I made this difficult decision far more complicated than it ever needed to be.
I outsourced the management of one of my flats *SHOCK HORROR*.
It was a hard decision mainly because of pride. I’m an advocate for managing things myself because that’s my jam, I’m an awesome property manager (Excuse me whilst I blow my own trumpet 😀 ).
I know so because of this message I got from a tenant who’s just moved out of a flat of mine:
… and I’ve got my system down a T:
- 6 monthly inspections (no matter where I am in the world, I still check in with my properties)
- Contractors on call… or via Whatsapp
- Good lines of communication with the tenant… again Whatsapp comes in very handy
- It’s a newly renovated flat so in the unlikely event of something going wrong the contractors will come back
- Insurance on white goods – again one call and I’ve got a contractor coming out
It’s a great set up… and yes it works no matter where I am.
But this year is an external and common parts maintenance year.
All the windows and doors in this block are being changed. Scaffolding will be up back and front for 8 weeks. There’s a new roof going on. New guttering and down pipes.
Internally the common parts are being redecorated and recarpeted.
From a tenant’s point of view, that’s pretty scary stuff and they like to be able to see someone to share their worries with.
The letting agents are only a stones throw from the front door of that flat. They’d been badgering me for a while about managing it and I said no (again on principal, that I know I can do a good job).
And so, I had to think about would I be best placed to support or could I outsource this. Really and truly, I’m not there enough to be able to look after the tenant through such a big project and so I started negotiating with the managing agent.
For £29.64 a month (yes truly that amount) they are going to manage the flat.
Ultimately my difficult decision came down to this. My tenant pays the bills, looking after them correctly has to come first. So, I’ve swallowed my pride and handed over the management. I’ll see how this plays out… so watch this space.
Now I want to hear from you, do you manage your properties yourself, outsource or a bit of both?
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Natasha
