How Much Cash Reserve Do Property Managers Recommend Per Unit?

[Kelly Schroeder]

With repair costs rising and turnover times increasing, many are adjusting recommended reserves.

Common answers I’m hearing:
• $2,000–$3,000 per unit for single-family
• 1–2 months of rent for multifamily
• Additional reserves for older properties

Some investors are also using short-term funding to cover heavier turnovers or larger repairs instead of draining reserves.

Curious what property managers and self-managing landlords here recommend — what’s your reserve target per door in last quarter of 2025?

[Lee Waldrop]

We recommend 20% of annual gross rent for a typical, average condition, single-family. Our average rent is around $1,500/mo, so we advise anywhere between $3-4k set aside per house in reserve. For normal move outs that's about what a unit turn costs where the house was previously in decent shape. We suggest higher for older houses or rentals going through a stabilization plan, with existing deferred maintenance. 

This is a tough area right now with rising costs. It's never a fun conversation with the owner to discuss expenses on a unit turn, even if the common maintenance percentage ratios are being met or exceeded. Even though we advise to keep savings in a separate rental reserve account, it is not a common practice in the real world for many of our clients. Capital replacements and unit turns almost always come from their personal savings or checking account.  We try to educate our clients to stabilize/renovate the properties up front to prevent the money drain year after year on high maintenance.  

As a PM company, we started holding the last month's rent in reserve, in addition to the $500 everyday reserve, when the tenant turns in a move out notice. Our clients seem to like this better than dispersing rent, then a few days later asking them for a contribution to cover unit turn costs.