150 units in a rural market: fully unmanned with a kiosk, or keep a part-time body on site?

I've held this facility eleven years and the manager who came with it is retiring in the spring. She works 22 hours a week and costs me a bit over 26k all in with payroll taxes. Occupancy has sat between 91 and 94 percent for six straight years, which I put down partly to her knowing everyone in the county.

The case for going unmanned is arithmetic. Online rentals, gate app, a call center on contract, and a local handyman for the pavement and the gate motor. Call it 9k a year plus software. That's 17k a year back on a facility that grosses 214k, which is over half a point of cap value at any reasonable multiple.

The case against is that this is a rural market with an older customer base and a lot of drive-by rentals. My best guess is that a third of my move-ins in a given year are somebody who pulled in without calling first and rented because there was a person at the desk. If unmanned costs me even four points of occupancy, I've given back the whole saving and then some. There's also the auction and delinquency work, which requires somebody who will actually follow the notice procedure the state sets out. That varies by state and I'd have my attorney confirm the current requirements before changing who handles it.

I genuinely don't know which way to go and I have until March. The wrinkle is that a buyer someday probably prefers the unmanned expense line, and I do intend to sell this eventually.