Rawley Harrison, who was diagnosed 27 years ago with macular degeneration, hasn't let the serious progressive eye disease hinder his ability to steer his prominent independent property-management agency here toward growth during a recession.

Harrison is the broker and president of Watson Management Co., which manages more than 600 residential rental units, including apartment units and houses. Lately that number has been on rise, he says.

"The rental market is pretty solid," Harrison says.

He says the vacancy rate for the units the company manages is under 5 percent, which is the benchmark for a stable market.

While Harrison has been legally blind for years, he says he hasn't let his ailment curtail his efforts.

Watson Management moved in January into a 3,000-square-foot building, at 102 E. Baldwin, more than doubling the floor space of its former longtime office at 2127 N. Monroe.

"There was no opportunity to grow or expand because we filled the office," he says of the former location, adding that the new office at the southeast corner of Baldwin Avenue and Ruby Street "gives us better exposure."

Watson Management has six employees, including Harrison and his wife, Helen, the company's vice president and senior property manager. He and his wife own the company.

"As with most of our competitors, we're a small family business," he says. Other family members working at Watson Management include a sister-in-law, who is another property manager, and his daughter, who is the receptionist.

While three employees do most of the fieldwork, Harrison spends most of his workdays in the office. He gave up driving several years ago due to macular degeneration, a condition that destroys parts of the retina, impairing central vision. In some cases, it can leave sufferers almost totally blind.

"With computer magnification programs and magnification devices, it hasn't slowed me," he says.

Macular degeneration usually is associated with age, but Harrison was just 30 years old when he was diagnosed with it. "It typically comes on after 55," he says. "Mine is uncommon, but not tremendously rare."

People with the disease first notice that it hinders their ability to read, he says, adding, "As it progresses, you become color-blind and night-blind."

Even though he relies on vision aids for some tasks, a day at the office for him is much like any other property managers' day, he says.

His typical day involves reviewing e-mail correspondence, working with vendors involved in maintenance and repairs, screening prospective renters, and meeting with tenants to execute leases, he says.

Harrison says he wants to expand the brokerage side of the business, possibly by adding two agents to sell single-family and multifamily residences.

"Any property-management firm in Washington is a licensed real estate brokerage," he says. "We've been involved in some sales, and we'll be expanding into that."

While residential real estate sales have declined during the recession, Harrison says most expectations are for sales to improve this spring.

He cites low interest rates, stable prices, and the federal stimulus package, which includes "tremendous incentives for first-time home buyers," as catalysts for expected sales growth.

"Home sales could see an increase in activity in the next four to six months," he says. "Although there's been a downturn in the last 12 months, it's only a temporary situation. There will always be a need and demand for real estate."

Watson Management was founded by Ralph Watson in 1927, and Harrison has been involved with the company for 30 years.

He originally was an accountant with the company, and became part owner five years later.

Harrison and his wife have owned the company entirely for five years. Watson Management and Watson Co., another longtime Spokane business that specializes in the marketing of business, commercial, and residential properties, are under separate, unrelated ownerships, although both companies share common roots.

Harrison declines to disclose Watson Management's annual revenue, but says the company is stable and growing.

"Business has been good," he adds.

The bulk of Watson Management's business is in handling, throughout the Spokane area, single-family rental homes and multifamily properties with up to 25 residential units.

Half of Watson Management's landlord clients own a single rental property, and the rest own multiple properties, he says. Property management fees are negotiated independently for each property and generally range from 6 percent to 10 percent of the rent, he says.

Even single-property owners benefit from professional property management, Harrison asserts.

"There are many intricacies with the laws dealing with tenants," he says. "There is risk involved, and it's very costly if you make a mistake."

Property managers are familiar with the federal Fair Housing Act and pertinent state laws such as the Washington state Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, Harrison says. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination by landlords against prospective tenants based on race, sex, national origin, or religion. The Residential Landlord-Tenant Act further defines duties of landlords and tenants of residential dwellings, including restrictions and remedies if a party fails to carry out certain responsibilities.

Property managers also oversee repairs and maintenance of rental properties, including during emergencies, such as when pipes break, heating and cooling systems fail, or a fire strikes.

Local contractors do much of the repair work. "We contract with a variety of vendors we use on a regular basis," he says.

Watson Management's competition includes companies such as Gates Realty Inc., RC Schwartz & Associates Inc., and Premier Property Services, all of Spokane, and M-T Management Inc., of Spokane Valley.

The competition between residential property managers here is very friendly, Harrison says. Most belong to the National Association of Residential Property Managers.

"We meet semimonthly at a lunch meeting and exchange information about our profession," he says. "If competitors aren't familiar with an issue, they will call me, and I do the same."

Property managers use a tenant-screening process to ensures applicants have acceptable credit, personal references, and income. Public-record searches of applicants' backgrounds are conducted to check for criminal and civil activity, including evictions and bankruptcies.

Qualified renters are always in the marketplace, but attracting them has changed somewhat, Harrison says.

"You have to have a strong presence on the Internet, because that's where most people look first," he says.

It helps that Watson Management has name recognition in the Spokane area. "Our logo is recognizable," he says.

Most tenants stay in one location one to two years. "A 12-month lease is very common," Harrison says.

The property-management business can be stressful when tenants fail to live up to lease agreements. "It's not pleasant to require them to move out of the house," he says.

That stress, however is outweighed by the reward of finding for prospective tenants "exactly what they want in a comfortable living environment," he says.

Harrison, who's 57 years old, has no immediate plans to retire from the business. "I'm still enjoying it," he says.