An assistant property manager’s job description can be summarized in one sentence.
An assistant property manager provides support in carrying out tasks related to the professional care of a property.
They help property managers optimize a growing firm’s performance as it begins take on more and more clients. Eventually, given enough experience, assistant property managers are entrusted with their own projects and clients. But that kind of growth takes time, and it takes a lot of work in between.
Which specific services are assistant property managers expected to perform?
Generally, it depends on the needs and discretion of their senior property manager. Ultimately, they are expected embody a skillset that is similar or complementary to what property managers have.
Do you think you have what it takes to work in the real estate industry? Check out our overview of the tasks you need to prepare for, and the skills you’re going to need if you want to apply as an assistant property manager.
Marketing Duties
Assigned to manage marketing, an assistant property manager’s job description may include a number of different duties. Specifically, some of these include
- preparing write-ups
- designing ads and
- finding places to put them, including websites like Zillow, the local bulletin or the community Facebook
- staging homes and selecting furniture
- costing fitouts
When potential clients start coming in, assistant property managers may engage potential buyers.
Depending on their skills and experience, assistant property managers could be in charge of
- fielding initial inquiries
- providing recommended listings, or go as far as
- taking a client to a property for a tour
Some of these tasks will depend on a number of factors. For instance, showing rental properties usually requires a license or working with someone who is a licensed broker.
As an assistant property manager, expect to deal with people a lot. Whether it’s a client or contractor or your own boss at the firm, prepare yourself. Being well-informed on the property, as well as the legal landscape would be very helpful.
Being an assistant property management also requires you to think on your feet. Of course, there may be questions that you’re not fit to answer, that might require higher management to decide. But these questions could also make or break it for the potential buyer. You have to be able to weigh opportunities with a sense of responsibility.
Marketing is more than just being able to pitch a sales spiel. For assistant property managers, it comes down to more than just awareness of the details. You have to understand how these details come together. Whether it’s how a fitout will reflect on the financial budget, or how to screen potential buyers, a detailed eye and thinking on your feet are powerful skills to have.
Tasks in Paperwork and Documentation
Speaking of legalese, another duty included in an assistant property manager’s job description is dealing with documentation. Somebody has to do the paperwork. And moving around properties involves a lot of it. Whether your team is facilitating a sale or managing an occupancy, you have to get used to documentation.
Property management in general requires familiarity with
- local rules and regulations on property tax
- rental rates, or rental caps, if any
- insurance options
- maintenance and repair details and
- landlord and tenant rights.
As an assistant property manager, your tasks can include
- drawing up contracts
- reviewing regulations
- investigating legalities
- studying anti-discrimination laws
- helping draw financial plans with clients
- providing financial reports
Familiarity is something that comes with practice, and in time these tasks will become easier, if not seem menial overall. Doing them diligently for the meantime requires an eye for detail. Likewise, it’s important to be able to provide your property manager the right information at any given situation. This familiarity will serve you in the long run when you’re the one making the calls.
Client Support and Care
An assistant property manager’s job description includes the cluster of tasks in client support and relations.
Property management is a profession that deals with people as much as it deals with the property in question. It is about nurturing the network of relationships that place a value on a particular property: between the contractor and the landlord, the landlord and the tenant, and ultimately between the house and all these actors.
As an assistant property manager, it would be your job to help this network of relationships work properly.
Your job includes
- scheduling and managing inspections and maintenance jobs, which requires you to get in touch with tenants and contractors
- weighing in on costing and finding a working price for expenses that will fit your client’s financial plan
- sending reminders and chasing up rent or other payments
- fielding complaints during occupancy and deploying the first line of solutions
Some of these tasks rest on the premise that your property manager trusts you to make these kinds of decisions. But even if some seem above your paygrade, at the bare minimum, you will be asked to schedule an inspection so that the right people can get the right information to make the important decisions.
In summary, assistant property managers must be creative, detailed and great with people.
In most cases, property management firms have teams of people that do all of these tasks together. Some of them tap specialized team support companies like Staff Street and other professional outsourcing companies. They manage the customer support-specific tasks, which helps firms optimize their staff for the more important responsibilities.
Overall, an assistant property manager’s main duty is to assist the property manager in whatever way they can. Consider applying as an assistant property manager if
- you have an eye for details
- a talent for dealing with people, and
- a keen sense for making value judgments
These are the traits that can help property management firms enhance the value of people’s real estate investments.