The biggest mistake lifestyle community operators make when hiring: treating it like traditional real estate instead of hospitality business…
Why Your Property Manager Hire Isn’t Working Out (And How to
Fix It)
By William Forsberg, Praxis Executive Advisors
You’ve been through three property managers in 18 months. Each one looked perfect on paper. Each one
interviewed well. And each one failed within six months.
Sound familiar?
After managing 36,000+ lifestyle community sites across every major region and ownership structure, I’ve seen
this pattern repeat itself dozens of times. The problem isn’t that you’re unlucky with your hires. The problem is
that traditional recruiting approaches fundamentally misunderstand what makes a successful property manager
in lifestyle communities.
The Real Cost of a Bad Hire
Before we talk about solutions, let’s acknowledge what’s actually at stake. A failed property manager hire
doesn’t just cost you the recruitment fee. Consider the real impact:
Hard Costs:
- Recruiting fees: $15,000–$24,000 per placement
- Training investment: 3–4 months of reduced productivity
- Turnover costs: Onboarding, HR time, and administrative overhead
- Lost revenue: Occupancy drops, renewals decline, resident satisfaction plummets
Soft Costs:
- Staff morale deteriorates as team members pick up the slack
- Your reputation in the community suffers
- You’re pulled away from strategic work to firefight operational issues
- The cycle repeats, creating a revolving door culture
One client came to us after an 8-month search that resulted in three failed placements. Total cost? Over
$180,000 in recruiting fees and operational disruption. The properties’ occupancy had dropped from 94% to
87%, representing approximately $15,000 in lost monthly revenue across the portfolio.
Why Traditional Recruiting Fails in Lifestyle Communities
Most executive search firms treat lifestyle community property managers like any other real estate position.
They look for “property management experience” and assume the skills are transferable. They’re not.
Here’s what traditional recruiters miss:
They Focus on the Wrong Experience
Traditional recruiters prioritize years of experience and certifications. They’ll find someone with 10 years
managing apartment complexes or commercial properties and assume they can transition to lifestyle
communities.
The reality? Managing a lifestyle community requires an entirely different skillset. It’s not traditional property
management—it’s hospitality leadership combined with community building, wrapped in a real estate
operations framework.
The Red Flag: Your candidate talks about “tenants” instead of “residents” and views the role as primarily
transactional rather than relational.
They Don’t Understand the Hospitality Component
In an apartment complex, success means keeping units occupied and maintaining the property. In a lifestyle
community, success means creating an experience that residents choose to stay for year after year.
Your property manager needs to understand the difference between resident management and guest experience.
They need to grasp how luxury amenities, community programming, and PropTech integration create value
beyond just collecting rent.
The Red Flag: They can’t articulate the difference between occupancy rate and resident retention, or they focus
exclusively on cost-cutting rather than value creation.
They Miss the Operational Nuances
Lifestyle communities present unique operational challenges that don’t exist in traditional real estate:
- Seasonal occupancy fluctuations requiring dynamic staffing models
- Multi-generational resident demographics with varying needs
- RV-specific infrastructure and maintenance requirements
- Active adult programming and community engagement
- The balance between privacy and community in age-restricted properties
A candidate might have stellar metrics from their previous apartment management role, but if they’ve never
navigated these specific challenges, they’re starting from square one.
The Red Flag: They see the position as a standard 9-to-5 job rather than an all-encompassing leadership role
that requires flexibility and community presence.
They Can’t Assess Cultural Fit for Your Specific Portfolio
Not all lifestyle communities are created equal. A property manager who excels in a family-owned, 200-site
manufactured housing community might struggle in a private equity-backed, 1,500-site luxury RV resort
portfolio.
The ownership structure, company culture, resident demographics, and growth trajectory all require different
leadership approaches. Traditional recruiters often ignore these nuances because they don’t have the operational
background to understand why they matter.
The Red Flag: The candidate focuses solely on technical skills without asking detailed questions about your
company culture, resident demographics, or operational priorities.
The “I’ve Been There” Difference
At Praxis Executive Advisors, our approach is fundamentally different because it’s rooted in operational
expertise, not just recruiting methodology.
I’ve managed properties totaling over 36,000 lifestyle community sites. I’ve been a Regional Director
overseeing 15 properties with 4,000+ sites. I’ve built sales programs from scratch, implemented PropTech
solutions, and navigated every operational challenge your property managers will face.
This means when we assess candidates, we’re not evaluating them based on how well they interview. We’re
evaluating them based on how well they’ll actually perform in your specific operational environment.
Our Assessment Approach
Real-World Scenario Testing
We don’t ask hypothetical questions. We present candidates with actual scenarios they’ll face in your portfolio:
- “Your maintenance supervisor just quit during peak season, you have 12 move-ins scheduled this week,
and a resident is threatening legal action over a site dispute. Walk me through your first 48 hours.” - “Occupancy is at 87% and your owner wants 94% by end of quarter. What’s your 90-day plan?”
- “You have a $2 million capital improvement project that’s running over budget and behind schedule.
How do you get it back on track while maintaining resident satisfaction?”
The candidates who’ve actually managed lifestyle communities respond with specific, detailed action plans. The
ones who haven’t? They give generic management theory.
EOS Traction Leadership Assessment
We evaluate candidates using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) Traction methodology, specifically
looking at:
- GWC (Get it, Want it, Capacity): Do they truly understand the role’s demands? Are they genuinely
motivated by lifestyle community work? Do they have the capacity to execute at the level your
properties require? - Leadership Ability: Can they build and lead teams that deliver exceptional resident experiences?
- Accountability: Do they own outcomes, or do they deflect responsibility when things go wrong?
Operational Competency Verification
We verify claims with specific questions that only someone with hands-on experience can answer:
- “What’s your approach to managing seasonal staffing in RV resorts?”
- “How do you balance capital improvement projects with maintaining curb appeal and resident satisfaction?”
- “Walk me through your resident retention strategy for active adult communities.”
Generic answers reveal generic experience. Specific, nuanced responses reveal true operational competency.
The Fix: Five Steps to Getting Your Next Hire Right
If you’re ready to break the cycle of failed hires, here’s what needs to change:
Redefine Your Job Requirements
Stop listing generic property management qualifications. Get specific about your operational reality:
- What’s unique about your resident demographics?
- What are your biggest operational challenges right now?
- What’s your ownership structure, and how does it impact day-to-day operations?
- What technology platforms and PropTech solutions will they need to leverage?
- What does success look like in measurable terms (occupancy, NOI growth, resident satisfaction scores)?
Look for Lifestyle Community Experience, Not Just Property Management Experience
Prioritize candidates who’ve actually managed lifestyle communities, even if they’re at a lower level than your
open position. A successful assistant property manager from a lifestyle community will often outperform a
regional manager from traditional multifamily.
Test for Hospitality Mindset
During interviews, assess how candidates talk about residents:
- Do they view residents as customers who deserve a premium experience?
- Can they articulate specific examples of going above and beyond to create resident satisfaction?
- Do they understand the economics of retention versus acquisition?
Evaluate Problem-Solving in Context
Present real operational challenges from your portfolio and evaluate their responses. The quality of their
thinking under pressure tells you far more than their resume credentials.
Partner with Recruiters Who’ve Done the Job
Work with executive search advisors who have actual operational experience in lifestyle communities. They’ll
understand the nuances of the role, ask the right questions, and identify candidates who will actually succeed in
your environment.
The ROI of Getting It Right
When you hire the right property manager, the results compound quickly:
Within 90 Days:
- Staff turnover decreases as leadership stabilizes
- Resident satisfaction scores improve
- Operational inefficiencies get addressed
- You reclaim your time to focus on strategic priorities
Within 6 Months:
- Occupancy improvements generate $10,000–$20,000+ in additional monthly revenue per property
- Process optimizations reduce operational costs by $8,000–$15,000 annually
- Resident retention increases, reducing marketing and turnover costs
- Your property’s reputation in the community strengthens
Within 12 Months:
- You’ve recovered your recruiting investment multiple times over
- You have a stable leadership team that can scale with your growth plans
- You’ve identified a potential future regional leader
- You’re no longer firefighting operational crises
One of our clients saw occupancy improve from 87% to 94% within six months of placing the right regional
manager. That’s $15,000+ in additional monthly revenue, or $180,000 annually. The recruiting fee paid for itself
in the first 60 days.
Final Thoughts
The 40–60% failure rate in executive placements isn’t inevitable. It’s the result of treating lifestyle community
hiring like any other real estate recruitment.
Your property manager isn’t just managing assets. They’re leading a hospitality-focused community business
that happens to be in real estate. That requires a fundamentally different skill set, mindset, and operational
expertise.
When you partner with advisors who understand this difference—because they’ve lived it themselves—
everything changes. You stop cycling through mediocre hires and start building a stable, high-performing
leadership team.
At Praxis Executive Advisors, we don’t just fill positions. We solve operational challenges by placing leaders
who’ve proven they can deliver results in environments exactly like yours.
Because in lifestyle communities, the right executive doesn’t just manage. They transform.
William Forsberg is the founder of Praxis Executive Advisors and brings extensive operational leadership
experience across 36,000+ lifestyle community sites. His background includes regional director roles at MAR
Communities and Cal-Am Properties, where he managed large portfolios and implemented operational systems
that drove measurable performance improvements. This real-world expertise now informs his executive search
practice, where he specializes in placing leaders in lifestyle communities including manufactured housing, RV
resorts, and active adult properties.
Ready to end the cycle of failed hires? Contact Praxis Executive Advisors to discuss how operational
expertise translates to recruiting excellence.
Praxis Executive Advisors | Where Deep Operational Expertise Meets Executing Excellence