Pro’s Guide to Property Management: Work Less, Make More from Your Rentals!

Summary

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast: Pro’s Guide to Property Management – Work Less, Make More from Your Rentals!

Host: Dave Meyer
Guest: Solali Kalavor, Property Manager and Real Estate Investor
Release Date: March 12, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast, host Dave Meyer delves into the intricate world of property management with expert Solali Kalavor. Aimed at real estate investors seeking financial freedom, the conversation navigates the complexities of hiring property managers, maximizing rental income, and the delicate balance between managing properties personally versus outsourcing this task.

Guest Introduction

Dave Meyer welcomes Solali Kalavor, a seasoned property manager based in Seattle, who brings a wealth of experience from various facets of the real estate industry. Solali shares his unique journey from a finance and investment background to establishing a successful property management business.

Solali Kalavor:
"Having a loan signing business was nice, but seeing the true outcomes of owning real estate inspired me to pivot into property management."
[03:05]

When to Hire a Property Manager

The discussion begins with the fundamental question: Is hiring a property manager worth the investment? Solali outlines key considerations for investors contemplating this decision.

Key Factors to Consider:

1. Risk Tolerance: Assess how much risk you're comfortable handling personally versus delegating to a professional.
2. Opportunity Cost of Time: Self-managing typically consumes 40 to 70 hours annually. Solali emphasizes the potential to reinvest this time into other profitable ventures or personal endeavors.

Solali Kalavor:
"What's your risk tolerance? What's the opportunity cost of your time to manage the rental yourself?"
[06:55]

Vetting Questions and Evaluation

Selecting the right property manager is crucial. Solali provides a framework for investors to effectively evaluate potential managers beyond surface-level promises.

Essential Vetting Questions:

1. Past Performance: Request specific examples of how the property manager has successfully met similar goals.
2. Granularity of Plans: Assess how detailed and realistic their strategies are for achieving rental income targets.

Solali Kalavor:
"How granular can they be about describing the success that they expect they can achieve for you?"
[08:20]

Dave Meyer:
"People who say no and are clear about what they can’t do often prove to be more reliable and trustworthy."
[09:21]

Choosing Between Small vs. Large Property Managers

Dave and Solali explore the pros and cons of property management companies of varying sizes. Solali advocates for partnering with property managers whose business scale aligns with the investor's portfolio size, ensuring personalized attention and mutual growth incentives.

Solali Kalavor:
"I like to work with property managers who have a footprint of about 25 to 30 miles, specific to our metro here in Seattle."
[14:15]

He warns against large, national firms that may prioritize high-volume clients over smaller investors, potentially leading to diminished service quality.

Dave Meyer:
"If you're a small investor, partnering with a similarly scaled property manager creates a mutual incentive and alignment about where you're both trying to go."
[16:08]

Day-to-Day Operations vs. Asset Management

A pivotal part of the conversation differentiates between property management (day-to-day operations) and asset management (strategic oversight). While many property managers excel in handling daily tasks, asset management requires a long-term vision to maximize property value.

Dave Meyer:
"Asset management is about thinking like an owner and taking a bigger, longer-term view of your asset."
[20:01]

Solali underscores the importance of property managers who can offer strategic advice, such as optimizing property usage, planning renovations, or navigating market trends to enhance investment returns.

Solali Kalavor:
"We had a client losing $185,000 a year due to self-managing. By hiring professional management, he could redistribute an additional $100,000 a year in income."
[26:08]

Importance of Relationship and Alignment

The episode emphasizes the critical role of building a strong, trust-based relationship with your property manager. Both Dave and Solali agree that mutual understanding and alignment of long-term goals are essential for successful property management.

Solali Kalavor:
"It's very important how well you like them and how well they understand your goals."
[14:27]

Dave echoes this sentiment, highlighting that having a property manager who shares your investment philosophy ensures smoother operations and better handling of unforeseen challenges.

Dave Meyer:
"You want someone who’s going to treat these scenarios in a way that you're comfortable with."
[15:34]

Insights and Tips for Investors

Solali offers practical advice for investors considering self-management versus hiring professionals:

1. Conduct a Cost-Benefit Analysis: Compare the time and financial investment required for self-management against the fees and potential income increase from hiring a property manager.
2. Leverage Online Resources: Utilize platforms like BiggerPockets for education and tools to streamline property management tasks if opting to self-manage.
3. Delegate Strategically: Focus on delegating tasks that are not your strengths or are time-consuming, allowing you to concentrate on expanding your investment portfolio.

Solali Kalavor:
"Ask yourself, is this something that may better yet be something I can delegate as another vehicle of my financial independence?"
[31:50]

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Solali’s final thoughts on property management, emphasizing the importance of understanding your investment "why" and choosing a property manager who aligns with your long-term goals. Dave encourages listeners to utilize BiggerPockets’ resources to find professional property managers who can help optimize their real estate investments.

Solali Kalavor:
"Focus on the why, and then the who will come."
[33:51]

Dave Meyer:
"If you're interested in working with great professional property managers like Solali, use our property manager finder on BiggerPockets for free."
[34:41]

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Solali Kalavor:
  "What is your risk tolerance? What is the opportunity cost of your time to manage the rental yourself?"
  [06:55]

• Dave Meyer:
  "People who say no and are clear about what they can’t do often prove to be more reliable and trustworthy."
  [09:21]

• Solali Kalavor:
  "I like to work with property managers who have a footprint of about 25 to 30 miles, specific to our metro here in Seattle."
  [14:15]

• Dave Meyer:
  "Asset management is about thinking like an owner and taking a bigger, longer-term view of your asset."
  [20:01]

• Solali Kalavor:
  "Focus on the why, and then the who will come."
  [33:51]

---

Key Takeaways

• Evaluate Your Needs: Before deciding to hire a property manager, assess your risk tolerance and the opportunity cost of managing properties yourself.
• Vetting Process: Use detailed, specific questions to gauge a property manager's ability to meet your investment goals.
• Scale Matters: Choose a property management company that aligns with the size and scope of your investment portfolio for personalized service.
• Strategic Asset Management: Seek property managers who can provide strategic oversight and long-term asset management, not just daily operations.
• Build Strong Relationships: A trustworthy and aligned relationship with your property manager is essential for navigating challenges and achieving investment success.

This episode offers a comprehensive guide for real estate investors contemplating the role of property management in their investment strategy, providing actionable insights and expert advice to help them make informed decisions.

Transcript

[Dave Meyer]

Would hiring a property manager cost you.

[Dave]

Too much money or would it actually make you more money? Today I'm going to talk to a.

[Dave Meyer]

Real property manager for inside information on who needs a property manager, how to ensure your property manager is working towards your goals as an investor and which skills even self managing landlords can use to increase their rents and reduce tenant turnover.

[Dave]

Hey everyone, it's Dave.

[Dave Meyer]

I'm the head of real estate investing here at Biggerpockets where we we teach people how to achieve financial freedom through real estate investing. And on this show I'm going to.

[Dave]

Help shed some light on an area.

[Dave Meyer]

That can feel like a bit of a mystery box for some investors. Property management the question of whether you need to hire a property manager can generate a lot of strong opinions on both sides. So I want to go right to the source and talk to someone inside the business who can give us some straight talk.

[Dave]

Solali Kalavor is joining us on the.

[Dave Meyer]

Show to do just that. He's a property manager in the Seattle area and is also a real estate investor himself. He's even worked in a couple other areas of the real estate industry. So he's really seen the value of a great property manager from a bunch of different angles. And today I'm going to ask Solali which vetting questions will reveal if a property manager can actually execute on your business plan as an investor, the conversations you need to have with your property manager to maximize performance performance and which professional property management techniques and tricks you can probably learn yourself. And just as a reminder before we start the conversation, if you're happen to be looking for a property manager, Biggerpockets can help you find one. Just go to biggerpockets.com management and you can find top rated professionals in the space. I've actually found property managers myself this way. It's a great tool. With that let's get into my conversation with Solali. Calivor Salali, welcome to the Biggerpockets podcast. Thank you for being here.

[Solali Kalavor]

Thank you for having me, Dave. It's a pleasure.

[Dave Meyer]

So tell us a little bit about yourself. How are you involved in the real estate investing industry?

[Solali Kalavor]

Definitely entry into the real estate world. I actually have a background in finance and investments circa middle school. I watched the Pursuit of Happiness if you've heard of that movie. And I was motivated to become a stock broker. So at my earliest opportunity, my early 20s earned my stock brokers and investment advisor's license and within a few years I had an itch for more ownership, being more hands on. And I Couldn't really put my finger on what I was looking for. But ultimately that spurred into a loan signing agency circa 2019, which of course as you can imagine with COVID interest rates exploded exponentially. And through thousands of real estate transactions and settlement statements, I was able to really see the impact of what real estate investing could do for your financial future. So became fully sold, started my investing journey in the early 2000 and twenties and then decided I needed to partake in a new chapter of my life in Property Management here. Q1 2024.

[Dave Meyer]

Wow, that's pretty. That's a pretty interesting. And it's definitely not a common path that we hear. We do hear people go from corporate life to investing. But I'm curious about the property management side and why you're scaling that particular business. But before we do so what kind of investing have you done? You got the itch?

[Solali Kalavor]

As of right now, I'm currently renting midterm and short term with the objective of converting into long term rentals. So two parcels, very similar quarter acre parcels, three bedroom, one bath. About three hours south of us here in Seattle and Vancouver, Washington. Once we can get some more preferable interest rates, looking to get those refinanced down, pull out some equity and due to some zoning changes, looks like we can add two ADUs on the quarter acre parcels. So we're hopefully going to see some large appreciation here in the next couple years.

[Dave Meyer]

Awesome. I mean this is a perfect example of what we've been calling on the show recently. Salali Upside deals. When you can find opportunities right now that are good like, like you said, you're turning them, using them as short term midterm rentals to service the debt. Carry these properties because you're looking for forward to some big upside one, if and when interest rates come down. But two, some zoning upside. It sounds like it's going to allow you to turn it from sounds like two units to potentially up to six units.

[Solali Kalavor]

You got it.

[Dave Meyer]

Awesome. Okay, so that's what you're doing on the investment side, but I understand that you're, you're sort of scaling a property management business. Is that here in Seattle?

[Solali Kalavor]

That is correct. So currently I'm working with Real Property Management. It's a franchise development property management company. It's national. We have more than 300 locations owned by small business owners throughout the nation. We have currently just over 500 homes.

[Dave Meyer]

Wow.

[Solali Kalavor]

Looking to scale move into small commercial space as well. So hopefully we can get to a thousand units here in the next three years. That's one of our loftier goals.

[Dave Meyer]

This seems like a pretty big change from, you know, being a stockbroker. What about this business was appealing to you?

[Solali Kalavor]

So ultimately having a loan signing business was nice and all, but I realized through having discussions with real estate investors, buyers and sellers the true outcomes of owning real estate. Seeing people make massive appreciation on their properties by redeveloping them. Owning properties for 10, 20, 30 years, cashing out their properties to reinvest in dream homes or reinvesting in apartment complexes. I've seen thousands of different opportunities as a notary public loan signing agent working here in Seattle. So that came for me to realize, wait a minute, this is very impactful, especially during COVID we're seeing, especially in the Seattle area, appreciation of 20, 25% year over year. So what I'm seeing on paper, the outcomes of these deals and being able to walk inside a lot of these constructions and seeing them from the beginning of purchase and then maybe six months later becomes a lovely rental in the community. So seeing those changes really was a big motivator for me in making a pivot.

[Dave Meyer]

Awesome. So I want to help our audience understand some of the pros and cons of property management. A lot of folks I believe start by self managing. But in this day and age, I think more and more people are looking at out of state or long distance investing to find places that cash flow or maybe are more affordable, but are a little hesitant about the property management piece. It feels like a sticking point for a lot of folks. So maybe you can just tell us a little bit about what are the big variables and factors that investors should think about when considering hiring a third party property manager?

[Solali Kalavor]

It starts with asking yourself a few questions. First few questions I would ask would just be threefold. Number one, what is your risk tolerance? Number two, what is the opportunity cost of time to manage the rental yourself? The average DIYer is going to spend about 40 to 70 hours a year managing their property. You can definitely do it. Or you could reinvest that opportunity cost potentially in the index, you know, stock market and self education in your work, in your family. So these are a few questions that I would ask would be focusing on the macro goals. What is your short term, long term, midterm goals? What's your risk tolerance? What's your opportunity costs? And it just starts with why.

[Dave Meyer]

That's great advice and I think it's the same thing that we talk about on figuring out what kind of deals you want to buy or market you want to select it really there's no shortcut to thinking and sort of being a little bit introspective and thinking about what you really want. And that has to be the basis of your search for really anything in this industry, whether it's deals, markets or. It sounds like property managers. But Salali, how do you know who to believe, right? Because I would imagine if I go up to someone and say, hey, my goal is to rent this out for $5,000 in a month. Most people are gonna be like, yeah, I got that. So how do you check their actual ability to execute rather than just be a good salesperson?

[Solali Kalavor]

Personally, one thing I use just in my life in general when I'm looking at competent professionals. Right. Is how granular can they be about describing the success that they expect they can achieve for you? Right. To your point, if you say, hey, slowly, I need you to rent out my property in Redmond for $5,000 a month, so I can do that. Or I could say, hey, let me take a look at a few comparables, not only on market, but those that are within our own portfolio. I'm going to say, hey, specifically, Dave, here's one property that's a quarter mile away from you that rented out, leased out at $5,000 a month here in June 2024. I'm going to say, hey, we also have a property about three blocks away from you internally in our portfolio. Similar square footage, beds and bathrooms that we rented out within 45 days for this price. Now, we can make at least an estimated judgment that if we've done it before, we can do it again. So the key is how realistic is it that I can achieve this goal and how detailed can this person be about their ability to execute on that goal?

[Dave Meyer]

That's really helpful. I think that the level of specificity is a really good advice. I've also found that people who say no and are more vocal about the things they can't do tend to be the people who are a little bit more reliable and trustworthy. So if you throw out a number and they say, no, that's not realistic. Like, I actually want to work with that person. Even if they're saying, I can't achieve your goal, but it's because your goal is just not realistic in the market. And I'm not going to promise you something that I can't deliver on. And maybe they share some anecdotes or stories about other times that they tried to list something for too high and it either got a bad tenant or sat on the market too long. So I think those types of things are really important to people in evaluating it. So Solali, I'm curious to hear more about why you went with a franchise and how our audience can evaluate small versus Medium versus Large national style property managers. But first we have to take a quick break before we hear from our sponsors. I want to remind everyone that BPCON, the BiggerPockets conference, is back in 2025 and this year we are heading to Las Vegas beginning at February 3rd. So already tickets are on sale for Early Bird pricing where you get a hundred dollars off your tickets for a great opportunity to build your network, be among like minded investors, hear from some of the best, brightest names in the industry and have a lot of fun. Honestly, bpcon is a great time. I look forward to it every single year. If you want to grab your Early Bird ticket, just head to biggerpockets.com conference. We'll be right back.

[Dave]

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[Dave Meyer]

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[Dave]

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[Dave Meyer]

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[Dave]

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[Dave Meyer]

Welcome.

[Dave]

Back to the Bigger Pockets podcast.

[Dave Meyer]

I'm here with Solali Kalavor and we are talking property management. Before the break we were talking about how to vet a property manager just in your one on one conversations. But I want to turn the conversation, Solali, to a bit more about the profile of companies. What are the pros and cons of different styles and scales of property management companies?

[Solali Kalavor]

Me personally, I believe the key is relationship management. One big component of identifying a mutually beneficial property manager to work with is realistically, how well do you like them? Right?

[Dave Meyer]

Yes, totally.

[Solali Kalavor]

Very simple.

[Dave Meyer]

Yes, I totally agree with you. Yeah.

[Solali Kalavor]

Do you like them? Like there's, there's clients that I golf with, there's clients that I'll sit out after work 3 hours to talk about cash flow strategies, redevelopment strategies. I believe the key, it really is the relationship, right? How well does that person you're going to work with specifically know your goals? Why do you own the property? What is the five year plan? What's the ten year plan? Are we looking at an appreciation play, a cash flow play, a tax minimization Play. Do we have other parties involved in this deal? Business partners, trustees? Are we looking to exchange this property into a potential small commercial asset in the next five years? Right. Is the interest rate environment a consideration? You know, these are insightful questions that I think are significantly more important than the early questions a lot of people like to ask, specifically in regards to pricing. Just because if you look around the blocks in Seattle, especially in the west side, you know, you can see different constructions, different years. And to be able to effectively manage that just takes setting expectations and knowing the goals of both the tenants and the owners and being ultimately just very transparent.

[Dave Meyer]

That's the best advice. I'm so happy you said that. The most underrated thing is just like, do you get along with this person? Because real estate, it's not complicated, but there are inevitably challenges. You're going to have these times when, unfortunately, someone doesn't pay or something breaks and it's the middle of a snowstorm and your heat goes out. You know, these are stressful scenarios, and you want to be working with someone who's going to have a similar approach to this to you. You don't want someone who's going to get overly flustered or not pay attention. You know, you want someone who's going to treat these scenarios in a way that you're comfortable with. And sometimes with a property manager, you're going to have to have uncomfortable conversations, which is true of any business, any colleague that you trust, Sometimes you have to have a hard, tough conversation. And being with someone that you actually like, you want to hang out with, and that you have mutual respect for, I think it's just an absolutely vital part of the vetting process. So I have two more questions I want to ask you about the Solalia. The first one is about size, because I totally agree, the personal thing is really important. The other thing, though, is in any one market that I invest in, I'm a small fish. You know, I don't have a lot, you know, hundreds or thousands of properties. And so I've found sometimes that if I go to a property manager that has thousands and thousands of units, they're very professional, they often have better systems in place, but I'm just so low down on their priority list that it doesn't make me feel great and it's not on them. Like, if they have a client that has 500 units, they should probably service that person first. That's what I would do if I was in their position. But I've found personally more success finding people who are at Like a similar proportionate scale. Whereas like I'm kind of small and trying to grow and I find a property manager who's small and sort of trying to grow and that creates this mutual incentive and a mutual alignment about where we're trying to go with our respective businesses. I'm curious what you think about that. If you, if you notice something similar, feel free to disagree.

[Solali Kalavor]

Definitely. So to that point, from a national standpoint in the, specifically the residential property management world, right. Due to the diversity of expectations, is quite difficult to deliver on all fronts, especially for landlords. What do I mean by that? We've seen a lot of private equity entrants into property management as well. And what that means is we're typically going to have an alignment with shareholder interests, profit motives, for example. So what that means is essentially how do we drive up margins, drive down costs. Right. Now the reason I'm very big on the relationship aspect of things is I know to an extent the 30 year plan of most of my clients that want to hold long term, hey, I want to give this property off to my child. Hopefully in the next 20 years I'm using this property to potentially 1031 exchange into a different MSA. So one thing that's very hard to track on a larger scale, just in my personal opinion, is those specific goals. Hey Dave, why do you own these properties in Denver? And I'm very curious because I'm the type of guy to reach out to your CPA and financial advisor and see how we can work together. Right. These are specific services that a property manager may not be able to, quote, unquote, charge you for, Dave, but they may be motivated to go out of their way to help you because they know you personally, they've shaken your hand, they've looked you in the eyes. So on a smaller scale, I like to work with property managers who have a footprint of about 25 to 30 miles. And we're looking at at least specific to our metro here in Seattle. Right. Because that allows us to be able to drive to all of our properties, meet our owners, meet our tenants and be very personable at scale that's quite difficult to replicate. So the last point I'll make is a lot of folks like to ask, how many properties do you manage or how many properties do each of your property managers manage? Right. I would flip that question to ask more specifically, how happy are the clients that the property manager is managing? Right. We are big on Google reviews. We try to keep at least a 4.95 star rating. And I would urge investors to look specifically for landlord reviews, investor reviews and tenant reviews. Right. Anybody who's able to make all three parties happy, I would say gives you a strong chance of achieving your goals and making you happy as well.

[Dave Meyer]

That's very good advice. The way I sort of look at running a rental property business is that there's two different sets of tasks that need to be done. One I would say is the day to day operations management, like talking to the tenants, leasing them out, handling maintenance requests. That's what most people call, quote unquote property management. Right. Like that sort of thing. But perhaps the more important part is what people in finance or in other types of asset classes would call asset management. Right. Or you hear that term talked about a lot in commercial, which is like, what is the best way to operate this property as a business? You know, do we do a renovation? Are we going to add an adu? When's the right time to buy and sell? And for me, basically one of the reasons I took so long to hire property managers is because I just didn't feel like I could find someone who could help me with that second part. There are more people who can do the property management day to day stuff. I find it very difficult to find people who can help you think like an owner and not just like do the, you know, the thing right in front of them, but sort of take this bigger, longer term view of your asset and be like, how are we going to maximize this piece of land, this property, this business for 20 years? So I'm curious what you think about this, Solali, but we do have to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[Dave]

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[Dave Meyer]

I am here with Solali and we are talking about property management. Before the break, I was about to ask Salali what he thought about sort of the day to day operation part of property management versus the asset management piece. And I was hoping he could give us some guidance on how to think through and maybe not just screen property managers for the asset management piece, but how. You know, as an investor, it's also your job to effectively communicate your goals and desires. So sly. Maybe you could help us understand how to build that sort of secondary and at least in my opinion, more important part of the relationship between investor and property manager.

[Solali Kalavor]

Definitely. This is actually a bit home for me. I'm definitely the finance and numbers nerd. So I love that conversation about how an asset performs. As a matter of fact, we just had a discussion as a team last month with a commercial apartment owner who was a DIYer. You know, it's hard to say exactly when you need a property manager, but this individual is self managing more than 30 units by himself in a singular apartment. So he reached out, he said, hey Salali, you know, I believe I may need a bit of help. It doesn't seem like I, I'm performing as well as I should. So I said, hey Mr. Client, your carrying occupancy is 77% stabilized occupancy is 93%. In our area, you're losing about $185,000 a year in vacancy. Our charge to you would be 90,000. You'd be able to distribute an additional $100,000 a year in income by using professional management. Right. When we talk about opportunity costs, and this was a very sharp individual, owned a law firm, retired and said, I'm going to diversify my income in the stock market, in real estate, and I have enough cash to buy an apartment complex and has been self managing. But you know, he's losing almost $200,000 a year due to self managing this asset. So when we kind of break down, you know, first principles, thinking, why are we doing what we're doing? All right, I bought an asset, a commercial asset of which I'm using to generate income for myself. Right. How do I maximize the income of this asset? Well, you can do it yourself and try and save a few dollars, but you may end up losing a lot more than hiring a professional to get you that extra income. So I could speak to you for hours upon hours about asset management, I'd say that's something I'm very passionate about as well. But I try to be very efficient with my conversations, focus on goals. You know, maybe we talk about that room that we want to keep purple because we raised one of our children in that room and it's very sentimental. Or, you know, I'm speaking to Dave, who has multiple properties, looking for ways in which we can maximize appreciation, maybe exchange them, increase cash flows, redevelop, add ADUs. So you have to be versatile. My one key to anybody who's looking for a property manager that may be more adept in the numbers is to really investigate their competence, you know, their granularity. An execution will indicate their conviction in getting you that outcome.

[Dave Meyer]

I find that there's just kind of this philosophical alignment or conversation that has to happen. I was driving around with one of my property managers not that long ago. He was just sort of like telling me about one of the properties and saying, oh, you know, this thing came up, like, do you want to handle it? I was like, something for like a hundred dollars. And I was like, man, you don't need to ask me about that. Like you just, just do what you think is best. And he was saying, you know, most owners, you know, they, they beat me up if I, if I spend 50 bucks or 25 bucks to just like handle something. And I was just like, man, like, I'm trying to own this asset for 20 years. Like, don't worry about $50 if it's going to help maintain the property, keep the Tenants happy, make it safe, make it comfortable, you know, like just spend the money. So we kind of had this just like philosophical conversation and I think we left it him understanding me just a lot better and like what I was trying to accomplish and he could now better manage my properties. Whereas there are people who just want to know about every $10 that that goes out of the door. And again, it sort of like goes to this idea of finding someone who you like but also has and can execute on the vision that you're trying to enact. The other thing here that you just mentioned that I think is so important is like, I get the idea that many people don't want to hire a property manager because it's expensive. I started by self managing and I think it's a great way to start for a lot of people. But I do recommend people really do the math on that because it is not as cut and dry as most people think it is that you hire a property manager, you automatically make less money because that's only true if you're a good property manager. And I've definitely been guilty of being a bad property manager at some points just because you get busy and things come up and you don't handle things as efficiently as a professional might or you're not staying on top of your rent. So really want to echo what Solali said there about just like really do the math and figure out if you're being as efficient as possible.

[Solali Kalavor]

I love that you mentioned that ultimately because in terms of, you know, your relationship with your property manager, there one thing I like to tease my clients with is ultimately, are you looking for an advisor or an assistant? Right. Because in the property management world there is both.

[Dave Meyer]

Oh man. I choose advisor. All day long I get these emails that it's like there is a, you know, a dishwasher that broke. What do you want to do? It's like, well, tell me what the options and what you would do. You do this all day long and I'm 99% of the time going to just say go for it. You know, I don't, I.

[Dave]

You're there.

[Dave Meyer]

He saw what's happening. Is it repairable? Do you need a replacement? How much is going to be replaced? You know, that kind of information upfront is really what makes it better because otherwise if I'm still making every decision then it's not really saving me time. I'd rather just self manage. You know, it's just like you said, you're. It's just having an assistant, not actually someone who's helping guide your investing now for slowly, for people who do want to self manage, which is totally a good strategy. Again, I did it myself for 10 years. Are there any like tips you have for people that would allow them to be more efficient or to sort of gain some of the efficiency that a professional property manager offers as a personal investor as well?

[Solali Kalavor]

I'd say, you know, the Internet is a plentiful resource to give you at least the how to do with platforms like BiggerPockets. Of course you're going to have a lot of the free resources you need to get. Call it 90 to 99% there. This is definitely a doable process for yourself. But do you have the resources to commit? Right. Is this a sensible component of your mental real estate to allocate? Right. Should you invest this time in doing leasing, doing showings, doing tenant communications, doing maintenance, doing rent ready prep, navigating through contractors? You know, if you're going to spend anywhere from call it 30 to 70 hours a year on this property, is it truly worth your time? Break down your W2 income or your 1099 income. What's your hourly rate? You know, so I would say be realistic with yourself and say, hey, is this something that may better yet be something I can delegate as another vehicle of my financial independence? Because you ask yourself, why do you hire a financial advisor or a CPA or attorney, right? These are all vehicles of helping you get to financial freedom. So if that is your primary goal, you know, it is about delegation, you know, delegate the duties that are not necessarily the best or most advantageous use of your time.

[Dave Meyer]

This the whole game, right? It's just like figuring out where you should be spending your time and how to offload it. And it. That is one of the things that's just. It is easier said than done. I know it sounds easy like, oh, just figure out what you're good at and then delegate everything else. It's not that easy. So I just want to call that out to everyone. If you're trying to figure out that out, it's hard to figure out where to spend your time. And even when you figure out things that you're perhaps not good at or maybe you just don't enjoy, it's still hard to like find people to be able to do that. But that's sort of the lifelong or career long journey of being investor is like continuously optimizing that. So very glad you said that. Thank you. So before we get out of here, any other last thoughts on property management? You think our audience should know.

[Solali Kalavor]

I'd say get to know your local property managers, why they do business, what motivates them. But if I can give one takeaway to the audience, give a little bit of value, really focus on the why rather than how much. You know, I have a lot of conversations on price. To give you the easy answer, you're going to pay 8 to 10% monthly and 50% to 100% of first month's rent. That's the meat and potatoes. I think the more important you want to ask yourself is why do I have this asset? And who can help me get to a successful outcome in the next year? 5 years, 10 years? Because as you're well aware, Dave, there's hundreds of thousands of outcomes you can have with real estate. So focus on the why and then the who will come.

[Dave Meyer]

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Solali. This has been a great conversation. We really appreciate it.

[Solali Kalavor]

Thank you Dave. It's been a pleasure.

[Dave Meyer]

And thank you all so much for listening. We appreciate all you being here. And if you're interested in working with great professional property managers like Salali, we have a tool on Biggerpockets where you can do that for free. I will put a link to our property manager finder in the show notes below, or you could just find it on biggerpockets.com as well. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the BiggerPockets podcast. We'll see you next time.

[Dave]

Thank you all for listening to the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or any other podcast platform. Our new episodes episodes come out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave Meyer. The show is produced by Ian K. Copywriting is by Calico, Content and editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for our free newsletter, please visit www.biggerpockets.com.

[D]

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose and remember past performance is not indicative of future results. BiggerPockets LLC claims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented in this podcast.