A good property manager is a special type of person. They must have skills that support the diligence that the job requires. In many real estate offices I see commercial property managers that are elevated to the task after starting and spending most of their career in residential property. When they make the change they are offered little training or no support. The story is something like, “Congratulations and well done, you are promoted to the role of Commercial Property Manager. There is your chair, start work today”. This is where the errors are made and the process does little to support the landlords that require commercial management. It also stresses out the property manager who really has no idea of what to do and where to start. After such job change it is only a short period of time before things are not going well and mistakes are being seen. The client becomes unhappy, the tenants get upset, and the property deteriorates. So to be good working in the job these are the main skills you will need.

1. Great communication skills for tenants, landlords, contractors
2. Exceptional negotiation skills for new leases and renewal of lease situations
3. Strong documentary skills to read, record, and instruct on documentation matters relative to tenants, landlords, and contractors
4. Strong computer skills with word, spread sheets, and database management
5. A real awareness of legal processes with leases and occupancy relative to your location and country
6. Understand the differences between retail, industrial, and office property function
7. How to track and optimise rental in a lease, whilst sensibly controlling expenditure
8. How to read a lease and understand the contents relative to ongoing occupancy
9. How to interpret tenancy mix and strategies
10. What are property outgoings and how to recover them from the tenant through lease and rental structures
11. How to reconcile rent and outgoings payments from leases that are all different
12. How to handle property breakdowns and maintenance events on a major scale
13. How to track retail property performance with customers, trade and local demographics
14. How to create a building budget and monitor its performance
15. How to read legislation that relates to commercial, industrial, and retail property
16. Intelligence, sound business practices, and an ability to make decisions under pressure

The list goes on but these are the big skills that are required. These skills are not gained whilst you are doing residential property, nor should the office manager expect that you can develop them quickly. Respect the differences of commercial and make sure that the people doing the job are indeed trained to do it well. This will strengthen landlord and tenant relationships, and over the long term help with the growth of the rental portfolio.