Sacramento, CA · Member since 2018 · 23 posts · 12 votes
Hi all of BP,
I own two homes, in Sacramento, California, and I just finished rehab on both. I've been doing a "live in" rehab for a year now, and I'm finally finished. I'm excited to start my land lording journey, but I have a few questions. I'm leaning towards managing the units myself, so I'm guessing my next step is to draw up a lease agreement before posting up ads for my units.
I have a few questions for the experienced landlords and RE pros:
1. Should I look into property management to manage my units? or,
2. Should I learn to self manage, and if so, what's the best lease agreement for California, and why?
Your experience and response is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys,
Bakersfield, CA · Member since 2016 · 378 posts · 307 votes
7y
Property management company, definitely. I work way too much to manage rentals myself. The management company uses their own lease agreements usually, which are probably fillable boilerplate forms they had an attorney custom draft at one time.
If you do everything yourself, be smart and have an attorney with real estate landlord/tenant experience custom draft one for you and explain each and every clause in it, and put any specifics in there you want due to your investment situation.
Property Manager · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 216 posts · 110 votes
7y
I encourage self-managing, but only if serious and interested in doing it. There are steep learning curves in the beginning, but with research, reading and Google, many first-time landlords are capable. That said, there are potentially significant risks in being a landlord. After all, it is a business. So only you can answer the question.
Pleasant Hill, CA · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 17 votes
7y
I hired a PM the first year and then started doing it myself after that. It gave me a sense of security the first year, but ultimately I decided it was too costly for the value it provided. You can hire a PM to market your property and find tenants, they charge around 40% or more of the first months rents as the fee. That’s an option to consider, and then you can self manage once you have tenants. 2 houses in the town you live in seem very manageable as long as you don’t work a ridiculous amount of hours. My 2 cents.
This site has been invaluable in teaching me the proper way to manage our rentals. I also bought the NOLO book for California landlords, and have found some landlord blogs which have been very helpful. The Reluctant Landlord is a great one and I believe she’s written some articles for Bigger Pockets.
Cambridge, MA · Member since 2015 · 651 posts · 736 votes
7y
Our first unit was in our two-family home. We got advice from a nearby university & a tenant lawyer. It was actually a lot of fun self managing but we had just gutted and remodeled so unit was in new construction shape, no maintenance demands and very happy tenants.
Getting advice on how to be a good landlord makes the job so much easier!
Pleasant Hill, CA · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 17 votes
7y
There are lots of online options for applications and leasing agreements. Make sure you get one for California. If you buy the NOLO book you get a code in the book which gives you access to California specific forms.