Moving to Florida, need a job!

Hi, I currently live in Lexington, Kentucky and have been managing residential (and some commercial) for the past 8 or so years at property and regional position. I will be moving to Boynton Beach, Florida in January 09. I think I am aiming this question more toward the person who posts under "Unemployed.. West Palm Beach". What I am realizing when starting to look for available positions there in Florida is that most of them require someone with a real estate license. Is this pretty common? I am also willing to work at an assistant manager position for a few years to get my feet wet and learn Florida's fair housing laws and so forth. Do you know any good management companies that are willing to hire without Florida experience? I can not believe how hard it is to find a position in another state, what I keep hearing is "We want to hire people from Florida because they are familiar with the laws already". I have wonderful experience and have worked with Tenate Pro, Yardi, Rent Roll, and Quickbooks; does none of that amount to anything in Florida?

Any luck finding anything in Florida? I am in Lexington, too. Which property did you work for?

Good luck to you and I really hope you find something! :-)

There are several property management companies in South Florida. COntinental, Castle management group are two of the better outfits, Miami Management is another one, KW Property Management another one..
If you have a college degree, you should not find it too difficult to find a job here. By the way, you need to be licensed in Florida if you want to manage condo or coop associations. If you want to manage rental apartments then there are no licenses necessary.

To correct gudrunfl:
Continental is part of First Services out of Canada, they have been in front of congress on union busting and other issues, if that is a better outfit to you I would not want to work for you.
Castle is average but Castle, TCG, KW, Miami Management are ALL condo or common interest community (Condos, HOA's, CO-OPs) companies.
If you conduct leasing in Florida you are supposed to be a licensed real estate agent, You MUST have a CAM license for common interest communities in Florida
You can contact Equity , Dominion, UDR, Archron, here in Florida
or get a apartment guide on line for any given place in Florida or the US and company names are generally provided.

To CAM manager in Ft. Lauderdale:

The statement regarding leasing in Florida is not true. You do not need to have a CAM license in Florida to lease. You only need the CAM to be paid specific commissions for sales. I know of hundreds of leasing agents in Florida without CAMS. They all work for large companies. They are not paid commissions. Instead, they are paid percentage bonuses every month based on several factors. One of those factors being the number of actual move-ins a person had that month. A formula is used to determine the bonus that month. I love this way of doing business. The bonuses are much larger than being paid for individual leases.

I have my CAM license in Florida and over 4.5 years experience in Sarasota condo's in Maintenance-custodial. I have excellent reference letters from the condos. I have excellent computer skills and cutomer service skills. It has been hard to find anyone to give me a chance. It is better for me to find a property management company over a condo or homeowners association to get experience.

Searching frantically.... in Lexington, Kentucky said: Hi, I currently live in Lexington, Kentucky and have been managing residential (and some commercial) for the past 8 or so years at property and regional position. I will be moving to Boynton Beach, Florida in January 09. I think I am aiming this question more toward the person who posts under "Unemployed.. West Palm Beach". What I am realizing when starting to look for available positions there in Florida is that most of them require someone with a real estate license. Is this pretty common? I am also willing to work at an assistant manager position for a few years to get my feet wet and learn Florida's fair housing laws and so forth. Do you know any good management companies that are willing to hire without Florida experience? I can not believe how hard it is to find a position in another state, what I keep hearing is "We want to hire people from Florida because they are familiar with the laws already". I have wonderful experience and have worked with Tenate Pro, Yardi, Rent Roll, and Quickbooks; does none of that amount to anything in Florida?

Try Rickert Properties Inc. Their main office is in Bradenton, Fl. They own many Mobile Home or RV communities in Florida, and they are great to work for. You do not need a CAM license with them.
Good Luck

Lexington, Did you end up finding a job in the boynton area?

If so, where ?

Continental is as you said it is. Try any other Florida company for a job but not Continental.

i live and work in St Lucia Caribbean. I have UK citizenship and would like to live in the States for a while. I have over 20 years experience working in property, development (construction) and property management. I am the part/time HOA manager for a small condo development in St Lucia and also work for the St Lucia branch of RockResorts as its property manager. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could live and work in the States for a year?

Florida is a horrible state to work in.

Hi, in Florida in order to manage a community, you must hold a Florida CAM License, not a real estate license. Allow CAM Recruiting to assist you in your search.

CAM Recruiting is the only employment firm in Florida that dedicates its entire operation to Community Association Managers. We are not affiliated with any trade publications, therefore we are not beholden to readership or advertisers. We work directly with Boards of Directors and many of the largest Management Companies in the state. We only represent licensed CAM's, not apartment/commercial managers or administrative assistants.

www.camrecruiting.com