Tip of
the Month - October 2023
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MANAGE YOUR OWN
PROPERTY?
Source: Property Management for Dummies
By: Robert Griswold
One of the first steps in
determining whether to completely self-manage your rental
property or delegate some or all of the duties to other people
is to analyze you own skills and experience. Many very
successful property owners find that the are better suited to
deal-making, so they leave the day-to-day management for
someone else. This decision is a personal one, but you
can make it more easily by thinking about some of the
specifics of managing property.
Property management requires basic skills,
including marketing management, accounting, and people
skills. You do not need a college degree or a lot of
experience to get started, and you are sure to pick up all
kinds of ideas or ways to do things better along the way.
Examine your own personality. Are you a people
person? Serving as a landlord is a labor of love; you must
love people, you must love working with your hands, you must
love solving problems. Most of all, you must be able to
do all this without getting much in the way of appreciation.
If you are impatient or easily manipulated, you
are not suited to being a property manager. Conveying a
professional demeanor to your tenants is important. You want
them to see you as someone who will take responsibility for
the condition of the unit. You must also insist that
tenants live up to their part of the deal, pay their rent
regularly, and refrain from causing unreasonable damage to
your property.
This web page was updated 09/29/2023.