Neighborhood Haiku Series: Downtown La Mesa

Property maintenance isn’t an especially exciting topic… until a heater stops working during the first cold weekend, a heavy rainstorm meets a clogged gutter, or an oven gives up with a holiday turkey inside.

Aaron Duggan shares six pieces of common property management advice TPM chose not to follow—and how focusing on people, systems, communication, and long-term thinking helped build a successful San Diego property management company.

Looking to invest in rental property in East County San Diego? Explore the best neighborhoods like La Mesa and El Cajon, plus key factors like rental demand, ROI, and long-term value.

If you’ve ever managed a rental property yourself, you know how quickly a “simple” issue can turn into something more. A maintenance request comes in. You look into it. You reach out to a vendor. You wait. You follow up. You compare options. You make a call and hope it’s the right one. And sometimes… it is. And sometimes… it comes back. It’s not that the issue itself is complicated. It’s everything around it.