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Once upon a time I enjoyed white-water rafting. For a string of several years I paddled down various rivers in the south and north-east U.S. And to this day I can say that some of the biggest thrills I've enjoyed have come from my time on some truly crazy rivers. I also live in a small town with a fairly robust river community. Water is a big part of the Greater Pensacola area, and I've had the pleasure of many leisurely trips down the placid Blackwater river. Many a peaceful and relaxing day have been had either casually paddling a canoe or drifting down the river in an inner tube. The two are night and day from each other. You'd never paddle white-water without preparation and the help of experts. Meanwhile, the biggest concern you'll ever have on the Blackwater is whether you've brought enough drinks and snacks. The former requires a professional to help you traverse. The later can be done by anyone. Property management is a lot like a combination of white-water rafting and leisurely river trips. You'll find elements of both. And as technology advances and provides landlords greater and greater access to platforms and tools that were perviously only available to property managers and real estate agents, many of the aspects of property management that were previously only possible with the help of a professional have now become easily accessible to any landlord with a computer and an email address. As such, the perception of property management drifts further towards one where managing a rental home is just like an easy trip down the Blackwater. And then you have moments like our current crisis. The world flips upside down, and everything you thought you knew suddenly and dramatically changes, and now you're in the midst of some nasty Class III and IV rapids. The path you take now matters, and what you need is the help of someone who can expertly guide the boat. Obviously, hopefully, the crisis that has been brought to us by Covid-19 won't last forever. Further, we can take comfort in knowing that we're unlikely to experience such nationally impacting events every year. But even on the individual level, disasters strike. What do you do when a tenant doesn't pay rent? What process do you take when your home isn't being cared for properly? How do you handle a situation where the lease has expired but the tenant won't leave? These and various other situations happen all the time. As a landlord, you don't need a property manager to find a tenant for you; Zillow can do that. You don't need a property manager to collect rent; there are ample financial platforms that can allow you to do that electronically. Technology can provide you digital access to your home making regular inspections easier and without the aid of a property manager. So much of the necessary work of owning rentals is becoming easier and easier to achieve. But these things have never, and never will be, the real reason to have an expert in your pocket. The true value of a property manager is the skill they provide in navigating the big moments, the unknowns, and the surprises. The right property manager sees the possible hazards ahead and puts in place the plans and procedures that help you avoid those hazards. And when you're in the thick of the kinds of rapids that can flip your boat, a good property manager will get you through.