February 2017

CAI’s PMDP Educational Programs INVALUABLE

By Marybeth Hennessy, CMCA, AMS Towne & Country Management, Inc.

W hen I started in this business over 10 years ago I had no experience as a property manager. I didn’t even really know what a property manager was. Granted I had pretty good office skills. I was smart, college educated, organized, and could handle multiple tasks and changing priorities. I had already been working in the business world for 20 years before stumbling into the field of property management after the birth of my second child. But all of the experience I had at that time didn’t prepare me for the life of a property manager. I’ve found over the years that a property manager is expected to be knowledgeable and rounded in several different fields such as landscaping, plumbing, electrical, construction, engineering, law, insurance, accounting and often at times psychiatry, or a facsimile thereof. As a property manager you are the front line for questions, concerns, complaints, information and at times a shoulder for someone to cry on for every member of your community and your Boards. In this job I often think of the movie Office Space when Peter Gibbons tells “The Bobs” that he has eight different bosses. For a property manager it’s way more than that. You have your employers of course, then the Board and all your homeowners as your bosses!

To deal with all of that, I’ve found that the courses and certifications offered by CAI have been invaluable to me. Up until the time I took the M-100 and passed the CMCA exam I was sort of flying by the seat of my pants, learning as I went, making mistakes and learning by them. Kind of like a rudderless ship. The PDMP courses have been able to set a firm direction for me. These courses have been able to steer me

"These courses have been able to steer me into being a better, more knowledgeable and productive manager."

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