Opinions: Pros & Cons of Self Manage vs Property Mgmt Co

[Jon S.]

Over the past 4 years I have accumulated 7 rental units and have been mostly self managing them.  There have been a few headaches recently, and I am considering outsourcing the management to a property management company, or some alternative option that will remove me from day to day management. However, I'm afraid that a property management company may not be as picky as I am in choosing tenants, or in getting maintenance done properly in a timely manner. I'm also concerned that property management fees will consume a large percentage of the cash flow. The typical challenges I've had are successfully screening good applicants, getting maintenance done in a timely manner, and getting the units shown to applicants. I've already outsources showing the units to a property manager for a small fee, but once applications are submitted the rest of the process is up to me.  Lately, my usual maintenance team has been taking several weeks to get repairs done. I have one unit that isn't occupied for 2 months now, and have not had a good qualified applicant; everyone applying has extremely poor credit or other negative history.  Anyways, my question is, am I better off just learning to improve my property management skill set, or better off outsourcing property management? If I do outsource, how do I choose a good property management company? What are the most competitive rates for property management companies? Is there a 3rd option? Thank you

[Dennis M.]

The fact is no management company is going to watch or care for your asset better than you . The four main  reasons I don’t use a PM are as follows 

1; they are expensive 

2: they steal a chunk of my profits 

3 :they cost a lot 

4 :they are not cheap