Are you feeling like you’ve just about had enough of managing your own Santa Rosa rental homes?
Once upon a time, it might have been easy to self-manage. You ran an ad for a rental home. You chose a tenant. You collected rent. Pretty straightforward.
Welcome to modern times, where the rental market is competitive, tenants are showing up with a long list of demands and expectations, and the laws around renting out a home are strict and well-enforced. Lease agreements are more complex. Maintenance vendors are harder to find.
Relying on professional support and expertise is a smart move. Here are some of the signs you’ve outgrown self-management in Santa Rosa.
Quick Overview:
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Shifting Goals: Are You a Landlord or an Investor?
Owning an investment property and operating that property should be two different things. Maybe you enjoyed being a hands-on landlord when you were first getting started, but now you’d rather be a hands-off investor who focuses on identifying new opportunities instead of collecting rent.
When your evenings and weekends are spent taking calls about leaky faucets, you’re rushing over to the property to help a tenant who has locked themselves out, and you’re troubleshooting appliance issues and water problems, you’re stuck in landlord mode.
Time is the most valuable asset any landlord or investor has. If you’re feeling a shift in purpose and in patience, it’s time to let go of self-management and hand the operational tasks over to a professional.
Maintenance is Overwhelming and Expensive
When maintenance has become reactive and not preventative, your property suffers. So does your tenant satisfaction. If you’re shopping around for vendors and service professionals but not finding anyone who can help you quickly and for a cost-effective price, you’re losing both time and money. If you’ve noticed repeated fixes are needed, that could signal deferred maintenance or larger issues. A constant pipe leak or toilet issue, for example, could mean something is fundamentally wrong with the plumbing.
Business is booming for local tradespeople and companies that provide essential maintenance services. And with wildfire/heat-season upon us, there are more to-dos on the list for all owners and vendors. You’re better off handing these maintenance issues over to a property manager who already has access to a list of preferred and vetted vendors. Property managers have already negotiated rates and can promise shortened response times.
Proactive checklists for roof and gutter work, seasonal care, HVAC service, water heater checks, and GFCI/CO/smoke alarm testing can save you money and help you retain tenants. Don’t let your property condition and value suffer just because you’re self-managing. Get some help.
Tenant Issues in Santa Rosa
You’ve definitely outgrown your self-management style when you notice that you’re unable to find and retain good tenants, or you’ve lost the ability to balance solid tenant relationships with consistent accountability.
Here are some specific signs that it’s time to turn tenant relations over to a professional manager:
- Tenant Quality isn’t What You’d Hoped
Santa Rosa’s rental market is competitive and fast-moving, and it’s important to attract the most qualified renters quickly. Creating listings, responding to inquiries, scheduling showings, and processing applications is a full-time job in itself, especially if you’re managing more than one property.
When you hand all of this over to a property manager, you’re able to leverage innovative leasing technology, access good market data, and enjoy listings that feature professional photography. This will help you attract better tenants. Property managers understand pricing, and we’re able to evaluate market trends to effectively handle the entire leasing process with efficiency.
If your units are sitting vacant for longer than they should, or you’re simply too busy to market them effectively, it’s a sign you need support. Work with us to identify, screen, place, and retain high-quality Santa Rosa tenants.
- Tenant Turnover is the Norm
Moving is stressful, and so high turnover often indicates that something is amiss. Perhaps there’s poor communication because you’re too busy to respond to your tenants in a timely manner, or maintenance has slowed because you’re struggling to find a vendor. Rental increases at renewal time might be misaligned with the market or tenants may want to try something else.
Losing tenants to turnover hurts financially. It also causes more work for you. If you’re finding turnover is higher than it once was, the DIY management could be the culprit. A good property manager improves tenant satisfaction and retention by offering professional service, consistent policies, and quick attention to problems. If you’re struggling to keep good tenants or seeing a revolving door at your rentals, professional help may be the solution. Not only will you eliminate the frustration of vacancy, you’ll also enjoy eliminating the cost of constant turnovers.
- Rent Collection is Problematic
Collecting rent should be easy. If it’s not, there’s either something wrong with your process or with the tenants you’ve placed. Many self-managing landlords tell us that collecting rent on time is one of the most uncomfortable parts of being a landlord. If tenants are paying late, or if they’re not paying at all, it can create a difficult situation for you and for your relationship. Inconsistent rent collection disrupts your cash flow and makes it harder to plan for repairs, upgrades, or mortgage payments.
Santa Rosa property managers do not stress about late rent. That’s because we have systems in place for enforcing rent due dates, issuing notices, and pursuing legal remedies when necessary. Most importantly, we handle these tasks professionally and without you having to be involved at all. This removal of emotional stress from the equation makes a big difference for a lot of Santa Rosa landlords.
If rent collection feels like a battle each month, it may be time to step back and let a property management partner handle it.
Complying with California’s Rental Laws
Legal mistakes are easier than ever to make, and that leads to a lot of risk and liability for self-managing landlords in Santa Rosa. We’re dealing with constantly changing laws around applications and application fees, screening, security deposits, property condition documentation, and fair housing.
Maybe you’re not sure whether your property is covered by rent control. How much are you allowed to raise the rent if it is? It might take a lot of time researching the right terminology and notice that needs to be served if a tenant is late with rent or violating the lease agreement.
When you have to write a new lease agreement and you’re not sure what needs to be disclosed, you need some professional support.
Missing a legal requirement, like failing to return a security deposit on time or improperly handling an eviction, can cost owners a lot of money. If you find yourself constantly looking up California rental laws, it may be time to partner with someone who makes it a professional mission to follow the laws and educate themselves on the changes in enforcement and interpretation.
Property managers stay current on fair housing laws, habitability standards, and the ever-evolving landscape of tenant rights. Our expertise can help you avoid costly mistakes and protect your investment.
You’re Starting to Take Things Personally
Renting out a home shouldn’t be an emotional endeavor, but it can quickly become one. Especially if you’re frustrated. Renting out a home has to be treated like a business, and successful real estate investors treat every rental property as a small business.
That may be difficult if you’re renting out a home that you once lived in yourself. Or if your tenants have become your friends.
In our experience, self-managing landlords often form personal relationships with their tenants. While this can be rewarding, it also complicates difficult situations like raising rent, enforcing lease terms, or evicting a tenant.
It is definitely a sign that you’ve outgrown self-management when you find yourself avoiding tough conversations because you are worried you’re going to hurt your tenant’s feelings. You’ve outgrown self-management if you’ve been too lenient and now you’d like to implement some consistent rules.
Santa Rosa property managers provide professional distance, objectivity, and consistency. We will enforce rules, set boundaries, and handle problems without emotion getting in the way. If your business decisions are being guided more by feelings than facts, you’ve likely outgrown self-management.
Self-management can be rewarding, and if you’ve done it successfully to this point, that’s something to be proud of. But, the clearest signs you’ve outgrown that path are difficult to avoid.
In Santa Rosa’s nuanced rental market, professional management often increases net income while dramatically lowering hassle and risk. That’s something to look forward to.
We’d love to help you make the transition from DIY landlord to successful real estate investor. Please contact us at Prestige Real Estate & Property Management. We manage homes in Sonoma County, including Santa Rosa, Windsor, Sebastopol, Petaluma, and Rohnert Park.
