Property Management Fees for 2br/2ba condo

[Jason Leu]

Hi, first time poster here.  I'm just getting started with buying rental properties, and I've been targeting a 2br/2ba condo in the Seattle or Portland areas.  I don't live in the area, so my thought was to get a property manager to help watch over the place in my absence.  I do have a few questions:

• 1) . I'm looking mostly at newer (Built in year 2000+) condos.  Do I really need to get a property manager for something that I'm hoping is relatively maintenance free?
• 2) . For a small condo, it would seem that there's far less for a property manager to actually do, as opposed to a SFR. Should I still expect the fees to be about 10% of the monthly rent?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Penny Clark]

@jason leu, if you did live in the area it would be to your advantage to manage the unit yourself and save that 10% fee. However since you don't and you are new to being a landlord, you should strongly consider hiring a property manager.

A good manager does a lot more than cordinate maintenance requests. Showing the unit screening the applicants as well as serving notices and appearing in court on your behalf if needed are just a few of the tasks that a property manager will do for you. I would check with other investors in the area for recommendations as well as on line reviews. Ask for a copy of the management agreement too and see how responsive they are to your questions. 

Whoever you decide to hire always remember that there will be times when you will need to manage your manager. For this reason I would also recommend that you become familiar with the land lord tenant laws in your state. 

Best of luck in your new venture!