Self-Management vs. Property Manager: The Real Tradeoff

A great property manager screens tenants, handles maintenance, and protects you from fair-housing missteps. A mediocre one is a 10% drag on cash flow.

Self-management works when (1) you live within 30 minutes of the property, (2) you have a trusted maintenance network, and (3) your portfolio is small enough to be a side activity.

Above ~5 doors, professional management almost always wins on time-adjusted returns even though the spreadsheet says otherwise.