Reliance on Property Manager for New Lease Up

[Mark Butler]

Hello

I am an MBA student interested in investing in rental properties within 18-24 months of graduating from school. I would like to hear from the forum whether investors tend to lean more on their property managers (if they have them, my understanding is this is most likely) or if they try to find tenants themselves. I understand their is a cost saving appeal to finding your own tenants but the ease of relying on property managers can make increased portfolio growth of properties more scale-able. Any advice would be helpful. Thank you.

Mark

[Craig Bellot]

Hi @Mark Butler as you progress as an investor you will begin to include a management fee in your analysis of expenses before purchasing. 

If your long term goal is to invest in more properties it is certainly worth it to invest in a solid property manager. 

Your time as an owner is better spent analyzing markets and deals. 

In Bridgeport, CT the investment is about 10% of rents collected which frees you from taking resident phone calls, coordinating maintenance, leasing vacancies, accounting P&L's, conducting inspections and making property payments.

Owners often times suffer from "death by 100 cuts" when having to handle all of these small items, missing opportunities to achieve bigger goals.