Janice wrote:I own a 3-5 bedroom home (I guess officially 3br/2bath, but there is an upstairs with two rooms that have closets, etc, just no bathroom up there) that I have been living in and renting out to my friends for the past two years. Got lucky because they always paid rent, weren’t douchebags, etc.
This was while I am in college, though. I am graduating and do not want to stick around the house. My friends are all graduated now and are starting to move away and I do not want to have to rent it room-by-room to people I don’t know who are unreliable/etc. With the economy, it probably is not a good idea to sell the place. As such, I either want to rent it out to a group of students/young professionals, or to a family.
How difficult would this be to do on my own? Is it worthwhile to just get a manager who will take off 10%? I’ve had to rent out a single room before and it was a big hassle to get someone in there and to not have them skip out/abuse drugs (I’m talking shooting up, not just some pot smoking)/etc. Could I expect such hardships in finding a family or a group?
Currently the mortage is $1450, I actually bought it with a new roof/appliances/etc so very little maintenance (but I have $7,000 currently saved up and I put in more every month just for the house), and I pay $50 every 3 weeks for yard people to come by and keep it all nice looking, so if the manager wants 10%, I’d probably be looking at $1800/month to rent it and not be taking a loss, which is mid-range where I am, just above student “zomg how many apartments can we fit on the smallest amount of space” places.
10% is on the high end for property management, 6% is more common. I’ve also heard of some places charging a flat per-property fee.
Also it’s probably worth it to avoid any headaches stemming from occupant turnover, maintenance, etc. — ESPECIALLY true if you’re going to be out of the area.
One property is, on average, not a problem if it’s well maintained, but speaking from experience (I manage 28 units scattered around town) when something goes wrong it can be a full time job getting stuff back in order.
I use a property manager for my house in Florida. To me it’s worth it just to avoid the headaches, I never have to see or talk to the tenant, and that’s the way I want it. Using a manager keeps it business like and it never gets personal, so if my tenant is ever late with the rent, I don’t have to hear it, and the manager takes the appropriate steps.
I went with a manager through Coldwell Banker because their screening process is pretty strict, no prior evictions, no felonies, etc. I’m really happy with it so far.