So, you’ve decided to become a landlord and that’s great. But what about when your tenant decides to stop paying rent? Not great. What will you do? This is one of many issues that can come up if you decide to self-manage your real estate investment. If you’re thinking about managing rental property yourself, there are additional challenges to think about.
Availability to Your Tenants
Do it yourself property management means you have to be available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to take care of any problems or needs that come up for your tenant. What about that great vacation you have been planning?
Management Expertise
DIY property management will also require that you write a strong lease and process a security deposit. You’ll need to know how to find and screen good vendors and what you should do to check their work. Will you know if they’re taking you for a ride or if the repair they made really costs as much as they charged you? You’ll have to figure out how to inspect your property without invading your tenant’s privacy and how to judge whether their emergency maintenance requests are really emergencies. Sometimes, managing your own property can become emotional because it feels too personal.
Professional Property Management
One way to protect your investment without getting into all the messy stuff is to hire a professional property manager. They will protect your investment and always put your interests first. You won’t have to worry about all the emotional components. You don’t want to be a bad landlord or a mean landlord, but you need to enforce your lease and protect your property. We can do that for you.
What you really need to ask yourself when you’re considering DIY property management is – what is your level of expertise, and how valuable is your time?
If you’re interested in property management, take a look at what we have to say in another blog about how to choose a professional property management company. You can also contact us at MHN Property Management if you have any questions about managing rental property.
