Atlanta Property Management

[Michael Giuffre]

I'm in the process of buying my first rental property in the Bouldercrest Acres area of Atlanta (30316) and am trying to determine if j should use a property management company right out the gate. It seems like it would be easier to have the Mgmt company show the house, procure a tenant at a good rental rate and manage month to month but is it worth the 10% monthly fee and 1 month rent fee for placement if I only have one rental? I'm open to self managing but looking for those with more experience to give advice. Does anyone have a good property management company in Atlanta they can refer? I'm speaking with MJ Howard company now and they're actually attending walk throughs of the properties with me before I put in offers so they seem to be worth their potential fees (noted above). Any input or recommendations?

[Jonathan G.]

You need to factor in more than 10% for management company cost. For example if you have a place that you would like to rent out for $1000 per month, the management company is going to want the first months rent as part of their commission. If you divide out that fee over 12 months, it adds another 8% to your monthly cost for a total of 18% per month for the year. When they renew the lease, they may only charge you half of the base rent which would come out to approximately 14% per month cost. It's always more than 10%.