Rental property management does not cost time evenly across a month - it concentrates around a small set of specific tasks, and the honest answer to "how much time does this take" depends entirely on which of those tasks you are doing yourself.
Time Cost by Task
| Task | Typical time cost |
|---|---|
| Tenant screening and lease signing (per turnover) | 4-8 hours |
| Routine maintenance call (per incident) | 1-3 hours including coordinating a vendor |
| Monthly bookkeeping and rent tracking | 1-2 hours a month with good software |
| Tenant communication (ongoing) | 30 minutes - 2 hours a month per unit |
| Annual property inspection and walk-through | 2-3 hours a year |
Does a Property Manager Actually Save That Much Time?
Yes, on the tasks above, a property manager removes almost all of it - typically down to a monthly report review of 15-30 minutes per property. What a property manager does not remove is the time cost of a major renovation or repair project, which still benefits from an owner who is engaged, or better, a general contractor who reports directly and takes that coordination off both the owner and the property manager.
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