The Right Property Manager Can Help You Achieve Profound Well-Being

The hidden stress of managing your own property, revealed!

If you own a rental property, and you’re considering managing it yourself, we suggest you hit the pause button and listen up.

Taking that on yourself – rather than hiring a skilled property manager – is a serious undertaking.  So you owe it to yourself to consider not just the obvious stresses, but the hidden emotional, physical, and financial costs of assuming that responsibility. 

Of course, there’s also a cost associated with property management, and we’ll get to it later on.  But first, to establish a context for whatever fees you will need to pay, let’s walk through the burdens of acting as your own property manager.

Stress is toxic. And managing your own property is a stress machine.

The fact is that stress is so pervasive, that many of us are dealing with the symptoms without even understanding what’s behind them.  That’s a risk, because stress’s effects on the body are profound, leading to conditions like digestive problems, insomnia, and weakened immune systems. Even weight gain.

What does this biology lesson have to do with managing your property?  Everything!  Because the entire property management process, from listing, to getting the place in rental shape, to finding and vetting a tenant, is ridiculously stressful. 

And lets us not forget about dealing with vacancies and collecting the rent!

This post on Reddit sums it up perfectly:

“I am a new landlord and I think I'm getting an ulcer from the stress. Can y'all give me some tips on how not to be so stressed about tenants all the time?”

The Right Property Manager is like a Meditation App for Homeowners

Most people intuitively understand that acting as your own property manager is a highly stressful endeavor. However, there are so many bad property managers out there – an overwhelming amount, in fact – that many people are driven to do it themselves.

In fact, the proliferation of property managers that fail to deliver inspired the founders to create Belong.

Belong performs all the services that traditional property managers attend to, and they do it with a thoughtful, homeowner-first approach and impeccable attention to detail.  They even go so far as to guarantee the rent, and they have a team of their own talented contractors – Belong Pros – who take the stress out of repair and renovation.  Which is one of the most frustrating and infuriating parts of being a homeowner.

Yes, working with Belong costs a bit – but so does working with any property management company.  The 8% of monthly rent that Belong charges is comparable to what you’d pay to traditional property management companies, which don’t offer the same kind of end-to-end services. 

The right way to look at that cost is that it’s a small price to pay for your well-being.  We do so much else to stay healthy today – we eat, we exercise, we try to get enough sleep – why undercut that by dealing with the stress of a leaky faucet or a late check?

You said there’s a financial cost of NOT hiring the right property manager.

We did. Here are two costs to start.  First – you may not be charging enough rent.  Driven by the fear of having a vacant house sit on the market if the rent’s too high, many homeowners charge too little.  Belong solves that problem with a price optimization technology that takes your home and your neighborhood into account, and identifies a price that will get new residents moving in ASAP.

The second hidden cost of being your own property manager is what economists call “opportunity costs.”   Simply put, what else could you be doing with your time when you’re not dealing with piles and piles of forms and paperwork?

Well, maybe you could be starting a business!  The data shows that millions are becoming entrepreneurs; more than 4.4. million “pandemic businesses” were started last year.

Having someone manage your property gives you the time and peace of mind to get that going.  Which means one source of income – your home – can be joined by another.

Boosting your immune system and your net worth – who would have thought the right property manager can make that possible?