Long Distance Landlord

[Lon Bussell]

I own a valuable single-family home in Los Angeles. For the past 3 years it is has been  rented and managed by a property manager. I pay this guy a monthly fee, but do just about all of the calls for maintenance, etc. myself. I am considering managing it myself from across the city once this contract is over. I do have family members in LA that could check on things for me, if necessary. Opinions, please.

[Nayeem Khan]

@Lon Bussell It’s kind of funny thing, I live in LA and have property in Ohio and Illinois and manage it from here, while you live in Ohio and are considering managing the property in LA.

From my experience, the only way you can truly manage the property (eliminating the management company) is to PERSONALLY (or have one of your family members) hire a reliable and reasonable handyman for any repairs.

I found one in Illinois and he is fantastic. He is awesome and if I need, he will even show the property to prospective tenants! You need to establish a relationship similar to this otherwise it won’t work. You’ll just end up spending way too much money in repair costs either independently or through the management company.

What city in LA is the property in?