Top Resources for Self-Managing Landlords

Written By Amelia McGee

Why I recommend self-managing your portfolio…

Grace Gudenkauf here! It might come as a surprise to you to hear that I am a huge proponent of self-managing rental properties. When I first started in real estate it was a no-brainer that I was going to self-manage. Like many investors looking to make real estate investing their full-time job, it simply was not feasible to give such a huge cut of my cash flow to an external company. As a rule of thumb, property management (PM) companies charge 8-10% of the total rent, plus other fees. Rather, I wanted to keep every dollar I could so I could reinvest it and run my business full-time sooner than later.

Quickly into my portfolio I also realized that I could operate my rentals with better customer service and a higher performance than most companies. In 2021 I bought an 8 unit apartment that was managed by one of the most recommended management companies in the area. Upon closing I realized that the PM was leaving a lot of money on the table: not collecting pet fees, deferring much needed maintenance, renting at under-market rates and more. 

I thought to myself, “How on Earth are people paying for this?” Then and there I solidified that I would never use a PM company but rather I would build an in-house team. This is not unique to just me: many investors are able to run a better quality business than large PM companies. As long as you are able to problem solve you could be a great self-manager for your portfolio to give you significantly more cash flow and a higher quality of service to your tenants. 

 Most of the time investors opt to hire a professional management company under the impression that it will make their investment completely passive. Most of the time this ends up not being the case because you still have to manage your manager. Additionally, a lot of property management companies have to manage hundreds of properties to be profitable which means you and your portfolio don’t necessarily get the time and attention they deserve. 

Often this means that self-managing ends up being a better route. If you have to manage the manager, then why not just cut out the middleman for a higher profit and a better quality of a rental? This is the route I have pursued in my real estate investing business and is what has allowed me to quit my corporate mechanical engineering job less than one year into investing. Rather than hiring a large company who took a large portion of my cashflow, I opted to self-manage until I could hire an internal property manager: that is, a property manager who is on my own payroll and works directly on my team. 

While it might seem like a daunting task, it can actually be pretty straightforward and there are thousands and thousands of landlords out there who self-manage and are very successful. If you are on the fence here are some recommended resources for ensuring you are successfully managing your properties.

Books:

Podcast Episodes:

  • Streamline Your Property Management For The New Year from the Women Invest in Real Estate Podcast

    • This episode teaches you why it is important to remember that you are a business, not just a landlord and that you can scale, adding systems and processes to your routine - while keeping things in-house and professional.

    • Having your systems and processes in place is essential to keeping the emotions out of your business. It helps you deal with issues that arise in a systematic way, protecting you from making emotional decisions while managing your time efficiently.

    • This episode also dives into the benefits of streamlining your property management and the first step you should take.

    • These are the three most important places you can typically streamline your REI business:

      • Tenant screening

      • Rental payments

      • Maintenance requests

  • Long Distance Investing & Self-Managing 9 Doors while Deployed by Real Estate Rookie Show

    • Caleb was active duty military for fourteen years, and once he joined special ops he was  deployed for six months at a time. During those six months, his house would sit, unused, and that’s when he saw an opportunity. Caleb decided to rent out his house through Airbnb. As a new landlord and Airbnb host, Caleb had to learn by doing, a task that was increasingly more difficult since he was self-managing from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa. Caleb was able to combat this challenge by building a team that could handle what he couldn’t.  After a few years of investing solo, Caleb joined a partnership to expand his portfolio and increase his profit. His partner was also out of the country, so they switched off who was “on-call” and figured out how to automate their check-in and check-out processes. As the business grew, the partnership adjusted to ensure its longevity. Caleb now hopes to continue to scale his business, add to his personal portfolio, and build wealth in the background. 

  • Self-Managing Your Real Estate Like a Pro With Dana Dunford by The Real Estate InvestHer Show

    • Dana Dunford is the CEO of Hemlane, a technology-enabled property management platform. The best properties are not always the ones in our own backyards, which is why Dana is a strong advocate of purchasing properties anywhere.

    • She empowers real estate investors to do this by taking the pain points of property management and figuring out ways to make it more efficient. The result: an intelligent process to manage rentals from a distance while connecting them with local, licensed professionals.

    • In 2018, Dana was named one of the top 20 women leaders and influencers in commercial real estate tech!

    • She brings such a unique background to real estate as she previously worked at Apple on their worldwide financial planning and analysis team and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.

    • Tune in, and by the end of the episode, you’ll be able to self-manage your real estate so well your tenants will think you’re using a full-service PM!


Groups:

Need somewhere to ask a question or network with others who are also rental property owners?You have found yourself in the right place in this active facebook group. 

In this tight-knit community you’ll find everything from thought-provoking questions, actionable advice, and inspirational success stories to inspire you to take the next step in your real estate journey. 


Whether you are just getting started managing your rental properties, or are looking for a way to be better organized and systemized, these resources will teach you just that. Remember, running a great rental property business isn’t just important for you but it is important to also run a high-quality service for your tenants so they are happy and stay a long time in your property, making your management easier and your bottom line bigger.


Resources:

Amelia McGee
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