Property management is a profession that has seen some incredible growth in the U.S. over the past decade, especially for women. We have the highest number of property managers here in the tri-state area (followed closely by Chicago), of which approximately 62% are female.
So, why is this noteworthy? Because property management requires communicating and working with people in heavily male-dominated industries, such as construction and commercial real estate.
It’s also important to note that women enjoy better pay equality in property management, earning 92% of what men earn, up from the average U.S. rate of just 83%.
While we still have a long way to go before we see widespread equality across the world in all sectors, things outwardly look good for women in property management.
Why this topic has a special place in Swan Co’s heart?
Previously, our Founder’s wife & company’s COO was a property manager and leasing agent on Long Island for nearly seven years.
During this time, Kimberley managed more than 12 different commercial & residential properties simultaneously along with their respective construction projects, tenant fit-outs, and renovations. Like many property managers, she started in her early 20’s with minimal formal construction training & no formal education in the industry.
In 2016, after two years of working on the new construction of a 21,000 SF shopping center, she wrote: “The most grueling experiences have been when things don’t go according to plan, which happens to be frequent in construction. These difficulties caused many headaches and frustrations in the beginning but have amounted to some of the greatest on-the-job lessons.”
6 Challenges Female Property Managers Face
We know, however, that the positive stats we mentioned earlier do not show the whole picture. That’s why we reached out to female property managers in the tri-state area to find out more – here’s what our survey discovered as we address them in the following challenges.
1) On the Job Learning
Many property managers have no formal training or experience in construction but work directly with professionals in the industry. In any month (or even week), a property manager may interact with an electrician, plumber, and roofing contractor. This means they need to develop a familiarity with all the different industries and how they work, but this knowledge can only come from experience. So, there is a bit of a learning curve.
This on-the-job learning curve requires property managers to pick up what they can as they go.
Many professionals aren’t particularly forthcoming about what they need, what property managers can expect, or what they should know that could help the entire process go more smoothly.
Add to that the outdated worldview that women aren’t interested in more traditionally “manly” tasks and professions, and female property managers often must push to get the information they need.
2) Essential Interaction with Vendors
Property managers must be familiar with which repairs and construction projects require dealing with local and state municipalities, to ensure their requirements aren’t overlooked by anyone involved.
As an added challenge, many property managers manage properties in multiple townships, so keeping in mind any differing local or state requirements can be a challenge in its own right.
This can cause some friction between a property manager and the professionals carrying out the work since getting on the same page so the work is done properly can take up the lion’s share of correspondence. After all, no one likes the implication that they do not know what they are doing!
3) Responsibility for Comparing Proposals
In many cases, it’s up to the property manager to compare proposals from vendors (which can be like comparing apples to apples, in many cases), adding pressure on the property manager to understand what’s going into the vendors’ quotes so they can secure the best work for the best price. Something that industry professionals can do more readily at first.
We give these property managers much credit for their ability to procure and evaluate these proposals that aren’t typically presented with the same scope of work at first.
Swan Co’s COO & former LI property manager, Kimberley, says that when she was gathering proposals for a new project or repair & she was unfamiliar with the scope of work, she would first meet with contractors that she’s worked with before.
She would ask a lot of questions and ask them for different options in making the repair or reaching a solution.
“If I was still unfamiliar with what they were describing or with certain industry-specific lingo, I would just say, ‘what does that mean?’ Or ‘I haven’t heard that term before, tell me exactly what you’re referring to.’ This helped me learn a lot and over time, I felt comfortable discussing repairs across so many different industries from parking lot drainage to HVAC and roofing.”
Then, when seeking a proposal from perhaps a new vendor, she would ask similar questions that she already had answers to so that she could better vet that particular vendor.
Finally, she would tell each of the contractors exactly how she wanted the scope of work written & which items could be added as alternates or options so that she could truly compare the numbers apples to apples. As a result, she was able to receive competitive pricing and ensure that the exact job wanted by the landlord or tenant could be achieved.
4) High-Pressure Position
Every day, property managers (of any gender) work side-by-side with commercial landlords, real estate brokers, and contractors, all while managing the relationship between them and the tenants of a property.
To say being the middleman (or middle woman!) in this situation is a “high-pressure position” is an understatement.
As a property manager, you’ve got to be able to alter your manner, language, and tone to meet the needs of the people or person you’re talking to. And let’s face it, it can require a lot of finesse especially if you’re trying to keep the peace when tensions are high.
Tenants and landlords have very different expectations about what should be done and when. That added pressure means that property managers need to organize repairs and work within strict budgets while attempting to keep both parties happy.
5) Added Pressures for Women
Of course, being in such a high-pressure situation is stressful for anyone of any gender, but there certainly are added complications for women.
The professionals that property managers work closely with are all within male-dominated industries, such as construction, sales, and real estate.
One of the issues highlighted by our survey was regarding interacting with the professionals in these male-dominated industries.
Unfortunately, there’s still a stigma around women’s ability to understand, be skilled at, or take an interest in these male-dominated professions.
While we certainly don’t want to tarnish all men with the same brush or make sweeping statements, many men in these industries assume a woman doesn’t know anything about the matter at hand, even if they’re an experienced property manager.
Once you’ve been in this profession for several years, it’s difficult to be surprised by an issue you haven’t seen before, and it is frustrating to once again have to prove or defend yourself when you are simply trying to do your job.
Unfortunately, the female respondents to our survey said they had yet to find a way to work around this challenge, besides expressing their interest to skeptical professionals, proving their knowledge of the subject, and expressing a willingness to learn about what they don’t yet know. In other words, doing their job well.
They also found that standing their ground and not giving in or backing down to disrespect or demeaning micro-aggression was relatively effective. It just needed to be done with respect and professional courtesy.
6)Tenants Aren’t Easy
One of the key difficulties for property managers is dealing with tenants.
While professionals and landlords present their respective difficulties, they are at work, and so (generally) act and speak in certain ways.
Dealing with tenants can be a much bigger challenge, as tenants are living in the building and therefore have different expectations about what’s reasonable and what’s not – and those expectations can vary from person to person, too.
Tenants are easy to work with provided they’re getting exactly what they want, but if the timeframe is off or something isn’t being done quite as they expected, property managers report finding it challenging to communicate to tenants the restrictions they are working with.
Fortunately, respondents to our survey found that many of these difficulties could be overcome by working with everyone involved to maintain open lines of communication.
By ensuring there is free-flowing communication, respondents found that everyone is more likely to understand the scope of the work involved, and what can be realistically completed within the given budget and timeframe.
What Property Managers Love About Their Job is Also the Biggest Challenge
When we asked property managers what they most loved about their job, we were surprised to find that it was also–to a large extent–what makes it such a challenge.
Property managers love that they never work the same day twice – tackling interpersonal challenges and dealing with new people all the time.
Many love the challenge of finding a way to work within tight budgets or time frames, finding a way to get what needs to be done completed while working around tenants’ schedules or a landlord’s budgetary constraints.
Of course, some property managers were more negative than positive about these challenges, but the overall feeling is that the challenging nature of the job is what keeps them getting up each day to head to work.
The Good News
The good news is that the women in the property management industry are strong and capable.
While women often face more resistance from others while doing their job than their male counterparts, they feel they are well equipped to handle all the challenges we’ve talked about in this article.
Their love of interacting with people and making things better for others keeps them striving forward and thriving in this industry.
We certainly appreciate all the property managers we interact with and are in awe of all they do – male or female.
So, with that, we want to give a BIG SHOUTOUT to all the women in the property management industry and to all the male and female professionals that support each other and work together to accomplish the task at hand!
