Don't miss this blog: Just Say NO To Property Management

[Jon Klaus]

BiggerPockets has way more traffic here in the forums than in the member blogs. Dennis Fassett has a gem of an entry on property management of SFRs with lively discussion in the comment section.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/1833/blog_posts/20476-just-say-no-to-property-management

Make sure you are checking out the blogs her at BP.

[Brandon Eleazer]

"who cares about your property more than you do as the owner?"

Well, we trust our barbers with cutting our hair, financial advisors with our money, and daycare providers with our children....and not because we believe these professionals care more than we do.

Usually you hire someone else to take care of these tasks when you dont have the time, skills, knowledge, resources, patience or desire to do them yourself.

The same principle is true here. Those who prefer to handle property management themselves possess almost all of the above.  

I believe that as the number of units you own increases, the more you need to evaluate yourself as an owner.  Be honest with yourself.  It requires much more to manage 25 units than 5 units.

Consider that Investor A with few resources and knowledge who owns one property could have as much reason to hire a property manager as Investor B with a full time job and little patience who owns 10 properties.

On the other hand, Investor A with lots of skills who owns one property could have just as little need to hire a property manager as Investor B with lots of time and motivation who owns 10 properties.

Bottom line is that yes, most owners do care more about their investment properties, but they shouldn't let that cloud their judgement if having someone else manage them is a more beneficial option.