Condo Media - April 2017 - 64

Ask a Busy Person
How did you get into community
association management? Was it a
long-standing ambition? Not many
people start their professional careers
thinking about property management.
I went to school at Johnson & Wales
University planning to go into hospitality
management, primarily because I like interacting with people and wanted to do a lot of
traveling. But I was recruited by an apartment management company out of college
and found a mentor there. When I left that
company to join a hospitality firm, he called
me every month for a year and eventually
persuaded me to return. I've been involved
in property management ever since.
You manage both apartments and
condominium communities. Are
there differences? The major difference is, in an apartment, you deal with a
single owner. In condominiums, you are
dealing with a lot of individual owners,
all of whom have a vested interest in the
property. Their attitude is very different
from that of tenants, who come and go.
The owner of an apartment building is
focused primarily on the bottom line; in
a condominium, the focus is on the collective betterment of the community.
What's a normal work day? There is
no such thing. One of the challenges and
joys of the industry is, you wake up every
day without knowing what to expect. No
two days are alike, and there is no way
to create a predictable work schedule.
Managing people's homes is a 24/7 operation. People generally try to be respectful
of your time, but night meetings are part
of the job. And when issues arise that require an answer, you have to be available.
What do you find most satisfying
about your work? The problemsolving and the interaction with different
unit owners. There are many different
ways to solve a problem. You don't use
the same approach in a suburban townhome community that you would use in
a downtown property. All associations
are different; your management approach has to match the community.

64

CONDOMEDIA

say, "I don't have an answer yet, but I will
get back to you when I have an answer."
Everyone has a cell phone today, and
they expect you to answer emails immediately. This makes separating personal
and work time a big challenge.

PETER WESTHAVER, CMCA, AMS, PCAM
Vice President, Barkan Management
Company, Inc., AMO; President-elect, CAI-NE

What does it take to be a successful
association manager? Commitment
to the industry. For me, that means
being as involved as much as possible in
CAI-NE. You have to be involved in the
industry if you're going to be successful
in this field. You also have to learn to let
things roll off your back. You can't take
criticism personally. For managers, this
is a business; for condominium owners,
it's their homes. And that makes it very
personal for them.
What do you do in your spare time?
I spend as much time as
possible with my family. When the weather is
warmer, we tend to play
baseball or softball in the
backyard.

What do you find most challenging?
Dealing with an emergency. When
something terrible happens-a fire or
flood or other disaster-you have to
coordinate the response and get people
back into their homes as quickly as
possible. You also have to navigate the
emotions of owners, who may have lost
their homes and their possessions. You
have to help them through the process.
That is both extremely challenging
and-when you get everything resolved
for them-extremely satisfying, as well.
Based on what you've learned over
the years, do you do things differently today than you might have done
when you began in the industry?
I've learned providing immediate feedback is more important than providing a
complete response. In the past, I might
have waited until I gathered all the
information for an answer, but today, I'd

What would it surprise
people to know about you? I
enjoy wearing funky socks. All kinds of
designs-polka dots, surfboards, boats,
you name it. Yesterday, it was aliens;
tomorrow will be dinosaurs. I also have
a vegetable garden and a blackberry
patch in my backyard.
What's the best advice you ever got?
You get out of something what you
put into it.
What advice would you give condominium managers starting out
in the field? Don't be afraid to ask
questions and make sure you listen to
the answers.
What advice would you give newly
elected board members? The same.
And, be patient. You'll accomplish a lot
more if you take the time to learn the
history of the prior board's decisions
before injecting your ideas.
Condo Media - April 2017

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