How much do property managers charge?

There are two common ways managers price ongoing service. The first is a percentage of the rent they collect each month. The second is a flat monthly fee that does not move with rent. Percentage pricing scales with your rent, while flat pricing is predictable but can cost more on a lower-rent unit.

Separate from the monthly fee, most managers charge a tenant placement or leasing fee each time they fill a vacancy. It covers advertising, showings, and screening, and is often quoted as a share of one month's rent or a set amount. On short leases, that fee adds up fast.

The headline rate is rarely the whole story. Read the management agreement line by line and look for these common extras:

• Setup or onboarding fee to bring your property into their system.
• Lease renewal fee each time a tenant stays another term.
• Vacancy fee charged while the unit sits empty.
• Maintenance markup added on top of every repair invoice.
• Eviction handling billed separately when things go wrong.
• Advertising or photography billed at cost or with a markup.

One clause decides more than the headline rate: whether the fee applies to rent collected or rent due. A fee on rent collected means the manager earns only when you get paid, which keeps their incentive aligned with yours. A fee on rent due means you pay even when the tenant does not, so a bad month costs you twice.

Ask for the fee schedule in writing and confirm which basis applies. Also confirm whether late fees, application fees, and any maintenance markups flow to you or to the manager.

A manager earns their fee when you own many doors, live far from the property, or simply do not want the calls. For a single home or a small local portfolio, the math is different. Software now handles the pieces you used to pay a person for: collecting rent, screening applicants, drafting leases, and keeping the books.

Add up a year of management and leasing fees, then compare that to running the same tasks yourself with the right tools. Many self-managing landlords keep the fee in their own pocket without losing the structure a manager provides.