Managing Rental Property While Traveling

[Mark Kelley]

I have several SFH rentals that I own and part-time manage. My wife and I took sabbatical this year to embark on an adventure with our two kids. Without a property management company and without the interest to find or pay for one, we had the challenge of managing our properties while we're traveling, often off the grid.

I wanted to share the solution that I put in place to manage our properties while we're traveling, and I'd love to hear some perspective about its strengths, weaknesses, or alternatives.

This solution was really put to the test and passed when I was unreachable for days in the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon and a hot water tank popped off in one of the houses. 

Here is the synopsis: 

We have a good relationship with a reliable handyman. We pay him to provide landlord support and value where we really need it while traveling.

The handyman has three main responsibilities in our relationship:

1. He is on-call if tenants cannot reach us in an emergency. We continue to be the primary point of contact for our tenants. However, if our phone goes straight to voicemail or we don’t respond immediately, our tenants are instructed to call our handyman directly. We trust him to provide good service, and we empower him to take action in an emergency.
2. He is our trusted set of eyes on the ground if an issue arises, inspecting any problems reported by tenants and making recommendations for repair.
3. He will complete any work required, including coordinating and overseeing skilled trades, at a predetermined rate.

We pay the handyman a $200 per month retainer.

He is paid this money whether or not he has to lift a finger.

In exchange for this money, he is willing to be on-call for our tenants in an emergency and take appropriate action to mitigate the issues.

In non-emergencies, as directed by me, he will inspect issues reported and make recommendations.

If he has to complete any work or coordinate a skilled trade, we pay him $30 per hour for his time plus materials at cost.

We also pay for any skilled trades (i.e. HVAC technicians, plumbers) that have to be hired.

Note that in this arrangement, the handyman only deals with tenant calls in an emergency. In all other situations, we interact with the tenants, and when an inspection or repair is needed, we rely on the handyman to execute at our direction, not the tenant’s. Also, we have no expectation for him to place tenants. We renewed the leases before we left. He also doesn't collect rent. We use Venmo.

Any thoughts on this model? A variation? Alternatives? Any major risks you spot that maybe I haven't considered?