What does "on-site" mean at 60 units? I answered badly.

Someone I know is buying into a 60-unit building and asked me whether it needs on-site staff. I said probably, then spent the drive home realizing I couldn't defend it.

So, plainly, for anyone newer than me. On-site staffing means people whose job is that one property and who are physically there. Usually a community manager in a leasing office, a leasing agent, and one maintenance tech, sometimes a porter. The alternative is off-site or centralized: a portfolio manager covering several buildings from an office somewhere else, showings booked through self-guided tours or a traveling agent, and maintenance from a shared pool of techs who drive between properties.

The reason this is a real decision and not a rule is payroll. A full-time tech in most markets is $50k to $65k loaded, a community manager similar or more, and an office needs a leased unit you're not renting. Call the light version of on-site $110k to $140k a year. On 60 units at $1,300 rent, gross revenue is about $936k, so on-site staffing is 12 to 15% of revenue before you've paid for anything else. That's a big bite and it's why the industry rule of thumb has historically put full on-site staffing somewhere above 80 or 100 units.

The argument for going on-site earlier is that somebody being there changes the building. Turns move faster, work orders don't sit, residents renew because there's a face. Centralized models save payroll and then leak it back as vacancy days and turnover.

I genuinely don't know which side I'd take at 60 units, and I'd like to see how the room splits.