Using a property mgmt company

[Bryan Graf]

Hello all,

I am in the process of buying a few rental properties and am interested in hiring a property management company. My day job requires extensive travel and unfortunately managing the properties myself is not an option. There is one firm in particular I would like to use since they already manage two of the properties i'm buying and both sellers spoke highly of them. They charge 10% of collected rent and provide all services form placing tenants to making repairs to collections.If they place a tenant for you they charge 50% of first months rent. I was wondering if any of you use this type of service and what is your experience? Are these fees reasonable? From what I've read here it seems like most of you manage your own properties.

[Jon Holdman]

Those fees are typical for my area.

Unfortunately, there's a hidden cost to this. If the tenant calls and says "the faucet is leaking (or whatever)", the PM is going to send someone over. That's $100, minimum. In reality, it could be something very minor that 10 minutes of your time (plus drive time) could easily fix. That may be an appropriate trade off for you and your situation. But realize that 10% plus a half month's rent is just the start.