Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Hiring a property manager is a personal decision. It is not the right move for everyone, but i am curious to know why people hire them?

Sometimes a landlord will hire a property management if they plan to be out of the area for a length of time and want someone to handle day to day maintenance/problems. It does affect your tax position if you leave too much decision responsibility on the property management though.

Posted by Kathy J, WI on Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Hey Kathy, Thank you very much for the reply.

Posted by Alexis C, UT on Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hi Kathy, Can you elaborate more on the affect of tax position when a landlord uses a property management company for long term? Thank you for your time, Oscar

Posted by Oscar P, NJ on Thursday, January 15, 2015

I am not a tax accountant or lawyer so please check with your own tax professional or lawyer. Basically, if you are an active participant in landlording (making day to day management decisions about your rental including who you rent to, policies, decisions about repair vs replacement) then your losses are allowed to a higher amount than if you are a passive landlord (either part of a real estate investment group, or allowing the property management to decide who to rent to, when something needs replacement vs repair, etc) These are IRS rules so would not vary from state to state. There is also a minimum hours spent managing the rental property which is not hard to do when managing it yourself, but you might not meet if engaging a property management company. If your property has major repairs/improvements and it is likely to go over the limit for passive activity, then you would have to push part of the deduction to following years and it would mean additional work or cost (paperwork) if you pay a tax preparer/tax accountant.

Posted by Kathy J, WI on Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hey Guys, Thanks a lot for your positive response.

Posted by Alexis C, UT on Monday, February 9, 2015