Resident Property Manager’s

[Pete Harper]

I’m looking for ideas on managing my local properties. I have a total of 18 units in our small town. We live in a small enough market there are no full time property managers. There are a few realtors who do it on the side but not what I’m looking for. We have other properties out of town with full time PM that handle everything. I don’t see anything of that caliber locally.

I’ve been thinking about getting an on site PM. Someone to collect rents, take the off hours phone calls, show units and maybe do some light handyman work. In college I did this at one of my mother’s properties. It was a 20 unit complex just off campus. All the renters were students. In exchange for managing the property I was provided free rent. Before me there was another guy with the same arrangement. In the ‘80s this was quite common.

I don’t see this arrangement as much anymore. I was wondering if the tax laws have cracked down on this sort of arrangement. I’m not looking to hire an employee with all the associated tax and withholding headaches.

Anyone doing something similar?