Property Management in Milwaukee

[Zach Hicks]

I've brought this up to investors I've talked to at Milwaukee REIA, but thought I'd ask here. I'm a ways out from my first investment still but feel that hiring a property management company would be worth it for me because I put a high value on my time.

Does anyone have any feedback/personal experience on the benefits/downsides of going with a property management company in Milwaukee vs. doing it themselves?

[Pat Parrillo]

Absolutely agree with @Bryan L. if you are going C or D neighborhoods you will have a lot of "work" on your hands managing the property. I invest in B areas, particularly Riverwest here in Milwaukee, and if you get good systems in place like cozy.co where you do an ACH transer from the tenants account to yours (which is free) so you are never chasing tenants around for rent and also set up a google voice account where you can set "business hours" for receiving calls (I only receive calls between 9 - 5 on weekdays and none on weekends otherwise it goes straight to voicemail and sends me a text of what the tenant left a message about if it truly is an emergency) managing is not a huge strain on time. 

My personal recommendation is to self manage first if you have a smaller unit count so you know the ins and outs so when you continue to grow and have to get a property manager you know what it's like and how to best manage the property manager because you have done it before. 

Hope my perspective is helpful.