Why I Self-Manage My Rental Properties (And Why You Should Consider It)

I've been a landlord since 2019 in NZ. Four apartments in Auckland CBD, one 3-bedroom rented room-by-room and 3 one-bedrooms. From the very beginning, I did some hard math and found out using a PM did not make financial sense in my case. Here's why, and what I learned observing fellow landlords dealings with property managers, reading horror stories in the press and being mistreated in my early years when I was looking to rent a property for myself.

The Numbers That Made Me Go Solo

PM charge around 8% + GST of rent, plus a letting fee (one week's rent + GST) every time a tenant changed, plus inspection fees, plus a markup on every maintenance job. On 3 x 1-bed apartments averaging $450/week each, and a 3-bed for $800 that was roughly $10,300 a year in management fees alone — before any of the extras.

What was I getting for that? Someone to collect rent (which the bank does automatically via direct debit), forward maintenance requests to the same tradies I already knew, and do three inspections a year that I could do myself in two hours.

When I did the maths, I had two choices:

1. Go with a PM and pass the cost to tenants through higher rent
2. Drop the PM and either pocket the saving and/or reduce rent

I chose option 2. I reduced rent slightly — enough to be noticeably more competitive than comparable apartments — this way I could offer better rate to good tenants who would pay and take care of the property. The result: lower vacancy, longer tenancies, and better tenants who appreciated the fair deal. I was financially better off AND my tenants were happier.

COVID Proved the Model

When COVID hit in 2020 and Auckland went into mandatory lockdowns, I was able to make decisions immediately. I halved the rent for tenants who lost income during lockdown. No committee, no head office approval, no "we'll check with the landlord" — I was the landlord, and I made the call on the spot.

My tenants stayed. They remembered that when things went back to normal. Years have passed, but I remember some introduced me to friends who were looking for a place and who in turn were good tenants. A property manager wouldn't have done that. They would have followed their standard process — maybe offered a small deferral, maybe not. Their incentive is the management fee, which is a percentage of rent. Reducing rent means reducing their income. They have no reason to suggest it.

When the government removed interest deductibility in 2021, I was able to absorb the impact because I wasn't paying a PM. That 8% saving was the difference between being cash-flow positive and bleeding money. Landlords who kept their PMs had to either increase rent aggressively or sell. I did neither.

Property Managers Don't Think for You

Here's the uncomfortable truth about PMs: they're not incentivised to do what's best for you. They're incentivised to minimise their own workload while maintaining the fee.

Tenant screening? Most PMs do the bare minimum — a credit check and a reference from the previous landlord (who might be trying to get rid of a bad tenant). They won't spend 30 minutes talking to an applicant to understand if they're actually a good fit for your property. They won't notice the subtle red flags. They process applications like a factory because volume is how they make money.

I screen my own tenants. I meet them. I ask questions. I check references properly — calling the employer, talking to the previous landlord, verifying the story makes sense. It takes time, but getting the right tenant means I don't hear from them for months at a time. That's the goal: a tenancy that manages itself.

Maintenance? A PM will send the first available tradie and mark it done. I'll ask what actually needs fixing, whether it's urgent or can wait, and whether there's a cheaper solution. When you're paying your own money, you make better decisions than someone spending yours.

Inspections? PMs do them because they charge for them. I do them because I want to see my property. There's a difference.

When the Tenancy Manages Itself

Here's what people don't realise about self-managing: if you set it up right, you don't actually do much.

Direct debit or automatic payment handles rent collection. Bank transaction matching tells you instantly if someone hasn't paid. Automated reminders chase arrears before you even know about it. Digital tenancy agreements mean no paperwork.

The actual time I spend on four apartments averages maybe 30 minutes a week. Most weeks it's zero — I just check the dashboard and see green across the board. The weeks with work are tenant changeovers (once every 1-2 years per apartment) and the occasional maintenance call.

Compare that to the $198/week a PM would cost. That's nearly $400/hour for the work I actually do.

What You Need to Self-Manage

You don't need property management experience. You need:

1. A system for tracking rent and expenses — not a spreadsheet, a proper tool that shows you arrears, sends reminders, and generates tax reports.
2. Good tenants — which means spending proper time on screening upfront instead of rubber-stamping applications.
3. Two or three reliable tradies — a plumber, an electrician, and a general handyman. You'll use them maybe 3-4 times a year.
4. Basic knowledge of the Residential Tenancies Act — specifically: how much notice for rent increases (90 days), how to issue a Section 55 notice (14 days for rent arrears), and what the Healthy Homes Standards require.
5. About 30 minutes a week.

When a PM Is Worth It

I'm not saying PMs are worthless. They make sense if:

• You live overseas and can't attend to issues in person
• You have 20+ properties and genuinely can't manage them yourself
• You have high-maintenance properties (old houses that need constant work)
• You truly don't want to deal with people at all

But for 1-5 properties in the same city? You're paying $2,000+ per property per year for someone to do what takes you half an hour a week. And they're doing it worse than you would, because nobody cares about your property as much as you do.

The Real Cost of a PM

When someone says "I use a PM because it saves me time," ask them: how much time exactly? Because the answer is usually "I don't know." They're paying for peace of mind, not actual work. And that peace of mind costs them $8,000-15,000 a year across a few properties.

Meanwhile, the PM:

• Won't reduce rent during a crisis to keep good tenants
• Won't spend extra time finding the right tenant
• Won't negotiate with tradies on your behalf
• Won't notice that the tenant's car has been gone for a month (subletting?)
• Won't treat your property like their own
• Won't get you good long-term tenants because they want the week letting fee and churn is best

I built RentManager because I needed the system part — tracking rent, generating notices, filing for Tribunal when needed, managing documents. The human part — the relationship with tenants, the decisions about rent levels, the judgment calls — that's the part you should keep.