Property management firm while living in one unit of a duplex?

[Alexander Kostrubiec]

Hello.

I'm a Loan Officer and soon to be real estate agent, so I'm pretty handy with understanding the laws and nuances of these topics.

I've been wondering... If you live in a multi-unit property and rent out the other unit(s) which cover your PITI in full (with some net cash flow), you essentially do not need to pay rent, am I correct?

So, in the instance of hiring a property management firm to take care of retaining tenancy, repairs, etc... Is the 6% - 12% property management fee applied to your occupancy, even though you aren't paying rent? I am aware that the property management fee is 6% - 12% of the gross rent. Well, you're technically not having to pay any rent at all. So, are you going to get charged? Will your unit not receive any support in the event of damages, etc?

Thank you if you took the time to read my post, and hopefully this post will pique your interest, especially those of you who are into house hacking!