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There are many property management companies in the marketplace today. All companies have their own charges and fees that you must incur to contract their services. The truth is that the only management companies that you should hire with are the companies that are FREE.

I know everyone believes there is nothing that is “free” and this is true in general but not from every perspective. When I refer to Free property management, I am talking about a company that provides added value to the properties that it handles. A value that would be unlikely to be reached by the owner managing the property themselves. Let’s examine the value of good real estate management. Value can be expressed in many terms such as equity, lower turnover, higher rents, lower maintenance costs and most importantly, time. Time is the most important asset that exists. Simply put if you had all the money or goods in the world but you had no time to enjoy them, you don’t have much.

Many property owners have full time jobs, family obligations, and little time to manage the property they own to maximum efficiency. Some of these owners work long hours in an attempt to “save” money by not hiring a property manager. After we examine this practice we will see that in most cases the property owner is actually losing money, and more importantly losing time.

The old saying “Time is money” will be a cornerstone of our analysis. Let’s say the property owner in our example is an employee at XYZ Corp and is paid $20 an hour. A general price for property management is somewhere around 10% of collected rent. So we will pretend this owner owns a two family rental property and each unit rents for $700. That means the fee for professional management of this property will be in the area of $140 a month (10% of 700= $70 per unit, times 2 = $140). That equals 7 hours of income for the owner. So if managing this property takes more time than 7 hours a month, or the management of the property interferes with the work of the owner than the owner would actually be better off with a professional property manager.

The time analysis shows that there is not a lot of money to be saved by managing the property yourself, especially if you could use your time towards work you are paid for. However, the time analysis does not show the complete benefits of property management. If managing property was easy and predictable there would be no property management companies. We all know that real estate repairs can pop up seemingly out of nowhere and late tenants can turn into evictions at any time. The main cost occurs during these times, when you need to evict tenants, repair the property, advertise and attract new tenants, and lease the unit to get rental income again. These are the times when property owners with other obligations really lose time and money. You see if a property owner is unable to manage the issues efficiently and loses just one month of rental income, they would have lost enough money to pay for close to a full year of professional property management in many cases!

Good property management will allow you more time to create income or spend time with family and friends. More time is a good enough reason to hire a property manager but that is not the end of the benefits. In addition efficient management will be able to pass savings on to the owner for routine repairs and maintenance through network contractors and vendors. They will be able to make smooth transitions from vacancies to new qualified tenants and maximize Cashflow. So I will conclude by urging property owners with other obligations to strongly consider professional management, because sometimes the cost of trying to save money is just too high.

In 1995 the Arizona legislature authorized a husband and wife to hold title to their home (and other real property and even personal property such as stocks and bonds) as community property with right of survivorship (“CPWROS”).

Prior to this 1995 Arizona real estate law a husband and wife either held title to their home as community property (“husband and wife”) or, most commonly, as joint tenants with right of survivorship (“JTWROS”). Community property had the tax advantage of a step-up in basis of both halves of the home when the surviving spouse sold the home, but had the disadvantage of requiring probate. JTWROS had the tax disadvantage of a step-up in basis of only the deceased spouse’s one-half interest in the home, but had the major advantage of transferring title to the home to the surviving spouse without any requirement of probate. The purpose of the 1995 legislation authorizing CPWROS was to have the “best of both worlds,” namely, after the death of the first spouse a step-up in basis of both halves of the home, but without probate.

The following simplified example will illustrate the importance of a step-up in basis of both halves of the home. A husband and wife buy a home for $40,000 (each has a basis of $20,000). Ten years later the husband dies and the home is now worth $100,000. The wife then sells the home for $100,000.

If the home is JTWROS property, only the deceased husband’s one-half interest will be deemed by the IRS to have a step-up in basis, and the wife will have a taxable gain of $30,000 ($100,000 sale price less deceased husband’s 100% step-up in basis to $50,000 less wife’s original basis of $20,000).

If the home is CPWROS property, both halves will be deemed by the IRS to have a step-up in basis, and the wife will have no taxable gain ($100,000 sale price less deceased husband’s 100% step-up in basis to $50,000 less wife’s 100% step-up in basis to $50,000).

In addition to the tax advantage of owning real property as CPWROS, as opposed to JTWROS, CPWROS real property can only be sold or mortgaged with the consent of both the husband and the wife. JTWROS real property can be sold or mortgaged by either spouse without the consent or even the knowledge of the other spouse.

If a husband and wife want to transfer the title to a home or other real property from JTWROS to CPWROS, they should contact the title insurance company that insured the title at the time of closing. The title insurance company will normally prepare the necessary transfer documentation for a minimal fee, generally less than $250.

Note: Since 1997 a husband and a wife have the $500,000 capital gain exemption on the sale of a principal residence. This $500,000 capital gain exemption is generally available after the death of one of the spouses if a joint tax return is filed and the principal residence is sold in the year of death. Otherwise, the $250,000 capital gain exemption is only available. Therefore, a husband and wife holding title to their home as CPWROS is not as important as with other types of real property, unless there has been significant appreciation of at least $250,000 in the value of the home.