Dear Heather - Promoted but Demoted

Dear Heather,
 
I just got "Promoted,"  and I'm not exactly happy about it.  Until recently, I worked at a beautiful property.  Good residents,  normal issues, and a okay time at work.  A manager position came up at one of our newly purchased sister properties, and they offered it to me.  I didn't want to leave my current property, but in the current economy, I couldn't turn down the jump from Asst. Mgr to Manager.  I didn't know what the new community was like until I got there for my first day.

 
My new community is a nightmare.  In my first week, 3 residents were arrested, two cars were broken in to, and I got screamed at by a resident who wanted to pay her rent in cash. When I talk to my Asset Manager, he acts like I should just be happy to have been promoted, and tells me to get busy cleaning the place up.
 
Heather, it's not that I'm unappreciative of the promotion.  I just wish it hadn't been to a complete craphole property.  I have no idea where to even start.  Do I try to clean this place up?  How do I do that?  Or is it better to let this promotion go and ask to go back to my old job, which they haven't filled yet, or even move to another company?
 
-Promoted but Demoted
 

Dear Promoted but Demoted,
Do you ever play poker?  I'm a fan of Texas Hold 'Em myself, and sometimes, just to confuse my friends, I'll play a traditionally "crap" hand, like a 4 and a 7.  No one in their right mind actually pays antes on these cards.  Usually you fold and watch someone else pick up the chips for that round, and you chalk it up to luck, then you move along to the next hand.  Unless of course, you're me, who pays in on each pass and prays for the right cards to come down to make the strait.  I win more hands of poker that way...
 
What you've been dealt, while it might seem like a "crap" hand, is actually one that were I in your position, I'd play.  Let me tell you why:
 

1. It's a promotion, which you probably earned, and it's a shame to pass that up.   Passing up that promotion would almost seem like you were arguing against your own job level competency, which is something you should never do.  And, like you said, with the current economy, you really CAN'T pass it up.
2. You've been handed a career defining moment.  People always seem to fight against these for some reason, and when all is said and done, it's always the property or the moment in their career as a property manager that made them the amazing asset that they've become to their company.  Career defining moments usually... well usually they suck.  It's hard to go through them and it seems like you'll never get out of the mess that you're in.  But when you come out on the other side... that brings me to
3. You are going to walk away from going through this a much stronger and much more desirable property management employee.  Believe it or not, you're about to learn more in the next year than most people learn in their first 5 years as a property manager at an A class community.  It always amazes me how some people assume that because a manager is at a C level community, they must be a C level manager.  The fact of the matter is that many of our strongest property managers work the WORST properties, because they are the ones who are talented enough to make miracles happen there.

 
Stop looking at the promotion as a problem and start seeing the opportunities you have right now!  You get the chance to clean up and raise the value of an asset for your company, who, I might point out, firmly believes you can do it, or they wouldn't have sent you there in the first place.  Dig in your heels and get started! 
 
I would recommend that you start with a full file audit, checking occupant numbers with lease signatures, since many of the problems caused in communities are brought about by people who aren't even on the lease.  Also in your audit, check the vehicle registrations and consider towing any cars that don't belong to current residents or do not have current tags/are inoperable.  Next, you get to start retraining your residents - things like teaching them not to yell at you by refusing to deal with them until they can be civil.  Put a BIG MIRROR behind your desk to teach this lesson, because people calm down when they see themselves in it - mad people are UGLY, and no one wants to see themselves that way.  
 
If your community has a "crime free" program, get involved!  Those programs have tons of resources to help your residents become neighbors and to help you keep on top of what's going on in your community.  Also, check out the February issue of UNITS magazine, where they had a great article on crime free apartments and other awesome suggestions for what you could do.
 
Learn how to be firm and fair.  Anything else as an attitude from a property manager during a property clean up will look like a power trip.  Firm but Fair is respectable.  "Do it because I said so, " is not.
 
Lastly, as a new manager, you need to find yourself a mentor in your company.  Turn to some of the more experienced managers around you and ask them for some guidance.  Usually, 1 out of every 4 people has a leadership/teaching/mentoring quality in them and will be more than willing to take you under their wing.   Your mentor relationship may be one of the most important  relationships that you foster during your professional career.  I know I'm thankful every day for the people I consider to be my mentors.
Good Luck and let me know how your clean up goes!
-Heather