The Hybrid Management Model: Self-Manage Rentals for $20 a Showing

There's an awkward middle stage in this business that almost nobody talks about. You've bought a few properties. You don't have enough time to perfectly manage them, do all the showings, and handle every call: it's genuinely taking away from your life. But you're also not yet big enough to start your own property management company or justify a full-time employee.

Related reading: Why I Started My Own Property Management Company Across 600 Units

That's the gap. And the answer isn't hiring a third-party manager who eats your returns, and it isn't grinding out every showing yourself. It's a hybrid model, and it's what I've used to open brand new markets before they reach the size where full-time staff makes sense.

I see this problem constantly inside the Multifamily Strategy mentorship. Someone joins, goes from single family to 12 units, to 20, to a 50-unit portfolio, and suddenly they're stuck. It doesn't quite make sense in the budget to have a full-time employee working for them. At the same time, managing a portfolio that size is eating their calendar. So how do you manage it in a cost-effective way?

Where This Model Came From

I didn't invent this one. I originally got it from an investor out of New Hampshire named Matthew Hawkins, who goes by Lumberjack Landlord. Fantastic investor.

I've since employed it in multiple markets as I open them. This is how I start a new market, and I keep running it until that market reaches critical mass, at which point it makes sense to bring on full-time staff.

If that sounds like where you are, or where you're heading in the next year, this is the solution.

Step One: Get Your Marketing and Lead Flow Set

Before you solve for labor, solve for leads. There's no point building a showing network if nobody's calling.

I want to make sure I'm distributing to all the listing websites, and especially that I'm actively managing Facebook Marketplace. There are some really cool AI tools you can use to automate Facebook Marketplace now, but however you're managing it, the requirement is the same: your lead flow needs to be set, and you need to be able to assign those leads easily from your phone.

That last part is the whole design constraint. If assigning a showing takes more than a few seconds on your phone, the system won't survive contact with a busy week.

Step Two: Build a Network of Young, Hungry Brokers

Step two is where most people get it backwards. You're going to find a network of brokers, but you are not looking for the best agents or the biggest agents.

I'm looking for young or new brokers who are trying to get their salary up. The ones saying, "I'm trying to get more reps while I'm building my career." I typically see this in the 20 to 25 year old age range. You want a young, hungry broker who has a little extra time and wants to make some extra money.

I want an arsenal of three to four of them. That's my broker network.

Think about what you're actually offering that person. They're a salesperson who needs extra money, and you're handing them a role that pays them right now and goes hand in hand with their existing specialty. They're already comfortable in front of clients (or at least should be, given their career path) and they're used to showing real estate. Walking someone through a rental is the easiest work they'll do all week.

Step Three: Fixed Price Per Showing, Bigger Money Per Lease

Here's the mechanics.

When we have a lead and we have a showing, we have a fixed price. For me it's $20 to do a showing to a qualified tenant. In certain markets it's $15: it depends on where you are in the country.

The word "qualified" is doing real work there. The prospective tenant actually has to fill out an application first. So we have a real applicant who is genuinely interested in the unit, not a tire-kicker wasting an agent's afternoon.

Once we have that, I send a text out to the whole broker network: "Hey, who wants to grab the showing?" First come, first served. The hungriest agents always get the first shot. They get $20 per qualified showing, as long as the person shows up and they're there to do the actual tour.

But whenever you design a program like this, you have to make sure the outcomes are incentivized correctly. Start with the end in mind. The goal is not to do a bunch of showings. The goal is to get leases signed.

So you have to pay a higher commission for actually placing a tenant. For me that's $100 per tenant move-in on top of the showing fee.

• $20 per qualified showing (or $15 in some markets)
• $100 per tenant move-in

That's the entire comp plan. And it's usually a lot cheaper than having a full-time hourly employee: many of whom you'd have to give leasing incentives to anyway.

What you end up with is a very inexpensive network where brokers don't spend a whole lot of time, real estate agents show the units for you, you don't have to drive out, you don't have to handle all the self-showing logistics, and units start leasing.

Step Four: Do the Same Thing With Handymen

The model isn't limited to leasing. You can run the exact same structure for a lot of your handyman tasks.

Build a small network of local handymen and have them all go out on call, first come, first served. Same logic: commission-based, task-specific, no payroll.

The point of the hybrid model is that you're only paying for work that actually happens. No salary sitting idle between vacancies.

The Goal Is to Scale Out of It

I want to be clear about the intent here, because this is where people misread the advice.

You do eventually want to scale your portfolio into a place where you have consistent people and more control. But when you're starting, you don't want to pay for that yet.

I've watched investors kill all of their cash flow trying to set up a management model, and they end up building a property management company, which is not what you want to do 99% of the time. It's the model I personally went for, but I didn't do that until I had over 100 units.

Today, with a 600-plus unit portfolio, I love having on-site staff who work in-office at my larger buildings. Almost none of us, including me, start there.

The hybrid model lets you move forward, have the controls you need, avoid paying for full-time management or your own in-house staff, and run a simple self-managed portfolio in the meantime.

The Software That Runs It

Partner this with any piece of property management software you like.

When you're starting, I personally recommend Buildium: that's where I started. As you scale your portfolio, you'll eventually probably migrate to AppFolio. There are a ton of different options out there.

Pick the property management and marketing software you like best. The specific brand matters far less than the principle: automate the actual man-hours. It's so easy to do. And once you have the simple broker network sitting on top of it, you've basically built your own internal TaskRabbit to run your portfolio the way you want it run.

Key Takeaways

• The hybrid model exists for the in-between stage: too big to self-manage comfortably, too small to justify full-time staff.
• Fix your marketing and lead flow first, with everything assignable from your phone.
• Recruit three to four young, new brokers (not top producers) who want reps and extra income.
• Require an application before a showing so every tour is with a qualified applicant.
• Pay per showing ($20, or $15 in some markets) but pay meaningfully more per move-in ($100) so incentives point at signed leases, not tours.
• Run the same first-come, first-served network for handymen.
• This carries you to roughly 50–75 rentals. You don't need full-time staff until you exceed somewhere around 75 to 100 units.

What I typically see as a result is that people lease faster than they do with third-party management, they have a greater level of control, and they keep their costs way, way down. If you can increase your control and lower your cost at the same time, you have a more profitable rental. Somewhere past 75 to 100 rentals you'll have enough work to find your key person and start building the real team, but until then, the hybrid method is hands down the easiest way to run it.

Watch the full video for the walkthrough. If you want to go deeper, our free multifamily course is at multifamilystrategy.com/get-free-training, the mentorship details are linked in the description, and our free community on Skool comes with a deal calculator you can start using today.

0:00 Hello and welcome back to Multif Family
0:01 Strategy. I'm Christian, your channel
0:02 host. Today I'm going to go over a model
0:04 that I have used for [music] the in
0:06 between. You're an investor. You bought
0:08 a few properties. You don't have enough
0:10 time to perfectly manage them, do all
0:12 the showings, just take away from your
0:13 life, but you're not yet big enough to
0:16 either start your own PM company or have
0:18 your own full-time employees. This is a
0:20 problem I've seen with a lot of
0:22 investors in the multif family strategy
0:23 mentorship. they join, they go from
0:25 single family to 12 to 20 to a 50 unit
0:29 portfolio and now suddenly they're like,
0:30 well, it doesn't quite yet make sense in
0:33 my budget to have a full-time employee
0:35 working for me. That being said, it's
0:38 actually taking away from my life to
0:40 manage the size portfolio that I have.
0:42 How do we manage this in a
0:43 cost-effective way? I actually
0:45 originally got this model from an
0:47 investor out of New Hampshire named
0:49 Matthew Hawkins. He goes by lumberjack
0:52 landlord. Fantastic investor. I've
0:54 employed this in multiple markets as I
0:56 open brand new markets. This is how we
0:58 start that market until we reach
1:00 critical mass where it makes sense to
1:02 have full-time staff. So, if this sounds
1:04 like you or somewhere that you're
1:05 approaching, this is the solution. So,
1:08 the first thing that you need to do is
1:10 you need to make sure that your
1:11 marketing is set. So, I want to make
1:13 sure that I am distributing to all the
1:15 websites and especially I am actively
1:18 managing Facebook Marketplace. Now, you
1:20 can actually use some really cool AI
1:22 tools to automate Facebook Marketplace,
1:24 but however you're managing it, you want
1:26 to make sure that you have your lead
1:28 flow set and you can assign them easily
1:29 from your phone. Step two, you're going
1:32 to find a network of brokers. Now, in
1:34 this case, you're not actually looking
1:35 for the best agents, the biggest agents.
1:37 I'm looking for young or new brokers
1:40 that are trying to get their salary up.
1:42 They're like, "Hey, I I'm trying to get
1:44 more reps while I'm building my career.
1:45 I typically see this age range in the 20
1:49 to 25 year old range, but you find a
1:52 young hungry broker who has a little
1:54 extra time, wants to make some extra
1:56 money. And I want to build an arsenal of
1:59 three to four of them. And I call this
2:01 my broker network. All we do is when we
2:03 have a lead and we have a showing, we
2:05 have a fixed price. For me, it's $20 to
2:08 do a showing to a qualified tenant. Now,
2:10 the prospective tenant actually has to
2:11 fill out an application. So, we have an
2:13 actual applicant who is interested in
2:15 the unit. I then will send a text out to
2:18 the broker network. Hey, who wants to
2:20 grab the showing? It's first come, first
2:22 serve. So, the hungriest agents always
2:24 get the first shot. And I give them $20
2:27 per qualified showing as long as the
2:29 person shows up and they're there. They
2:31 actually do the tour. It's super easy
2:33 for them to do. They're already
2:34 comfortable in front of clients, or at
2:35 least should be with their career path,
2:37 and they're used to showing real estate.
2:39 So you're having a salesperson who needs
2:41 some extra money in a role that pays
2:43 them right now that is that goes
2:45 handinhand with their existing
2:47 specialty. Now whenever you design a
2:48 program like this you want to make sure
2:50 that the outcomes are incentivized
2:52 correctly. So we want to make sure we
2:53 start with the end in mind here and go
2:55 okay well the goal is not to do a bunch
2:57 of showings. The goal is to get leases
2:59 signed. So you have to have a higher
3:01 commission for them actually placing a
3:03 tenant. However, this is usually a lot
3:04 cheaper than having a full-time hourly
3:06 employee. And many of them you also have
3:09 to give leasing incentives to. So
3:11 personally for me it's $20 per showing.
3:13 In certain markets it's $15. Depends on
3:15 where it is in the country. And it's a
3:17 $100 per tenant move in. So ultimately
3:21 what you have is a very inexpensive
3:23 network where brokers don't spend a
3:25 whole lot of time. Your real estate
3:26 agents can show the units for you. It
3:29 you don't have to drive out. You don't
3:30 have to do all the self-showing and you
3:32 can start leasing the units. You can do
3:33 the exact same thing with a lot of your
3:35 handyman task. build a small network of
3:38 local handymen, have them all go out on
3:41 call, first come, first serve. But this
3:43 model of the hybrid of, hey, we just do
3:45 just commissionbased just for specific
3:47 tasks. The goal here is to scale out of
3:50 it. You actually do want to scale your
3:53 portfolio where you have consistent
3:54 people, you have more control, but when
3:56 you're starting, you don't want to pay
3:58 for that. I've seen investors kill all
4:00 of their cash flow trying to set up a
4:03 management model and they ended up
4:04 building a property management company,
4:06 which is not what you want to do 99% of
4:08 the time. And while it's the model that
4:10 I went for, I didn't do that till I had
4:12 over a 100 units. And today with a 600
4:15 plus unit portfolio, I love having
4:18 on-site staff who work in office at my
4:21 larger buildings. Almost none of us,
4:22 including myself, start there. This
4:24 model allows you to move forward, have
4:26 the controls you need, not pay for
4:29 full-time management or your own
4:31 in-house staff, and set up a simple
4:34 hybrid self-management portfolio. Now,
4:37 you'll just partner this with any piece
4:39 of property management software. I
4:40 personally, when you're starting,
4:41 recommend building them. That's where I
4:43 started. And as you scale your
4:44 portfolio, you'll eventually probably
4:46 migrate to Appfolio, but there's a ton
4:48 of different options out there. Choose
4:50 the property management software and
4:52 marketing software that you like the
4:54 best, but automate the actual man-hour.
4:56 It's so easy to do. And if you have this
4:59 simple broker network, you've basically
5:01 built your internal task rabbit to run
5:03 your portfolio the way that you want it
5:05 run. What I typically see as a result of
5:07 this is people lease faster than they do
5:09 in thirdparty management. They have a
5:10 greater level of control. They keep
5:12 their cost way, way, way down. And if
5:14 you can increase both your control and
5:16 lower your cost, you have a more
5:18 profitable rental. You can do this up to
5:20 50 75 rentals. You don't need to get a
5:24 full-time staff until you exceed
5:27 probably 75 to 100 rentals, somewhere in
5:29 that range. You start to get enough work
5:32 to find your key person to help you run
5:35 the portfolio. But until then, easiest
5:37 way to run it, hands down, go the hybrid
5:40 method. Hope this helped. And if I'm
5:42 being completely honest, while this is a
5:43 awesome tip that I think is going to
5:44 help you a bunch, not a lot of people
5:46 are going to watch this video because
5:47 videos on property management don't do
5:49 amazing on YouTube. You do me a huge
5:51 favor and click that like button for me
5:53 so it at least recommends this to a few
5:55 more people. I would massively [music]
5:56 appreciate it. So, if you got value from
5:57 this video, hit the like button. I'll
5:58 see you on the next