Everybody wants to save on the management fee. I understand it. But after 35 years investing in real estate myself, I can tell you the least costly manager is almost never the most affordable one to own. The fee is the small number. What it costs you in everything else is the big one.
Where bargain management actually costs you
A cut rate manager saves you a point or two on the monthly fee and then loses you far more on the things you don’t see. A bad tenant placement because they skipped real screening, and one bad tenant costs more than a year of management fees. Deferred maintenance that turns a small repair into a major one. Slow leasing that leaves a unit vacant an extra month. Marked up repair invoices where they quietly pad every bill. Late fees they keep instead of passing to you.
Add all that up and the manager who charged you less ends up costing you thousands more. The fee was never the real number.
What good management actually does
Real screening so you get tenants who pay and stay. Real maintenance oversight so small problems stay small. Honest reporting so you always know what’s happening. And a structure that puts your money back in your pocket, with 100% of late fees going to you, not us.
When you measure a manager, don’t measure the fee. Measure what you actually keep at the end of the year. That’s the number that matters.
Want a straight look at what your property should really be netting? Call Mike Fisher, Licensed Illinois Real Estate Broker, M Property Group LLC (New Lenox, IL), at 708 719 0977 for a free rental analysis.
