Property Management fees

[Michelle Marty]

A little back story: I have 5 units (one multi-family, one single family) out of state. I have a local PM to handle the day to day. I know the owner of the company through various networking affiliations and when he decided to start his pm company he called to ask for my business. There were some bumps in the road but I liked the guy and appreciated his vision so I stuck with him. Now 5 years later he is more established and has a good business going. For the last two years he has upped his fees to the point it seems to boarder excessive so to those of you that use a pm, what do you pay? Here is a run down of my fees: 10% of rents, $350 leasing fee, 50% of any deposits kept including non refundable pet deposits, 100% of any fees charged to the tenant (application fee, etc) $50 renewal fee and 10% of any repair. The leasing fee went up, the renewal fee is new as is the repair fee. Thoughts?

[Jason E. Smith]

the 10% for repair is common but I've found it's a conflict of interest. The more you pay for a repair the more revenue the PM generates. I had a PM in Charlotte that was charging me a lot for repairs. The straw that broke the camels back was when they tried to charge me >$10k for a foundation repair that I eventually had completed and passed all inspection last for $2,200. Most the fees you've said are normal I'd just keep an eye on maintenance charges since your PM will be gaining revenue at your expense.