How Many Units Before You Need a Property Manager?

The internet says 10 units. Some people say 20. My property manager friend says 1. (He's biased.)

The real answer depends on factors that have nothing to do with the number of doors.

My Situation

12 units. Self-managed. 4 years. No property manager. It works. Most months it takes 5-8 hours per week. Some months it's 15.

I'm not saying everyone should do this. I'm saying the "you need a PM at 10 units" rule is wrong. Here's what actually matters.

Factor 1: Your Time

If you work a 9-to-5 and your evenings and weekends are mostly free, self-managing 10-15 units is very doable. It's a part-time job that pays well.

If you work 60 hours a week at your day job and have young kids, even 5 units might be too much to self-manage. It's not about unit count. It's about available hours.

Be honest with yourself about how many hours you actually have. Not how many you theoretically have. Actually have.

Factor 2: Property Condition

10 well-maintained units in good condition are easier than 5 units that need constant repairs.

If your properties are older and maintenance-heavy, your management workload per unit is higher. I have 2 units that generate 60% of my maintenance requests. If I got rid of those 2 (or renovated them properly), my self-management would feel like I had 6 units instead of 12.

Factor 3: Tenant Quality

Great tenants who pay on time and rarely call? You can manage 20 of them in your sleep.

Problem tenants who are chronically late, generate complaints, and need hand-holding? 3 of them will burn you out.

Screening well upfront is the best time-saving investment you can make. Every hour you spend on tenant screening saves you 10 hours of management.

Factor 4: Geography

If all your units are in one building or within a few miles of each other, management is simple. One drive handles multiple issues.

If your units are scattered across town, or in a different city, that changes everything. A 30-minute drive to check on a repair makes every issue a 2-hour project.

I know landlords who self-manage 30 units because they're all in one complex. And landlords who hired a PM for 8 units because they're spread across 3 cities.

Factor 5: Your Systems

This is the factor most people overlook. A landlord with good systems can handle twice the units of a landlord without them. Tools like a landlord dashboard and lease expiration tracker multiply your capacity.

Good systems means: you know who owes what and when. You catch late payments on day 1. Maintenance requests are tracked and nothing falls through the cracks. Lease expirations are on your radar 90 days out.

Bad systems means: you check your spreadsheet when you remember to. Maintenance requests live in text messages. You find out about lease expirations when the tenant gives notice. I cover this in detail in my self-managing rental properties guide.

If you're at 8 units and feeling overwhelmed, the answer might not be hiring a PM at 8-10% of gross rent. The answer might be fixing your systems.

The Math

A property manager typically charges 8-10% of gross rent. On a $1,200/month unit, that's $96-120/month. On 10 units at $1,200, you're paying $960-1,200/month. That's $11,520-14,400 per year.

For that money, you need to save at least 10-15 hours per week to break even on an hourly basis. And you need to trust that the PM catches things you would have missed.

Some PMs are worth every penny. Some are worse than doing it yourself. Interview at least 3 before hiring.

Before You Hire a PM

Try improving your systems first. Add monitoring to your spreadsheet. Set up proper maintenance tracking. Create templates for common communications. Most landlords don't need PM software if their systems are right.

I added RentGuard to my Google Sheets and it cut my "rent chasing" time from 2 hours/month to about 20 minutes. That's the kind of improvement that postpones needing a property manager by years.

If you're feeling the pressure and wondering if you need a PM, start by fixing your systems. descoshop.com is one piece of that puzzle. Free forever.