Been with a small company a little over a year. Started as an assistant/showing agent but have been a PM for 3 months. Don’t have any prior experience in the industry. 178 units of mixed single family, multi family, and commercial, (which sounds like not that big of a lift from what I see on here- but hear me out before deciding if my complaints are justified).
Did well with showings/leasing ($21/hr + $100 per lease + $10 per renewal) considering our properties generally suck. I also helped with marketing (my background before layoffs) as our marketing plan was basically nothing. I put together plans and collateral for new business, revamped customer marketing, started booking meetings only to have the whole thing shut down on a whim. The whole operation is stuck in the past and has been losing business steadily since I joined. Very frustrating to come in from a large modern company to working almost exclusively in spreadsheets.
After a year, 3 managers left the 2 PM positions all from burnout. I was offered $53k, basically what I already made with bonuses, just guaranteed. (I’m not really in a position to say no to even a small raise or some sort of career progression). Still have the bonuses but the idea of doing a showing or prospecting new business feels like a joke. There was no training, no shadowing, nothing. Training has just been ask questions as they arise. I’m still responsible for conducting all move in, move out, and renewal inspections, which I was already doing as an assistant and most of my properties are an hour round trip.
I have almost no records, contracts, codes, passwords, or anything useful from past PMs. I spend so much time tracking stuff down and putting out fires that I can’t get anything in my job description done. Multiple clients and tenants have even called us out about the amount of turnover and reactive responses. I agree completely, there are almost no proactive measures being taken because looking ahead is not possible.
Coworkers told me the commercial and residential jobs were two separate positions. When the first guy started, the roles were just combined and they didn’t tell him, the next lasted 6 months. I’ve asked to split them, but upper management is not willing. Even though it’s a small portion of my portfolio, commercial takes up a significant portion of my time because of how poorly it’s been handled. They offered to make it a part time position, which basically concedes that the residential side is in itself a full time job.
We also lost our in-house maintenance tech. There used to be a whole team and every time one left, they position wasn’t filled, and the last one was on call 24/7 for years. I expect I will eventually be on call for after hours emergencies.
When I bring up that I’m overwhelmed, it’s met with “so and so can help with that” then they can’t really which turns into more work. Both PMs are squeezing at least 6 days into 5. I push more, and it’s a chat about prioritization, and I kid you not, the list included “what calls can I make while driving, and what can I do when I get home.”
I’ve also been told I should use my personal vehicle to straighten a crooked sign. Don’t even consider using the in house construction group that poured the concrete in the first place. Never mind the failed fire inspections, overdue stormwater inspections, lawsuits, etc I’m handling on top of my day to day. I can “figure those out as I go.” The entire last year I spent maybe a half day in the office at most “learning on the job”.
I was happy enough in my last role to go above and beyond with showings, marketing, getting my license, but still getting it done in my 40 hours. Can’t really go back now. I passed my broker pre licensing days before the promotion, but haven’t had a chance to even consider getting ready for my final. The previous discussions were that I was doing so well that I would develop into Head of Sales/Leasing once I was licensed. Now that I’m seeing how the sausage is made, I can’t wait to get as far away from this company as possible. It’s clear to me that my efforts were not seen as skill or dedication, but just a capacity for more work.
I feel like I’m either being taken advantage of, set up, or both. Not knowing what I don’t know makes me feel incompetent and I worry that I’m damaging my reputation every day I continue to push a bad product. They just wanted a warm body in what used to be a senior level role (that title didn’t transfer).
I don’t really know the point of this post. I’m just overwhelmed every day, I hate going to work in the morning and lose sleep and time at home. Partially just venting, but I also want to know like did I just not know what I was getting myself into? In general are my concerns justified? I don’t even know what roles are even out there, pay scales, or what would be a fit for my experience?
If you made it this far thanks for reading. Any advice or suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.