A guide on Self-Managing vs. Professional Property Management

As a landlord managing your own property has many advantages. Control, flexibility and lower investment costs are some of the main draws to self-managing. However, if ever there is an issue, you’re going to have to take care of it immediately or risk losing tenants and building up reputational damage. If you aren’t able to work full time or pay for 24/7 cover, then property management service in London may just be the right thing for you.

The decision to self-manage vs. professional property management can prove to be one of the most important and critical decisions you will make, but also one which proves extremely difficult. Often this decision is made when the tenant has already moved in. After months of searching for ideal tenants, this can also happen, only to be let down by a string of bad tenants. Let us discuss the pros and cons of self-management and professional property management.

Self-management 

Self-management means you, the landlord, own the property and take care of all other aspects, including tenant management, and keep the property up to date. You will be the single point of contact for your tenants for all the property related issues. 

Pros

• Self-management gives you more control of how your properties are run. You can make all the necessary decisions. If you are confident enough to delegate, you may feel more comfortable controlling every detail of how your properties are run.
• Since you’ll be the point of contact for your tenants, you’ll likely interact with them more than if you employed a property manager or leasing agent. 
• When you do it yourself, it is an opportunity to learn a lot about property management. Some landlords consider this an advantage if they want to focus more on leadership in their estate agent career than on ownership in the future.
• One of the essential advantages is saving the money you spend to hire an estate agent. In the case of several property owners, this is the sole reason they want to self-manage. Typically, about one-tenth of your rental income, if you have a residential property management company, goes to pay for their services.

Cons of Self-management

• If you have multiple properties, then you can expect the responsibilities surrounding those properties to multiply. You’ll be responsible for more things, which means more time spent on your properties. This is why you need a property manager. A property manager can handle all the tasks associated with your properties so that you can focus on other things.
• You may cause yourself a lot of stress if you take on some of these responsibilities. If a tenant isn’t complying with policies, you’ll be the one confronting them with existing policies and possibly taking any necessary follow-up actions, including eviction.
• Another issue is that, if you’re just starting out as a landlord, you are sure to encounter issues that have to do with legal regulations or best practices that you are simply unaware of. It can take a long time to gain experience and expertise.
• If you do not hire a property manager, you may end up under-renting your property, which means you will either miss out on money or miss out on tenants. A property management company will know local rent levels for other places in your area.

Property Management

If you go the property management route, you pass on that long list of duties above for another party to handle. Still, you don’t necessarily have to leave yourself out of the equation entirely if you want to have some control over decisions. Read on to know the pros and cons of hiring property managers.

Pros

• You’ll probably be spending less time on managing your properties because property managers are trained experts and can do it for you.
• You will be able to focus more on your work since you won’t be bothered by phone calls from tenants. This will free up your schedule and allow you to travel without worrying about things “back home”.
• Property management groups are experienced in dealing with the issues you would have to learn on the fly. Property managers can make your life easy as they are well aware of rules, regulations and best practices. 

Cons

• Suppose you plan on becoming a property manager yourself. In that case, gaining as much experience as you can with estate management is essential, and handing off your responsibilities to a property manager will inhibit that.
• Other disadvantages include when the property manager fails to deliver on your expectations. This negates the advantages of hiring a property manager if they don’t run things properly. This is why it’s important to choose a property manager who will excel at their work.

Weighing the pros and cons, it is pretty clear that hiring an able property manager can save you a lot of time and effort.