Vacation Rental - Property Manager Question
I recently bought a vacation rental property that is managed by an independent Property Manager. I inherited the PM that the previous owner had been using. The property is typically rented by the week for anywhere from $3000-5000/wk depending upon the season. The PM collects deposits, rental payments, and fees from the tenants, and then pays me 80% of the rent (their management fee is 20%).
Recently I have started having doubts that the PM is always being honest with me. The rents vary by week and I give the PM the discretion to lower the rental price if needed to make the sale. So one week it may be rented for $4000, and the following week it may rent for $3700. The rent checks go directly to the PM and are held in the PM's account, and I am only paid after the tenants checkout. My concern is that it would be very easy for PM to be skimming money off the rent (ie: tell me it rented for $3700 when they actually collected $4000.)
My questions are:
1. Does this sound like a typical property management arrangement? Should the upfront rent money be held in the PM's account, or should I be in control of the account?
2. How can I assure myself that I am not being stolen from? Should I ask for cancelled rent checks?