Self-Managed vs Property-Managed Rentals: What the Data Shows

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How Many Owners Manage Their Own Rentals?

By The Rental Lister · Published November 11, 2026 · Data: U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, Rental Housing Finance Survey; published eviction research

In 2024, owners managed about half (50.5%) of U.S. single-unit rental homes themselves, and the typical self-managing owner spent about 5 hours a month on it, by our calculation from the Census Bureau’s Rental Housing Finance Survey. Where an owner paid a manager, the bill came to about 8% of rent. The research on outcomes gives no blanket win to either side.

National data. The survey covers the whole country and has no state or metro breakdown, so there is no Nevada or Las Vegas figure for who manages rentals. The one Las Vegas study we use compares landlords by size, not by who manages.

Key Numbers

• 50.5%of U.S. single-unit rental homes were managed by their owner or an unpaid agent such as family in 2024 (±7.8); 74.6% of 2–4-unit propertiesOur calculation, Census Rental Housing Finance Survey (national)
• 5 hoursa month: the median time a self-managing owner of a single-unit rental spent on management; 15.4% spent more than 10Our calculation, Census Rental Housing Finance Survey, 2024 (national)
• About 8%of yearly rent: the management expense on single-unit rentals with a paid agent or company (7.8%, ±0.8; 2023 expenses)Our calculation, Census Rental Housing Finance Survey (national; 52 homes)
• 22% to 41%more often: how often Boston landlords with property managers filed evictions; they carried fewer filings through to removalGomory, Social Forces, 2022 (Boston, 2008 to 2016)

1 unit

50.5%

2–4 units

74.6%

5–24 units

37.0%

25–49 units

16.8%

50 or more units

7.8%

Source: our calculation from the Census Bureau’s Rental Housing Finance Survey public-use file (2024, national). Share of rental properties; “unpaid agent” includes family members. No Nevada or Las Vegas figure exists.

Owners run most small rentals themselves. Paid managers take over as buildings get bigger: about half of properties with 50 or more units use a management company. Counted by units rather than properties, owners managed 33.1% of all U.S. rental units, because units are concentrated in large, professionally run buildings. Across all properties, 36.3% had a paid agent or company. An industry-sponsored owner survey run by The Harris Poll for the 2024 Property Management Trends Report separately puts it at 36% of U.S. rentals (LeadSimple).

A Shift Since 2021?

The survey suggests a shift. The owner-managed share of single-unit rentals fell from 70.2% in 2021 to 50.5% in 2024, and the number of single-unit rentals with a paid manager rose from an estimated 3.6 million to 6.0 million. The fall is larger than the margins of error, but the Census Bureau hasn’t commented on it, and the surveys differ: 562 single-unit interviews in 2021 against 377 in 2024, a lower response rate (49.2% to 45.1%), and a 2024 sample drawn from the 2021 American Housing Survey. Two-to-four-unit properties didn’t move in the same way. Over the same years, individual investors’ share of single-unit rental ownership fell from 70.9% to 59.6%.

Time and Cost

The median self-managing owner of a single-unit rental reported 5 hours of management a month in 2024 (±1.6). 52.3% reported 1 to 5 hours, and 15.4% more than 10. Owners of 2–4-unit properties reported a median of 8 hours. The survey asks this only where the owner or an unpaid agent manages.

Where a single-unit rental had a paid agent or company, the owner’s yearly management expense came to 7.8% (±0.8) of yearly rent in the 2024 survey and 9.4% (±1.4) in the 2021 survey (our calculation; 52 and 70 homes). That expense line should include leasing fees and other charges paid to the manager. The National Association of Residential Property Managers, in an April 2026 letter to the FTC, states that a management fee is “typically eight to twelve percent of collected rent” (NARPM). That is the association’s statement, not a survey. We found no survey of Las Vegas management fees.

A worked example, our arithmetic and not a survey finding: the median rent on owner-managed single-unit rentals was $1,300 in 2024, and 8% of that is about $104 a month. Against 5 hours a month, self-managing saves roughly $20 for each hour of the owner’s time, before leasing fees and ignoring any difference in the rent achieved.

How Self-Managed and Managed Homes Differ

These numbers describe the homes. They don’t show that a manager causes the difference. Owner-managed homes may be cheaper, older or more rural, or let to people the owner knows, and the samples are small. There was no measurable difference in vacancy at the interview in either the 2021 or the 2024 survey, and no clear difference in repair spending as a share of rent. Managed homes were advertised more widely and more often took a standard one-month deposit.

Evictions: The Research Doesn’t Favor Managers

• Las Vegas compares by size. Before the pandemic (April 2019 to March 2020), small investors, owners of five or fewer homes including homes run by managers, filed 1.9 evictions per 100 single-family rentals in the Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson justice courts. Owners of 6 to 15 homes filed 3.8. Three of the largest single-family rental companies filed 8.7 to 9.4; another large company filed 1.6 (Seymour, Housing Policy Debate, 2022).
• Managers file more, but evict less. The only filing-record study we found that looks at property managers directly is from Boston. Landlords with property managers filed evictions about 22% to 41% more often, carried fewer filings through to removal, and had less conflict with tenants (Gomory, Social Forces, 2022, Urban Institute summary).
• A national owner survey points the same way. Among owners of one-to-four-unit properties whose tenant missed rent, having a hired manager “did substantially increase the chance that a missed rent payment led to an eviction filing.” Using a manager had no significant link to tenants falling behind (Decker, Urban Affairs Review, 2021; small sample).

We found no study showing that managed homes see fewer evictions, and none that measures informal evictions by type of landlord.

Why Owners Hire or Leave a Manager

The owner surveys are industry-sponsored. In the 2024 Property Management Trends Report (The Harris Poll for a property management firm owner and LeadSimple, a software vendor; over 750 U.S. owners), owners who don’t use a manager most often said it was too expensive (54%), that they wanted control (43%) or that they worried about maintenance costs (32%). Owners who had stopped using one cited a decline in service quality (42%), slow tenant placement (29%) and fee increases (27%) (LeadSimple). In a 2026 survey by the software vendor Buildium, in which 93% of owners already used a manager, owners said they judge a manager first on responsiveness (43%), then maintenance turnaround (31%), occupancy (30%) and total cost (27%) (Buildium).

What This Means for Owners

• Self-managing is common, and it often works. About half of single-unit rentals and three in four 2–4-unit rentals are run by their owners, at about 5 hours a month for a typical single home. The survey shows no measurable vacancy difference.
• Price the trade-off in your own numbers. Compare a manager’s full written fee list, including leasing, renewal and maintenance charges, with the hours you actually spend. Our property management vs self-managing guide sets out what each involves, and our pricing page lists what our plans include.
• Ask how evictions and late rent are handled, whoever manages. The research doesn’t show fewer evictions with a manager. If you hire, ask for the manager’s filing and late-fee policy and its record. Ours: 14 evictions, never lost, and no tenant we placed in the last two years has been evicted. If you self-manage, keep a written, consistent process for screening, notices and payment plans.
• Apply the same criteria to everyone. Managed homes reach more applicants. Whoever manages, written screening criteria applied to every applicant support fair housing compliance.
• Owners leave managers over service. Before you sign, ask about response times, average days to lease and how fees can change. See how to choose a property manager.

Method and Sources

The Rental Housing Finance Survey figures are our calculation from the Census Bureau’s Rental Housing Finance Survey public-use file. The 2024 file holds 4,425 completed interviews (June to November 2024; money items refer to 2023; 45.1% response rate). We used the 2021 and 2018 files for the trend. Estimates use the survey’s property weights, and 90% margins of error use its 100 replicate weights. The same method reproduces the Census Bureau’s published counts of one-unit and two-to-four-unit rental properties exactly. “Not reported” answers are kept as their own group. The Census Bureau publishes the same tables in its Table Creator. Single-unit comparisons rest on 85 to 177 survey records per group, and the fee shares on 40 to 70.

For evictions we read Seymour’s Las Vegas study, the Urban Institute summary and abstract of Gomory’s Boston study (the full paper is behind a paywall), and Decker’s author manuscript. Owner surveys are industry-sponsored and labeled that way. Figures read November 11, 2026.

• U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, 2024 Rental Housing Finance Survey release: www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2024-rhfs-data.html
• RHFS 2024 public-use file: www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/rhfs/data/public-use-files/2024/rhfspuf2024.csv
• RHFS 2021 public-use file: www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/rhfs/data/public-use-files/2021/rhfspuf2021_v1_1.csv
• RHFS 2018 public-use file: www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/rhfs/data/public-use-files/2018/rhfspuf2018_v2.csv
• RHFS 2024 Items Booklet (question wording): www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/rhfs/technical-documentation/glossary/2024/2024-RHFS-Items-Booklet.pdf
• RHFS Table Creator: www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/rhfs/#/
• NARPM comment letter to the FTC, April 2026: www.narpm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-04-10_narpm_ftc_anprm_comment_letter_final.pdf
• Seymour, “Corporate Landlords and Pandemic and Prepandemic Evictions in Las Vegas,” Housing Policy Debate, 2022: nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Corporate-Landlords-and-Pandemic-and-Prepandemic-Evictions-in-Las-Vegas.pdf
• Urban Institute summary of Gomory, Social Forces, 2022: archive-housingmatters.urban.org/research-summary/do-large-landlords-eviction-practices-differ-small-landlords
• Decker, Urban Affairs Review, 2021 (author manuscript): escholarship.org/uc/item/71f4p81p
• Property Management Trends Report 2024 (industry-sponsored): www.leadsimple.com/pm-trends-report
• Buildium, 2027 State of the Property Management Industry Report (vendor): www.buildium.com/resource/2027-property-management-industry-report/

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