What a Property Manager Does

A property manager handles the day-to-day of a rental: marketing vacancies, screening and placing tenants, collecting rent, coordinating maintenance and repairs, handling tenant issues, and ensuring legal compliance. For this they charge a fee, commonly a percentage of the monthly rent plus certain other charges. They essentially run the property on your behalf.

The Case for Hiring One

Hiring a manager makes sense when you lack the time, live far from the property, own multiple units, or simply prefer to be hands-off. It converts a time-intensive responsibility into a more passive investment and brings professional expertise to tenant and legal matters. For out-of-area or busy owners, this is often well worth the cost.

The Case for Self-Managing

Self-managing saves the management fee, directly improving cash flow, and gives you full control. It suits owners who live near the property, have the time and willingness to handle tenants and maintenance, and want to maximize returns. Many hands-on local investors self-manage, especially with a small number of units, and learn valuable skills doing so.

Weighing It for Your Situation

The right choice depends on your time, proximity, expertise, number of units, and how the management fee affects your returns. There’s no universal answer — it’s a tradeoff between cost and convenience specific to you. Factoring management (or your own time) into your investment analysis from the start ensures the numbers reflect how you’ll actually run the property.

Frequently Asked Questions

Property manager or self-manage is a tradeoff between cost and convenience — and factoring either the fee or your own time into the numbers from the start is what keeps your analysis honest.