Property management company costs

[Avtandil G.]

Hi guys,
New to the forum and new to RE investing, so I appreciate your advice in advance. I am looking to purchase my first income properly in CA's Inland Empire, and since I live in SF Bay Area, can't really manage it myself. So I will be looking for a property management company to manage it for me. A couple of questions:

- How do you go about background-checking the property management company? What is the criteria that you use?
- How much do property management companies typically charge? Is it based on gross or net?
- How easy/hard is it to break a contract with a property management company if you don't like them?

Thanks
-A