How to manage your own rental property and not through a PM

Question

Hi all, I'm looking for a guide to managing a rental property myself? I am within a local area of where the home will be located. my question is: 1) How do I draft a contract once I find a possible tenant for a lease? (do I need a lawyer, etc) 2) For monthly payments- do I have to physically goto the place to collect or is there some sort of online payment system a personal landlord can use? (preferably a very low cost that doesnt eat away at my rent income) 3) With regards to maintenance- where is a good place to start for me to find a handyman that can come to the property instead of me having to be there? thanks all in advance!

Thomas S. · Answer

Self managing is a learning process. No different than owning your own home regarding repairs and upkeep. Biggest issue is always dealing with the tenants. Always use a M2M lease to allow you maximum control over the property and the tenant. Never allow a tenant to ever do any work, make any decisions or contact any contractors directly. When dealing with contractors it is always best for you to be on site when any work is being done. Follow all state regulations to the letter when dealing with tenants and never allow them any control. Book contractor work on your schedule and that of the contractor not the tenant. A tenant never needs to be present when repairs are being done as long as you are on site. Never pick up rent payments, it is a tenants responsibility to make sure the money gets you on time. Never allow any tenant to pay late, it is your responsibility to train your tenant. If a tenant is a problem in any way it is your fault for not properly training them. If you find a tenant can not be trained you get rid of them immediately. Bad tenants cost more to keep than to replace.Remember it is your property not the tenants, you are in control.

Andrew Acuna · Answer

Peter Kim you can do it yourself. I fully disagree with Robert Gilstrap you simply need some education. My first step would be to download your state laws and read ALL of them. BP is a great resource for leases and docs, but I would have a lawyer look it over. I use cozy for collection. I NEVER touch money check or otherwise. Spend some time reading and you can do it, if you have any amount of drive you'll be fine. Property management is not worth it in the beginning- that said you should still budget for it.

Anthony Barbato · Answer

Hi Peter Kim 1. There are many examples/samples of contracts online. That could be a very good start for you. Then from there, I'd make sure you know all of your state and local laws, and I would begin adjusting the sample contract to include things that you want and/or need. Before finally using the contract, I'd recommend your attorney look it over to be sure everything looks good. 2. I would try to completely avoid picking rent up at the property, if at all possible. We allow tenants to pay using ACH transfer, or a website called Cozy.co which allows tenants to pay using a bank account or credit/debit card for a small fee. We do also allow snail mail for tenants that are not very tech-savvy, but we make sure they understand that rent must be RECEIVED by us by their due date, so they must mail accordingly. 3. As for repairs, start to build relationships with local contractors/handymen. You will definitely go through many before you find yourself a good repair team, but always keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

JD Martin · Answer

Really, the first question you need to answer is why you want to self-manage. If it's because you know you can do a better job, want complete control over the process, etc, that's one thing, but if it's solely to save money you might be going down the wrong road. I self-manage, but I own the business.

Robert Gilstrap · Answer

@Peter Kim no offense my friend but your questions show you to be the posterchild of who should NOT be managing their own property. Not saying you aren't capable but you need a LOT more knowledge before stepping off into these shark infested waters. You're about to learn some very expensive lessons unless you get some solid education under your belt. The amount you would pay a professional PM is less than you would pay someone to cut the grass at your property and there are so many benefits to using a professional it's insane not to at least explore the option.

Laura Williams · Answer

Tenant Cloud is a free website that has a lot of things that help with property management like online bill pay and applications for tenants, alerts for when tenant's rent is late etc etc. I've only used it for its accounting but the other features seems really cool & it's an easy site to understand. For maintenance issues (depending on if you need someone who is licensed or not) I've had good luck hiring people on task rabbit. Or there might be professional handyman service agencies in your area you could hire as well. In case of plumbing emergencies there's always those plumbing chains like roto-rooter but you may want to find someone cheaper and also an electrician, HVAC guy to have on your back burner for emergencies.

Anthony Barbato · Answer

Yes @Peter Kim I would find an attorney that specializes in Real Estate.

Peter K. · Answer

@Anthony Barbato which type of lawyer would need to look over my lease contract? real estate lawyer?