How Many Units Can You Manage Yourself?

Question

I see many landlords talking about why they do or don't use PM companies, and at what point them managing all of their properties themselves is no longer feasible.

So, my question to all of you beautiful people is as follows; how many properties can you reasonably manage yourself, and why is that your number? I assume everyone will have slightly different answers because of differing personal day-to-day operations, so please offer a little explanation along with your number.

For those of you full-time PM's out there who may or may not even own the properties that they manage, do you find that you can manage more properties than others?

Peace, Love, & Positivity to everyone who took their time to respond.

Sincerely,

Dominic Balconi,

Future BP Podcast Guest

Jaysen Medhurst · Answer

@Dominic Balconi, most investors say they can't self-manage more than 30-40 units by themselves AND still work a full-time job.

At that point, you're probably turning 1-2 units/month and it can get difficult to stay on top of the repairs/upgrades and then get them rented.

If you're serious about REI, I think management is one of the worst uses of your time. That is AFTER you've learned all you can by doing it yourself.

Ray Harrell · Answer

Keep in mind there is a difference between a person who wants to be a REI and a person who wants to be a landlord. A landlord cares about his property, the tenants, behaviors, evictions, clean lawns, drains, leaks, etc. A REI only cares about the percentage return month after month and doesn't care if the faucet leaks or if the tenants don't have heat. As long as each month there is that 12-15% net ROI, they are perfectly fine. I believe a lot of PM companies rely on this fact and only do enough to ensure you get that 15% return and they pocket the rest.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. 15% on your monetary investment is a pretty good deal for not having to deal with tenants, leases, law, court, plumbing, etc. But as a landlord, you expect more for your money, in the area of 35%-50% or maybe even more. But that means you're hiring contractors, plumbers, lawn care, doing your own listings, evictions, checking on the property to make sure it's up to par, etc.