$25 Incidental Fee on Top of 10% Property Management Fee???

[Michael Myers]

I've never had to deal with this before with any property managers.  The current one that I have charges a $25/mo incidental insurance fee for evictions and things involved with that process.  This is on top of the 10% fee for monthly service.  So far I haven't had any issues with the tenants but they plan to move after the lease is up.  This may be an opportunity to find another manager.

Is this common this day in age?  Good thing/bad thing?  Has anyone been able to capitalize on this insurance?

[Ryan Murdock]

@Michael Myers

I've never heard of that either. Sounds like they are paying for any evictions (which is unusual but not unheard of) but charging you this monthly insurance fee to do it? 

At $25/mo that's $300/yr which means you'd have to evict a tenant from every unit at least every 2-3 years to have this have "value" to you. 

An eviction in every unit every 2-3 years is a lot, even with C Class rentals where eviction rates are generally higher no matter how well you screen. Sounds like a bum deal for you based on the info provided.

With that said, comparing property management rates and services is NEVER apples-to-apples so you need to look at their overall level of service and your total overall costs and make decisions from there. I would not hire or fire a PM based on stated price alone. Dig deeper and see what you get for that price as compared to other companies in your market.