what is property management 
property management is the daily oversight of residential commercial or industrial real estate by a third party contractor generally property managers take responsibility for day to day repairs and ongoing maintenance security and upkeep of properties they usually work for the owners of investment properties such as apartment and condominium complexes private home communities shopping centers and industrial parks their main roles are to manage routine tasks delegated to them by the owners and to preserve the value of the properties that they manage while generating income understanding property managementproperty developers generally want to move on to the next project as soon as each one is completed even if they continue to hold title to the property they prefer to delegate the day to day operations to an outside company the responsibilities of a property manager generally involve the following the companies must comply with any state and local landlord tenant laws and regulations owners pay property managers a fee or a percentage of the rent generated by a property while it is under their management types of property managementjust as property comes in many types so do property managers some firms are specialized in providing management for a particular type of property while others offer management services over a range of property types a huge range of property types can be managed residential property managers are typically hired for rental properties and they manage the rental process they can be hired to manage commercial property owners have different needs from those who own residential property commercial property management can apply to industrial properties that can benefit from management include there are also numerous types of property that don t fit neatly into the categories above but that require management nonetheless these include who needs a property manager several types of property owners can benefit from the services that property managers offer landlords for example hire property management firms for a variety of reasons some may have multiple rental properties in their portfolios and lack the time or expertise to maintain the properties and deal with individual tenants some owners only have an interest in owning rental properties and earning profits from them when this is the case they hire professional property managers absentee landlords also make use of property management services some property management companies cater to individual landlords who rent out a single property such as a vacation home property owners who participate in affordable housing programs tend to use property management services because their rental properties are subject to complex federal guidelines that require specialized expertise certain real estate brokers also operate as property managers for example a broker in a resort town may provide buyer and seller agent services as well as property management services when this is the case the real estate broker lists shows leases and maintains vacation rentals for a number of property owners property managers are different from community managers who deal with common areas rather than individual units and don t necessarily deal directly with landlords special property management considerationsproperty management licensing requirements vary by state 1 most states require property management companies to be licensed by the local real estate board so property owners need to make sure that the firms they hire are properly licensed for instance property managers in florida are required to have real estate broker s licenses to operate in the state 2 that s because some of their responsibilities are deemed real estate activity holding a real estate broker s license allows property managers to list rental properties in the multiple listing service mls and to market the properties by standard real estate marketing methods holding a real estate broker s license also allows the property management company to place a real estate board lockbox on a property s door so that other licensed agents can show the property florida also requires property managers to hold a broker s license if they deal with rentals or leases and receive a commission for their services however property managers who manage the properties that they own in the state don t need a license to do so 2managers in massachusetts don t require a broker s license 3 that s because certain duties considered to be real estate activities such as listing and leasing properties may be secondary to the main duties performed by the property manager 