Property management fees and charges

[Micky72]

I have been offered the following (for 2 individual properties):

Management fee 4% plus GST
Letting fee 1 week rent + GST
Reletting fee (same tenant) 1 week rent + GST ***
Letting advertising (on internet) $250 inc.
Lease preparation $33 inc.
Lease renewal $33 inc.
Monthly statement fee $5.50 inc
EOFY statement $16.50 inc.

Do these charges seem fair?

Does advertising on the internet actually cost the agent that much?
Wouldn't the advertising be included as part of the letting fee?

 

[Scott No Mates]

Internet advertising - what is your alternative? How much does it cost to run a useless 'for rent' advert in the SMH/Telegraph? Agency has to pay either a monthly charge to both domain & re.com.au, would you prefer to pay 2 weeks letting fee and no advert?

The area to negotiate is the reletting fee - it is easier to renew a sitting tenant than to run an advert/hold opens/vet tenants, so why pay a whole week for a renewal?

Management fee is very competitive, how much service do you expect?

 

[jclegg]

Wow, a weeks rent for signing a new lease
The standard fee is $30 give or take. Your management % is low but by the time you add on all the extras it works out better to pay a slightly higher % and negotiate all the others.
Make sure you shop around and ask more questions than just the fees
Size of the portfolio per manager, arrears process and current arrears %, how many inspections (with photos?), years of experience of the PM, list of trades available etc..

 

[Ace in the Hole]

Management fee is low, everything else is high.
Maybe trying to catch out those who simply chase a low management fee and don't check the other charges...

 

[Micky72]

For a single property the charges are no different except the management fee is then 5% plus GST.
Not willing to negotiate on other fees. They are what they are, I'm told.
What is the go with advertising charges these days?
I thought agents susbcribed to domain and re.com.au? Why then on-charge every client the same fee?

 

[Sheva10]

4% is epic, but they are taking you for a ride else where. between 5-9% is the market rate in Melbourne anyway.

Usually a % and a sign up fee is what my lender charges (most do this), but he did charge $3.50 for posting out an invoice, I quickly told him that's not going to happen again. You do the same!

 

[Micky72]

When I queried the $5.50 fee to email the statement I was told that the statement still needs to be produced so there is a cost involved.
Doesn't sound right to me especially in this age of email and paperless offices.
What cost would there be to them really?

Not to mention the advertising charge?

 

[Peterw]

Guys, over the past few years, the cost of the software to produce the emails has gone through the roof. What it used to cost per year, is now per month.

 

[Jamie M]

All looks very reasonable to me. Especially when compared to PM fees in the ACT - the management fee would be double that plus some.

Are they good PM's though? What have you heard about them? Why have you chosen to go with them? If you're basing your selection on cost alone you could be disappointed.

Cheers

Jamie