Atlanta Property Management Fees

Hey, Spencer Sutton with Evernest, and today I’m going to answer the question, how much do property management companies charge in Atlanta?

So, that’s a great question.

I actually thought about this video last night, my daughter had basketball practice and afterward, we went to a friend’s house, he happens to be a doctor and a chiropractor.

How Much Do Property Management Companies Charge In Atlanta?

But, you know, just in conversation people typically want to know, like, people usually try to manage it themselves to save money, maybe they don’t know the cost of it, like the real cost of it, maybe they don’t know how much property managers charge.

So, I’m going to tell you today how much property managers charge here in Atlanta.

#1 Leasing Fee

And this leasing fee is typically charged once a resident is placed in the house.

So, that fee covers everything that was done to get that resident in the house.

If the house was walked, marketing photos were taken, sign put in the yard, lockbox put on the house, marketed on websites, marketed, you know, on Zillow, Trulia, all these different websites.

Showings of the property, taking applications, screening those applicants, talking to prospective residents, getting someone to sign the lease, all of that has to happen.

When it does, typically, a property management company here in Atlanta is going to charge a leasing fee.

I’ve seen everything from one month’s lease.

So, the house was rented for $1,500, they charged $1,500.

I’ve seen 75% of the first month’s rent, and I’ve seen 50% of the first month’s rent.

There is all kind of, you know, different ways that property management companies will charge that leasing fee.

But be sure, most definitely, there’s probably a leasing fee.

Let me step a little bit before that. Some companies may even charge a startup fee.

So, they may charge a fee just to get you in their system and it would be probably a nominal fee.

I don’t know, it could be $50 to $100, I’m not really sure. We don’t charge one.

So, I don’t know the exact number or a range but just you might want to ask about, that some companies will have a startup or a setup fee.

But the leasing phase is the first one, it’s the main fee that you’ll see first.

#2 Property Management Fee

Now, that management fee is gonna start from month one that that resident lives in the house until they move out.

And that management fee is going to be, you know, based on whatever the property manager thinks is fair to offer.

Some companies offer a flat fee and some companies offer a percentage based.

Could Be From 7% to 10%.

So, it just really depends, you know, it could be anything from 7% to 10%.

It could be a flat fee of $75 to $150, in varying services all throughout that encompass…that are encompassed in that fee.

So, think about that, you’re going to have a leasing fee, it’s going to be a one-time fee for a brand new resident, then you’re going to have a management fee.

That management fee is ongoing.

And So, What Do You Receive For That Management Fee?

Well, you’re going to have…your property manager’s going to have all the communication, take care of all the communication with a resident.

They’re going to manage work orders for you. In other words, they’re going to handle maintenance requests from the resident, they’re gonna schedule techs to go out there and do different things.

They’re going to answer any kind of questions, they’re also going to answer questions from you.

So, There’s Going To Be Some Owner Communication Going On.

They’re going to collect rent, they’re going to disperse that rent to you, they’re going to prepare owner statements for you.

So, there’s a lot that goes in there during the course of let’s just say a 12-month lease that they’re going to handle for you, and that’s what that management fee is for.

So, that’s fee number two.

#3 Renewal Fee.

So, let’s say your resident decides to stay in the property, in your house another 12 months, there’s probably gonna be a renewal fee.

And that is for the property management company to contact the resident and see if they…first they’re going contact you and say, “Do you want to rent to this resident again?”

And if you say, “Yes, I want to,” they may talk to you about the price increase, you know, rent of…raising the rent a little bit, then they’re going to reach out to the resident and say.

The Owner Has Agreed!

“You know, the owner has agreed to renew the lease, do you want to renew the lease?”

And if the resident says, “Yes, I want to renew the lease,” then a lot of companies charge a renewal fee.

And it can range again, it can be a flat fee.

Ours is a flat fee, or it can be a percentage of the rent, again.

Typically not near as high as the leasing fee, typically it’s a good bit less than the leasing fee.

So, I know, ours ranges from $150 to $200, just depending on the package. We also have a plan that there’s no lease renewal fee.

So, think about those three fees, leasing fee, management fee, and renewal fee.

#4 Maintenance & Markup Fees

And this would occur if you have a property management company that is managing work for a third-party vendor for you.

So, if your house needs a new roof, and they go out and find the best roofer for you, get a quote, get a couple of quotes, and then they oversee that work with the roofer, they may charge a fee to manage that whole process, and to make sure it’s done right.

So, you would want to ask about that.

We Actually Have In-house Maintenance, Like Maintenance That Does All Of Our Work For Us.

However, there are some things that we don’t do in-house like we don’t do roofs. If a large tree fell in your house, in the yard, we’re not going to go out and chop that tree up.

We’re going to call a tree company, limbs need to be cut down off a tree.

We’re going to find licensed and insured vendors to do that, and then we’re…our company, Evernest.

We would charge a 10% fee just to manage that whole process and to back all the workups.

But most of our work, like most of our maintenance work, is done in-house and there’s no markup fee, it’s just an hourly wage.

And then all of our work comes with a 12-month warranty.

So, you know, different companies are gonna have different ways they charge fees.

And then I would say, number, what number is this?

#5 Optional Services Fees

So, optional services could be anything from inspections in the house, you know, there’s fees like we have an eviction protection plan that would protect you from the cost of an eviction.

So, these are all optional. Heating and air service would be an optional fee.

There are several different things like that, that could be optional gutter cleaning could be optional.

So those are going to be some things that you may choose from.

But I would just, you know, I would just say to read the management agreement, get whoever you speak to at that property management company to explain all of the fees that could be incurred in the life cycle of that house, from the time a resident moves into the time the resident leaves.

And then I would say lastly if there’s anything we can do for you, we would love to explain more about our fees.

Transparent Pricing!

We’ve got pricing, very transparent pricing on our website, so feel free to check that out, evernest.com, and we walk through all that pricing, and even shoot videos for it.

Those are the fees that you can expect from an Atlanta property management.

Again, call us, email us, go to our website, and reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you.

---