[LWJ]

I used to manage my own properties. I was awful at it.

I hired two managers. One is awful. One is ok.

I have a bunch of clients in the biz. You can make ok money, no money, or good money. Just like anything.

I think this is a good idea as you have realistic expectations. You will most likely find many other owners who want to hand the tedium off to you. As said before, having a crack team of contractors and maintenance people makes your life much better.

As said above, pick your clients.

Here is some professional advice. I do commercial insurance with these folks. You will want to have Errors and Omissions coverage if you manage for others. You will want to have Tenant Discrimination coverage as well - tenants like to make claims! General Liability claims to PM's are few and far between but the coverage is priced disproportionately high. Don't know why. If you can get it from State Farm or similar, it will be cheaper. USLI has a nifty sounding policy with lots of coverage baked in but there are significant coverage holes in the GL portion. Last piece - have separation of duties on the accounting end. The large volumes of cash make it very easy to embezzle.

Last, on the health coverage, if you can have an employee or two, you can buy group coverage. It typically offers more options and better pricing that individual. That said, you are in Washington, which is sort of a train-wreck in this area.