The True Cost of DIY Property Management – A Lesson I Learned the Hard Way

 In this eye-opening episode, Kathy Wright shares a deeply personal story about managing a mobile home park that turned into a disaster — including a fire, four damaged homes, and no emergency plan in place. What began as a cost-saving effort became a costly lesson in the risks of DIY property management. Kathy breaks down the hidden financial and emotional tolls that many landlords face when trying to go it alone, and offers practical advice on when it’s time to call in a professional. Whether you're managing one unit or a portfolio, this is an episode you can't afford to miss. 

Transcript

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Thank you.

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Welcome back to the Real Estate Connector with Kathy Wright. I'm Kathy Wright, your host, and in this episode, we're going to talk about something that many property owners wrestle with, managing rentals on their own. At first, it feels like a great way to save some money, but as I quickly found out, DIY property management can often cost far more than it saves. Today, I'll share my own DIY nightmare, break down the hidden costs most owners don't think about and walk you through a real case study of a client who lost lots of money before coming to me for help. When I first started, I thought I could do it all myself. After all, how hard could it really be? To find the tenants, collect the rent, handle a few maintenance calls here and there. Easy, right? Well, I was wrong. I totally underestimated the time it would take, and I definitely underestimated the financial risk. I once had a property where I skipped a thorough inspection between tenants to save time. That was a big mistake. The next tenant moved in, and within weeks, plumbing issues surfaced, repairs started stacking up, and rent collection was spotty. By the time I sorted everything out, the property had eaten up thousands of dollars and months of my time. But that wasn't the worst of it. One of the biggest DIY disasters I ever faced was managing a mobile home park. It was about 12 to 15 homes at the time. It was a weekend of Thanksgiving. I received a call that there was a fire in the park. When I got there, I couldn't even entered the park. The fire department had blocked the entrance. A propane tank had exploded. Once they cleared it, I was allowed in. I saw the full extent of the damage. There were four homes that were impacted. Two were completely destroyed. The fire was started by kids playing with matches and dry leaves. I stood there staring at the smoke, the damage, and the faces of families who had just lost everything. I didn't have a written emergency plan. I didn't have a crisis response checklist. And in that I realized that property management real property management isn't just about collecting rent it's about being ready when disaster strikes in this situation the Red Cross came and delegated$60 to each family which really wasn't enough for any of them at that time because they lost their cars they lost their clothing their shoes their blankets and one of them lost a puppy in the fire once the Red Cross cleared everything out I decided that I wanted to help them and the best way to help them was contact the public to get some items for them to replace during the interim until they could settle into new homes so I reached out to some local churches the churches wanted the people to come there themselves so that they could help them but these people didn't have cars they couldn't drive to the churches so I took it upon myself to contact our local radio station and reached out for help they let me speak over the radio and explain what happened but the outpouring was tremendous I had people showing up bringing cash because they had experienced fires themselves and they knew that by the time adjusters came out or insurance kicked in it was the weeks down the road they needed something now so they brought us cash I reached out to a car dealership to see if they could donate cars that car dealership had already allocated for the year what car they wanted to donate to whatever family because they do it at the end of the year and it was our in the end of the year at Thanksgiving. So with that, they decided that they had a Christmas tree with a display of, you know, the parents could come in and pull off a card off the tree and they would be given a gift. Well, over time, the parents every year started coming back and say, well, I don't really like this gift or my child didn't like this. Could I switch it for something else? So they thought that this year, that year, they wanted to do something different. And so what they did, they got all all the measurements of all the family members, the children, the parents, and they brought coats, jackets, shoes, socks, blankets, all kinds of things. Luckily, I had a van that my friend had loaned to me, and with that van, I was able to take it to the mobile home park and delegate it out to all the specific families. That experience taught me something important, trying to save money by managing everything myself. Actually, it cost me more in the long run in money, time, stress, and emotional toll. The parent of these particular children was offered a fire safety course by the local fire department. She refused to have her children attend this class, which upset the remaining residents who were affected by the fire. She had already been living there with her family when I took over the management of the park, and it was apparently that the previous owner didn't fully vet this resident. So it gives an example of how it's very important that you do background checks on people because I worked with another client who came to me after trying to self-manage a rental. On paper, it looked like they were saving money, but here's what happened. They rented to a tenant without proper screening, and when the tenant stopped paying, they were unaware of the legal steps to move forward. By the time they came to me, they were already over$3,000 in lost rent and damages. Once Applewood Estates took over, we screened properly, set cleared lease terms, had systems in place to handle late payments. That property is now consistently rented and profitable. The client later told me, hiring you was the best investment I made. I wish I had done it much sooner. There are so many expenses that owners often overlook when they try to manage on their own. Here are just a few of those. Lost rent. Properties tend to stay vacant longer without strong marketing and screening systems. Legal mistakes. Missing one step in South Carolina's Landlord Tenant Act or Law can lead to lawsuits or delays in eviction. Maintenance costs. Without a trusted contractor network, you'll often pay more for repairs and sometimes get lower quality. The time value. Owners don't factor in the hours they spend handling tenant calls, paperwork, or late night emergencies. When you add it all up, the so-called savings from do-it-yourself management can actually become a loss. So, how do you know if it's time to stop do-it-yourself and bring in a professional. Here are some of the signs. You're managing more than one property and feeling stretched. You don't have reliable vendors for repairs. You're unsure about the legal process in South Carolina. The state of South Carolina has really good eviction laws. However, the tenants are still protected. You're losing more money in vacancies and repairs than you're saving in fees. And if any of these sound familiar, it might be time to partner with a property manager Furthermore, in managing tenant fear and trauma, tenants want to feel safe and secure in their properties and their homes that they're renting. So if you provide the care for them and give them the dignity that they deserve, then they are much happier and the retention is longer for the tenants. Then there's legal documentation and insurance protocols. Insurances are changing all the time. I keep the owners that I manage up to date with all the insurance issues that they may have or what they can be offered by their insurance agents because the state has changed quite a bit since I started managing and it changes all the time emergency communication even during holidays give your tenants access to contact you we have numbers of ways that we can have tenants contact us not just by telephone because in the in the situations of storms sometimes electric is out and and they don't have telephone usage or wifi, so we have other ways that they can contact us. Here are five must-have safety strategies. An emergency response plan. Make sure that everybody is notified of this. We tend to send out messages with impending storms or different situations that may come up and reminders. An annual safety inspection. We do have inspections of our properties and we set them up based on the property and the plan that the owner may choose. Strong vendor relationships. It's taken me quite some time to develop develop these vendor relationships and I have vendors that are so loyal and so good and do the repairs for me and they will help me help the tenants and they do great work. Clear documentation systems. I have a good software program that I use. There are several out there for property management companies or individual property owners, but you want to make sure that you have something that keeps you documented in a good way and at any time that you is needed. and know when to hire professional help. We do have maintenance people that are not licensed contractors. We do have maintenance people that can do all kinds of repairs, general repairs, but when it's some kind of a different situation, depending what that might be, we would hire a professional that is a licensed contractor. Professional management equals peace of mind. The right property manager doesn't just collect the rent. They reduce risk, improve tenant relations, and handle crisis with calm. You have to make sure that you stay calm so the tenants stay calm and the owners do as well. Do it yourself as possible, but it is sustainable and scalable. Do-it-yourself property management might look cheaper on the surface, but the true costs are time, money, and stress, and they can add up fast. I learned that lesson the hard way, and now my mission is to help property owners avoid these same mistakes. I'm going to say this several times throughout my podcast. Property owners tend to be emotionally attached to their properties, so they react a different way than a property manager would. We are in the the owner and we care about the tenant. A call to action is if you're feeling the strain of managing your own rental. Let's talk. At Applewood Estates, we can help property owners protect their investments and maximize their returns without the headaches. You can find my contact information in the show notes. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode. Tenant Screening 101, the$5,000 mistake that changed everything. Until then, Remember, real estate should be a blessing, not a burden. Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Connector with Kathy Wright. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes and share the podcast with anyone who wants to succeed in real estate. For more resources, visit applewoodestates.com at www.applewoodestates.com.