Managing My Rentals with Online Platforms (First Time Landlord)

[Jason Powell]

I'm excited to close on a 2-unit property tomorrow, that I will move into, using the house hacking strategy. It already has a tenant in 1 unit.

I'll be moving out of my single family house and will rent that out as well.

Self-managing is taking a front seat now as I've just signed up for RentRedi and I'll send my Change of Management Letter to the tenant soon after closing.

At first, I was leery of self-managing my single family home I'm moving out of. BUT, with these online platforms (like RentRedi) I feel more confident navigating the whole process of managing.

Also, I really want to avoid some of the more hefty property manager fees I've seen, so that's my added incentive to self-manage. However, another option is to self-manage the 2-unit property I'll live in and hire a Broker P.M. to manage the other. (But, then there are those fees I'd rather keep in my own pocket...)

However, in Indiana, do you have to be a licensed agent to self-manage the properties that you own? (I saw somewhere that might be the case, yet I know several landlords who are not realtors, so thatmay be inaccurate information...)

I'm also reading Turner's book on "Managing Rental Properties" so that will help I know...

Feel free to share your thoughts!

~Jason

[Shawn Long]

@Jason Powell You do not need to have a real estate license to manage your own properties. In fact you dont need a business license to be a PM either in your case. However I would suggest creating an LLC to manage your properties and keep things organized as well as the benefit of tax write offs.