Property Management Fees

[Camie Stephen]

Hello All!  I am curious as to how the property managers out there usually structure their fees.  What is included in the monthly fee vs what incurs add'l fees.  For example, processing an eviction takes time and court appearance, do you charge for that time?  Handling maintenance requests and delegating and checking up on the work, do you charge for your time?  

[Andrew Johnson]

Camie Stephen Speaking as an owner, it all depends. You could have a flat 10% to cover everything. You could have 8% plus a leasing/re-leading fee. Late rent penalties may go into the pocket of the owner or the PM company. Some will charge 15% plus fees. And these were all different things I heard from talking to PMs within a 10 miles radius!

What's the most important is to be open and transparent with your fee structure. Most of the "pissed-off owner" posts I see result from repair mark-ups (usually a percentage to account for the time of the PM). If you have to an 8-point font line on page 8 of your PM agreement to justify a fee, that's not a good sign.