Should I Self-Manage 11 Student Rentals to Save $~100k/Year…or Stay Focused on BRRRR?

Question

Hey, I asked this over in the PM thread, but curious what the BRRRR pros think too.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/899/topics/1263036-shou...

Randall Alan · Answer

@Kyle Neff

Hi Kyle,

We self manage 37 long term rentals. Honestly it’s so easy it’s a little boring. We maybe get 1-2 calls a month from tenants, and maintenance calls take 5 minutes to relay out to a vendor. We probably turn over 2-3 units a year.

Our secret is to use a rental management platform to do a lot of the heavy lifting.  There are dozens of them… we happen to use rentecdirect.com.  It collects our rent, deposits it into our bank account, tracks all of our expenses, applies late fees, has full accounting and reporting, markets our properties, screens our tenants, lets tenants report maintenance issues, etc, etc.

With the click of a button our rentals are broadcast on 25 websites including Zillow, apartments.com, etc. Within a day or 2 we have enough inquiries to find a new renter.

All of this for $2 per unit per month.  It really makes management pretty easy.

Because of this, we are able to do flips on the side for extra money in addition to our rental ‘bread & butter’.  Between the two it keeps us busy enough, but still plenty of time for ourselves. We travel a lot!

For us, we aren’t willing to give away $50-75k for something  that doesn’t really occupy a lot of our time.  It’s not like it takes no time, but it is really quite manageable (and that is 37 units!)  With 1/2 of that I just don’t see it being that hard to punt the PM and handle it yourself.  With student rentals you are obviously going to have more turnover, but that probably means one busy month each year where you are lining up new renters.

My vote would be to try it on your own.  Worst case you can always punt it back to the PM if you don’t like the pace.

All the best!

Randy

Randall Alan · Answer

@Kyle Neff

I would have nothing against student rentals.  The higher turn-over is an obvious downside, but I think you can also charge more for them  I would think.

Randy

Pat Lulewicz · Answer

Have you every considered renegotiating your rates with her because those are ridiculously high across the board. 50% for a renewal is high-way robbery and should probably the first one to go. Mark-up should be 5%-10%.

Do you feel like you can't manage both PM and sourcing/manaing BRRR projects at the same time? Or do you feel like you'll miss a deal while PMing?

At $112k a year, have you considered finding a REALLY high performing individual to just be your asset manager? Even if they're 50% as effective as you, that's 40hrs/week managing your portfolio (based on your calc). And once they get good, you can have them manage the BRRRR process or perhaps do acquisitions? You could outsource their time to our landlords/PMs to do showings (if OH allows that of unlicensed leasing agents) to offset their cost. Have them be your personal assistant and get you lunch. Could get really creative here.

Kyle Neff · Answer

@Randall Alan - you are correct. Higher upside on rents, but more turnover and maintenance. Its a give and take.

Kyle Neff · Answer

@Pat Lulewicz - this is great, thanks for weighing in. Totally agree on the renewal fees - 50% is painful, and renegotiating that’s high on my list. Your point about the markup range makes a lot of sense too.

I like how you framed the “asset manager” idea. At ~$112k/year, it really could justify bringing in a high performer to take the PM weight off my plate, and I could still keep my focus on acquisitions and BRRRRs. The way you put it - whether they’re 50% as effective as me or more - still buys back a huge chunk of time.

And I have to admit, the thought of someone managing my properties and picking up lunch does sound like a pretty sweet deal. Might be the most creative use of PM savings I’ve heard yet.

This definitely got me thinking about how to get more creative with the structure.

Kyle Neff · Answer

@Randall Alan

Randy - thanks for sharing all this. The way you’ve got Rentec set up sounds really smooth, and the fact you can handle 37 doors while still traveling a lot says a lot about how efficient your system is. I like the idea of leaning on tech to take the heavy lifting off your plate.

Where I hesitate is whether student rentals are just a different animal. Most of the work isn’t spread evenly - it hits all at once with pre-leasing in the fall, tons of group showings (and plenty of no-shows), dealing with cosigners, and then the big wave of clustered turns in July/August. I’m also pushing to get renewals signed much earlier in the year, which adds another layer of urgency. It feels like the peaks can be a lot sharper than in traditional long-term rentals.

That said, I like your advice about just testing it. I could self-manage one or two properties for a full cycle, track the real-time it takes, and then decide if it’s worth rolling out more broadly. Worst case, I put it back with the PM. Either way, I’ll have good data on what it really costs me in hours.

Appreciate you breaking it down - definitely gives me a clearer picture of what’s possible. Always good to compare notes - have you ever looked at student housing, or do you stick strictly to long-term?

Should I Self-Manage 11 Student Rentals to Save $~100k/Year…or Stay Focused on BRRRR?

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