Free template

Self-manage vs. hire a property manager calculator

An honest side-by-side of managing your own apartments against hiring a manager: the fees, the costs you stop paying, the revenue a manager may add and the hours you get back, with the breakeven fee.

Excel, Sheets, Numbers
Sample property included
8 tabs

Get the template

Inside the workbook

What you get, tab by tab

Tab 1

Comparison

The dashboard: annual side-by-side, net difference, cash-only result, value impact, breakeven fee, hours freed and plain-English insights.

Tab 2

Your Results

A one-page summary of your result with a clear next step. Print or save as PDF.

Tab 3

5-Year View

Five years of cash and all-in results with rent growth and compounding gains, plus the full calculation detail.

Property

Units, rents, turnover, renewal rate, days vacant, bad debt, loss to lease, maintenance spend, growth and cap rate.

Self-Managed

Your hours by task, the value of your time and the out-of-pocket costs you carry today.

Professional

The manager's fee schedule, the time you still spend, and the expected performance changes.

Time Log

Optional weekly time tracker. Replaces your estimated hours with tracked averages when switched on.

Built for

Who it is for

Owners of 5 to 100 units deciding whether to hire
Self-managing owners whose time is stretched
Owners comparing a management proposal

How to use it

Up and running in six steps

1Property: enter units, average rent, turnover, renewal rate, days vacant, bad debt, loss to lease and your current maintenance spend. The sample is a 24-unit Reno property; overwrite every yellow cell.
2Self-Managed: enter the hours you spend each week by task and what an hour of your time is worth. Enter 0 to compare cash only. Add the out-of-pocket costs you pay today.
3Professional: enter the fee schedule from a real management proposal. Review the performance assumptions; each one can be set to 0 to ignore it.
4Optional: log your actual time on the Time Log tab for two to four weeks, then switch the hours source on Self-Managed to Time Log.
5Read the Comparison tab for the verdict, the cash-only result, breakeven fee and hours freed. The 5-Year View shows how the gains compound.
6Print or PDF the Your Results tab as a one-page summary. Want a real proposal to plug in? Call Next Level at (775) 502-8287.

Rather have us run the numbers?

Send us your rent roll and T12 and we will build this for your property and show you what it says.

Talk to us (775) 502-8287

Questions

Self-Manage vs. Hire a PM Calculator questions

Is it worth hiring a property manager?

It depends on how much your time is worth, how long your units sit vacant and the fees you are quoted. The calculator shows the cash result, the all-in result with your time valued, and the fee at which hiring breaks even.

What fees does it count?

Management, leasing, renewal, setup, maintenance markup and inspection fees, from a real proposal you enter.

Can I compare cash only?

Yes. Set the value of your time to zero and every performance gain to zero to see the pure cash difference.

Insights

The guide behind it

All articles

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