Property Manager Dropping Rental Pricing Without Our Knowledge

[Mike Loughry]

We recently switched to a new property manager in Fort Myers FL, which we believe is a good rental market. We had a low-ncome unit become vacant and we originally listed it at $875, which we think is market. The property manager said there was lots of interest at that price when they listed. Six weeks later, the unit has not been rented, and they say they lowered the price to $799, without our knowledge and permission, and want to go down to $750, since there has been no interest and in fact no showings to date. This does not feel right. In our experience, property managers always check with us before they drop the price, so we were very surprised and taken aback. Also the story now does not jibe with the story six weeks ago.

We are thinking that maybe they are not really interested in renting out but rather in getting a lot of applications, since they charge $50 per person nonrefundable with each application. Has anyone run across this type of scheme? 

Any feedback/comments would be appreciated.