What is Good Property Management?

[Rodney Turner]

I have been self-managing my rental properties for over 20 years with an occasional bad tenant, but most pay on time and maintain the properties well. I decided to try a local property management firm that charges a flat $80 per month per property.

After some initial startup hiccups, I now have to wait at least 24 hours to have my emails answered, I can no longer communicate directly with tenants, and the owner portal is a joke - I can only see a white screen with a pdf statement that is updated once a month. I still self-manage two of my properties with full-featured property management software that costs me $30 per month.

Is this typical for property managers? Frankly I could do a far better job self-managing all of my properties.