Should I hire a property manager? A worksheet for landlords with a few units

What a manager costs and what you get

• Monthly fee: commonly 8–12% of collected rent for full service; sometimes a flat per-unit fee. On a $1,800 unit that is roughly $145–$215 a month, every month, whether anything happened or not.
• Leasing fee: often half to a full month's rent each time a unit turns.
• Maintenance markup: many managers add 10–20% to vendor invoices, or use in-house crews at their rates.
• Renewal, inspection, setup, and early-termination fees vary; read the agreement.
• In return: marketing, screening, leases, rent collection, maintenance coordination, tenant communication, and monthly statements. You become an investor rather than an operator.

The hours you are actually buying back

Track two weeks honestly. Most self-managing landlords find the time splits roughly like this: maintenance and tenant communication are the majority and the most disruptive (they arrive at random); rent collection is small if it is automated; leasing is large but happens once a year per unit. So the fee buys back mostly maintenance hours — and it buys them at a percentage of rent that does not fall when things are quiet.

Two numbers matter at the end: total hours a month, and the share that was maintenance and tenant communication. The first tells you what a manager's fee is worth per hour. The second tells you whether you need a full manager or just the maintenance half handled.

Three questions that decide it

1. Do you want to stop being the decision-maker, or stop being the one interrupted? A manager removes both. If you actually like choosing the vendor and approving the spend, and it is the interruptions you resent, a full manager is more than you need.
2. Is leasing a problem? If your units turn rarely and you can show them yourself, you are paying a leasing fee for nothing. If you are out of state or turning units every year, leasing is where a manager earns their fee.
3. Would you keep the manager's vendors and prices? Many managers use their own crews with their own markups. If you have good vendors at good prices, a manager can cost you twice: the fee and the markup.

The middle option

For most landlords with a few units to a few dozen, the honest answer to the log is: the pain is maintenance and tenant communication, the rest is fine. That used to mean a full manager or nothing. It no longer does. A managed-maintenance service runs the whole loop — tenant intake, triage, your vendors, follow-up, the record — for a flat cost that does not scale with rent, and leaves leasing, screening, rent, and every decision with you.

Questions