Should you hire a property manager or manage your rentals on your own? In this video, Kaycee Miller shares her personal experience as a landlord and real estate investor to help you decide what’s right for you.
Deciding whether to self-manage your rental properties or hire a property manager is one of the most important choices real estate investors face. Self-management gives you full control but requires significant time and energy. And while property management comes at a cost, a good property manager can also improve occupancy rates, tenant satisfaction, and rental income consistency.
In this video, I share some honest insights about one of the biggest choices landlords face: should you hire a property manager or take on the role of managing your rentals yourself? I’ve done both, and I explain what each path really looks like.
When you self-manage, you’re the one handling tenant calls, collecting rent, and making sure everything runs smoothly. That can save money, but it also means spending a lot of your own time and energy. Hiring a property manager, on the other hand, shifts those responsibilities to a professional team whose job is to keep your properties occupied, tenants satisfied, and rent paid on time.
I’ll walk you through what property managers typically charge, what services you should expect for that fee, and why the right property manager can be worth the investment. If you’ve been weighing the pros and cons of hiring a property manager, I’ll help you think through what’s best for your rentals, your time, and your long-term goals as an investor.
Key Takeaways
- Self-management saves money but requires time and effort. Landlords take on all tasks, from rent collection to tenant communication and property maintenance.
- Property managers typically charge 6–12% of rental income. While this is an added expense, they handle the daily operations that can quickly overwhelm owners.
- A good property manager improves occupancy and tenant satisfaction. Responsive management leads to fewer vacancies, consistent rent payments, and happier tenants.
- Legal support is a major value. Property managers can guide landlords through lease violations, evictions, and compliance with landlord-tenant laws.
- Consider your opportunity cost. Outsourcing management frees up time to pursue new investments, focus on other work, or simply reduce stress.
What I Learned Hiring a Property Manager – Video
What I Learned Hiring a Property Manager – Was it worth it? – WATCH THE VIDEO
What I Learned Hiring a Property Manager – Video Transcript
As a real estate investor, one of the big decisions you’re going to have to make is: am I going to self-manage my property, or am I going to use a property manager? Personally, we use a property manager, but we started out with self-management. And when you’re coming to that choice, there are a couple of things to think about when it comes to: should I hire a property manager, or how do I know if I should hire a property manager?
My name is Kaycee Miller. I work for Rentec Direct property management software. I’m also a landlord, a real estate investor, and a real estate developer. And here are some of my tips for what you should think about when it comes to hiring a property manager.
Property Management vs. Self-Management for Rental Properties
Now, the best value a property manager gives you is the time and the space to let all of the issues, the management tasks, and the operational tasks of your rental property be outsourced to someone else — someone who has a business where their sole focus is managing rental properties.
Now, property management comes at a cost, which is why a lot of people choose to self-manage their properties. Self-management means that you’re taking on that role of a landlord. You might consider yourself a real estate investor or an owner-operator who manages their own properties if you don’t really like the title of a landlord. But essentially, that’s what you are. You’re the one that’s interacting face-to-face with your tenants, collecting rent, answering maintenance calls, marketing the property, and making sure that everything for your rental properties is operating smoothly. That way you can make sure it’s occupied, your tenants are satisfied, and you’re collecting rent each month while meeting your expenses.
Property management is going to take on all of those rental management tasks. Property managers typically charge between 6 to 12 percent. Ten percent is kind of the norm. I think that’s about what we pay our property manager, between that 7 and 10 percent, depending on the property. Sometimes, when you have multifamily properties or more units at one location, property managers can maybe give you a discount and charge at that lower end of the percentage.
Property Management Value for the Cost
I think it’s really important to do your market research and find out what value you’re going to be getting from the property manager for that percentage of your rental income. Because going with the least expensive option, thank about what that includes. Does that provide fewer services, or less quality? Where, if you have a property manager who provides the best service, maybe that results in more occupancy, more satisfied tenants, and a higher likelihood that the rental income will get paid on time every month by your tenants.
The percentage of rental income as your property management fee is less important if you’re working with a property manager who’s unresponsive to tenant requests, not following up on late or missed payments, and not filling your unoccupied units quickly. In that case, you’re not even getting that rental income to pay them that percentage in the first place.
What Services Does a Property Manager Provide
So, what else does a property manager do? They’re really going to focus on helping with marketing that property and collecting rent, chasing down late payments, and missed payments. They’re also going to be one of the best resources if you’re ever dealing with a lease violation, or needing to go through an eviction and court process to deal with tenant issues that might arise.
We really loved having a property manager. In another video, I’ll share a story where we had the best value out of a property manager who prevented us from having to change out-of-state travel plans, went to court to help with a dangerous tenant situation, and really helped us follow through on taking the right steps to deal with some legal issues with our property. That was such a huge value.
When Do I Need to Hire a Property Manager?
Some people might think that a property manager isn’t necessary. They think, all they’re doing is collecting a rent check every month, and I have to pay them 10 percent of my rental income. That’s a hundred dollars, maybe, that I could be retaining myself and keeping as profit.
But in theory, that’s only true for a perfect rental situation. You want a tenant that pays rent on time, doesn’t cause any issues, and maintains the property so you never hear from them. Everything’s going great. But that’s not always the case. Especially the more properties that you own, and the longer you’ve been a rental property owner, the higher the risk that you will run into issues. That’s where we find the value in property management.
Also, think about the opportunity cost. How much time do you have to put into managing properties? Do you have another full-time job? Are you trying to spend time looking at more real estate deals to invest further into your portfolio?
If you can outsource some of those tasks to someone else, then you have the opportunity to be more productive or profitable in other areas of your life.
There are also other ways to work with a property manager, where maybe they only handle certain parts of your rental management operations. For example, they might only do the marketing and leasing, which could save you weeks of following up with tenant leads. Or they might just handle the eviction process for you, while you use automated systems for collecting rent each month, like using software such as Rentec.
But the best property managers are really going to show their value in how they keep a property occupied, how they maintain tenant lists, how they manage maintenance requests, and how they show up for you in the event of a legal situation. They also bring an understanding of landlord-tenant laws, your rights as a rental property owner, and your tenants’ rights.
Final Thoughts
Obviously, I’m a big advocate for property managers. I think they provide a huge value for our industry. But I also recognize that landlords and owner-operators who self-manage their own properties have the resources to figure out how to do it themselves.
So if you ever want to know more tips or have questions about your operations, whether it’s time to hire property managers, or if you’re already working with property managers but not sure if it’s the right fit, make sure to like and subscribe to find more advice on what it’s like to be a real estate investor, tips for a great landlord-tenant relationship, and how to work the best as a property manager or with a property manager.
My name is Kaycee Miller. I work for Rentec Direct property management software. You can always find this and more videos on the Rentec Direct Blog. Come and visit us there.
