Property Management Challenges in Residential Multifamily Apartment Complexes

This research addresses a segment of multifamily housing that is overlooked in the real estate research literature. Apartment complexes with 50 to 500 rental units present unique property management challenges not typically found in commercial real estate or smaller apartment buildings with fewer than four units. The research identifies five research gaps in this real estate investment segment. The research employed a mixed-methods approach, examining the economic, real estate market, and multifamily housing literature, including an illustrative case study conducted by the researcher to investigate the difficulty of acting as a property manager during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from a grounded theory comparative analysis of property management processes for multifamily housing and commercial leases are presented. The study recommends additional research on multifamily housing. This real estate market segment requires further expansion to meet market demand.