| Just like any other employee, the on-site apartment rental manager needs to be adequately trained and then retained so that you won’t have constant turnover. A huge part of the success of an apartment rental building lies in the skilled and professional management of the place. If you have constant turnover of on-site managers, you won’t have that feeling of continuity and professionalism that’s so important in managing an apartment rental building. So how do you properly train and retain that new on-site manager? Training period
Have at least a two-week training period for all new on-site managers. The training should include any hands-on maintenance training, such as how your apartment rental building’s air conditioning and heating systems work, a thorough review of any specific plumbing issues, and who to contact and what procedures to follow if certain problems arise (i.e. boiler break-down, fire on the premises, etc., earthquake, etc.). Give the on-site manager a full listing of vendors to contact as well, such as roof repair contractors, security companies, garbage bin disposal people, etc. You should also supply your manager a complete job description, and go over each duty, line by line.
During the first three months on the job, visit the apartment rental site at least once a week. Make sure your manager feels comfortable and capable of all job duties necessary for the job. Go around and ask the tenants if they have any concerns or problems with the new manager. In addition, spot- check vacant units as well as the common areas. Your on-site manager needs to know that you’re monitoring their job performance. Retention
Now that you’ve trained your on-site manager, the next goal is to retain that person if they’re performance is acceptable. If their performance is acceptable, then you want to motivate that person to stay on the job. If not, then now’s the time to fire that person and start looking for a new candidate. Suppose your on-site manager is performing up-to-par. How do you retain that person? One idea is to offer your manager a bonus every month your apartment rental building is at least 90% full, with appropriate, on-time paying tenants. It’s a real easy way to keep your manager happy and you happy at the same time. |
