You say the extra charge is the extra time and bookkeeping needed to collect 2 rents a month.

But make sure you do your bookkeeping and stay organized.

Lawyers for some reason get paid so much per hour when honestly they are just glorified secretaries and book keepers.

I am hoping someone in the BP community can refer me to a great book-keeper looking to add another account.Through my experience I have yet to find a reliable book-keeper in the Detroit/Southeast Michigan area.

I got a system together for bookkeeping, screening, and advertising with 13 units.

If you had a bookkeeping and tax business, who might you sell your business to?

If it is Detroit, then you're right that the especially high taxes may also act to raise expenses above 50%.So, we're clear, Dave, the 50% is just a rule of thumb that says expenses (including taxes, insurance, maintenance, tenant caused expenses above security deposits, common area maintenance, utilities for common areas and vacant units, bookkeeping, legal expenses, grounds maintenance, etc.), capital items, and vacancy will average 50% of gross scheduled rents.

Your bookkeeping will be smoother this way IMO (at least if you have to face an audit).And for any months where you are unpaid by a tenant, you still get the expense for tax purposes.

The level of management needed will depend on the age of the property and what type of repairs have been completed along the way.If you buy a property with deferred maintenance getting it turned around the first 6 months will take a ton of time.A manager should be compensated for the extra work in that case.A 10% fee simply will not cover or make worthwhile all the work involved.There will be eviction,court dates,trash outs,re-conditioning,advertising,tenant apps with criminal and credit check,ongoing repairs with tenants that are staying,etc.For all of you that want to manage other people's properties you need to check with your state's real estate commission.In many states including mine you will have to hold a license with a brokerage or be a broker.Some exceptions is if you are an employee of the company etc.I think often times investors have a high expectancy of PM work.Simply it's like owning a restaurant and having an 8 hr worker.To expect that worker to be just as excited and diligent about the business when they get nothing but a small check is a pipe dream.If I pay 100 for a steak then I demand service.If I go through the drive in at Taco Bell I expect the food to be correct and nothing else.Managing 100 properties yourself without help is the exception and not the rule.This is based on my experience dealing with apartment owners.One had about 210 units over 10 buildings all within a few miles of each other.Vintage stock and unit mix was all different ages.They ran it themselves BUT had a full time leasing manager,bookkeeper,and about 3 maintenance guys.There is no way without the help they could run them selves.I have seen basically one person locally could handle up to about a 20 to 30 unit by themselves.After that it becomes really difficult.Many investors buying in this range are not purchasing a new building.These are older buildings that need constant upkeep and have problems.Typically the mechanicals,plumbing,electrical all start failing at different intervals.I have a 20 unit and have a live in PM.It lets me focus on my real estate deals and I check in with them every 2 days or so to see how things are going.I don't want to do 10 hr work when I can make hundreds per hour selling real estate for my clients.If you want to invest out of state you could do triple net leases for mail box money.The CAP is about 7 to 8% where I am at right now.If you want higher returns then usually you have to take on more problems and risk.

So I was basically raised in a Real Estate Home.Currently, vacancies are hurting our returns, but hopefully, that will turn around soon.I took over total bookkeeping and investing for mom and dad last year.