Have you wondered what Melbourne property managers get up to each day? Perhaps you’re an investment property owner keen to know more about how the person who manages your rental home spends their days. Or maybe you’re eager to become a property manager but uncertain about what the daily routine looks like?
Either way, you’re in the right place. In this helpful article, we’re going to run through a day in the life of a property manager. By the end, you’ll have a firm idea of how this profession spends each working day.
We’ll break this article up into chunks of time spent during the day, however it is by no means a complete account. It’s important to note that different property managers may vary their schedules slightly. This article is meant as a rough guide and is not a hard and fast rule for everyone in the job. It should, however, give you a solid impression.
8:30 am-9:30 am – Checking, Reading and Sending Emails
Most property managers will arrive at their rental agency office and clock in around 8:30 or 9:00 am. First thing is first, they will grab a coffee and maybe have a quick chat with their colleagues in the staff room before heading to their desk to power up their computer.
They’ll first check their emails and assess them in order of priority. For instance, they may have a few emails from tenants regarding repair requests, a notice of late rental payments or requests for rental payment extensions. Furthermore, they will likely have some emails from property owners with various requests or emails from their manager or other colleagues at the agency.
Once they judge the order of priority, they’ll spend some time replying to these emails. They may leave some, as repair requests can depend on external professionals, such as tradespeople, who can take some time to arrange a quote.
9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Scheduling and Attending Routine Inspections
The next hour may be spent contacting tenants of investment properties and arranging suitable times for the property manager to come and inspect the homes. Routine inspections are a large part of a property manager’s role and allow them to give landlords a detailed report about the condition of their investment property.
After that, the property manager will head out on the road to conduct a few routine inspections. These can take anywhere between half an hour to an hour, depending on the state of the home.
A property manager will look for things in a routine inspection, including the home’s cleanliness, such as how clean all surfaces and skirting boards are and if the range hood is free from grease. They will also check for mould or soap scum build-up in the bathroom or laundry.
Furthermore, the property manager will check the home for any damage beyond reasonable wear and tear. Wear and tear may include minor scuffs and dents in the flooring or walls. However, any severe scratches, large holes or other damage to walls or flooring is not acceptable. The property manager may request the tenant to arrange repairs at their cost in this case.
12:30 – 1:00 PM – Time for Lunch
Everyone needs a lunch break during their working day. A property manager will either grab some food on their way back from inspections or heat up something in the office and have a quick chat with their colleagues before returning to work.
1:00 – 2:30 pm – Communicating With Landlords, Tenants and Tradespeople
This chunk of the afternoon is spent either back on the computer for emails or on the phone. A property manager acts as a go-between and liaison for the property owners, the tenants, and any services or trades that need to attend a rental property for repairs or maintenance.
One example of this might be a tenant requesting an urgent repair due to a broken hot water system. The property manager needs to obtain approval from the landlord to engage a plumber to replace the system. Once permission is obtained, they need to find an available plumber to replace the system for what the landlord is willing to pay. This whole process can take a while, depending if the property manager can reach each party. There may be any number of these requests that a property manager will spend most of their afternoon chasing up.
2:30 – 4:00 pm – Processing Rental Applications
Another element of a property manager’s role is to process rental applications and recommend suitable tenants to landlords. Depending on how many vacant properties are on the agency’s books, they may spend an hour and a half to two hours a day doing this.
4:00 – 5:00 pm – Administrative Tasks and Catching Up on Sector News
Finally, the last chunk of time of the working day may be spent on administration, such as completing paperwork, submitting timesheets, or other internal paperwork. Depending on how busy they are, the property manager might spend the last half an hour reading up on real estate news to stay current with their industry.
Wrapping Up
There you have it, a day in the life of a property manager. This should give you a rough idea of how a property manager spends their working day, from hour to hour. By now, you’re informed and up to date about what this job looks like, day in and day out.
