I'm a self-managing landlord and just genuinely interested to know why others self-manage their own investment property?
Is it because you like being "hands-on"? to save on PM fees? be in control or your property? had a bad experience with a PM agent? only got a small portfolio? …
(Note – this post is not an invitation to bag PM's… there's a place for everyone)
be in control of the property and save thousands on pm fees
It's a bit hard to manage an I.P. from 3000km away! but i would certainly give it a try if i had one locally.
both my investments are in towns that i dont live in.
As are mine and my next and so on
Some I do and some I don't – it depends upon the property. With most resi you're not going to be saving thousands annually by doing it yourself unless it is grossing $500 pw (what is your time worth in managing the property which you can't claim).
I reckon all those tenant horror stories that you see on the crappy current affair shows in the early evening are always self managed properties or properties managed by small, local, dodgy RE agent offices. We deliberatley chose one of the largest RE agent firms to manage our property and, touch wood, it is all going well.
I could possibly buy something positively geared where I live, but I won't because there is no PM, and in a town of only 600 people, I don't want to be managing property and collecting rent and falling out with everyone around town.
I think I would always use a PM. It is not the sort of work i enjoy, and they charge less than my time is worth. If I were so positioned, I might undertake some maintenance myself, as you can get a bit ripped off at times, tradesman rates for layperson job.
The husband and I have a mix of skills that makes it pretty easy to self manage. In my work I deal with legislative process, so I find interpreting the Residential Tenancies' Act straightforward. The other part of my job is resolving grievances, so I'm used to dealing with all kinds of different people and resolving problems. Hubby is the ultimate handyman, so he is great at doing the repairs etc when they're needed.
We also like the fact that we can monitor our own investments on a regular basis – we do home inspections etc ourselves, it's nice to know how our properties are looking during a tenancy. This then infoms our decision as to whether we're prepared to sign another lease with the the tenants.
I watch all those ACA horror stories…
I'm waiting for the day where they have a horror story, but then says "These landlords are not out of pocket as they had landlord insurance!" hahaha. If only.. Then it wouldn't be a story.
I am a property manager myself, so I probably would look at managing my own IP when I finally buy one… But it wouldn't be to save money on the fees as they are all tax deductable… Then every End of financial year you get a statement to give straightto your accountant etc… It is quite easy to have a Property Manager..
I would probably only manage my own because if I did put it through an Agent I would be on them like a hawk and be one of the Landlords from hell that "knows everything" (but this time, I actually do) and has to have a copy of everything and has to attend Routine Inspections hahaha.
But I would be extremely picky on who I would put as my Property Manager…
Yeah, we were pretty picky. Having property in provincial QLD towns, we had specific instructions for our PM re the type of tenant that we wanted. These instructions would conflict the anti discrimination act, if you know what I mean. My husband just laid our concerns on the table, and the response from the PM was "don't worry, they don't even bother applying with us anymore" as the agency had made a practice of not renting to the particular demographic we were concerned about.
Sorry if this offends anyone, we live in the real world, we have eyes and notice what goes on around us and we value our investment. Unfortunately you sometimes have to make broad brushed rules, like the landlord who might choose to adopt a "no pets" policy.
we're just starting out with our first ip but we've decided to do it ourselves. the reasons being are that we have a good gut feeling about or tennant and it was hard to find an agent (and i had a fair dig) that i felt would do a good enough job to justify paying them about $1300 a year………..but in saying that, the property is not that far from home and we can keep an eye on it, it would be a different story if the house was a long way from home
I use Management company and for 3 years and never regreted it. find a company that if the tenant moves out with short notice the company will carry on paying you. Mind do.Allso make sure you make Agreement who pays your tax on the rental. And how many times a year they check your property
I have one property self managed (close proximity) and the others with PMs (long distances away). I dont find the whole process to difficult, and yes I have had a tennant from hell, currently actually that I am self managing (soon to be evicted). I dont feel I screwed up, I had references from others PMs and work, rent was always paid, it just all went to hell in a handbasket in a matter of 3 weeks. Still you get that and that is why you ALWAYS, ALWAYS have insurance!!!!!!
Oh and be very proactive with your PM, consider they may have alot of properties on their books. At the end of the day all care but no responsibility – it is your investment and part of that is management.
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