Trouble finding a property manager willing to manage rental.

[Justin Ross]

Hi Guys,

Novice real estate investor living in Atlanta here; I recently acquired a small older 800sq ft 2 bedroom house in rural GA that I intend to rent out. The only problem is that I'm having a hard time finding a property manager in my area that is willing to take it on. It has been recently repaired and renovated, but it's located in a not so great part of town a block over from the local housing project. Going by the market for the neighborhood the most I command for rent is in the $600s. Most property managers seem to only want to deal with houses that can bring in $100 profit on their end. And I also have a hunch that they may be afraid to deal with my potential clientele. 

Has anyone else been in the same situation? How did you resolve the issue? Did you bite the bullet and pay the higher property management fee?

[Ryan Murdock]

@Justin Ross Lower rent SFH's in rougher areas can be a real challenge for a PM company. There isn't enough rent to charge a typical percentage based fee so it's usually a flat rate minimum, if you can even get them to take it on.

Money aside, these types of SFH's can just be tough to deal with as the low price tends to attract tons of inquiries from a bunch of prospects that are in no way qualified to pass even the most basic tenant screening process. Pretty much they hear from all the people they don't want to hear from.

Did the management companies you talked to tell you they'd at least do it if you paid the $100/mo minimum? Short of self managing you may not have many other options.