While self-managing your rental property isn’t impossible, it’s not always a great idea – especially now, with the California rental laws stricter than ever.
As you’re deciding whether you want to manage on your own or partner with a professional property manager in Sonoma County, ask yourself this important question: Do you want to be a landlord or do you want to be a real estate investor? Smart investors know that professional management is essential.
Let’s talk about why that is.
Protecting Your Time and Reducing Your Stress
When you manage your own investment property, you’ll need to be available to your tenants at all times. You’ll have to respond to problems, maintenance issues, and complaints at all hours of the day or night. When a furnace stops working or a leak is detected, you can’t put off the repairs that are urgently needed. You have to respond, and you have to respond with a team of qualified vendors and contractors who can help you.
Our property managers have time and resources to manage these emergencies, and we also have a reliable vendor network already in place, with contractors who don’t charge overtime or extra after-hour fees. If you don’t have the time, availability, or resources to take care of your tenants and your property, you really have to think about professional property management. You cannot leave your tenant hanging without water or heat or air conditioning. Consider how much time you have and whether you can be available when you need to be.
Understanding the Value of Property Management in Sonoma County
Property management is what we do all day, every day. We know what’s happening and what’s changing, and we network with a lot of people in the industry. State, federal, and local laws change constantly. In California, new laws over the last few years have restricted when and how you can evict a tenant. There are new requirements around Section 8, and statewide rent control.
So, if you’re not able to keep up with the laws, and you don’t understand what’s happening in the industry, you could potentially violate a law and get into real trouble. Mistakes are easy to make, and they’re expensive to fix. Having a property manager keeping you in compliance is an easy way to protect your investment.
Measuring Management Fees against Services
A lot of self-managing landlords throughout California’s Wine Country do it all on their own because they bristle at paying a management fee. But, that’s a tax-deductible fee, and a pretty small one when you look at your overall investment in your property. As longtime professionals in Sonoma County, Healdsburg Property Management has great relationships with vendors who offer us discounts. We get better pricing than an individual owner might get. We also get around-the-clock service. Our preferred vendors take care of our tenants and serve us first. It’s hard to find that as an individual landlord.
We also eliminate the risk of long vacancies and expensive turnovers. We can provide all the technology that’s necessary to effectively lease, manage, and maintain a home.
Self-managing may be for you, if you want to be a hands-on landlord who is working on their property and with their tenants every day. But, if you’re approaching your rental property as a passive investment that continues to perform in a way that can build your wealth, you’ll want to work with a professional property manager in Sonoma County. Contact us at Healdsburg Property Management to talk about what’s best for you.
Healdsburg Property Management manages single-family homes, duplexes, four-plexes and multi-unit properties of up to seven units throughout Sonoma County’s Wine Country, including Healdsburg, Windsor, Northern Santa Rosa, Cloverdale and Forestville.