Deciding to self manage

[Marty G.]

Hi BP community!

I have a few properties that I have had managed by a PM company.  I used to self manage and when I changed jobs, that required a lot of overseas travel and I didn't feel comfortable having family deal with the occasional 3am call (not to mention, being overseas myself, I sometimes would get woken up at 3am my time - 3pm back home for maintenance calls).

Since I only have a few multi-families, most PM companies in my area won't touch it - they want commercial sized or at least more than what I have to take me on.  My current company has been very unsatisfactory for a number of reasons - high turnover (compared to what I noticed when I self managed) which I attribute to their poor communication (not to mention, I have to pay a month rent as a finders fee when they lease it again, so there's no incentive to keep people happy, either).  I recently went to inspect a property and noticed a lot of neglect - things that they should've noticed (i.e. an open door (not just unlocked - open) for an entire weekend which could've been disastrous, easy fixes that they suggest big repairs for because they never inspected it themselves, poor communication with me and the tenants, and a lot of other things.  Basically, they aren't doing their job, and I'm paying them for it.

They don't have a huge Rolodex of people to call, so they usually call their handyman to fix things and he does marginal work.  When it needs something bigger, they'll call a random company.  

My job no longer requires me to travel, so I feel like I could go back to self-managing.  In addition, I see a slew of software (particularly Cozy) that I really like from what I've seen which will help me manage.  I currently live in the same area the houses are in, so I can handle minor things myself, but do have handymen I could call to tackle the maintenance aspect of it, if needed.

As I assess their service, I guess I really don't know what I'm paying for.  I don't have access to a portal to see maintenance issues, so I will only get a bill at the end of the month telling me what went wrong.  They have a huge turnover for account people, so I find myself having to retrain the new person every few months in what is supposed to happen.  Basically, they're mis-managed and I feel like I'm paying for a admin assistant, except more expensive.

Now that software exists which helps do many of the things that pained me, I'm wondering if it makes more sense to save the $, go back to doing it myself as things just don't seem to be handled properly, and perhaps get a virtual assistant if someone needs an after hours emergency contact?

I've spoken to the company a few times and let them know about their short-comings but that has fallen upon deaf ears and I haven't been able to find someone who would want to "do it on the side" so to speak.  

With software such as Cozy that handles payments, maintenance, and much of the tenant communication ... do you think there's any reason to keep paying for a PM company at all for my situation?  There's only one other company in my area that I've found that would consider me, but again, now that my job has changed terms, I'm not faced with the same restrictions and do have handymen that are willing to take care of things with me.

Thanks community!!
-M