Should You Self-Manage Your Rental or Hire a Property Manager?

The Real Question

Every landlord faces this decision at some point: should I keep managing my rental properties myself, or is it time to bring in a professional property manager? The answer isn't as simple as comparing management fees to your time. It depends on your portfolio size, your experience, your location relative to your properties, and honestly — your sanity.

The True Cost of Self-Management

Self-managing seems free on paper. You're not paying anyone a percentage of rent. But "free" is misleading when you factor in your time. Consider everything that goes into managing even a single rental property: advertising vacancies, showing the unit, screening tenants, running background checks, drafting leases, collecting rent, coordinating maintenance and repairs, handling tenant complaints, dealing with emergencies (yes, the 2 AM pipe burst call), staying compliant with PA landlord-tenant law, and managing the eviction process if things go wrong.

For a single property, this might average 5-10 hours per month when things are going well, and significantly more during turnovers or problems. If your time is worth $50-$100/hour in your day job or other investments, self-management is costing you $250-$1,000+ per month in opportunity cost — often more than a property manager would charge.

What a Property Manager Actually Does

A good property management company handles everything listed above and more. They have systems for tenant screening that reduce bad tenants. They have contractor relationships that get better pricing on repairs. They know the legal landscape and keep you compliant with changing regulations. And they handle the emotional labor — dealing with difficult tenants so you don't have to.

Typical property management fees in the PA market range from 8-12% of monthly rent, plus a leasing fee (often one month's rent) for placing new tenants. On a property renting for $1,500/month, you're looking at $120-$180/month for management.

When Self-Management Makes Sense

Self-management works best when you have one or two properties close to where you live, you're handy and can handle basic repairs yourself, you have the time and temperament for tenant interactions, and you're in the early stages of building your portfolio and need to save every dollar. If you enjoy the hands-on aspect of real estate investing and your properties are low-maintenance, self-management can be a smart way to maximize cash flow.

When to Hire a Property Manager

It's time to consider professional management when your portfolio grows beyond 3-4 units, your properties are far from where you live, you're spending more time managing than you'd like, tenant issues are causing stress that affects other areas of your life, or you want to scale and your time is better spent finding new deals.

The inflection point for most investors is around 3-5 units. Beyond that, self-management becomes a part-time job that competes with your actual income-producing activities.

Mega Realty's Property Management

At Mega Realty, our property management service includes a unique offering: a 6-month tenant guarantee. If a tenant we place doesn't work out within the first six months, we'll replace them at no additional cost. That kind of accountability is rare in the industry and speaks to our confidence in our screening process.