricter requirements, the local laws tend to be more stringent and the residents have high expectations along with an emotional attachment to the property as being their “home”.

Residential properties may range from single-family houses out in the suburbs to massive, multi-family high rise apartment towers and everything in between. Further, many of the residential properties that end up under professional residential property management tend to be devoted to special needs residents: elderly residents, assisted housing, or low income housing. Other residential areas are also frequently under residential property management such as student housing on or off campus, mobile home parks, and even military housing facilities since the Pentagon has begun outsourcing many of its domestic responsibilities.

Since residential properties are generally lived in twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, the property undergoes significant wear and tear and contingencies have to be made for emergencies at irregular times. Further, since the residents still consider the property to be their “home” they have high expectations for immediate remedies to property problems and in fact this is reflected in the laws of many jurisdictions. Therefore residential property management requires people with excellent social skills and an ability to deal with diverse people in various states of duress.

Further, many residential properties have their own special legal requirements that are strictly enforced by the local authorities. Almost every jurisdiction has strict policies related to fire prevention, health and sanitation, waste disposal and similar concerns and residential property management involves knowing and understanding all of these special requirements and ensuring that the standards are consistently met. In fact some contractual agreements between owners and managers place responsibility – as well as the penalties for failing to meet these responsibilities – squarely on the property manager or management company.

Finally many residential properties – though not all – also require additional expertise in order to maintain the property adequately. For example, the manager of a high rise apartment building has to know and understand the local regulations and requirements to keep the elevators running properly, while other residential property managers may have to learn how to keep their lawns and gardens in good shape or the ins and outs of swimming pool maintenance. While obviously a lot of this specialized knowledge will be outsourced to specialist maintenance companies, knowing when to call for outside help and when not to can have a profound effect on the property’s operating expenses as specialists tend to cost.

Residential property management can be a trying responsibility to accept, but it can also be very rewarding. As the primary “go to” person for anything and everything effecting the property, the residential property manager is likely to form personal relationships with many of the residents while at the same time maintaining the owner’s interest in the property and ensuring that everything runs smoothly and within the defined perimeters.