On this episode of The Most Dwanderful Real Estate Podcast Ever, Dwan discusses when and how to hire a property manager. Being a landlord to a few tenants that you have interviewed and chosen ahead of time can be great. But when you own multiple properties, tenant requests and problems can be exhausting. Dwan recommends that you manage your own properties when you just have one or two because it is important for you to know how to do all of the things that a property manager does down the road when you are ready to interview and hire one. She also says that you should tell tenants that you “work for the owners” so they don’t find out you are the owner and start asking for more leniency than you want to give.
Once you get five properties, you should definitely consider hiring a property management company to help you with collecting rent, handling maintenance requests, and dealing with any other issues, but have a threshold of maintenance issues that must be brought to you for approval first. For example, some property managers get kickbacks from their friends who are in the HVAC or roofing businesses if they install one of their products at a property. Perhaps things over $500 should be brought to you for you to handle the bidding process. Also be sure you are very well-insured at all of your properties.
