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A Frederick property management company has enjoyed sustained growth despite working in an industry whose collapse helped trigger the Great Recession.

Property Management People, which marked 30 years in business this year, provides leasing and management services for 450 properties in Frederick and Washington counties and parts of Mount Airy. The company also provides community association management services for homeowner and condominium associations in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

While the company primarily helps manage single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums, it also manages some apartment buildings in downtown Frederick, according to Rose G. Thomas, president of Property Management People.

The company has grown in recent years and now has 55 employees, said CEO Edward D. Thomas. The couple declined to disclose specific figures but Edward Thomas said Property Management People has "enjoyed a steady rate of growth," despite the housing market's recent struggles.

"It hasn't been spectacular; it's been stable and growing," he said. The company experienced 12 percent growth in 2009, up from 8 percent in 2008.

The recession actually helped Property Management People, in that the company took on more properties, Rose Thomas said.

However, the recession also caused the company to work with people who lost their homes and had to rent, she said. That created stress at times "because you're working with people [who] have to have a place to live and trying to find a property ... that fits their needs. ... But it's a positive in that we're helping them to find housing."

The company also has realigned its staff and beefed up its accounts receivable department due to more unpaid homeowner association assessments, according to Edward Thomas.

The property and community management industry "is as challenging as we've ever experienced," he said.

Job losses and foreclosure are forcing many people out of their homes, which puts "enormous pressure on us to help people," he said.

"Our goal is to help them financially and get them through this tough time," he said.

The company also faces a challenge with helping maintain the curb appeal of a foreclosed property.

"The [homeowner] association loses income because people aren't paying fees," he said, and his company tries to work out a payment plan with the property owner.

The Thomases each bring national experience in property management to their company. Rose Thomas served on the board – including a stint as president – of the National Association of Residential Property Managers in Chesapeake, Va. Edward Thomas is a past president of the Community Associations Institute of Alexandria, Va., an advocacy group for community association management companies that has chapters nationwide.

Gail Phillips, executive director of the National Association of Residential Property Managers, said her "whole organization changed" during Rose Thomas' time as president.

"That was a big year of change for us and Rose had a tremendous impact and strong leadership," she said. "She was an integral part in the association's growth in the property management industry."

In an e-mail to The Gazette, Thomas M. Skiba, CEO of the Community Associations Institute, said Edward Thomas' "thoughtful leadership and inclusive nature made [the institute] a better, more successful association" for its 30,000 members.

As for housing sales, which were Property Management People's original focus before switching to property management, Edward Thomas doesn't believe they will approach 2006 levels again "in our lifetime."

"The Washington area has been ... spared a lot of the sharp declines of other areas, particularly all of Florida, just about, Southern California, Arizona, Nevada – they've been hammered," he said.

Growth in the federal sector and Frederick's proximity to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore has helped shelter the area, he said. But while he also sees "another wave of foreclosures coming," low interest rates and a fewer job losses should mean a ripple, rather than a tsunami.

"Some of them may have already refinanced," Rose Thomas said. "It's hard to say if it will be as bad – you would think it wouldn't with the interest rates remaining low."

chuntemann@gazette.net