All Forum Posts by: Robert T.

Michael, the property is in Ocala FL.  There are others PMs I could go to if it doesn't work out with this one.   I would say the area the property is in is average.

Marco, your right that my trust in her is broken due to this problem.  But the thing is she has been good up until now so I want to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume the original contract was a mistake.

We agreed to the following modified terms:

10% of monthly rent, which would be $90 assuming it rents for $900.
1/2 of first months rent for finding tenant, which would be $450 assuming it rents for $900.
$150 for the yearly renewal of an existing tenant

She told me I can modify the contract to these terms, initial, and send it back.

She mentioned the following regarding the lower 1st month rent:

"The rental is listed on the mls, so another agent may bring us a tenant and then I split the $450 with them. So they would only get $225 which is a little low so some realtors may pass up your rental so show one's that give a higher commission. If we don't get a lot of interest in the first couple of weeks, we can always raise it to entice more realtors to show it. "

I'm posting a copy of the contract. Maybe there is something else I missed while reviewing this. I blanked out the names/addresses.

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Thanks Ralph.  As I'm just starting out I'm not sure at this point on whether or not I have a good property manager.    Up until today she seemed good.

She responded to my email about the cost saying she may have messed up on the contract and that it should have been only 10% per month.  So if I can now get her to lower the cost of finding a tenant and yearly renewals, I'll probably stick with her for now and see how it goes for a year. 

 The contract listed blank for the early termination fee, so I assume that means their is no early termination fee.

Thanks Sarah

Thanks Sarah.   I had some choices for property management that I looked at before I bought the property, but I never ended up contacting them because it looked like I would be using her as my property manager. 

What would be a fair amount to pay the property manager for when the tenant renews the lease?  Would $300 be fair?

As far as I know she does not have a large property management business.  Her main business is as a real estate agent.  When I was buying the place, she told me she did property management too so I went with her once the place was bought.   She said 10% at the time so that is what I expected to see in the contract.  Then I saw an additional $100 per month managing property fee which bothered me, but I wanted to check here first to see if it is a normal fee.  Now that I know that it is not, I'm going to try to get her to lower it.  Although I'm also a little annoyed with her now for trying to over charge me and it makes me want to find somebody else.

Thanks to everyone for their advise.  If I can't get these fees lowered, I'll look for a new property manager.

Thanks Jackie.  Unfortunately I may have to do as you advise and find a different property manager.  I've emailed my property manager asking if I am interpreting her fees correctly.   

Thanks, Patrick. yes, 4 different fees.   It would end up being $190 per month total for the first 2 fees and $900 per year for finding tenant.