Self-management vs property management company: renting out in Batumi

We are a property management company ourselves, so let us be honest: in some cases there is no point in paying us. The choice between self-management and a property management company in Batumi comes down to two things: where you live, and whether the apartment is rented short-term or long-term. The manager's commission shows up in every report, but owners rarely count what their own time and trips cost.

When renting out on your own makes sense

An owner who lives in Batumi or nearby can almost always handle long-term rental to one tenant. Most of the work comes at the start: finding and checking the tenant, signing the lease, taking the deposit and making an inventory with photos. After that, all that is left is checking the rent and bills once a month and visiting the apartment every few months.

Owners also run short-term rentals themselves, especially when they live in the city and have only one apartment. In the season this takes time every day: answering guests, meeting them or sending the door code, booking the cleaning and checking the apartment after check-out. If you enjoy this and you are in Batumi, a manager's commission really is unnecessary.

What you will need if you live abroad

From another country you can run the listing and the messages, but you cannot clean the apartment or open the door to a tradesman over a video call. To rent out on your own from a distance, you will need these people and arrangements in Batumi:

• Someone with spare keys who can get to the tenant or guest within a couple of hours
• A cleaner and a laundry if you rent short-term, and cover for them during holidays or illness
• A plumber and an electrician who take on small jobs
• A way to pay for electricity, gas, water and the building service charge
• Someone to visit the empty apartment in winter and keep an eye on damp

You have to pay each of these people, give them tasks and check their work by photo. Add the time difference: a guest writes at night in your time zone, and a reply in the morning can cost you the booking. If you already have such people, renting out on your own from abroad works. If not, the first months will go on finding them.

What changes with a property management company

The company takes over the people in Batumi: cleaning, tradespeople, check-ins, visits to the empty apartment and paying the bills. The decisions stay with you: the rental format, your own dates in the calendar, spending above the limit in the contract and the tax return. In return you pay a commission and give up some control.

Property management companies work in different ways, and signing a contract does not by itself keep the apartment in order. Before signing, check four things:

• A sample monthly report, to see if it shows every booking and every expense with a receipt
• What amount the commission is calculated on and what is charged on top
• Whose platform account the listing will be on, and whether you will have access to it
• How to end the contract and how your keys and belongings will be returned

Self-management vs property management company: comparing the money

It is fairer to compare the two using the same forecast. Take the expected bookings or rent month by month and deduct the costs that exist in both options: the platform commission, utilities, cleaning, minor repairs and tax. After that the options diverge.

For self-management, deduct what you pay your helpers, the flights if you have to come and sort out problems, and the nights lost to a slow reply or a missed cleaning. For the company option, deduct its commission. If the difference in what is left is small and you have no people of your own in Batumi, a company is usually the less stressful choice. If the difference is noticeable and you are in Batumi, it makes sense to rent out on your own.

In-between options

Between "all by yourself" and "all through a company" there is a middle ground. You can run the listing and the messages yourself and hand over check-ins, cleaning and checks to someone in Batumi. You can find a long-term tenant through an agent and then manage the tenancy yourself. You can rent through a company in summer and keep the apartment empty but looked after in winter.

These arrangements work when the contract sets out exactly who is responsible for what and who pays for an urgent tradesman call-out. Without that, the first leak at a weekend turns into an argument about whose job it was. For an apartment you keep for yourself and rent out only in summer, a middle option often works better than either extreme.