Depending on the size of the asset, it may require a single manager or full time staff that includes a general manager, leasing agents, and maintenance workers. Either way, the property manager’s responsibilities can be divided into five categories:

1. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: Setting and analyzing annual or monthly property budget, then reporting monthly financial statements to ownership, and managing of all coming and going funds that move through the property.
2. PROPERTY MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS: From landscaping to trash collection, repairing parking lot to roofing of the building or individual unit maintenance such as repairing faucets or replacing broken appliances can be count for property management tasks.
3. TENANT MANAGEMENT: Finding and screening new tenants, credit check, handling lease negotiation, move-ins, move-outs, evictions, maintenance requests and emergencies.
4. RENT MANAGEMENT: Adjusting rental rates according to current market conditions, collecting and processing monthly rents, pursuit of late payments or other fines, and adjusting concessions according to the vacancy rates.
5. EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT: For bigger properties with a full time staff, mostly the property manager is responsible for oversight of the entire operational staff.

The best property managers will complete all of the above activities in full compliance with all local, state, and federal laws that govern property rental. In states with a significant amount of tenant rights legislation — like New York and California — this is no small task.