Leasing Agent

Leasing is a skill set, and Birgo is looking for someone who's genuinely good at it. The work here centers on two core abilities: building quick, genuine rapport with strangers, and following through with the kind of organized, detail-oriented execution that turns a first phone call into a signed lease and a smooth move-in. Both matter equally. One without the other leaves gaps.

What This Role Actually Looks Like

You'd be covering roughly 700 units spread across Lockport, North Tonawanda, Hamburg, and Buffalo. These are vintage, market-rate properties, ranging from small 12-unit buildings to a 191-unit community. The heaviest concentration sits in Lockport and North Tonawanda, where you'd have dedicated leasing offices at Maplewood East Apartments and Roosevelt on Main. That local footprint matters: you'll get to know these neighborhoods well, and prospective residents will often be choosing between Birgo properties, which means your product knowledge needs to be real, not scripted.

Day to day, you're responding to inquiries, scheduling and conducting tours, processing applications accurately, and shepherding new residents through move-in. That last piece involves coordinating with property management and maintenance to make sure units are inspected, documented, and ready. You'll also keep an eye on listing ads and occupancy trends, and support the property manager with tenant care when needed. The role reports directly to the Western New York Regional Manager.

Weekends (Saturdays especially) are part of the schedule. Prospective residents shop for apartments on their days off, so availability on those days is a real requirement, not a footnote. You'll also need a reliable insured vehicle, since covering multiple WNY locations means you're driving between properties regularly. Occasional trips to Pittsburgh come up as well.

Skills That Will Carry You Here

Birgo says one year of leasing experience is preferred, but they're genuinely open to candidates coming from sales, customer service, or hospitality backgrounds. The underlying skills transfer well: reading people quickly, handling objections without getting defensive, staying organized under competing demands, and caring about the details that make a resident's first week feel smooth rather than chaotic.

Fair Housing knowledge is a real plus. If you haven't had formal training, it's worth getting familiar before you apply. Leasing software experience also helps, though it's learnable on the job.

What separates strong candidates here isn't just charisma. It's the combination of people skills and follow-through. Leasing agents who close well but let applications stall, or who charm prospects but miss documentation steps during move-in, create downstream headaches for the whole team. The candidates who thrive tend to be self-managing, genuinely curious about people, and comfortable holding themselves accountable without a lot of hand-holding.

Working at Birgo

Birgo describes itself as a growth-oriented company with an entrepreneurial culture, and the compensation structure reflects that. On-target earnings range from $46,000 to $71,000, combining an hourly base with performance-driven commissions. The spread is wide, which means your results directly shape your income. Benefits include medical, vision, dental, pet, and life insurance with a company contribution, a 401(k) with employer match, paid time off, mental health days, a profit-sharing program, a professional development stipend, and a healthy lifestyle reimbursement. Discounted rates at Birgo properties are also available for team members.

One thing worth knowing upfront: because this role involves managing Birgo's rental properties, team members can't hold concurrent outside real estate sales, leasing, or property management positions. If you're actively working in those areas elsewhere, that's a conflict you'd need to resolve before starting.

Birgo emphasizes team diversity and invests in the kind of culture where people actually know each other, through team outings and volunteer events alongside the professional development pieces. It's a real workplace with real dynamics, and they seem to know that retention starts with treating people like whole humans rather than just headcount.