I’m Mike Fisher with MF CashFlow Property Management, part of M Property Group LLC in New Lenox, IL, a Licensed Illinois Real Estate Broker. I’ve been investing in Chicago real estate for 35 years and done thousands of deals. One of the most common questions I hear on a first call is some version of this: “I only have one or two homes. Would you even take a portfolio that small?” The short answer is yes. A small portfolio is right in our wheelhouse. Here is the honest, longer answer.
You Are Not Too Small. Owners assume the good managers only want big portfolios, so the little guy gets stuck either self-managing forever or handing their homes to a company that treats them like a number. I built this shop on purpose to be the opposite of that. I would rather be a mom-and-pop operation than corporate America. When you have one or two rentals, you are not a rounding error to me. You are the whole relationship.
Mom-and-Pop vs Corporate, and Why It Matters to You. A big corporate manager runs on volume. Your two homes sit inside a book of thousands, and you get whatever process the system spits out. At a smaller shop, the person you talk to is the person who actually knows your property. I am a real estate investor myself, and everyone on my team thinks like an owner, because we manage the way we would want our own rentals managed. That mindset is the real difference, not the size of the logo.
We Already Know Your Neighborhood. Local matters more than owners realize. We manage many homes across the south suburbs and the surrounding communities, so we already know the local rules that trip people up, including the crime-free lease addendum, city rental registration, and what the county wants inside the lease itself. You are not paying us to learn your market on your dime. We are already there.
Tenant Placement Is Where a Small Portfolio Is Won or Lost. When you only own one or two units, a single bad tenant can wipe out a year of cash flow. That is exactly why we go deep on tenant screening. I tell owners straight: I would rather let a home sit vacant another 30 days than rush the wrong tenant in just so we can say we filled it. A vacancy is a known, temporary cost. A bad placement can mean months of lost rent, legal fees, and damage. On a small portfolio, protecting the downside is the whole game, and careful screening is how we do it.
Simple, Transparent Terms. There is no fine print you need a lawyer to decode. Our management fee is 8 percent, and placing a tenant is the first month’s rent. Rent collection runs through AppFolio, so tenants can pay by ACH, credit card, Zelle, or even in person, whichever is easiest for them, because the easier it is to pay, the more reliably you get paid. You get your own AppFolio login to see everything, and your owner statement lands on the 20th or the next business day every month, with your funds sent to your bank the same day.
Maintenance You Can Actually See. We run a 24/7 maintenance hotline where a real person answers, not a voicemail box. Maintenance is handled by our in-house team, which lets us keep the work fast and control the cost. There is a $500 maintenance reserve set up at onboarding, and it stays topped up from the incoming rent. Anything routine under that, we handle and document with a before and after photo on your ledger. Anything bigger, like a water heater that is truly done, we call you first with a number before we spend a dollar. You are never guessing where your money went.
So, Will We Take Your Small Portfolio? Yes. One home or a handful, in the south suburbs or the surrounding communities, we would be glad to take a look and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pressure and no corporate runaround, just a straight conversation with the person who would actually manage your property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is one rental too small to hire a property manager? No. One unit still carries the full legal exposure and the full on-call burden of a larger portfolio. Whether hiring out is worth it comes down to your time, your distance from the property, and how confident you are in your screening and paperwork.
What does it cost to manage a small portfolio? Our management fee is 8 percent of collected rent, and tenant placement is the first month’s rent. You can see how we charge on our pricing page, and a free rental analysis will show you the numbers for your specific home.
Do you manage in my area? We manage many homes across the south suburbs and surrounding communities and already know the local rental rules. The fastest way to find out is to ask.
If you own one or two rentals and you have been wondering whether anyone good would even take them, the answer is yes. Reach me at (708) 719-0977 or book a time at cal.com/mike-f/30min. At MF CashFlow, our business model is your cashflow.
