Self-Managing vs. Hiring a Property Manager in Des Moines
This is one of the most common questions small investors in Des Moines wrestle with: is professional property management worth it, or am I just paying someone to do what I can do myself?
It's a legitimate question, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you're actually accounting for.
Why Preventive Maintenance Is the Highest-ROI Decision You Can Make as a Des Moines Landlord
Most landlords think about maintenance the same way they think about the dentist: you go when something hurts. A tenant calls about a broken furnace in January. The water heater fails on a Friday night. The roof starts leaking the week after a heavy storm.
Reactive maintenance isn't just stressful — it's expensive. Emergency service calls, rush vendor rates, water damage that compounds because nobody caught the slow leak, HVAC replacement that could have been a tune-up. Every one of these costs more than it would have with a proactive approach.
What Des Moines ADU Zoning Actually Means for Rental Property Owners
If you own a single-family rental in Des Moines and haven't looked into ADUs yet, you're leaving a rental unit on the table.
In July 2025, Iowa passed a statewide law permitting one accessory dwelling unit per residential lot across the state. Des Moines already had its own ADU ordinance in place - updated in 2022 to expand the number of qualifying properties by up to four times - but the state law reinforces and extends that access across the broader metro. For small investors in the Des Moines area, this is one of the most significant zoning changes in years.
Here's what you actually need to know.