Switching to Self-Management

[Michelle Cohen]

Hello! We are first-time investors with a triplex we bought in January. We live in Florida and the house is in Cleveland. We are on our second property management company and have gone from terrible to even worse, so now we're thinking about whether we can manage it ourselves. We're already spending hours each week trying to get hold of people, so while we know we'll have headaches managing on our own, we already have headaches, and at least then we won't be paying for the privilege.

A few questions for those who know about managing a property from 1,000 miles away:

1. How do you manage repairs when the tenant isn't home to let in the contractors? We aren't going to be able to fly up on a moment's notice to let in a furnace repairman while the tenant is at work, for example, so how is something like that handled?

2. How do you fill a vacant apartment? Our issue is mainly showings. I know we can set up an account on apartments.com or zillow and manage the listing, but again, we can't physically be there to show the apartment.

3. How do you handle things like lease violations, evictions, etc? Can you hire someone to post a 3-day notice, for instance?

4. How often, if ever, do you go to the property to take a look at it in person? Only at turnover? Never? Can you hire someone to be the eyes and ears and drive by occasionally to make sure nothing untoward seems to be going on, that the lawn company is actually doing the mowing, that there isn't trash piled up in the yard, etc? 

5. Is there anything else you might advise on? What didn't you think of when you first started managing your own property that you wish you knew?

Thanks so much for any advice!

Michelle

[Nathan Miller]

Managing a property remotely is going to be far more challenging than finding a good property manager in the area.

1. It's impossible to do repairs remotely, so you'll have to have a local, trusted repair service that can handle all the repairs.

2. You could use a service like tenant turner or showmojo here, but you still have to have somebody install the lock box and there are risks with remote showings.

3. Some property managers will just do notices and evictions.  You would have to find somebody willing to only do that.

4. You really need to inspect the property at least every 6 months.   It should be more than a drive-by.  This is a normal service property managers provide.

5. I'd recommend spending your time interviewing and finding a GOOD property manager.  Ignore pricing up front and look at reviews they've received from other property owners.  Get a good one and you'll never consider self managing again.