property manager? - Posted by chris sumner

Posted by brandoncbsre on March 01, 2009 at 08:27:24:

I disagee that a PM cant do better than the owner.

I am looking at a duplex that has been neglected and undermanaged for years by the owner. I have seen several properties over the last few years that were UNDERMANAGED by the owners. The commmon denominator in most of these properties was that they had been owned by the same person for years and years and were free and clear.

I will say that at this point I am all about managing my properties myself.

Just wanted to point out that there are many exceptions. In these cases the PM more than likely wouldve produced a higher annual income than the owners.

There are many people out there that just arent wired up right for the task of managing tenants.

property manager? - Posted by chris sumner

Posted by chris sumner on February 26, 2009 at 07:05:46:

Hello all, i am very close to cutting my teeth on real estate investing and this site is a HUGE HELP! my question is how do you know when a property manager is usefull, because if you don’t have a large cashflow aren’t you taking away any profits you could be making? Or is there something im missing here? Thank you for any response.

Re: property manager? - Posted by Raymond Weston

Posted by Raymond Weston on March 27, 2009 at 17:16:20:

I realize that I am quite late in my response to this forum on property managers. But I felt the need to place in my 2 cents on this matter. I personally believe that a PM could be quite beneficial to you in your investing regimen. Even though there is the minus that they will not care for the property to the exacting measures that you might always prefer; they will perform a larger function; in freeing up your time, so that you can find other properties and thereby increase your portfolio exponentially. Sometimes its a matter of some people “stepping over dollars, to get to the dimes”, "not being able to see the forest, for the trees. Try to keep that in mind as you move towards future profitable endeavors. As a precaution, you can always

  1. Ask for an official report from the PM
  2. Keep track of any potential complaints files against the property through an online database.
  3. Do an unannounced drive-by inspection of the property, or pay a UC a fee to walk through your property, to give you an unbiased report on the property.

Just some friendly suggestions on my end.

Here’s To Your Personal Success

Re: property manager? - Posted by redave

Posted by redave on February 27, 2009 at 10:14:53:

Yes, it’s eating your profit. No property manager is ever going to do as good a job as you, they simply don’t care as much as you do. Property takes longer to rent - this can be a biggie. PM’s are not as responsive to tenant’s needs as you, which can cause you to lose tenant good will, and repairs tend to pile up more.

Having said all that, sometimes I simply don’t have time and am willing to accept lower profits and inferior service so I can move on, PM’s are good in that situation.

Dave

Re: property manager? - Posted by brandoncbsre

Posted by brandoncbsre on February 26, 2009 at 08:58:39:

You posted in the CASH FLOW forum which is for debt instruments like land contracts private money mortgages etc.

You will get more response if you post in the general real estate forum here.

Good Luck this site if used properly will save you lots of money as an investor.