Property Management
Do you tempted to rent your property? Are you exploring managing the property yourself? Well, you are not alone. Just like any other skill, managing a property is a learned skill and requires training and focus which you can learn. But how can you find if you are better off to hire a property manager rather than managing it yourself.
Here are Top 5 questions to explore before you can determine if you need to hire a property manager:
Property Distance: If your live in California but your rental property is another State, then you should not rent your property without hiring a property manager. But if you are living within a short driving distance of your rental property, then managing it yourself might be an option for you. Keep in mind that you will need to make frequent visits to the property for showing, inspection and repair.
Stress Management : Behind the seemingly simple task of collecting rent every month lie a number of unpredictable problems can push people to their limits. These include dealing with aggressive tenants who could start fight with neighbors, illegal activity in the property and all sorts of lease violations that will create problems for you.
Number of Units: There is a huge difference between managing a single family home with one tenant vs an apartment with 10 units. The general rule for us is to assign 1 property manager for a max of 8 units. You can use the same measure to determine if you need to hire a property manager.
Experience: Maintenance and repairs are a significant component of managing rental properties. If you can not tell the difference between a Philips Screw Driver and a Sheet Rock knife, then you should property hire a property manager since you will need to do the small repairs yourself.
Opportunity Cost: If you have a full time job and are earning a very good salary, then you might be better off hiring a property manger since it will cost you too much money to attend to these tasks yourself.
Keep in mind that you will be paying between 4-20% of your monthly rent for property management. And depending on what services are covered in your agreement, you can determine if it’s a good idea to hire a property manager. After all, you get to keep the other 80% of the rent.
Contact Us if you stil need help managing your rental proeprties in Los Gatos, San Jose, Campbell and Saratoga.