What is the best way to find somebody to keep an eye on my rental, but not a PM?

Question

I have a rental duplex in Ohio which I was doing very well managing myself. Work brought me back to New York so I was forced to hire a property manager.

That didn't go very well. For reasons I will not get into, I fired him. I'm capable of managing the property myself from New York, filling vacancies, calling for maintenance, etc.

I want to continue to manage the property myself, but I want to hire somebody to do simple things such as viewings, respond to small issues from tenants and address the problem, etc. How do I go about finding somebody like this, and what would you pay them?

Bob Stevens · Answer

I have been doing business there for 10 years 1ks of move in and outs and PM. If you think you can do this all alone, you are sadly mistaken, you will get" hurt " bad. Tenants in Cleveland are pros at living for free, they know the system. You need repairs done the same day, at a good price What if you do not get it done right away and the tenant calls the city and starts putting her money in escrow, do you know what to do ? You need evictions filed for a fair price, you need to replace the tenants, who's going to meet them? Walk the properties and more. What are you going to do when the tenant screams " my son has led in his blood " Or I can't pay the rent I got in a car accident " Do you know how to deal with EDEN or Sec 8, ? Or YOUR tree fell on my car , you owe me money " . Sewer is backing up; I want you to put me up in a hotel" Do you know how much it will cost to replace the sewer? The 80 BUX a month for PM is meaningless. I read posts all the time, of terrible stories,,,,, NOBODY is going to jump when you call them, everyone is much too busy. You need a team. rethink and get a new PM Good luck

James Wise · Answer

So you are good to handle the management yourself, except for things like showing units to tenants, responding to tenant issues, and fixing problems as they occur? Lol. Dawg, this ain't gonna work. That's like saying I am an all-star baseball player except for the fact that I am not in the MLB, I can't run, catch or throw, and I don't know how to hit a ball.

Vincent Donato · Answer

Okay so instead of replying to everybody I'll make a general reply.I have a team of contacts available in the area to handle issues. I self managed my property for years before moving away, I'm completely aware of what goes into property management. I travel back to the area frequently and can handle vacancies, scheduling maintenance, repairs, etc.I'm just looking for a general person who can answer a call and address an issue. Yes I understand that is hard to come by somebody who will prioritize your time to make it over there, which is why I'm asking for the advice.If you think a property manager is $80 a month I'm not really sure what world you're living in. If both my units turned over in a year I'd be paying the property manager $6,160/year...$513.33/month. That is between monthly payments and costs for filling vacancies. I appreciate responses suggesting to find a better property manager, but there's no need to call me cheap. This is a business, we're all here to make money and maximize profits. This forum is for helping others build their best strategy that works for them, not telling them it's wrong. Plenty of people self manage from out of state, it is not impossible if done correctly.I'm not sure what a sewer backing up and me knowing how much it costs relates to how close I live to my property.

Adah N. · Answer

Where do they have PM for $80/month?

Bob Stevens · Answer

Rent 15k x 8% 1200 a year, I was just rounding off, ok so 100 a month still meaningless. Up or down 20- 30 bux again irrelevant. MUCH more costly not to have a team that knows how to do business there.

Hersh Shah · Answer

Hi @Vincent Donato,Look into Hemlane. I haven't personally used the service, but have looked into it in the past. The idea is that their team does all of the not so fun stuff with management for a cost that is usually much cheaper than hiring a property manager. PM is usually the best way to go, but this is an alternate resource for those that need it.

Adah N. · Answer

A BP guest Asamoa I think was his name, has an assistant instead of a property manager. He trains his assistant to manage his properties his way. I think you need more than a handful for this though. My two cents - a well maintained property with well screened tenants can be very efficiently self managed. One of my tenants has had 3 service calls in 9 months. First call was a brand new cooktop not properly hooked up, called contractor who installed, he came by the next day to fix. Second call was for water heater, tenant texted a few hours later and said it was working. 3rd call was for water heater again about 6 weeks later, sent the plumber to go replace, it was 14 years old anyway. I have a plumber and handyman on speed dial and my lawncare guy serves as a second pair of eyes. Use Zillow to advertise, Open House style to show a couple times a week, Zillow and/or Avail to screen tenants and Avail to collect rent and handle service request. I will call a lawyer if I need to evict, that is probably what a property manager will do and bill me anyway.For me a property manager is not needed at this time. From all the complaints here on BP and the For Rent ads I see on Zillow, it sounds like good ones are needles in a haystack.

Adriaan Sierra · Answer

seems like you are about to pick some pennies in front of the steam roller...However, If you plan to do this, you need to heavily vet the tenants. Maybe make sure they are rock solid and they report issues on time. You might be able to self sustain that way, using task rabbit some of the trivial task.However, this doesn't work with an eviction or filling a vacancy. For that you will probably need to travel

Corby Goade · Answer

Honestly, you need a PM- probably not the one you had before, but work to vet someone properly. The truth is that remote, self management is easy until it isn't. When it gets to that point, it will be very costly in money, time, stress or all three. These boards are littered with two types of self managers- those who have been lucky so far and those who have learned the lessons the hard way. Think of PM like insurance- it sucks paying that bill when you don't have any need for it, but when your basement floods, you'll be glad you have it. Best of luck!

Drew Sygit · Answer

Start your own Property Management Company!It's sooooo easy!