Property Management vs. Self Manage?

[vivalondon]

Hi-

I am new to this forum. We are looking to buy a house in the area and renting it out. However, we live out of town.

We are debating whether to use a property management company to oversee the daily/weekly maintenance. I can see the reason to use one but they all charge alot!

I was curious if anyone manages their property themselves? Is this possible if you live out of the area? Do you hire a good cleaning service and leave the keys in a lockbox? What about last minute emergency repairs? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thank you for your time!

 

[Matt J]

How hands are you wanting to be? Some companies offer ala carte services or flat rate pricing. Some owners have found very good housekeepers and have a maintenance man on speed dial. Then there's actual screening of tenants, collecting rent, etc.

Most of the rental companies listed on sowal are full service (i.e. housekeeping, maintenance, office, etc.).

Then there are the ala carte rental companies like Beach Seekers ~ South Walton Rentals and others that just don't have an office.

Times are tough so shop around and don't go for any company that is going to give you a hard sell.

 

[Chuckster]

Call Ms. Sandie for some plain talk about our local services.
We've been doing business in the Sowal area for 15 years. We currently have clients in the Watercolor, Grayton Beach, Dune Allen Beach, & Rosemary Beach. I work full-time on Eglin, AFB and part-time with my wife. We started our business as a subcontracting company, but over the years, we've transitioned to working primarily for private owners. We tailor our services to the needs of the client. Our primary business is owner communication & quality cleaning. We coordinate closely with owners and deal with various issues. We generally receive a tentative arrival/departure schedule in advance, via email, and ensure the house is ready for guests. After checkout, we "turn" the property in a timely manner. We communicate with owners and notify of any damages, maintenence issues, etc. We are nearby and can check the property on short notice. Our fee is based upon level of service. We can setup a VRBO type account, pictures, etc. and handle reservations or the owner can handle all reservations and we simply get the unit ready for the guest. We have many excellent local references. We can provide you the degree of service you need, for less money than most full blown rental management companies. We are licensed and insured. If you would like more info, please contact us @ 850-758-6007 or 6008.
thanks, chuck

 

[Matt J]

No offense to the above poster, but when it comes to references check them. In fact a good property management company should be able to provide a list of current clients and allow you to chose one at random.

 

[ShallowsNole]

And, don't forget that if you collect the rent yourself, you have to collect and remit lodging taxes to two different agencies, most likely on a monthly basis. You can register for collecting the local bed tax at the link below , or just go to the site and scroll down for information about what is involved.

If it makes you feel better, many people do rent on their own. It's getting set up to do so that can be a pain.

https://www.touristtax.com/walton

 

[My Home Office]

Property Management

Hi-

I am new to this forum. We are looking to buy a house in the area and renting it out. However, we live out of town.

We are debating whether to use a property management company to oversee the daily/weekly maintenance. I can see the reason to use one but they all charge alot!

I was curious if anyone manages their property themselves? Is this possible if you live out of the area? Do you hire a good cleaning service and leave the keys in a lockbox? What about last minute emergency repairs? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thank you for your time!

I have recently begun managing a home as Santa Rosa Beach for a couple from Atlanta. I have property management experience & construction back ground and would like to talk with you about your home, if you're interested. You can reach me at myhomeoffice@bellsouth.net

 

[Smiling JOe]

As SWGB said, you might look into an a la carte mgt service if you are looking to save money. Many of the mgt companies will charge in the range of 25%-35% for full mgt (and believe me, while that may sound expensive, the headaches they save you could make it seem like a bargain), but if you book the customer, they may knock that down by as much as 50%. eg- in addition to letting the mgt company advertise and book the unit, you could also set up a VRBO.com page (for rent by owner), or create your own website, and any bookings coming from you, the the mgt company will charge less for that booking, while still take care of collecting rent, paying bed tax, arrange for key pick up/drop off, clean the unit, etc.

I know of many people who do just that, and it seems to be another way to add rents while chipping away at overall cost. Note that you will likely have more success advertising your rental on a popular site like VRBO, rather than on your personal website like www.Xmarksthespot.net or www.wordpress.com/xmarksthespot39587_94944

Being a landlord is tough enough, but being a long-distant landlord is an entirely different thing. You need to consider all of the potential headache calls.
eg-
"I am not paying for this rental. We just checked in and the place is filthy."
"I want a refund. The people next door kept us up all night and we couldn't relax on our vacation.
"The A/C isn't working and the hot tub isn't getting hot. We want a credit."
"Your website said the unit is in walking distance to the Gulf. We didn't realize you meant that we had to cross 30A. Surely, you aren't going to charge us the full amount."
"We just arrived at our rental unit, but someone else is in it!"
etc.

 

[Matt J]

One of the other things to do is take a look at what a commission really costs you.

Lets say for simplicity that your rental is $2000.00 per week. At 25% you are paying the management company $500.00 or about $71.43 per day to be responsible for your home/investment/or whatever you want to call it. If that is a full service company then you have a manager, front desk person, executive housekeeper, and possibly maintenance man at your disposal.

That said, would $71.43 be worth your time to not deal with a drunken tenant at 2AM July 4th weekend who doesn't have air conditioning?

Some rental companies even over an Owner Travel Agent program. What this means is that if you have a VRBO or Homeaway ad and your unit is booked you can basically "sell" other homes on the rental program and get a cut of the profit.

Finally, since SHELLY has stopped posting I'll point out that if the commission is considered too much to afford the rental it's probably a bad idea.

 

[jpbhen]

what about a company that will manage a nonrental? we used to rent, but no longer do. we sometimes need the house checked when we are gone for a long stretch, and sometimes need housekeeping when we have guests and leave on the same day that they do. are there any good local companies we can contact?

 

[Matt J]

I completely forgot about Swan Tree. It's a concierge service so it's pretty much ala carte.