A Tough Call: Should You (Finally) Hire a Property Manager?
Many independent landlords get into rental property investment as a hands-on way to create income and long-term financial stability. In the early years handling leasing, maintaining, and managing the finances of a property is a great way to keep costs low.
After years of self-management, or where it isn’t feasible for an owner to self-manage, many of us start asking ourselves “Should I hire a property manager?” We’ve written several articles to help you tackle this difficult decision. Here are a few we think will help:
3 Reasons You Should Hire a Property Manager for Your Apartments; and 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t
At first glance the reasons in favor of hiring a property manager seem obvious: they will (generally) take leasing, maintenance coordination, and bookkeeping off of your plate. No more showings on Sunday afternoon, emergency plumbing calls at 2am, or sorting your shoebox of receipts at tax season.
There are questions beyond cost to consider. How much say do you want to have over how maintenance and update money is spent, for example? Are you comfortable handing over decisions about how to balance rent increases with long-term tenancy?
This article handles issues to consider when making the decision whether to hire a property manager.
How Much Does a Property Management Company Charge?
In this article we dig deep into the wide range of ways a company might structure their pricing. If you’re just thinking about hiring out management, we believe it is important to know about the types of expenses that may factor into the arrangement.
We also talk about the options owners have, from 100% self-management to hiring a full-service property management firm. ‘Flat Fee’ or ‘Hybrid’ models are also becoming more common, and we include those in the conversation.
Property Management Fees Calculator
Fearing high costs and lost profits, many independent landlords are paralyzed by the unknowns of hiring a property manager. Usually companies charge a percentage of rent each month, often there is a fee to fill vacancies, and sometimes there are service charges or mark-up on maintenance work.
Our property management fees calculator lets you adjust pricing variables to give you a good idea of what hiring a property manager will cost. Our calculator also indicates how much these fees are as a percentage of your total income. The result might surprise you.
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Eli and Chris
Landlord Gurus
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