All Forum Posts by: Kyle Marek

@Michael S.

Thanks for some insight into the positives. For me, I've been envisioning my role, as time passes, in owning a property as you have described; get rent checks, get emails notifying me of the problems and costs associated. I would not want tenants calling me for every little thing. If you have several SFHs in the same area and one property manager that tends to all of them, that seems infinitely better than having a different PM for each property if they were dispersed.

It sounds like you have a great PM company. Curious as to how and why you chose them? 

@Dennis M.

Thanks for laying down the hard truth. Can I ask you about how you manage your properties then without one?

@Rhonda Wilson

Gotcha, thank you Rhonda. Are they each able to cover a large geographic distance, or are your properties all in the same vicinity?

@Rhonda Wilson

That is nice they go to court for you! Do you pay an extra fee for them to do this?

But yes thank you I have gathered that the personal experience is invaluable for future managing of properties.

Do you have a different PM for each unit? All through PM companies? Not sure if private property managers are a thing or not...

@Eric Adobo

Thanks Eric!

"I find the best situation is get a buy /sell 👦 who also does property mgmt for you."

Sorry but I'm quite sure I get what this means.

@Rhonda Wilson

Thanks for confirming what others have told me about managing the first property. It sounds like Property managers will do everything a little less efficiently and with a higher cost than self managing, but there really isn't a choice if you have several properties?

And while they do save you time and energy, they eat into cash flow and profits a little bit. But they are still worth it.

@Eric Adobo

"A good property with an OK property manager is a Grand Slam."

Can you explain this a little? Assuming you mean the property itself is such a good investment a so-so PM doesn't really have too much effect.

@Rachel Fourquet

Can't thank you enough for effort you put into this write up! 

First thing that stood out to me was that some PM companies will charge you for obtaining new tenants. Can definitely see where they would be incentivized to find short term tenants. Don't like this idea!

What stood out to me the most was the ineffective line of communication from tenant to PM to you guys. Is this how all PM companies work? If you are fielding this many calls from one rental property, how to investors with dozens of properties scattered across the states handle them?!

Tenants can be needy and tough to deal with, which is why investors hire property managers.

Do you have an idea how you would manage a long distance property on your own now?

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@Peter M.

Thanks for the concise answer! Pretty much everything I've read and heard says people should manage their first property themselves. Makes total sense. Starting smaller and closer is what my grandpa told me to do as well. Glad to have confirmation here on BP

I'm young and trying to learn as much about real estate property rental investing as possible. Like a lot of first time investors, I'm looking to break in through multi-family properties. 

I reached out to my grandpa (50 years of RE experience and once owned 70 properties across the US) and sent him a deal analysis I calculated using the BP calculator. While members on BP said it was a good investment, my grandpa said it wan't because it was a couple hours away from where I live. 

He then went on to tell me how I don't want to use property managers because they can be lazy and gradually loosen their grip on tenants. But many podcasts and forums and webinar videos here mention using property managers. 

Is it not wise to use a property manager for my first investment purchase? Is it not wise to use them at all? Using property managers has been a part of my long term goal to own multiple investment properties across the states.