Here I'm kinda bored and I'll give you some information so you don't have to earn your own bumps and bruises working for somebody else....
PMing really isn't rocket science if you start out on the right foot.
The property...this will be the biggest difference between owning your own place managing somebody else's. Your property needs to be GOOD and DURABLE. Understand what pipes you should be using...PEX over copper. Make sure your electric is all up to code. Have a good understanding of the life left on your roof. How's your basement if you even have one? How old are you appliances? Flooring!!! Good floors can minimize turnover costs in the long run. Try allure vinyl flooring or laminate over carpet! Carpet are great in the bedrooms for comfort though. Get good high quality carpet pads! This way you will just replace the carpet during turnover.
What's CRUCIAL to understand is your costs and what will hit your pocket. A PM(typically) won't care. They'll just call you "You need to replace the water heater". If you don't know your place in the beginning, you'll get plagued with a lot of fun calls at the highest costs. It won't be fun.
Tenant screening....if you follow the rules here you'll be fine. I don't know what kind of property you're renting out. If it's "not the best", then you're probably not going to get somebody with great credit, 3X income, and no criminal record. As a newbie you might think that a PM will be the best in these situations....but guess what! NOT really :-). If it's your own property, you could use experience in growing a "gut" (IE trusting your gut) for applicants OR you just keep it vacant until a great tenant comes along. A PM will just keep it vacant until a great tenant comes along or they'll pass the "meh" tenants onto you the owner but offer not guarantees.
Dealing with tenants....if you have a good one you won't have a problem. You'll need to understand how to have STANDARDS. Rent is due on ____. Rent is late on ____. As a newbie, you'll try to reinvent the wheel and get burned. Then you'll go back to understanding how important it is to have standards when you're dealing with people.
Know the eviction process from beginning to end in your area. Even if you never use it, it'll reinforce how important standards are because you'll need a timeline to get your place back.
PMs typically deal with the cards their dealt and try to make the best of it by getting all clients on the same page (instituting standards). If you have a bad property with issues and an owner that doesn't/can't spend money on it then you're going to get bad tenants. The margins are awful so they really don't make a lot of money unless they have tons of good tenants, or they're able to put lots of fun surcharges on repairs and rehabs. IE the contractor charged $1000 so they put 20% on top of that for $1200 for "managing the project".
As an owner, you'll have control of your property and a true insight into costs and keeping them manageable. IE hiring your own handyman and building a relationship vs a contractor at the highest rate.
Some tenants would rather deal with a manager (they don't like seeing the owner's BMW) some would rather deal with an owner (the person that has the final say so ...ie..."can I get a new fridge?" you get a yes or no right there vs a "let me ask the owner" ). You'll get stuck in the middle as a PM vs an owner your get a front row seat.
I could go on haha but if you want to PM to learn how to manage a property you really just need to understand that you need a standard on paper that you follow to a T. The only real leniency is something that won't put you out.
