Property Management vs. Self Management: What’s the Best Choice for Your Rental Property?

On the surface, the choice might seem straightforward: do you want to handle all the details of your rental property yourself or hire a third party to do it for you? However, the reality is far more complicated. Self managing a rental can cost you a lot of time and money when it comes to repairs, legal fees, and maintenance. In addition, you will likely spend many unpaid hours needing to research Portland’s changing property laws to ensure your rental stays compliant. 

To make the decision easier, here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of self-management, as well as what services a property manager can provide. With all the facts at hand, you can make the best decision to keep your rental business profitable and stress-free.

The Pros of Self-Managing a Rental

Many people find working as a landlord to be a rewarding and invigorating experience. While it certainly takes a lot of work, here are some benefits of self-managing your rental.

Hands-On Approach to Maintenance 

Property management tends to attract people with an “if you want something done right, do it yourself” mindset. When you self-manage, you can ensure that all the work on your rental property is handled your way. If you’re particular about how maintenance is performed or enjoy the challenge of tackling it yourself, this can be a big benefit. 

Connect With Your Tenants

There’s an appeal to being a classic “mom and pop” landlord. These small self-managing owners often only have one or two properties that they manage and pride themselves on their personal touch. When you manage a rental, you’re providing housing to members of your community. If you’re a people person and prefer to take a hands-on approach with your tenants, then self-managing is a great way to maintain a cordial, professional relationship with your renters.

Avoid Paying Additional Fees

When deciding whether to work with a property manager, one thing to remember is your budget. A property manager will often collect a fee in exchange for the services they provide in managing your rental. The first thing to do is make sure you’re working with a quality property manager who will make sure that their management services are paying for themselves by increasing your ROI. 

Cons of Self-Managing a Rental

Managing your own rental can be a great experience when everything is going well. But of course, most self-managing owners aren’t lucky enough to never experience any hiccups in their business. And when things go wrong, the consequences can mean a lot of stress and additional money.

In the course of deciding whether to work with a property manager, it’s important to consider the drawbacks of self-management alongside the perks. Here are a few pitfalls that come with self-management.

Regular Maintenance Can Become a Chore

Managing a rental property is a huge responsibility, and staying on top of regular maintenance is one of the most important steps. While some people enjoy taking care of maintenance, these responsibilities can become a huge bother if you have multiple rental properties, an older unit, or tenants who tend to break things. Paired with travel time, wrangling contractors, and the difficulty of the tasks themselves, you can quickly find your schedule overloaded.

Managing Multiple Units Becomes Burdensome

If you’re looking to build your rental business and improve your ROI, expanding your portfolio of rental units is a great place to start. However, taking on more rental units can be challenging for self-managing owners. More rentals mean a lot more work, and depending on the unit and the tenants occupying it, it could be even more work than you anticipated. 

Problem Tenants Cause Stress

When you find the ideal tenants, managing a rental can be a dream. But with the wrong tenants, your experience can quickly become miserable. Problem tenants cause damage to your unit, make trouble with the neighbors, are late with their rental payments, and may even conduct illegal activity on your property. Difficult tenants can often embroil you in legal issues that consume your precious time. You may struggle to get the money you’re owed due to missed rent or damages and continue to lose potential income while dealing with troublesome repairs. Problem tenants are definitely one of the worst-case scenarios for self-managing owners.

Time-Consuming Legal Research

To avoid getting into legal hot water, you must always be up-to-date on changing property laws. However, this can take a lot of time and effort you’d rather be putting towards improving your rental business.

Do You Need a Property Manager? 

Now that we’ve explored the pros and cons of self-managing a rental, let’s return to the original question: is property management or self-management a better option? You can probably see why it’s a difficult question. But at the end of the day, there’s just one question to ask yourself: Do you enjoy self-managing your rental?

If you like to do everything yourself and like making your rental property your full-time job, then you might not need the services of a property manager. But if managing your rental is far more stressful and time-consuming than you anticipated, if your tenants are giving you trouble and you can’t seem to keep your bottom line in the black, then working with a property manager might just be what your rental needs. 

A property management company can offer many services to make your rental business stress-free and profitable. At Rent Portland Homes by Darla Andrew, we’re proud to offer top-notch services to Portland’s landlord community. When you work with us, we quickly get started on the following:

Improving Your ROI 

With their professional expertise, a property manager has the skills to make the most of your rental property’s profits. We create a detailed financial plan and keep you updated on your rental’s finances so you have total transparency on your unit.

Finding the Best Tenants

Tenants are the backbone of a rental business, but finding quality renters is one of the hardest things to do. We handle advertising your property and screening tenants in line with Portland’s new laws to ensure you get the best of the best.

Handling Repairs, Maintenance, and Emergencies

There’s nothing worse than getting a call from a panicked tenant in the middle of the night because the water line burst. At Rent Portland Homes by Darla Andrew, we work with a trusted maintenance team and contractors to ensure you never have to worry that your property is being taken care of 24/7.

Collecting Rent (and Handling Missed Rent)

Rent collection is a crucial part of being a landlord, but it can often be stressful—especially if your tenants fall behind on their payments. Rent Portland Homes by Darla Andrew can handle all tenant communication to keep your business worry-free.

Partners with the Professionals

All in all, Rent Portland Homes by Darla Andrew is an excellent choice in Portland property management. If you’d like to learn more about how a property manager can revolutionize your rental business, drop us a line on our website or by call or text at 503.515.3170.