When you begin your property investment journey, you may assume that it will be an easy one. After all, how hard can rent collection be, right? There’s a vast difference between owning a rental property and managing rental properties on your own. While ownership may be easy – when you have a steady income- managing a rental property is more than just collecting rent. The question then arises on whether you should hire a property manager or self-manage your rentals. To be frank, there’s no straight answer to this. This post covers a few pros and cons of self-management and how it compares to professional property management.
Self-managing a rental property puts you in control of everything. Whether it’s marketing, tenant screening, tenant management, maintenance, and repairs, you’ll get to handle it all. Therefore, you’ll be able to make decisions that you feel are the best for your investments. However, if you are new to the industry, things may get overwhelming. It can be a full-time job to track rent payments, collect late fees, deal with complaints and repairs, prep the property for new tenants, find vendors, and deal with bad tenants. It may also become a constant source of stress. Relinquishing these ongoing responsibilities to a good property manager can allow you to benefit from your investment without sacrificing your time and health.
When using a property management company, property owners are able to keep a professional distance from their tenants. Getting too personally involved can result in being too lenient or defensive on certain issues and complaints. Renting out a property is a business and it is much easier for a property manager to keep things on a strictly professional level. When issues arise, a professional property manager is better prepared to deal with the problem effectively.
While self-managing does earn you a higher income, it comes with a hefty price as well. Among the biggest hassle you’d have to deal with is; rent collection. Self-managing your properties means that you’ll be fully responsible for collecting rent, which at times may be frustrating, tiresome, and time-consuming. Moreover, you’ll have to deal with lengthy and expensive legal proceedings should you have to evict a bad tenant. Not to mention the marketing expenses you’ll incur to get new tenants. On the flip side, property managers will know exactly how to find the best tenants, as they would have a bigger pool of applicants to choose from due to their extensive marketing and advertising programs. As a result, you’re more inclined to get better tenants that stay longer and have less damage and repairs to deal with.
In addition, to get better and higher returns on your investments, you have to make sure you mitigate your expenses. That means exploring your tax benefits, getting discounts from vendors and service providers, avoiding legal disputes, minimizing maintenance costs, and so on. All these may be difficult to comprehend on your own, because let’s face it, how much do we actually know about the laws that apply to being a landlord? One of the biggest advantages to hiring a professional property manager is the ability to avoid some legal hassles. With a full understanding of all the state and federal laws when it comes to discrimination in screening and selecting tenants, property managers avoid breaking discrimination laws, as well as being able to minimize operational costs while doing it. In the event that an eviction becomes necessary, an experienced property manager will know how to handle it in a way that will save time and money while staying within the boundaries of the law.
At the end of the day, whether its self-managing or engaging with a property manager, you should opt for the option that delivers value to your invested properties. While self-managing deems as cost savvy and grants you full authority over your properties, property management may be beneficial in the long run, especially if you’re planning to invest in multiple properties.
If you’re looking for a property manager that can cater to your needs, provides exemplary services and is highly affordable, then Profere Property Management would be the ideal choice to serve you! Whether you own one property, or multiple properties, we’ll tailor our services to what suits you best and ensures high returns for your investments. Give a call today at +6019-2758200 and we’d be glad to arrange a meeting with you!