Think of all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.

Because of the lease, an MTR operator will often pay first month's rent, security deposit, pet deposit, last month's rent, and even lease application fees.

We went away from pet deposits and pet fees years ago.

In the example below, it shows my "Vrbo commission" is 5% and their "payment processing fee" is 3%, so they take a total of 8% (of the nightly rate + cleaning fee + pet fee). 

How will yo8u handle unauthorized occupants or pets?

You may also charge a pet fee as well. 

That's my biggest pet peeve. 

Do you allow pets?

One of the reasons I asked the question is that it seems strange to me that a property management wouldn’t take anything upfront if they inherited a house that wasn’t ready for rent .Our property management also does the cleaning ( deep clean over 4 days was $1000 but they had to deal with some nasty pet hair , fleas etc)and that included some cover up paint etc .One lesson learned here is every contract with owner : property management varied greatly it seems from what is needed .But moving forward - I feel that $500 a month on a $2100 a month property is too high once it’s rented - unless endless problems persist of course ..thanks for your insight!

Consider all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.