What will happen if I self-manage my property?

Do you have a property, and are you thinking about managing it?

It is a delicate topic without question; each head is a world on its own. I may think that managing my property is very difficult due to my work, my inexperience and my lack of time but another person can be more informed about that topic or with more time to be able to investigate and do the right thing to be successful in this field. Investors have the choice to manage their own properties as a way of cutting down on expenses

In this document, I will give you the advantages and disadvantages of managing your property.

When buying your first rental property, you may be tempted to assume that your investment journey is going to be an easy one.

How hard can rent collection be?

Owning a rental property is very different from managing your own rental property.

Ownership may be easy, but managing that property is not just collecting your rent.

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1. Self-managing a property implies that you are responsible for EVERYTHING. Starting with creating a lease, maintenance, tenant screening, advertising, rent collection etc. You will have to be in charge of all the decisions, there is not going to be a third-party person involved in all of this.

2. When you hire a property management company it is understood that a certain percentage of your rental income goes to them. So by self-managing your company you ́re going to save these fees per month and you will be able to have more money coming your way. For instance if you pay your property management company 30 dlls per month that means that by the end of the year you will be saving 360 dlls.

3. The more informed you get on this subject, the easier it will be for you to manage your property and if you have the necessary time and patience, you can even make a career from this.

4. A good point to emphasize is the fact that you are the owner of the property and it is your money. You will be motivated by wanting to do things correctly and by wanting to make your project succeed. As the saying goes, if you want things to be made to your liking, do them yourself.

Now, although I have given you these points I also want to emphasize the cons on this topic

• It is a difficult and demanding job, and even more difficult if you have a separate job and you have limited time to manage your property. If you really care about your property it is important that you put the pros and cons on a scale. You will have to deal with cranky tenants, solve maintenance issues and answer calls late at night. This is not a task for any person, you have to have a lot of patience and need to be quick to answer all of the tenant inquiries.

• It is important to know that property management companies use programs  to do the tenant screening. This is something that if your self-manage your property you cannot do as easily as they do.

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  • Appearances can be deceiving and you can run into tenants who do not pay on time, who do not take care of your property, who are extremely dirty and / or closed-minded and unable to reach an agreement with you. Remember that property managers have experience and know how to deal with these types of problems. Property managers will always want to take away your stress so that you are satisfied with their work.

• The moment you start to self-manage your property you should be aware of all the laws that may apply in your case. If you are barely starting with this business and don´t have the appropriate knowledge, it is obvious that you are going to make mistakes and it is important to know that these mistakes can be VERY expensive. Unlike if you hire a property management company, they are steeped in the subject, and they know about laws and all the information needed, and a plus is that they have many guarantees in your favor.

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  • Many people self-manage their property because they think they will be saving money, but if you think twice and acknowledge all of the bad situations you could get involved in the truth is that you are actually saving a lot of money. So in reality what you would be spending on your wrongly taken decisions is nothing compared to the money you will be paying your property management company. Don't feel sorry for the money you are going to have to pay the company because it is an investment that you will thank in the future!

• Remember that the property is going to have to be repaired no matter how new it is and it is important to point out that the property management companies get discounts from vendors and service providers. If you want to self-manage your property it will be quite difficult to get this kind of help at more affordable costs. This without counting all the legal problems in which your tenants can get you involved and costly evictions.