How many properties to self-manage!

Question

If you self-manage, at what level did you feel like you needed additional help? If you could list how many houses/open doors you self manage along with how much help you have, that would be great. I am trying to gauge when it is required to hire another person.  Thank you!

Joe Martella · Answer

It all depends how you are setup.  What your full time job is like and the class of neighborhoods you invest in. Each property will come with its own set of issues.  I self manage 4 properties.  There are some months that I get a couple of calls and there are some months I get no calls.  I collect my rent online or checks mailed.  I select my tenants as well.

I would pay over $700 a month just for this service.  I rather have the money in my pocket, but I am investing in class B+/A neighborhoods.  I have one property that I purchased in a C+/B- neighborhood in July and haven't had any issues with the tenant.

You do need to have a couple of handymen to do jobs  you can't/don't have time to handle.  You work it until you are too big for you to handle/don't want to handle.  In the meantime, I save my $700 a month and put that towards other investments.

Scott M. · Answer

Don't remember the exact number and it wasn't just me.  It was me and 1 person who did the books.  We got to around 50 before we brought in admin help.  Maybe 40/50 somewhere in there. Keep in mind this depends greatly on the class of homes you are working with.  Class A/B take a lot less effort on average one person can do more.  As you slide into C/D it gets more complicated.  This doesn't include crews/handymen etc....

Owen Dashner · Answer

I hit about 20 houses while working full time with young kids before I started to really do myself a disservice by self-managing.  I think 15 as a side hustle is about the right number before performance and turnaround start to slip. This is assuming a full-time job, family, etc.  With less competing time obligations, you can manage more just fine.