Do you own and self-manage a single family home, commercial space, or apartment building as investment property? If so, you have probably flirted with the idea of hiring a professional property management company to manage your building. Then you think, I can do this myself! Why should I pay someone else to do it?

The number one thing Castle Management offers to our clients is simply peace of mind. With a professional property manager, you can guarantee that your asset is being managed aggressively, legally, and competently at all times for whatever the circumstance may be. Any Joe Shmo can collect a rent check, or hire a plumber. But Castle offers you a polished infrastructure to get all your goals met timely and affordably. This includes your property’s financial statements, timely leasing, collections, strategy, and a book of reliable vendors at our disposal to get you the best price for whatever job your asset needs.

In other words, you may be saving yourself some money by managing it yourself, but you are likely costing yourself some money in other areas. That combined with the rental rate boom in the Bay Area changes the economics of the decision to hire a property management firm or not. So let us deal with all the problems that landlording entails, it is what we do! Then you can sit back and enjoy the fruits from your asset’s performance.

Wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day as we remember the many heroes who have served our country.

As a professional property manager, I have overseen a vast amount of varying homes and apartments in my career. But regardless of size, price, style, and demographics, there is one type of tenant that I always see in my portfolio: The Withholder.

No, The Withholder is not a character in Game of Thrones, nor does this tenant withhold rent. They withhold something entirely different… information.

A withholder has issues inside their apartment. It could be a broken faucet, a malfunctioning window lock, a broken burner, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Some tenants have it in their minds that they do not want to be a “complainer.” So they learn to live with problems in their home, and fail to report them to their landlord. Sometimes these problems are minor, sometimes they are not.

Withholders believe they are doing a service to property managers, but actually they are not. The hard truth is that rent levels will be raised at the appropriate time for all tenants, regardless of how many maintenance requests they withhold. Property managers want the opportunity to get inside and address any minor issues before they develop into major ones (and they can). Property managers also want an opportunity to make homes complete, so that tenants are satisfied and share a good faith relationship with the landlord. It is the job of the landlord to make necessary repairs after all, and we do it every single day anyway. So tenants might as well let us know about any issues, so that you can get your rent’s worth.

Please don’t misunderstand this post into thinking that property managers want to hear about every little hiccup in your apartment, I assure you that they don’t. Also, I know I speak for all property managers when I say that we already have a few tenants like that to manage. And what we already have is enough, trust me. But we do want all residents to be able to fully enjoy all functional uses in their home or apartment. So if you have a maintenance request, don’t be a “Withholder.” Just tell your landlord.