Repair Guy vs. Property Manager

[Laura Bowler]

Hi! My husband and I have been managing our own rental properties for the last 2 and a half years, and we decided that we wanted to outsource the handling of maintenance calls and repairs. We like to travel quite a bit (and handling these calls from afar can be problematic) but it's also not the best use of our time to drive to the properties to fix a garbage disposal or leaky pipe. We are both handy (and hire out projects we aren't qualified to do) but are ready to spend a little more and have this piece completely handled.

We shopped around property management companies, but all of them seem to have more services than we want - we really enjoy the part of the business centered around locating tenants and fixing up properties (initially and after a vacancy), since part of the reason we do this is to engage with the community and provide more affordable stable housing options to those who don't always get the best treatment from landlords. However, we are struggling with outsourcing this smaller piece of the work. Does anyone have any experience or advice for doing this? We asked a few property management companies to consider a smaller scope of work, but are thinking we might need to deal with a handyman company or something.