Property Management Chronicle: Morning in the life of a Property Manager

It was a nice, easy ride, traffic not too heavy, air warm but not too much so. As I rode up Roger was leaning against the iron gate, arms folded. I was right on time. As I explained what the situation was, the upstairs tenant opened the door to welcome us in. I told Roger to go on in, while I stowed my bike in unit #1 thru the under-stoop gate. As I maneuvered my bike past the right angle into the garden-level hallway, and flipped the switch, I noticed the lights did not go on. I went upstairs and let roger know the power was out downstairs. After he looked at the AC unit on the second floor, we headed to the basement, where we discovered indeed that the unit #1 power was out, and that apparently, the AC upstairs was tied to unit #1’s electrical circuit. Apparently the tenant in #1, who’d left the apartment just days ago had closed her account and Con ed had turned the power off remotely!

So, after Roger and I looked around a bit, I told him to take off – he first had to close up the AC he’d opened upstairs. I then called the plumber I had also arranged to meet that morning at the same location in an attempt at time-efficiency – oh well. When I told her the power was out, the plumber suggested they bring lights, but I repeated there was no power, so lights wouldn’t help. I cancelled the plumbing visit. I then drafted an email to the owner explaining the situation and then got back on my bike and pedaled back to the office.

- Josh Blackman, Brownstone Property Group Principal