Before you read
Test yourself first: 5 questions
Question 1 of 5
A property manager's compensation is most commonly:
Answer: A. Management fees are typically a percentage of collected rent (sometimes plus leasing fees), aligning the manager with strong occupancy.
Question 2 of 5
A property management agreement creates which type of agency relationship between the owner and the property manager?
Answer: A. A property manager is typically a general agent because the management agreement authorizes a continuous range of acts (leasing, collecting rent, maintenance) on the owner's behalf, unlike a special agent who handles one transaction.
Question 3 of 5
Which of the following is NOT typically required to be included in a written property management agreement?
Answer: B. A management agreement specifies the fee, the manager's authority, and the term/termination terms, but the owner's personal credit score is irrelevant to the management relationship.
Question 4 of 5
A property manager's primary fiduciary obligation in managing a property is to:
Answer: B. As a fiduciary, the property manager must place the owner's best interests above the manager's own, generally seeking to achieve the highest return consistent with the owner's objectives.
Question 5 of 5
A property manager deposits collected rents into the manager's own business operating account instead of a separate trust account. This violates the fiduciary duty of:
Answer: B. Mixing the owner's funds with the manager's own money is commingling, a breach of the duty to account and keep client funds in a separate trust or escrow account.
Keep the streak going with more questions like these, each with a full rationale.
What you need to know
Core duties: set market rents (a rent survey, not guesswork), market vacancies, screen tenants with consistent written criteria (fair-housing-safe), collect rent and enforce leases, maintain the property (preventive beats corrective), keep trust-account records, and report to the owner. The management agreement fixes the fee — typically a percentage of COLLECTED rent (aligning incentives) plus leasing fees. Budgets split operating expenses from capital reserves. The manager carries out the owner's lawful decisions; refusing unlawful ones (discriminatory screening) is mandatory.
The Property Manager's Playbook: FAQs
Is The Property Manager's Playbook on the real estate exam?
Yes. Leasing & Property Management is a scored domain on the real estate licensing exam, and this topic appears in the national portion.
Is this cheat sheet free?
Yes — every page on Cinna RE's resource library is free to read, print and share. The app adds practice questions, mock exams and a readiness score.
