All Forum Posts by: Rene G.

Why not self-manage? Cut out the middleman and make more cashflow! I've been able to self-manage from Iraq you can too!

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4Δ 𝓡𝓮𝓷𝓮 💪 

PS No one will care more about your livelihood than you, PMs are just doing a j-o-b. 

There's some gaps in your question...

How long are you planning on self-managing and what class rentals do you have? What happens if you get good at managing rentals nearby, would you want to long-distance self-manage?

BTW I've been self-managing long-distance for over 10 yrs and even when I worked and lived in Baghdad Iraq for most of the 10 yrs. Now that I'm financially free and my rentals are all within 1.5 hr drive, I never have to go to them because I figured out how to do things very hands off!

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4Δ 𝓡𝓮𝓷𝓮 💪 

The Forever Landlord

How long do you intend to do this? Why have you decided to self-manage? I have so much to say! 

I have a Lease/Addenda example where I help DIY landlords and I highlight stuff many landlords forget, but it’s irrelevant if you use a PM.

PMs will have their own Lease and it’s doubtful you’d be able to get them to alter their stuff.

Some of the perks as a DIY landlord self-managing is that you have control and can implement unique flexibility and hands-off systems into your Lease.

PM companies have internal policies and rules/regs. They do what’s best for their business and not necessarily what’s best for you as the landlord.

Last thing I’ll say is no one will ever care more about your livelihood than you. Middleman PMs are just doing a job and don’t have any ownership of  real stake in your business— motivated differently with little overlap—if they fail there’s a huge gap in the consequences faced compared to your consequences as the landlord if you fail. 

Take extra care to ensure your success and don’t trust middlemen, master your trade and verify they know what they’re doing!

Set standards and stick to them. If someone called and asked if you hold units, what is your standard?

Treat everyone the exact same and you’ll never be at fault for showing favoritism or discrimination.

This is just my 2 cents. Take it or leave it, but all I do is help DIY landlords for a business and from my experience too many mom and pop landlords lack systems and SOPs. Treat this as if you’re training your replacement, what would you tell an employee? Now do that yourself. lol At least until you can hire someone and then you’ll already have training materials to give them to do the job right, the same way, every time. The trick is breaking down every aspect of the business into standard checklist and SOPs!

"Forever All In!"

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4Δ 𝓡𝓮𝓷𝓮 💪

The Forever Landlord

Everyone is overlooking the main issue. You should self-manage. 

This is the typical landlord/property management dilemma: problems happen then the landlord wants to question everything because they’re not in control. 

No middleman PM will ever care more than you; this is your livelihood, but it’s just a job to them. 

Why are people using AI so much around here!?

I built my own “Ideal Rental Checklist” and in that process I was challenged to really critically think and figure out on my own…

IMO you’ll need to do a similar exercise or just learn your lesson from trial and error. lol

4Δ 𝓡𝓮𝓷𝓮 💪

I alway go for two-year term leases. It’s how I fully pay off rentals. I just had a tenant leave after staying with me 10 years and I increased the rents their entire stay.

I hate it when I hear DIY landlords say they don’t increase rents on “good” tenants—that’s a cop out!

I have an entire process that’s too much to go into here. You’ll figure your own path out because I can tell you have the right frame of mind.

4Δ 𝓡𝓮𝓷𝓮 💪

How old is it?

Just wait (you said next year you're planning on house hacking). House hack a duplex and self-manage the other side of the duplex.

This is a simple decision. In the mean time start learning about self-management. It's really not hard, especially if you build out the hands-off system of DIY property management.

I do something I call "self-service" property management. It's how I've been able to self-manage my rentals from Baghdad, Iraq for 10 years. I'd be on the other side of the world, no cellphone, crappy internet working 12-hours shift, and when tenants had problems, I trained them to fix their own problems. There's much more to it then that, but that's the down and dirty.

You got this bro!

Rene 💪