They must have in-depth knowledge of contracting and construction, since they are often approached with bids from competing contractors and have to select the most competent ones. At small properties, the manager might be one of only two people responsible for the property, often in conjunction with a building engineer. Apartment managers train, supervise, and assign duties to the maintenance staff as well as making routine inspections of the grounds, facilities, and equipment. Property managers are also employed by condominiums and homeowner associations and they deal even more closely with tenants than do apartment managers. They are usually hired by the volunteer board of homeowners associations.
Property managers have to be master marketers as well as people managers.
They play good cop and bad cop, enforcing lease restrictions and evictions as well as service requests and noise complaints. Real estate managers who work for land development companies acquire land and plan the construction of shopping centers, houses and apartments, office buildings, or industrial parks. They have to be savvy business people, since they negotiate loans to finance construction and follow up with mortgage loans. Most property managers put in long work weeks and are sometimes required to live in the apartment complexes where they work so that they can spring to the site of an emergency and provide damage control. To compensate, they usually receive time off for working at night or on weekends.