A real estate industry veteran has struck off on her own by opening Masterkey Management Ltd, a property management and consulting firm.Sharika Tucci, who formerly worked with Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty for eight years as a property manager and appraiser in their professional services division, decided to take the entrepreneurial leap last year. She recently launched her website, designed by emedia, in December.“It was not an easy decision to make especially during this economy but I was looking for a lifestyle that would really speak to the quality of life I wanted to have for myself and my family,” said the mother of two daughters, aged 15 and 8. “I believed going off on my own would allow me the flexibility that I wanted to have as a mother to be more available to my children and my family.”As the owner and managing director of Masterkey, Mrs Tucci offers property management services for commercial, residential and condominium properties. Her holiday homes service is for clients who live overseas and wish to have their property managed by someone on the Island.MasterKey Management also holds a brokers’ licence so Mrs Tucci can also sell and rent properties though she also works with a network of agents to assist her.Mrs Tucci already has a handful of clients, including a contract overseeing a condo building but she is managing the number of clients she takes on so that she can provide the best service to those that come on board.“I have to be able to provide a really good quality service to my clients and not have such a large portfolio where they can’t get the level of service they deserve,” she said. “When you work with a smaller property management firm you able to get that one-on-one personal service that you may not necessarily get from a larger entity.”To help her get a leg up on her competitors, Mrs Tucci has completed several courses through the Community Associations Institute (CAI), which is an international organisation for community association homeowner leaders, professional managers and association management companies.Through the CAI professional development programme, she earned an Association Management Specialist designation.Also having a background in the insurance industry with a bachelor’s degree in actuarial science has also served her well in the real estate industry.“My educational background gives me a different skill set,” Mrs Tucci explained. “I can look at the properties I manage from a financial perspective and do budgeting and financial planning for owners. Really understand the financial impact of property ownership.”The fact that Bermuda’s property market is currently facing tough times with ample empty commercial and residential property available is not lost on Mrs Tucci.“I think it (property management industry) has grown over the years with the boom in the construction industry and the development of condos on the Island,” she said. “Certainly there are a number of property management companies and individuals out there. I can’t say that it’s grown recently but certainly over the previous years.”But she argues that having a property manager can help owners fill their empty space.“When you are property manager of any empty space whether it is residential or commercial, your primary focus is making sure your client is able to show their property in a way that will get the best tenant at the best rent. From a property manager’s perspective, before the space even becomes vacant it’s vital that you maintain the property so it is profitable when it becomes vacant.”For more information, visit www.masterkey.bm