Property Management Maintenance and Flat rate vendors

[Gen Young]

Hi everyone,

I have a couple properties managed by a prop management that charges me a flat rate fee monthly. I seem to constantly have repairs for an 8 year old home (which the tenant does not even pay on time), including leaking faucets, fallen fences caused by overgrown trees falling, broken exhaust fans, etc. Most recently, some part on the heater/ac broke which they are charging me almost $400 for. I asked for invoice from the vendor but she said it's a flat rate and if I wanted an "estimate" it would be an extra $65 charge. I'm having trouble seeing how this costs $400 when the part is $100 at Home Depot. She said if I wanted a different vendor, there would be another fee. Just wanted to check if this is normal? I'm pretty new to this so any advice would be great. Thanks!

[Catherine A.]

Hi Gen,

I've only used property management companies that charge percentages of rent and itemize all work done on the house. Invoices are provided.

If you're only having issues with this one house, you could find another PM that works on commission and is more transparent with their expenses. Maybe you could have the new PM manage this particular house and see if anything changes in terms of cost on your end.

Another thing you could do is pay for the invoice this one time and see what the breakdown actually was. If you're not satisfied, then look for another PM. If you're ok with it, well, you're only out $65 and you've re-gained confidence in your current PM.

Hope this helps. Good luck to you!

Catherine