I am taking a gap year or two in 2024 and will be looking to rent my house out while I am gone. However this is most likely going to be a gap year followed by a expat move abroad at the end. I am curious what people have paid in the past for a company to manage a home. I have one proposal from the local company, but there are a few items I told them are deal killers for me. Trying to gauge how the bids I am getting stack up to those elsewhere. Running an AirBnB isnt an option due to local new laws nor do I want any part in that.

I am not opposed to renting it out on my own, I have done it before but this time I will be on another continent. I know the local contractors who would do repairs and have a friend that is willing to help out when needed. Overall the house is in remarkable condition being 100 years old. It shouldnt have any major repairs as most the big ticket items have been done by myself or the previous owner.

For reference:
3850sqft
NW CO town (less than 2000 people)
7 bed/4 bath
Rental amount: $2800-$3000/month

1st bid:
$30 month to list to find tenants
Half first months rent
10% each month rent
10% markup on each repair to be paid 30 days from invoice
PM company gets first rights to buy and will act as broker with 6% commission (this is a deal breaker)

Also, I have the house half furnished. I have 4 bedrooms fully furnished along with kitchen living, dining, media room. Should I sell all of this and rent it unfurnished or leave it? It is either leave it or sell it, storing it is just money out the door to me. I can buy new stuff later if I need to. Any experiences or advice in that realm is appreciated.

Hoyt Ag said:

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$30 month to list to find tenants

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I dont think Id pay this. It's not much money but the only reason it's there is to be a buffer for them if they can't get it leased. Should be no incentive for poor performance.

In CS. Use PM for 3 rent houses.

New Tenants 50% First Month
8% per month for management
Any repair under $500 is at their discretion. Over $500 needs landlord approval.
Tenants Staying is 10% commission.


I don't think they should markup repairs. Our company charges $45/hr for their guys to evaluate and repair if they can. If they can't they still get paid for going and evaluating and call someone who can.
Agree that the first rights to buy would be deal breaker. No way that works out well for you.


Hope this helps.

Thanks, this confirms my thoughts somewhat. I still have time to sort things out still, but I think I will pass on these guys for now.
The first rights is the dumbest thing I have heard of.

In Houston and have rented out my house for ~6 yrs while I have been abroad.

I pay flat fee $120 month. When I need to find a new tenant there is a one month commission fee. Property rents out $4k+ per month.

We had a management company on an POA run 7 unit townhome complex. A hail storm damaged all of the slate roofs. Replacement was going to be $150000. I got all the bids. We voted on how to move forward. The management company said they get a 25% fee for the repairs. They had done nothing. We fired them before the replacement.

I have a condo managed, here are the terms:

- 1 month rent to place a tenant, with owner approval of tenant.
- 9% of rent per month to manage.
- Manager keeps late fees, maintenance fees, application fees, etc.
- $300 kept on hand for maintenance at their discretion.

I had to evict a tenant once who wasn't paying rent and it was nice to have them handling this and not me. It's also really nice to have them place a tenant even though the 1 month rent is a bit steep, their 9%/month rate is lower than the 10% most companies in the area charge. This is the second management company I've used because I wasn't happy with the way the first one that had very poor communication.

Common terms are 1/2 or full month rent to place a tenant and 10% per month to manage. Tenant placement includes all services, listing and background checks, etc.

I have seen some contracts with the right to the sales commissions for in the event the property is sold to a tenant they placed, because they look at like they found the buyer. My current management contract doesn't have any rights to the sale.