I have been asked on several occasions recently for advice on hiring a property manager. Hiring practices should be personalized to your company, to the needs of the property, and finding the best person for the job, regardless of age, education or gender. I have never understood, one, why HR departments decide on some arbitrary list of “duties and responsibilities” rather than a list of true, hardcore personality and leadership traits when hiring their teams. Obviously, a Property Manager is going to collect rent, take care of evictions, hire and train leasing staff, set market rents, create a marketing plan, and ensure the property is highly occupied and financially stable and maintained. But what else is needed?

The most important aspect in choosing a Property Manager is to decide what the needs of the Property are. Is the property stable? Are there certain risk factors involved with the property, such as a sale in the future? Are there certain challenges the property is facing such as a declining neighborhood, community’s sliding economy (or rising one), diminishing resident profile, or impending new construction and new competition? Or, has the property suffered physical structural issues recently from deferred maintenance, for example, fire or even major weather-related damages that now need immediate attention? Or, is it simply that the current Property Manager is leaving, being terminated or being promoted, or the property is a new acquisition for your portfolio?

Once the company decides why it is looking for someone to fill this important position, then it is vital to decide with whom this person is going to work. Will this person report directly to the Owner/CEO? Will there be a Regional Manager involved on a daily/monthly basis? Is the onsite team in place already or will the new Property Manager need to hire and train a new team? The reason this is an important consideration is that everyone must fit together in some way. Meshing together is important, otherwise your “net” will be pulled in many directions and big holes will be torn into the “fabric.” You want people to work well together and understand that expectation. However, you must consider who your Property Manager will be “managing up to” and who he will be “managing down to.”

Your most important tasks are now set and your focus will be on finding the better candidate. Obviously, there are equal employment laws to honor, and other than that here is what I think is  the direction you should take.

1.       Privately advertise your position with people you trust in the business; publicly advertise in all kinds of places: Craigslist, Multifamily Insiders job board, Careerbuilder/Indeed, headhunters

2.       The person doing the interviewing should be EMOTIONALLY INVESTED in the property. That way, he will want his new hire to succeed.

3.       The person doing the interviewing should be EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT. That way, he will not be threatened by his new hire’s success.

4.       The person with whom the new Property Manager will work (the boss in corporate) should really “click” with the new hire – respect, trust, and value the new hire – so that when the Property Manager brings problems and solutions to him, real communication occurs. It isn’t enough to have experience as every company is different and at first a new hire needs MENTORING.

5.       Hire a leader. Hire someone who has actually been given a vague task or project in real life and run with it and achieved great results! Those are the thinkers and the doers. Those are the people who will move and shake it until the property becomes successful. It infuriates me to read job listings that provide a detailed list of “Dos,” hear that they interview only those candidates whose resumes claim they’ve already done those, and then give them the keys to the property without guiding the person daily for the first month or two. Every company has its own rhythms and want reports done certain ways, etc. It also sticks in my craw to hire someone and expect that person will fulfill everything in a day or week, when the problems of the property are so monumental, it would take five people 24 hours a day 7 days a week to get it all done (on declining properties. Well run, stable properties, your Property Manager must be able to hit the ground running and push the property to even better financial success.)

Finally, hire a person who is patient, who is happy with himself, who smiles and who has a knack to instilling confidence in others. This kind of leader may not be an Excel wizard (but could take a class to learn!), may not have all the degrees (but could go back to school), but what he lacks, he will make up for it in effort, attitude and heart. This person may be young, middle or older – what matters is his willingness to do what it takes to get the job done – whether that takes four days or fourteen months. This person thinks things through, finds and identifies what is holding back the property from making money, hires the right people and trusts them to do their jobs (and mentors them) and loves it when the phone rings onsite and it is you, their supervisor.

How do you know, then, that the one you want to hire will work out? Sometimes you don’t. Trust your gut though and look for signs. Look for good eye contact. Ask for specific examples of how the candidate handles himself – don’t rely only on “What if” questions. You need real life examples of how the person took a project from zero to complete. I cannot tell you how many people will come in with a binder full of things they’ve done, but when it came down to it, gave the stupidest answers to how they handled Outreach Marketing, or a MOR or REACT Inspection. If you have done it, you can talk about it: BS doesn’t quite cut it when you can’t put into play Best Practices of handling rent collections, delinquent accounts, fights and disagreements among the staff and residents. You need someone who can figure it out and who will contact upper management when necessary to suggest other ways to increase income, curb some major expense, etc. Remember, a lot of people “look great on paper,” but if the person you think is great can’t give others credit when due, who allows petty jealousy to cloud his interactions with SuperStar leasing consultants, who cannot guide the critical turn process, then do not hire that person. Sometimes, you will need to look deep to find the perfect fit.