What makes a good PM...

[Chinmay J.]

As we know a PM can make or break your real estate investment..  What makes a good PM in your opinion..   Just putting it out there.. Not a new member here, and currently have a PM and self manage local properties too... Have fired and hired several PMs..  Looking for opinions, thoughts, analysis, experience... 

[Jeff Copeland]

I came into real estate and property management with a masters degree, after careers in the military, public sector, and higher education. I don't bring that up to brag. Rather to point out that even with a pretty broad professional and educational experience, I honestly believe Property Management is one of the most difficult professions to master, mainly because it is so broad - you have to know a lot of stuff, about a lot of different stuff, to be a good property manager, such as:

• People skills - dealing with owners, tenants, contractors, government officials, real estate professionals, etc.
• Project management skills - timelines, logistics, financing
• Administrative skills - property management software, rent collections, leases, contracts, renewals, bills, payment processing
• Construction and renovation skills and cost estimating
• Marketing and Advertising - if prospective tenants can't find your rental listings and become leads, then you won't last long
• CRM and Database management - lead capture and workflow
• Due Diligence - interpreting tenant screenings, background and credit checks, etc
• Technology - PM software, electronic lock boxes, real estate apps - probably the toughest on this list to keep up with
• Legal - landlord/tenant laws, Fair Housing laws, Credit Reporting laws, privacy laws, evictions, etc.

I could go on and on. But my point is, there is no single trait or silver bullet that makes a good property manager. Rather, it's a long list of expertise in a variety of complicated fields!