How Much Time Do you Typically Spend on your Property when you HAVE a Property Manage

Question

Granted, you hire a property manager to save you time so that you don't have to do the heavy lifting while managing a property. But that being said lets assume you have a good / above average property manager who is in charge of 5 Class A/B properties in any given area. I understand how much of a headache one property is depends on the specific tenant and condition of the property so for the sake of this lets say the property is not due of any major repairs (think roof or waterheater, etc.). How much time can you expect to need to spend responding to the PMs emails or calls in any given week? One hour per property per week? I just want to get a sense of how 'passive' real estate actually is in an average case scenario.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

If you have a property manager, you shouldn't spend more than an hour or so per month. If they call or email you for a repair request, it takes 5-10 minutes. You should review your income/expense statement every month for 15 minutes. Even if you have a turnover, the PM should handle everything and proactively communicate with you throughout the process.

I work for investors with 4 - 50 units, and none spend more than an hour a month communicating with us.

Terra Padgett · Answer

Landlording or Direct Property Ownership (PM in place or not) is NOT all that passive. With a PM, it can become semi-passive, but your duties are more managing the manager to ensure they are keeping your best interest at the forefront. The spectrum of PM and their level of "good" is so broad. You really just have to interview a few and trust someone. Give them a year and re-evaluate their performance. It's your property so it's discretionary to what YOU think is a good job or not. From my experience, the heavier interaction with a PM comes about when their is a larger maintenance issue or tenant didn't pay rent. Regardless of a PM or Self-Managing, Rental Properties are not a truly passive investment. I prefer to invest my dollars in private equity placements, notes, funds, etc by way of investment clubs. When you group invest, you still get the same benefits as direct ownership (cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits, etc) with a lot less Landlording Headaches. Our club, Power Pool Fund, has been a game changer for our passive investing goals. Check it out...

Michael Smythe · Answer

Depends on the property Class and what stage it's in.

If you're having a major rehab done, you'll probably need to be engaged weekly.

If you have a long-term tenant that pays on time, an hour/month at most.

Bill B. · Answer

With a dozen class A-/B+ SFR properties I spend about an hour a month. 30-40 minutes of that is entering the financial results into quicken for my records and my CPA. I spend about 10 minutes per month forwarding a couple HOA complaints and 5-10 minutes ok'ing a repair or two if there are any.

How Much Time Do you Typically Spend on your Property when you HAVE a Property Manage

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