There are some things to take into consideration when deciding if you need a property manager:
Do you need a property manager? The more properties you own, the harder it becomes to manage them all. Are you willing to devote large and increasing amounts of time to managing your properties? Do you want your investment options to be restricted to what you can personally manage? If the answer to these types of questions is no then you might want to consider using a property management company.
Location of properties- It is important to keep a close eye on all your properties. The further your properties are from you and from each other, the more time you spend traveling and the less time you spend keeping watch on your properties. Land lording from afar is generally a bad idea. If you have also considered buying property in other parts of the country, or other countries, you will most likely be forced to hire a property manager in that area.
Experience- Land lording requires a number of distinct skills that you may or may not have experience with. These tasks include maintenance and repairs, understanding of landlord tenant law, bookkeeping, and marketing. While it is possible for a landlord to learn and acquire these skills to self manage, the reality is that a professional manager will always have the advantage over part time landlords because they have years of experience performing these tasks on a daily basis.
Dealing with stress- Dealing with tenants can bring on many types of stress and it takes a special kind of person to handle dealing with tenants and the stressors they bring on. How will you deal with the following scenarios?
• Domestic disputes
• Tenants damaging your unit
• Getting sued by your tenant
• Habitual late payment of rent
• Tenants disturbing or getting in fights with neighbors
• Dealing with a professional tenant
• Overzealous maintenance requests
• Dealing with someone who is angry to just generally difficult