Self-Management vs Property Management in Ft Collins

Hey there, this is Gray Hall with gkhouses talking to you today about self-management vs property management in Ft Collins.

So, if you’re going to manage the property yourself, there’s a couple of things that you need to think through before you kind of commit down that route.

I’ll Run Through A Couple Of Them, Just Things I’ve Learned Talking To Other Investors!

I’ll run through a couple of them, just things I’ve learned talking to other investors, and things that they’re thinking through before they make that decision to either manage the property themselves or have a property management company in Fort Collins helping them out.

The First Thing Is, Do You Have The Time It Takes To Lease The Property?

Leasing your property is a big-time investment on the front-end. You got to get marketing photos, you’ve got to put it up on Zillow.

You got to put it up on the other websites and then you get to respond quickly and promptly to a prospective sender.

A Lot Of Inquiries On The House! (Self-Management vs Property Management in Ft Collins)

So, you’ll probably get a lot of inquiries on the house. Once you get those, then you got to set up a showing.

A big frustration from a lot of investors that I know is they would set up a showing, seem like a qualified tenant, you get to the house, nobody’s there, tenant stood them up.

So, this is a big frustration.

Do You Have The Time It Takes To Do That?

Or do you have the flexibility during work to be able to leave work and do that?

Do you want to commit, you know, after work in the evening, or on weekends even?

So, is that something that you want to and have the ability to do? A good thing to think through.

The Next Thing Is Do You Have The Ability To Screen For A Quality Tenant?

You know, do you know what you should check?

Do you know that you should be checking their income, their background, etc., you know, credit score?

And then, do you have a service, you know, that once you get an application that you can run their background, run their credit, etc. on?

So, make sure that you know, whatever application, whatever software you’re using is quality.

Look For Other Reviews Online! (Self-Management vs Property Management in Ft Collins)

Probably look for other reviews online for other people who are managing themselves.

But if you can’t do that, it might be best to, you know, talk to other people who’ve had done that. This is a big frustration.

You don’t want to just jump the gun and put a bad tenant in the house.

Costs 10 Times More!

You know, somebody once told me that putting a bad tenant in a house costs 10 times more than, you know, the vacancy period if you wait for the good one.

So, make sure you’re checking for quality tenants and you have the ability to do so.

Speaking Of Leasing, Do You Have The Ability To Abide By Fair Housing Laws?  Do You Know What The Fair Housing Laws Are?

This is something that if you’re going to manage your house that you want to get up to date on, you know, there have been recent changes to them, but basically fair housing sets a protected class of people.

And so, you need to make sure that you are following that law to a T.

Big time on the leasing process, so just get up to date with that if you’re not familiar.

Then make sure you’re able to enforce them all the time and you’re abiding by them while you manage the property.

The Next Thing You Want To Think Through Is Maintenance

So, are you able to respond and handle 100% of the maintenance issues that come up, and communicate with the tenants during that process?

So, maintenance issues like the heater going out in the middle of winter or HVAC in the middle of summer or a plumbing leak, you know, they’re bound to happen.

Break Down Every Time!

You know, houses break down every time. So, do you have vendors, contracts, you know, in contact?

Do you know vendors who are able to help you whenever these things arise?

You know, you’re going to get calls on the weekends and at nights, even middle of the night, maybe some for emergencies.

A Handyman!

So, do you have a handyman, or are you handy yourself?

And maybe you’re able to do these things, do you have the time to do that Like we talked about leasing the property.

Or do you have the flexibility may be at work or are you able to after work in the evenings or on the weekends, be able to get out there and handle those on your own?

Number One Reason That Tenants Will Move Out Of The House! (Self-Management vs Property Management in Ft Collins)

You know, poor maintenance, either poor response time or things not getting handled is the number one reason that tenants will move out of the house.

So, you want to keep tenants happy. You also want to do it at an affordable rate, and have somebody doing it that you trust.

The Last Thing Is Deciding Between Self-management And Property Management In Fort Collins

You know, property management is a business of conflict, so you want to make sure that you are able to have difficult conversations.

I mean, a great example is a tenant’s late on their rent, are you going to be able to have the difficult conversations with them of, “Hey, I need, you know, you’ve got to pay the rent.”

Lot Of Stuff Going On In Their Lives!

You know, tenants, there’s a lot of stuff going on in their lives and they have reasons, be it valid or not valid, why they didn’t pay their rent.

But are you able to hold them to their lease, make sure that they stick up to that?

And if not, are you able to go down the road and evict somebody?

Not Able To Do That!

You know, if you’re not able to do that, some people like having the buffer of a third-party in there.

That might be a case where self-management is not for you and you would want to reach out to a property management company to help.

So, these are a couple of things that you know, you need to be thinking through as you’re deciding if you want to manage the property yourself, or if you want to pay a property management company to help you with a few of these things.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out.

Again, this is Gray Hall with gkhouses.

Spencer Sutton

Spencer is the VP of Marketing at Evernest. He wakes up with Google and Facebook on his mind. Having bought and sold over 150 homes in Birmingham, Spencer gets a kick out of helping new and seasoned investors navigate the mistakes he made as an investor. Spencer is also passionate about his love for Michael Jordan and does his best to explain to the Millennials (who never saw him play live) how much better he was than LeBron. He loves to hang out with his wife, kids, and the world’s best black lab, Jett.