On-Site Property Manager

[Pete Harper]

I'm looking for advice on hiring an on-site PM. We are in a super small market in Texas and there are no good options for a local PM. I'm currently managing 18 units myself and looking to acquire 24 additional units. I was thinking with 42 units it would justify a live in PM. The four properties are all within a 2 mile radius of each other so it would be easy to manage. Duties would be fielding calls, rent collection, renting units, light maintenance and arranging repairs  

How would you structure an agreement. I don't want an "employee" with all that entails? I was thinking of offering free rent for 2 bedroom unit; $700/month value.  

The other option is to go with a large PM firm from out of town. The closest would be over an hours drive away. I've seen a couple of other properties managed this way. My issue with out of town PM is they seem out of touch. They consistently show vacancies when I can keep my properties full with a waiting list. On the plus side we own other properties in a different city that are professionally managed. It is nice having the day to day management taken care of.

Advise appreciated. 

[Jared Hottle]

Hi pete, I think a good place to start and see if you get any takers. I would make the argument for systems on some of these though, can you set up online payments so they do not need to collect rent physically? Can you set up an online maintenance portal that would automatically notify the corresponding tradesman? A plumbing issue notifies your plumber, general maintenance issue notifies a handyman, etc. If you have a waitlist of tenants does not sound like they will need to do much showings so probably can get them down to 5-10 hours a week and if I was younger a free place to live for 5-10 hours a week would be a pretty nice deal.