For a business to be successful, there are a number of questions that you need to ask yourself. Therefore, as a property owner in the real estate business, one of the questions you will need to answer is whether to hire a property management firm or become the landlord and oversee your investment in person. It is an important decision that requires careful considerations for each strategy has both the negative and positive factors as well as the associated cost.
Despite the fact that you have options at your disposal, first things first. As a rental property owner, one of the critical and meaningful decisions you make is to identify and measure the advantages and disadvantages of each path. For sure, managing a rental property on your own can be very financially rewarding, but it comes with a lot of commitments in terms of time and effort. Conversely, hiring a property management company not only brings about a reduction in the day to day responsibility but also gives you more time to relax and engage in other activities. However, that freedom comes at a cost that can have a long term impact on your bottom line. In order to understand your options, we break down the strengths and weakness of each endeavor.
Becoming a Landlord
When you decide to manage your rental property in person, then you become your own investment property’s gatekeeper. More so, you have a responsibility to both your tenants and your rental business. Therefore, it is your job to ensure that the tenants’ expectations are met and also to make sure that operations run smoothly. You also have to ensure that your mortgage gets paid. The duties of a landlord include but not limited to finding new tenants and collecting rent as well as maintaining a clean environment.
Benefits of Self-Managing Your Property
Save on Management Fees
No single management company works for free. They charge a fee for their services. Sometimes, the fee is as high as 10% to 15% of the collected monthly rent. However, when you choose to manage your property, you will keep 100% profits of your property. For example, if your property net worth is $20000, the property management company will take $2000.
Direct involvement in day-to-day activities and decisions
When you manage your own property, you will have the power to make all the important decisions without consulting someone else. More so, you will have total control over a number of issues that include where to advertise your vacant rentals as well as which contractors to hire for maintenance purposes. Nevertheless, you will also know how to collect rent from each tenant individually.
Cons of Self-Managing Your Property
Finding tenants
It is up to you as a manager to fill the void once your property becomes vacant. Typically, this is the most time-consuming and the hardest part of managing your own property. Therefore, you have to do marketing and advertising in order to attract tenants. Nonetheless, you have a duty to screen new tenants to ensure that you are leasing the property to the right persons. In addition, you have to collect the deposits from new tenants.
Legal issues
Since you manage you own property, you must know all the property laws so that you can know your stand when it comes to late payment and eviction.
Maintenance and repair
You are in charge of answering the maintenance calls as well as making sure that repairs are fixed. These are things you can do personally if you are the handyman type. Alternatively, you can hire contractors to make repairs but this will, of course, cost money.
Rental property management
Even though you can manage your own property, sometimes in business, it is better to pay a professional to do it for you In fact; a property management company adds a significant value to your investments as they deal directly with prospects and tenants. The property management company will save you considerable amounts of stress and also give you peace of mind for you know that the business is running smoothly.
Pros of a Property Management Company
Minimal vacancies
The property management company will aggressively advertise your property across a number of major platforms. This way, the vacant will reach the widest tenant pool possible. Therefore, the property will attract top-notch tenants that are likely to stay for long and pay on time as well as those that will take good care of your property.
Time-saving ability
Time-saving ability is one of the most crucial advantages of hiring a property management company. It will free up some time for you to do things you enjoy and especially when you have multiple investment properties. More so, with the property management company, you will not be responsible for the late night emergency repairs and annual inspections.
Fewer legal problems
A good property management company is well equipped with the landlord-tenant laws and will ensure that you are not vulnerable to potential law suits by undertaking stringent screening processes.
Tighter rent collection processes
Landlords can be lenient to tenants when it comes to rent collection. Timely rent collection is the only way to maintain cash flow. Therefore, your tenants should know that rent paying is not negotiable. By hiring a property management company, you put a buffer between you and your tenants for they will be involved in chasing down rents and even eviction when necessary.
Fluid infrastructures
Mostly, property management companies come as an all in one management package. These companies have standard procedures that ensure the leasing process goes smoothly in all stages. The procedures include screening and rent collection as well as eviction of tenants.
Cons of Hiring a Property Management Company
The only disadvantage of hiring a property management company is its higher cost that ultimately affects your profit margin. Most often, the company will take all or part of the 1st month’s rent as the first payment and then approximately 10% of each and every month’s rent after that. The company will use this first month’s rent for a number of expenses such as advertising the property and processing the applicant as well as administrative costs that come with setting up a new account.
Conclusion
So, if you have the time and are willing to learn all aspects of the property management business the DIY landlord option might work best for you. If you are expecting to keep purchasing rental property as an investment, you might want to start your own management business and hire your own personnel. However, it is a lot of work and mistakes can become very costly. You will have to learn about maintenance, find and purchase property management software, learn about the legal aspects of rental management, screen and work directly with your tenants.
If you can find a good property management company to work with, you will probably find that their experience and knowledge will be worth the time savings for you. You will be up and running in a short time and able to focus on new opportunities for investing.