Property Management
Property Management
Property Management tests the operating side of assisted housing: leasing and occupancy, maintenance and habitability, rent collection, budgeting, vendor controls, fair housing, and resident relations. Questions often describe a situation and ask for the next compliant action.
Core rules
- Keep units habitable and respond to work orders by priority: life-safety and no-heat/no-water issues first, then routine repairs. Document completion and follow-up.
- Apply Fair Housing consistently in advertising, screening, and occupancy. Use written criteria, not subjective impressions, and document reasonable-accommodation requests.
- Track physical occupancy (occupied units ÷ total units) separately from economic occupancy (collected rent ÷ gross potential rent). Vacancy loss, concessions, and bad debt reduce economic occupancy.
- Control operating expenses with purchase orders, bid thresholds, and budget-vs-actual reviews; protect resident records and deposit funds.
Worked example
A 120-unit property has 114 occupied units, $120,000 gross potential monthly rent, $8,000 vacancy loss, $2,000 concessions, and $110,000 collected. Physical occupancy = 114 ÷ 120 = 95%. Economic occupancy = $110,000 ÷ $120,000 = 91.7%. The 3.3-point gap shows that collections and concessions, not just vacant units, are hurting performance.
Traps
Reporting physical occupancy as economic occupancy; applying different screening standards to different applicants; treating a reasonable-accommodation request as a lease violation; and closing work orders without a documented repair or resident confirmation.