Falling ceilings and shelves, overflowing toilets and floods and even imaginary fires.

Those are just some of the things that Jean Astwood has to deal with on a daily basis as Rego Realtors' manager of rentals and property management.

But Jean, who has been living in Bermuda for 30 years and is married to a Bermudian, takes it all in her stride and it is what she loves about the job.

"It is just the nature of the business," she said.

"I can be dealing with everything from toilets overflowing to major problems such as calls about fires.

"I have dealt with floods and ceilings coming down and today I got a call from a tenant who said a whole stack of shelves fell down."

One day she got a call from an anxious landlord who said their house had burned down so she phoned the tenant, but they said the house was still there.

"It later transpired that a rumour had started that the house had burned down because a car in the same road had caught fire.

"That is just one of things that happens in the job," said Ms Astwood.

"It is a seven-day-a-week job — we take on a lot of responsibilities.

"I look after the properties like they are my own.

"I would like to think that if I rented my property out to someone else they would do the same."

Ms Astwood, who comes from Boston, Massachusetts, arrived on the Island in the late 1970s and worked in the hotel industry for 20 years, starting at the former Bermudiana Hotel in Pembroke, before moving on to The Mermaid Beach Club (now The Breakers Club) in Warwick.

During her time at The Mermaid/Breakers Club, she oversaw the transition from a hotel site to condominiums, which is when she first met Rego Sotheby's International Realty's president Buddy Rego.

Mr. Rego asked her to join his rentals and property management team in 2003.

"Now we manage about 100 properties in complexes as well as private residences and my team also handles rentals," Ms Astwood said.

"So my position is mainly working with the management of all the properties, checking out criteria requirements for clients, doing inspections of and maintaining properties and overseeing the rental department.

It was an easy transition for Ms Astwood to make between managing tourist accommodation to handling landlords and tenants properties.

The one common thread with both of the jobs was her love of working with people and having an analytical mind for problem-solving.

"I think I just blended in from one job to another," she said. "I loved working with people in the tourist industry and in the transition over it worked well because I enjoy solving problems."

One of the biggest changes Ms Astwood has seen during her five years in real estate has been a shift in the balance of communication between the landlord and the tenant.

"Tenants today feel more empowered and speak their minds more fully about what they need than they did in the past," she said.

"Also, the rental market has softened somewhat recently and that's not particularly surprising in light of what's going on with the current economic climate."

Among her proudest achievements is deriving job satisfaction from keeping her clients happy.

"I am proud to have very good relationships with my clients," she said.

"I guess it is what gives me the buzz — if I have a satisfied client and I like to feel I have done everything I can for them and represent them properly and they acknowledge it."

And it is maintaining that relationship with the clients that is also one of the greatest challenges facing the property management sector, she reckons.

"The biggest challenge we have is just making sure we have a good relationship between the landlords and tenants and it is a constant goal to keep everyone happy.

Ms Astwood, who also volunteers for the Bermuda Autism Support and Education Society as well as doing charity work at various schools, plans to stick around a bit longer in the cut and thrust of Bermuda's real estate market.

But she hopes to return to her homeland one day and retire in Boston with her husband and 16-year-old daughter.

For the meanwhile though she is just happy doing the job she loves — whether it be getting roofs fixed, leaks mended or even fielding the occasional call about a fire in the neighbourhood.