10 Things You NEED as a DIY Landlord (Self-Managing Rentals)

Real Estate Rookie

BiggerPockets

How To, Education, Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Planning to self-manage your rental properties? There’s much more to it than just collecting rent checks! Even as a do-it-yourself (DIY) landlord, you’ll need help, so we’ve assembled a list of 10 must-have tools that will not only improve your property’s performance but also save you a ton of time and money! Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! In this episode, Ashley and Tony are sharing some of their favorite tips, tricks, and tools for rookie landlords. From the best property management software options to unit “cheat sheets” you’ve probably never heard of before, adding these resources to your toolkit will make your life much easier. We show you how to protect your properties with the right insurance and legal protections, as well as how to promptly communicate with tenants without taking those dreaded 2 AM calls. We even share two ways to conceal your personal information, like your home address and personal phone number. Whether you own a single rental property or a large real estate portfolio, add these to your arsenal! In This Episode We Cover 10 must-have tools for self-managing your rental properties Legal protections and insurance policies you can’t afford to go without The one-page “cheat sheet” that tells you everything you need to know about a rental unit Different types of software that will shave hours off your workweek Two ways to keep your personal information private from tenants The number one way DIY landlords burn out (and how to avoid it!) And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-627 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Being a landlord sounds simple until you're the one getting the 2 a.m. call about a leaking toilet or worse.
0:06.4	You have no idea who to call to fix it.
0:09.3	That's when you realize this isn't just about owning rental property.
0:12.7	It's about having the right systems, tools, and backup in place so you don't lose your sanity along the way.
0:18.6	And here's the thing. Most rookies think managing a rental yourself just means collecting rent
0:23.1	and maybe mowing the lawn. But there's an entire set of essentials that separate the landlords
0:28.2	who burn out from the ones who actually scale and succeed as real estate investors. And today,
0:32.9	we're breaking down 10 things every DIY landlord needs in their toolbox.
0:42.8	This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast, and I'm Ashley Care.
0:46.6	And I'm Tony J. Robinson.
0:47.8	And with that, let's jump into DIY tool number one.
0:51.8	The first one is property management software.
0:55.4	And I feel like this can go with any strategy that you're doing is some kind of software
1:00.4	to track your property and to communicate.
1:05.4	So long-term rentals, short-term rentals, midterm rentals,
1:09.6	house hacks, rent byby-the-rooms.
1:12.0	All of the rental strategies, you need some kind of property management software.
1:18.6	So when I started investing, well, before I even started investing, I worked for an apartment
1:25.0	complex, and this was their system. It was a sheet of paper with drawn out
1:32.1	grid lines, the month, the tenant's name, and then a check mark if they actually made payment or not.
1:38.8	And that was how they tracked the rent. This was for a 40-unit apartment complex, okay? So you don't want to have to do
1:47.0	that because it was so aggravating and it took me a long time to actually get a system in place,
	...

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