Property Management charging too much!?!?

[Bryson Cox]

Hello....

I wanted to get people's opinions on how much is normal for a property management company to charge? Currently the management company for my 13 unit apartment complex is charging 10% of all rent collected as well as the first months rent on a unit that becomes rented out. With this added bonus for them filling a unit, the total management expense comes out close to 13-16% of the total gross rent collected which seems high to me. I also fear that this first months rent bonus for getting a unit rented out takes away incentive for the company to get renters to renew their lease. Thoughts on this??

The company has a good reputation in the area but after analyzing my numbers, I found the units have been occupied less than 70% on average the last few years. I am dealing with a C Class neighborhood but should expect closer to 80% occupied at the very least, am I right? Average vacancy rates in the area have been from 16-10% but my property has roughly 30%+ vacancy rate. From everything I've researched this is not good enough. How do I hold my property management company standard, especially when I feel they are charging me so much?

Should I approach them about performing better? Or try to negotiate a lower property management fee? 

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.