Jan
26
Dear Heather - Looking for a Ladder
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 15:38
Dear Heather,
I've been in my current job for about 6 years now and can't seem to move any further up in my company than the role of a property manager. I think I'm good at my work and my employees seem to like me, but when the opportunity to move up happens, my regional always seems to find someone "better qualified." I don't want to have to leave my current company, but I feel like I've earned a promotion and I'm getting a little burned out where I am now. What should I do?
-Looking for a Ladder
Feb
2
Dear Heather - Spunked Out
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 08:00
Dear Heather,
I currently work for a Leasing Firm and I travel all over the U.S. though for 45-60 days at a time. So behind the leasing desk has become an essential to my everyday life. When I am new on a property I want to impress the Manager my Boss and the Owners, but lately the wear and tear of being homesick is affecting my creative ability. I find my self distracted by thoughts of my children instead of how I can market the property. I am extremely talented. I close on more then 83% of my traffic phone and walk-ins. My bubbly well rounded personality and spunkiness help. I am writting you right now becuase I am brain spanked and spent. I will be going on a 6 day break in 3 days after which I'm headed out to the Heartland (Kansas) on an assignment. Do you have any advice or direction to give me the jolt I need?
-Spunked Out
Feb
9
Dear Heather - Frustrated with Fibbing
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 08:00
Dear Heather,
At our property, we are asked to do weekly shops of our competing properties. I'm supposed to call them and get how much they are renting all of their apartments for, if they have any specials, what their traffic has been like, and what their current occupancy is. For 2 of my comps, this is really easy and they're really nice to me. 1 of the other ones never answers their phone, but sometimes if I fax them our sheet, they will return it. The other 2 flat out refuse to give us any information or they lie to us about their stuff, even though we are willing to give them ours and we're always honest. One weekend, the bigger one was doing a free 47 Inch TV with a new lease, and we didn't know about it! How can I get those two properties to give me the information I need?
-Frustrated with Fibbing
Feb
16
Dear Heather - Done Playing Nice
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 08:00
Dear Heather,
I've been working with a new employee for a little over 4 months now, and I'm not sure why she was hired. She's not learning anything, she's not completing anything, she doesn't do any work. It really pisses me off, because I have to pick up her work, and whenever someone comes in the door, she runs to the back room so she doesn't have to deal with them. I keep telling her that she is being lazy and that she needs to do just as much as everyone else, but she doesn't get the message. I'm trying to tell my manager what a waste of space she is, but it's not working. I tried even showing her where the girl messed up on something as simple as updating our Rent.com page and my manager told me that it's not my job to watch what she does, like I'm the one who is the screw up! How can I make my property manager see just how bad she is?
-Done Playing Nice
Feb
24
Dear Heather - Tongue Tied in Texas
Submitted by artchickhb on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 03:06
Dear Heather,
I was recently fired from a job I worked at for 8 years. I won't go in to details, but the condensed version is that I did my job, and something went wrong, our owner got furious, and I guess I got sacrificed. I've never ever been fired from a job before, and I'm still just stunned. I feel totally worthless, and worst of all, I know that I did what anyone would have done in that situation.
Now I've been applying for new jobs, and if the companies do finally call me in for an interview everything goes fine until they get to my employment history. I don't know what I'm supposed to say when they ask me about why I left my last job. Do I tell them I got fired, or that I left, and do I tell them the specifics of what happened if I do tell them that I got fired? How can I say the right hireable words?
-Tongue Tied in Texas
Mar
2
Dear Heather- Considering Changing Sides
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 03/02/2010 - 18:45
Dear Heather,
You mentioned in one of your blogs that you switched from working as a someone on the property level to someone who worked on the vendor side. An ILS in our area recently approached me and offered me the chance to join them. I like my job as a leasing manager now, but I'm kind of wondering what it's like on the other side. It's been a really rough year for my property, and I have to admit that the offer is tempting. What's the best thing to do?
-Considering Changing Sides
Mar
9
Dear Heather - Flustered Facebooker
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 08:00
Dear Heather,
Recently our management said we could try social media - Facebook and Twitter. I am 22 and I already know how to use this stuff. Some of my coworkers didn't really understand a lot of it, so now my company is thinking about outsourcing our stuff to another company. They won't tell us who, but I think it's the big one that everyone else is using.
Heather I don't think this is right. I read your blog every day and I know you believe in social media as a resident retention tool, but I don't see any point in doing this if it's just going to be outsourced. It's expensive and I can run this stuff just as well as some other company can. How can I convince my Asset Managers that they're making a stupid mistake?
-Flustered Facebooker
Mar
16
Dear Heather- Sick and Tired
Submitted by artchickhb on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 08:00
Dear Heather,
I have worked for the same property management company for several years and have worked my way into a good salary, benefits, and a Manager in Training role. With this role comes great responsibility, including taking on the challenge of supervising employees. The downside to this role is that I don't really have the autonomy to really fix some issues that drive me crazy within my office and for the most part, my hands are tied when it comes to disciplinary action issues because that is my manager's responsibility. You see, I have a coworker that has a variety of health issues and it is known within the office and management, so therefore, we have to accommodate. I have no problem with this for the most part. My issue is that she calls out a lot. When I say a lot, I mean it is to the point of being predictable. Even my maintenance staff make jokes about her calling out so much. For instance, I will get a text that tell me how she's not feeling well and how it's ruining her weekend. First off, this is rather annoying because I frankly don't care what she is doing on her days off. Secondly, this irritates me even more because in my eyes this is a set up for the inevitable call out for her return to work from her weekend break. Not only that but she won't hesitate to share with you that she suffers from several ailments at the same time and all of the details of them ...I am not trying to belittle her health conditions but I honestly have never met anyone with more issues that prevents them from working in my life! I have brought these frustrations to my manager's attention many times. The response I get is very HR (which I understand) and it's typically something like "you have to accommodate by giving breaks during the day or allowing her to go home early or come in late". Seriously?! Can't I just get a Leasing Agent that shows up and isn't a Web MD nightmare? Although her call outs have been less frequent than before, it's still predictable and if she does show up, she is so loopy from her medications it makes it difficult to work with her. My manager has told me to send her home if she comes to work loopy but frankly, I need her in the office and can't afford to be alone in the office any more than I already am.
How do I balance my feelings of frustration and disbelief in her legit "sick days" and still be in compliance with the law and not on the wrong side of an lawsuit? Some days I believe she is ill and other days I think she just didn't want to get up out of bed and come to work. She has even mentioned that she knows my manager can't fire her because she could sue based on her medical issues. I know we all have a right to call out sick but I just feel like it's predictable and abusing that very policy that is meant for those that do have medical issues that truly inhibit them from working normal shifts or performing daily tasks. How do I overcome these feelings of not believing her, not feeling confident in her attendance, not feeling confident that her ailments are severe enough to prevent her from working or performing her duties, and yet knowing that I have to accommodate her call outs and deal with it?
Please Help!
Sick and Tired of those who are ALWAYS Sick and Tired
Apr
7
Dear Heather - Irritated in Illinois (Fair Housing)
Submitted by artchickhb on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 07:00
Dear Heather,
I just got written up for violating fair housing. It's completely not fair, since I wasn't being discriminatory at all! We have an indoor pool at my community and in the early afternoon there are a lot of senior citizen swimmers in there. Last weekend, one of them was very annoyed because there were a lot of little kids in the pool who were splashing around and cannon balling into the water, right by them. She complained, so I told the kids that they had to stay at the end of the pool that the older people weren't swimming in. I thought it was a good compromise, but then one of the kid's parents (who NEVER controls their child to begin with!) came in and complained to the manager about my compromise.
I got written up. It was complete crap.
I don't want you to think that I think fair housing laws are stupid, but my manager makes such a huge deal out of them! I know they are super crucial to the industry, blah, blah, blah, but I don't understand why me doing something that's just good customer service is a violation of them. Can you tell me how to fight this write up? It's not fair, and it's not right.
-Irritated in Illinois
Dec
2
Dear Heather - Searching for Sense in Fair Housing
Submitted by artchickhb on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 19:17
Hey Heather,
I'm looking to rent a room in my condo (subletting or space-sharing some call it), but I'm really nervous about posting on Craigslist, etc. because Fair Housing laws (which seem to apply to individual home owners as well) stated that you can't even post things that could make people feel discriminated against (example: "Perfect for singles and young couples" might make people with kids feel uncomfortable).
I'm not the kind of guy that would discriminate based on race, gender, or creed, but I'm a young bachelor who likes to throw the occasional party, and if I were legally bound to rent to a family of four with an infant living in one of my bedrooms (hey, I can't discriminate, right?), partying would be impossible (or at the very least, awkward).
Also, there are things that I honestly can't help: I have a pet allergy (which would make a seeing eye dog very inconvenient), and I live on the second story, making the home inaccessible to wheel chairs. After reading examples of "Discriminatory wording," the regulations seemed to imply that statements like "Not Wheelchair Accessible" or "No Seeing-Eye Dogs; Pet Allergy" would be illegal, but those are just statements of fact.
I don't want to get sued for discrimination when it's simply due disclosure. My condo is not wheelchair accessible and I'm allergic to shedding dogs (and most seeing eye dogs shed).
How can I put those facts into my add without breaking the law?
Also. It's my house, and I own it. Don't I have the right to preferences when I sublet or space-share my own property? Businesses have the right to "refuse service to anyone." If it's my property, shouldn't I have that right?
Thanks,
Sir Knight of Ni!
Hire Heather!
Want to hire Heather? Drop her an email at heather@behindtheleasingdesk.com or call her at 785.410.7385
