You appear to be a property manager so I'm willing to bet you follow this same process.You appear to live in Pennsylvania so I will tell you what your state law says: Prepaid Rent: A landlord is only allowed to collect up to 2 month’s rent for escrow purposes, 1 month’s rent during any subsequent years. (68 P.S. §§250.511a.)A recent ruling in PA makes clear that it doesn't matter if you call it prepaid rent or last month's rent or security deposit.

I recommend the later regardless as you'll then be able to judge how complete each vendors offering is compared to the data actually available.Unfortunately, while we are working to expand to your area, we have not yet done this analysis for GA.

Is it a personal move or are you cashing out your equity that you are looking to use for investment purposes? 

Never pay retail.Sometimes I'll purposely choose a 15yr loan.

I did this backwards, more for explanation purposes.  

One is comparable in size and only .50sf but it’s in a bad location.

Even so, it's a pittance compared to what many on here do, but it's pretty encouraging for us.We purchased it for $63,500. 

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

As @Upen was referring to I didn’t have the interest correct in my analysis due to lack of knowledge of the higher interest rates for portfolio loans compared with owner occupied primary mortgages.

When you spend money on cosmetic items it must translate into a comparable rent increase.