In a town full of students everything has the possibility to be a learning experience, even when it comes to how people find housing for the year off campus.
Mickey Trautz, a Virginia Tech alumni who graduated with a degree in history in Dec. 2008, first started working for the Blacksburg- and Radford-based company BCR Property Management as an intern the following summer. Today, he works for the company full-time as an administrative assistant.
As an intern, he learned a great deal about the intricacy of the property management business as his responsibilities centered on showing apartments and helping out with office duties such as phone calls or filing work orders.
But, as a student who held down a couple different jobs over his time at school, the bigger lesson he took away was how to juggle the demands of homework with those of the paycheck.
Luckily, he worked for a company with a general clientele of students and thus better understands the chaos of the collegiate lifestyle.
“We specialize in student housing and have been doing this for a long time,” said Don Barker, general manager of BCR.
Spike Andrews, head property manager of BCR, is also very cognizant of the life of a college student as he and many other members of the staff have a very close connection to the university.
“Most of us are alumni of Virginia Tech,” Andrews said. “We love the students and have been students. We appreciate the strength of Tech because without them there would be no BCR.”
Currently, Trautz lives in North Main Street complex and recently renewed his lease with BCR for a fourth consecutive year.
Whitney Webb, a senior English major, has been working with CMG Leasing since she was 15 years old doing secretarial work.
For her, the hardest part of the job wasn’t juggling the various demands of life as much it was figuring out the various responsibilities that come with the trade.
“It is very demanding,” Webb said. “There are a lot of legal aspects you have to explain, legal terms and conditions of leases; have people turn in work and make sure they understand things that they do sign. It’s a lot of pressure to be professional when you’re there. I have to flip a switch when I walk in and walk out.”
Over the years, Webb has become more comfortable with her job as a leasing consultant. While working with the company in the Blacksburg office that oversees complexes such as The Chase and Tech Terrace, she enjoys the opportunity to be very hands on with the clients and interact with them.
“I do everything from showing apartment to signing leases, filing checks, to answering any odd question that any odd customer has,” Webb said. “It’s very customer service-based.”
These chances to talk with customers have not only included students, but also many of the parents who have helped them get through college. This brings its own humorous parts to working with a property management business in the local area.
“The funniest part about my job,” she said, “is talking to parents and them calling me ‘ma’am’ and not realizing that I’m the same age as their students who are leasing.”