Rent credit is the part that confuses me when talking about an existing tenant - do I "raise" her rent by including a ~$200 credit, or keep it the same and essentially take a $200/mo hit if she ends up exercising the option.Thanks!

lalana, my advice would be to start small...i started with single family homes..only recently have i looked to expand into larger multifamilies...still haven't ventured to traditional commerical tenants and offices though..i prefer apartments bc someone will always need a place to live...commerical is a while different ball game

Remember the audit is there but the big x factor is the lawsuits.E and O quotes higher rates for property management.Even if the landlord and or the tenant or BOTH are at fault they almost always blame the real estate brokerage.Sometimes it is merited and many other times it is not.So to run a property management company you have to be very meticulous with everything.Many investors are out of state so they will want turn key management (one stop shop).Rates will depend on what type of asset and the size.When you go to IREM there is different training for different classes and sizes.For example the scope and management on a 20 unit apartment building will be very different from a 200 unit complex.Generally for apartments fees are 8 to 10% for 50 units and below and 50 units and above 5 to 7 percent of gross rents.Retail can be as low as 4% management fee.Houses you will be competing with low ball agents who are having a hard time selling real estate.The problem for landlords is once the managers start closing real estate sales they could care less about the rental.This is just like many agents doing bpo's now and when sales pick up they will dump doing the reports fro 50 bucks.If you want to be serious about management do it full time.In my area for houses the most reputable companies charge about 10% plus half of first months rent for houses.It's not about what you charge but what you provide for that fee.You will get landlords trying to squeeze the management fee because they overpaid for the property.That is not your problem when taking on rental property.I don't do property management but one of my broker friends manages over 400 homes with 10 property managers for his company.He likes the residual income it provides.He also land sales off of it as a side benefit.

I've done that but then threw the ball to see where it would go.

I think Jason may be a little optimistic on the potential profit, but that's the right ball park.

If you'll be having them do a bunch of these over time, you can probably negotiate a lower rate; if it's a one-time thing, they'll probably charge more.In general, if the person will be looking at the property, taking a few pictures and giving you a non-written ball-park estimate of the repairs, you should expect to pay $50-75.If you want more (like a written estimate, more pictures, etc), you'll probably have to pay more...

You will not hit a home run with all of them, but the more often you swing at the ball, the better your odds.

Do you landlords out there get low balled on your rental rates?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/double-digit-rent-hikes-are-on-the-way-2011-01-13A perfect storm is brewing for rents to rise.Some highlights:"Multifamily developers broke ground on just 114,000 units in the United States in 2010, a figure so low that it wouldn’t account for all the multifamily units lost last year to the wrecking ball or natural disasters."

It is an exercise in futility to attempt to mark real property to market because there is no liquid market to mark to (sounds like i'm reading Dr.