Awesome goal, Alice! Yes 2-3 really isn’t too time consuming in the long run. I find the first few years owning a property the hardest – it can take a while to learn all the kinks and to “stabilize” the investment. Typically things calm down after that :)
Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress! -Joel

Hey Victoria! Call around and ask as many questions as you can. Each PM company handles a different amount of stuff. Never hurts to ask! Good luck :)

That’s encouraging to hear. I think even if I lived close by I’d keep property management in place, too. You’re not alone! Handing off tasks lets you scale and focus on growth. The fees paid are usually worth the free time. :) Cheers Simone – have a kickass weekend!

For us the fees are very reasonable for the services they offer. And that frees up our time to figure out other ways to make more money. We hope to grow our real estate portfolio in the future and unless we retire early and start our own property management company (that is totally a possibility) we will be using the same property management team.

I think it’s important to find a reputable company that you are able to build a good relationship with. That’s key.

Hey Alice, something to consider…. I signed with a property manager *before* I even bought a rental property. Kind of backwards to what most people do, but I was able to involve my property manager in the finding/buying process. This helped me out in 3 ways:

1) Property managers are more knowledgeable than realtors (IMO) when it comes to rental rates, what tenants want, which housing floor plans are most sought after for renters in the area, etc.. Before buying an investment property, I ran it by my future property manager to see if it was something they would want to manage. Their approval means a lot. (eg. I was about to buy a rental that I thought was a killer deal! The realtor had me sold, and the numbers looked great!.. But when I asked the property manager, she said she doesn’t like collecting rent on that particular street without carrying a gun. Although there’s high demand and it’s a popular area, that street for some reason attracted bad tenants. I killed the deal to avoid a headache for me and my future pm)

2) Investment properties usually come with tenants already living in it (You can buy one unoccupied, but if there’s a tenant already there it’s instant cashflow!). Anyway, if you inherit tenants you gotta re-screen them before buying the property. The PM company can help you do that as part of due diligence before a purchase.

3) Prop managers are very knowledgable about ongoing maintenance costs and potential expenses for rentals. Involving them early gives you more $$ figures for your analysis when evaluating the profitability of a potential property.

Just my input! You don’t have to go this route. I’m sharing because I found it helpful. Good luck with your first place! Let me know when you pick one up, i’d love to hear the details :)

Thanks for reading! I think part of the reason investors and property managers have miscommunication is the expectation that a rental property (or a mobile home) is “passive income” where the investor can be completely removed from the equation. I’ve found if the investor rolls up their sleeves and stays involved, it’s a more enjoyable experience all around. :)

Have a great week MHG!

With anything, I think property managers still need to be managed. I’ve had to do this throughout my career as a real estate investor. It’s definitely a numbers game for them to manage as many properties as they can in order to make a good living out of it. I get it.

So, I think our jobs as investors is to make sure they’re doing what they need to do when it comes to managing our properties. And, point out any areas of concern or areas of improvement.

Unfortunately, many investors just kind of put things on autopilot and hope the property managers will take care of everything. Though, it’s not always like that. We still have to be diligent and make sure our properties are being taken care of. Because it’s us who have the most interest in our business, not the property managers.

Just my experience. It’s definitely not easy. And a hard job to do. Especially managing multiple properties. The burnout and stress rate is high. So, I think we just need to help out where we can as investors in order to make things easier for ourselves as well as the property managers we hire.

Great topic to write about! I enjoyed reading it. :)