My $8000 problem. Do agents really deserve $200+/hr

[Joe Kim]

I have a problem with paying people by percentage rather than pay per hour.

For example, nearly every single property manager charges a percentage of the rent 6% to 10% of the monthly rent for property management fees.

However, if a property rents for $2000/month vs. $1000/month - the property manager makes double!  But is it double the work for the property manager?   No way.   In fact, it may take more work to manage a tenant/home that pays $1000/month versus a tenant that pays $2000/month.

I finally found a property manager who charges a flat fee of $75/month!!   So instead of paying $200/month (10% of $2000/month), I saved $125/month.

Now, let's translate that to the lease up fee.   It's the EXACT same problem.

If something rents for $1000/month vs. $3000/month - does the agent/property manager do 3X the work to get $3000 for lease up or finding a tenant who is willing to pay $3000/month versus getting paid $1000 (1 months fee) for leasing up a tenant for $1000/month?

It's the same work but the agent/property manager is make 3X the amount of money.

So here is my specific problem.   I have several properties that need to be leased up and I"m calculating that it will costs me around $8000 in lease up fees!!   

These are higher end properties with fairly high rents.    

So here are my calculations

$8000/3 properties =  $2600/per property

How long do you think a property manager spends to advertise your property, do background checks, and finally lease it up for you?   10 hours total, 20 hours, 30 hours, 40 hours? 

I want to SHOUT out to BP to property managers/agents.

How many HOURS do you think you typically spend in order to find a tenant for a property?

Paperwork = hours

Advertising = hours

Showings = hours

background check = hours

miscellaneous = hours

[Mike Cumbie]

I paid for some professional painters. They estimated the job would take 3 days with the both of them for $1200. I said go for it. They worked late and were done in 2 days. If we tallied up the hours I suppose they may have owed me some back but I was happy they did a Rockstar job, worked through their mealtimes and cut out early for a long weekend. I was happy as a clam and don't care what they made per hour. If they accomplished what they did in 10 minutes I would have paid it again.

When your mindset is "What is this person making per hour" you tend to find a lot of people that seem to take twice as long to accomplish a job half as good. I pay for a job done right, granted I don't often pay retail, but I don't watch any ones hours either.