Rental Property Inspection

[Libby Baugher]

Hi all, yesterday I posted a question asking if your property manager does inspections on your rental properties and if yes, how often. I forgot to ask another question in that post which was, how much does your property manager charge for those inspections? Right now I pay 10% management fee every month. Should the inspection fee be included in that management fee or should the inspection fee be in addition to? Right now I’m paying 100 dollars for each property to have a quarterly inspection. I’m thinking this is way too much, especially 4 times a year for each property. Thoughts?

LB

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Libby Baugher:

Hi all, yesterday I posted a question asking if your property manager does inspections on your rental properties and if yes, how often. I forgot to ask another question in that post which was, how much does your property manager charge for those inspections? Right now I pay 10% management fee every month. Should the inspection fee be included in that management fee or should the inspection fee be in addition to? Right now I’m paying 100 dollars for each property to have a quarterly inspection. I’m thinking this is way too much, especially 4 times a year for each property. Thoughts?

LB

The new business model is to break out certain tasks and charge extra for them, like airlines charging for luggage. It's increasingly common for property managers to do the same. However, their basic services should be included in the general price. They were hired to manage your property, and that can only be done if they are actually viewing the property. If they charge separate for inspections, how are they managing your home?

Four inspections a year is too many. $100 per inspection is too much. A home inspector (used during purchase) will charge around $100 an hour, but they are usually trained, licensed, insured, and they conduct a far more thorough inspection and provide a very detailed report, far more than your PM could do. How are they justifying that cost? I suspect they are hiring an outside person to inspect an they're charging a premium to make a profit.

I clearly don't know all the details, but based on what you've told me, I would shop around for another PM. It sounds like yours is charging a premium for services that should be basic.