Property Managers

[Jatin Shah]

Hey everyone, I'm looking into my first rental property and I will be using a property manager. However, I wanted to know what a fair deal would be? 

One of my relatives has hired a PM for their rental.  They charge 10% of revenue plus, $400 when they find a tenant.  Then $100 if that same tenant renews.  There are other fees, but these the ones that I wanted to bounce off of you guys.  

Thanks,

Jatin

[Nat C.]

Hi Jatin,

The fees you have detailed are fairly standard and fair.

HOWEVER what you should be looking out for is other details in the contract which may not be so apparent at first but can burn a big hole in the rental income. This is from my experience-

1. Do you have to pay any start up or admin fee?

2. What are the cancellation terms and costs? If your property is still vacant after 2 months, can you cancel the contract and find another property manager without penalty?

3. Do they require you to pay a reserve or maintain an account?

4. Up to what price can they perform work without owner approval?

My experience with property managers has been less than desirable. It's not uncommon for the owners brother-in-law to be the in house handyman. They will send the handyman 10 times a year unnecessarily and deduct it from the rent without informing you as you signed a waiver in your contract stating they only needed to seek approval for repairs over $500.

I now require ALL work orders to be emailed me for approval. It cuts out a lot of potential ********.