Another factor that works well with US investors is that the local currently AED (Dihram) is pegged to the USD at 3.67~ AED per 1 USD.For long term rentals, its on average 5-8% after the “Service Charge” reduction.

If you are going to charge your boyfriend rent, what if you break up?

You should focus on the quality of the agent, not the amount they charge.

A lot of them charge much higher and include extra "material" but if my experience tells m anything, you won't need that. 

They may be charging a full month's rent for the leasing fee and keeping every penny of it.

They typically charge to find a new tenant, renew leases, and upcharge on maintenance.

I'm not crazy about the big box stores as they seem to charge too much. 

Vrbo has free price automation software.I use Excel for book keeping.I don't pay for any third party software, not really needed on 1 or 2 properties.I charge a little extra for cleaning fee than actual cleaning costs.

You don’t think you can charge $2/day more with appliances?

I charge two months security deposit (roughly $3,850) per unit and have only once needed to deduct for anything other than a cleaning fee.