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Updated 11 months ago on . Most recent reply
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Is it common for PMs to charge a tenant placement fee?
I am about to close on a single fam home in north Austin that I plan to rent. I have found a good property manager as I live out of state. In reviewing the agreement I see that the PM will charge the 8% which is reasonable but I see that they also will charge one month's rent for placement of tenants. Is this common place? My other investments are short term air bnb type rentals so the PM arrangement is different. Looking for feedback particularly in the Austin area.
- Amirra Elgamiel
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Quote from @Jeremiah Dunakin:
I’m very new to this. But I am confused at property managers. I self manage from 15 miles away. I take care of all maintenance and rent collection. While I have a sfh in a working class northern town I don’t get all the fees. So if I rent my property for 1000$ they take 8% a month which is 80$. Then I have to pay them one month or a 1000$ fee to place someone. The first year they get 1960$.basically they get the same profit I get. We put our place on Facebook and whoever rent redi advertise through. We took pictures with an iPhone. They can take pretty good pictures. We directed people to rent redi to pre qualify. They would qualify and we show property. The pre screen took care of most of riff raff and the 25$ application fee took care of the rest. When something happens I take care of it. I change air filters out every three months and have done some minor maintenance. Rent refi collects the rent. I guess I’m not sure what a property manager does to deserve a 50/50 split.
When tenant moves out my wife and I will clean up real good paint and patch on a Saturday afternoon.
Maybe someone can help me understand
It's called the overhead cost of running a business. Property management is a very low margin business. On that $1960 in revenue, a PM companies profit is between $100-$200 om the year.
- Russell Brazil
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