Rental Property Investor · Maryland · Member since 2026 · 30 posts · 25 votes
I am closing on my first investment duplex property in two weeks in Ohio area, i live 3 states away. I have received about 15+ bad review from landlords about property manager in the area and how they do a terrible job and ghost their landlord, lose future tenants and just nightmare review so i am thinking about self-managing as an out of state investor to see if i can do it. Is it doable? Am i in over my head. One unit is occupied with a year lease and the other unit tenant will be moving out in May.
What Property management software tools do you use that works best for you?? I was looking into RentRedi, Doorloop, Baselane, Landlordstudio and appfolio softwares. Also, I am looking into hiring a local boots on the ground person and a maintenance/handyman for maintenance needs.
I like baselane so far but i dont want their bank account, i like the credit union bank that i currently have and will like to keep it. but i heard to get the full experience with baselane, you may have to get a baselane affiliated bank with them...idk. I like Rentredi and doorloop too
Has anyone successfully self managed as a Out of state investor and what systems did you create that works best for you. Or should i just get a property manager for 10% and hope for the best. This will be my first property so i am trying to make the best decision for me in this journey.
Property Manager · Maryland & Washington DC · Member since 2026 · 22 posts · 15 votes
6mo
Im actually from Maryland and I agree, Innago is your best PMS option. Its free and a great starting point for Beginner Investors with small number of units. The software is very user friendly. If you have the time I would definitely make a trip to Maryland and even join a couple of small local REI groups (do your research) to meet fellow investors and get a couple of referrals in terms of vendors. Word of mouth is always best. Take a look a Apartments.com. I've had success with renting my units in the past with them. They have a lot of freebies as well! Hope this helps.
San Diego, CA · Member since 2022 · 19 posts · 13 votes
1mo
We use RentRedi complemented by systems put in place after reading "Managing Rental Properties" by Brandon Turner and "The Self-Managing Landlord" by Amelia McGee & Grace Gudenkauf. Both are great but the latter changed our lives. No more late night texts or calls unless there's an emergency. The features on RentRedi are great such as the chat feature, maintenance request, document storage, rent collection, asset performance, and more. We are much happier after putting into practice what we learned from the books.
Real Estate Agent · Milwaukee · Member since 2026 · 4 posts · 2 votes
1mo
Self-managing an out-of-state duplex is doable, but the software is only one part of the system. The key is having reliable people locally before something goes wrong.
I would have:
• A primary handyman and at least one backup • Local plumbing, HVAC, and locksmith contacts • Someone who can handle showings and property inspections • A cleaner and turnover contractor • A clear process for emergencies and repair approvals • A local attorney or resource for Ohio-specific notices and landlord-tenant requirements
For software, I’d prioritize online rent collection connected to the correct tenant and unit, tenant ledgers, maintenance requests with photos, document storage, communication records, expense tracking, and clean year-end reports. I would also confirm that the platform lets you keep your current bank—you shouldn’t have to completely restructure your banking just to manage a duplex.
Before choosing, test the full workflow from both sides: submit a tenant payment, create a maintenance request, upload a lease, record an outside payment, and generate a property report. That will tell you more than the feature list.
With one occupied unit and one upcoming vacancy, this is actually a good time to build the system before adding more properties.
Real Estate Coach · LandlordSkool.com · Member since 2017 · 112 posts · 88 votes
2d
I hate middleman property managers for small landlords! I've been self-managing for over a decade. I even did it deployed to Iraq, backwards timezone, other side of the world, and crappy internet. I'd recommend listing on Zillow and paying for premium boost for more exposure, but when people want to request a tour, do not accept the Zillow reusable application feature. Zillow sucks at screening/background checks, it's not even a full report--turn that feature off. It's more like a summary. If you read the fine print, you'll see all the holes. Do your own testing, apply yourself, as the applicant to your own rental and see the difference between Zillow and SmartMove, like I did.
Anyways...I have an entire system built around outsourcing self-showing or guided showings because I did it when deployed many times. Anyone that wants a showing, they must complete an online form to schedule a showing (note: I have these free online forms prebuilt, and I could share them with you if you create a free account and import my template into your own account. It's totally free, and I would save you hours of time building your own if you just use what I've already built for myself). I give people two options (I use eLocks. I don't give out keys. Tenants have a code), they choose:
Self-showing (they upload a photo of their ID on a piece of paper dated for today and acknowledge some liability concerns, and text or call when they leave the property after locking up.)
Guided showing, where I can outsource it to a real estate agent. I have a checklist for what the agent needs to do: show up early, unlock, open shades, turn on all the lights, lower the thermostat, turn the fans on, etc. It also covers reaching out for a friendly reminder about their schedule showing and what to do after the showing, and I just pay the real estate agent a flat-rate fee. I also pitch it to the real estate agent to let them know this is an opportunity for networking. Maybe the tenants buy a house in the future, and they can leave their card to tenants.
I also have a signing sheet to capture people in order because I make sure to screen everybody in the order received, and have them acknowledge written screening criteria (dated versions for proof in court if needed) before completing a rental application (Tip: Your written screening criteria need to directly correlate with your adverse action for denying people, there should be no subjective criteria, like the bad advice to look inside their car and see if it's messy or look up their social media, you can't guarantee that a social media account you find is actually their specific social media. Also, what do you do if somebody doesn't have social media? Do you hold it against them. Never a gut feeling or anything like that either. That is not a fair housing-compliant way to screen people because it's purely subjective. Just because somebody's car is messy does not mean anything, like what degree of messing is ok vs not? And you don't want to discriminate against someone that has kids and they have a messy car because of their children, versus a single person that doesn't have kids. It's not factual evidence that you can present in court). Hey, another thing: I have a blog post about how to properly show a rental while following fair housing compliance. As the landlord, you're still responsible for what happens, even if you outsource the showing. I like hiring real estate agents because they are more aware of Fair Housing. Even so, I still have them review my blog post as a friendly reminder to never steer or ask questions that may conflict with familial status or anything like that.
You can do the screening are with TransUnion because Zillow's process is crappy. I tested it myself (I have an extended credit freeze on file, so nobody should be able to run my credit without me pre-authorizing it... Zillow's process was such a joke. It was asking me what my zodiac sign was, and the questions were so simple that anybody could have guessed and got them right. The problem is that when it's a reusable thing, people can just keep trying until they get it right. They can commit fraud by stealing somebody's identity. I have somebody in my neighborhood who was renting out a garage apartment in the back. They used Zillow's application process, but they did a quick Google search and found out that they were involved with some major felony in the local area and were even on the news. Zillow didn't catch any of this and they have kids and almost rented their apartment to a violent felon. Smart move, based on my own testing, I can vouch that TransUnion's SmartMove is better than Zillow. I even have a step-by-step screening checklist I build that walks you through your screening process, so you stay Fair Housing compliant and it serves as a record and proof that you're screening applicants in the order received, based off your official written screening criteria that you also have proof they acknowledge before applying, then send an online lease and have them sign it, pay. For real, I've been doing this for years. If you want free help step by step, I can give you all my online forms. They're all free and do not require a subscription or anything. Just hit me up, and I'll help you. No catch at all.
I also carry home warranties, and I have a full system for how I let tenants go direct with the home warranties and schedule them on their own. I'm completely out of the loop. I see the home warranty, when it gets scheduled, and after it gets resolved. In Iraq, I would be sleeping, wake up, to see that the tenants requested a home warranty and had their garage door opener fixed. They scheduled a maintenance and solved the problem all on their own, and I didn't have to do anything. It's amazing, and it's so simple. Middleman property managers try to make it seem like this is such a complicated thing, but for small landlords with a few doors, it is so simple. It's easy to handle on your own, and you do not need a middleman PM.
P.S. I would give you all the links and everything right here in this post if I could, but I can't because then BiggerPockets will think I'm some kind of guru. Really, I'm just helping for free, 100% totally free, with no catch at all. I've been doing it for years. I don't know why I feel like I can't help people in the forums because I'm fearful of getting in trouble for sharing links to free resources.