Comparing Property Management Quotes: A Worksheet That Shows the Real Cost

Two property management quotes with different headline fees can cost you the same amount over a year, and the cheaper-looking one is often the more expensive one. The only comparison that holds up is an annual total built from every fee, with the same assumptions applied to every company. That takes a worksheet, not a brochure.

This is the worksheet I would hand a friend. Build it once, fill it in for each quote, and the real cost of each manager becomes a single number you can put next to the others.

Comparing two plans at the same company? Is full-service property management worth the higher fee? applies this method to plan levels.

Why the headline fee cannot be compared on its own

The monthly management fee is the number managers compete on, so it is the number they shape. A company can lower it and recover the difference through a higher leasing fee, a renewal fee, a maintenance markup or a per-inspection charge. None of that is dishonest if it is written down, but it means the headline is a starting point, not a price.

The second problem is that fees are charged on different triggers. Some are monthly, some happen once per tenant, some happen once per repair. A quote cannot be compared until each fee is converted to what it costs in a normal year. That conversion is the whole point of the worksheet.

If you want the list of add-ons that tend to hide in the fee schedule, read hidden property management fees to ask about first. This guide assumes you have that list and shows you what to do with it.

Set the same assumptions for every quote

Before you write a single fee down, decide on the assumptions you will apply to every company. If you change them per quote, the worksheet is useless. Write these at the top of the page:

• Monthly rent. Use the figure from a rental analysis, not a hope. If you do not have one yet, a free rental analysis gives you a defensible number.
• Tenant turnover. Pick how often you expect a new tenant. For a well-kept single-family home with a good manager, a new tenant every two or three years is a reasonable planning figure. Use the same figure for every quote.
• Vacant days per turnover. Choose one number and keep it. The point is consistency, not prediction.
• Repairs per year. Estimate the number of service calls and a rough annual repair spend. Older homes and homes with pools get more.
• Inspections per year. Decide how many you want, then see what each quote includes.

For the examples below, say rent is $2,000 a month, a new tenant every two years, and about $1,500 a year in repairs across four service calls. These are illustrative figures to make the math visible, not market data.

The rows every quote gets

Draw a table with one column per company and these rows. Every quote gets every row, even if the answer is zero. A zero that is confirmed in writing is worth more than a blank.

• Monthly management fee, converted to an annual amount.
• Leasing or tenant placement fee, divided by your turnover assumption.
• Renewal fee, applied in the years a tenant stays.
• Maintenance markup or coordination fee, applied to your repair assumption.
• Inspection fees beyond what is included.
• Setup or onboarding fee, spread over the years you expect to stay.
• Vacancy fee, if any is charged while the home is empty.
• Early termination fee, listed separately as a risk item.
• Any administrative, technology, statement or portal fee.

Keep a notes column. Half the value of this exercise is the answers you collect while filling it in. Date each answer and note who gave it, because the person who quoted you is not always the person who will manage you, and a fee that was waived verbally in the sales call has a way of reappearing in the agreement.

If a company has a fee that does not fit any of these rows, add a row rather than folding it into another. Odd fees deserve their own line precisely because they are odd.

How to convert each fee to an annual cost

Percentage fees are converted using your rent assumption. A management fee quoted as a percentage of collected rent becomes that percentage of your annual rent. A flat monthly fee is simply multiplied by twelve. Either way, write the dollar result, not the percentage, because dollars are what you compare.

Per-event fees are spread over your assumptions. With a new tenant every two years, a leasing fee is halved to get the annual figure. A renewal fee lands in the alternate years, so it is also halved. A per-repair markup is applied to your repair spend: if a company adds a markup to vendor invoices and you expect $1,500 a year in repairs, the annual cost of that markup is easy to calculate.

One-time fees are spread over your expected relationship. If you plan to hold the home for five years, a setup fee is one fifth of itself per year. If you are not sure how long you will stay, use three years so the fee is not understated.

The flat fee versus percentage guide explains how the two structures behave as rent changes. For the worksheet, both simply become an annual dollar figure.

The two rows most owners forget: vacancy and turnover

A quote is a list of what the manager charges. It is not a list of what the manager costs you, and the biggest costs of a bad manager never appear on the fee schedule. They show up as extra vacant days and extra turnovers.

Add two rows below the fees. The first is lost rent from vacancy: your vacant-days assumption, converted to dollars at your rent figure, divided by your turnover interval. The second is turnover cost: make-ready, cleaning, rekeying and marketing, divided the same way. Use the same figures for every quote to start.

Then adjust them where you have evidence. If a company shows you documented inspections, a written screening standard and a renewal process, it is reasonable to assume fewer turnovers and fewer vacant days than a company that cannot explain how it keeps tenants. Note the reason for every adjustment in the notes column so you can defend it to yourself later. The full picture of what an empty month costs is in what a vacant month really costs.

One question to ask on every line

The worksheet only works if the numbers in it are true, and the way to make them true is to ask one specific question per row and write the answer down. These are the ones that get the most useful answers:

• Management fee: Is it charged on rent collected or rent due, and is it charged while the home is vacant?
• Leasing fee: Is this the complete cost of placing a tenant, including photos, marketing, screening, the lease and the move-in inspection?
• Renewal fee: What work is done for it, and is it charged if the rent does not change?
• Maintenance: Are vendor invoices passed through at cost, and will I see the original invoice?
• Inspections: How many per year are included, who performs them, and what does the report look like?
• Setup: Is this charged per account or per property, and is it waived for a takeover?
• Termination: What does it cost to leave, and what happens to the leasing fee if I leave mid-lease?

A manager who answers every one of these clearly and in writing is telling you something about how they will handle your statements. A manager who gets vague on the third question is telling you something too.

Ask these by email where you can. Written answers are easier to compare side by side, and they are the answers you will hold the company to later.

A worked example with two illustrative quotes

Say Company A quotes a lower monthly fee, a full month of rent as a leasing fee, a renewal fee, and a markup on repairs. Company B quotes a higher monthly fee, a smaller leasing fee, no renewal fee, and invoices at cost. On the brochure, A looks cheaper.

Run both through the worksheet at $2,000 rent with a new tenant every two years. Company A's lower monthly fee saves a few hundred dollars a year. But its larger leasing fee, spread over two years, costs more than that saving. Add the renewal fee in the alternate year and the markup on $1,500 of repairs, and Company A's annual total overtakes Company B's.

Now add the vacancy and turnover rows. If Company B's documented process gives you confidence to assume one fewer week of vacancy per turnover, that is another few hundred dollars a year in B's favor. The brochure said A. The worksheet says B, and it shows you exactly why. The numbers here are made up to show the method; your own quotes will fall wherever they fall.

What the annual number still does not tell you

The worksheet produces a cost. It does not produce a value, and the two should be read together. A company that is a little more expensive on the sheet but is broker-owned, local, inspects with photos and puts every fee in writing before you sign may be the lower-risk choice by a wide margin. A company that wins the sheet by a small amount and cannot show you a sample owner statement is not a bargain.

Use the sheet to remove the companies that are expensive once the add-ons are counted. Then choose among the rest on process, references and the agreement itself. Our own fee schedule is on the pricing and fees page, and what we commit to in writing is on the guarantees page, so you can run us through the same rows as everyone else.

If you would like a quote built so it drops straight into this worksheet, with every row answered, ask us for one.

The takeaway: Compare managers on one annual number built from every fee and the same assumptions, then choose among the finalists on process, not on the brochure.

Questions owners ask

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