When talking to a prospective owner, 90% of the time the first question they will ask is “what are the property management fees?”.

While it’s important to understand the fees that you will be charged for someone to manage your investment property, there are several other factors to consider before deciding on and hiring a Property Manager.

I have listed some of these questions that you should be asking your potential management agency before considering the fees they charge for management.

• Where are most of your properties located?
• How many properties does each Property Manager handle?
• What procedural systems do you have in place?
• What are your points of difference?
• How many routine inspections do you conduct per year?
• When do you carry out rent reviews?
• How is maintenance handled?
• How do you advertise for a tenant?
• How do you manage tenant selection?
• Do you hand out keys to prospective tenants?
• Can I see a copy of your Entry Condition Reports?

To get a better understanding of the management fee percentage structure, we have created the below table to show the difference between a property being managed at 5% compared to 11% and everything in between, in a weekly dollar amount. All fees shown include GST to assist in an even comparison of a particular Agency’s fees.

When you compare the management fees on a weekly basis, there is a surprisingly small difference between property management fees based on the 5.5% and 7.7% tiers.

Property Management Fees around Brisbane

Being a specialised Property Management Agency in Brisbane for over 10 years, I have seen property management fees as low as 2% and as high as 12%. Though the standard across Brisbane is more often closer to 7.5% or 8.5% plus GST. I’ve always been a big believer that it is not the percentage that you are paying but the dollar amount per week that determines the percentage you should be paying.

A $300 a week property being managed at 6.6% is a dollar amount of just $19.80 a week, while the same Property Manager could be managing a property at $600 at 6.6% per week that costs the owner $39.60. The average property management fees as a dollar amount per year work out to be roughly $1600 to $1800, or $30 to $35 per week.  As you can see it’s important to do your research and also crunch the numbers before deciding on the Managing Agency for your valuable investment.

Additional management fees commonly include:

• Routine inspection fees: These are for mid-tenancy inspections.
• Fees for end-of-year financial statements: This is the annual summary of the income and expenses associated with your property.
• Sundries fee or administration fee: This is often a fee for the processing and payment of accounts, as well as mid-month and end-of-month paperwork and processing.
• Renewal fee: This is a fee for appraising the rental in anticipation of tenant renewal, it generally includes negotiating on the landlord’s behalf and the preparation of a new General Tenancy Agreement.
• Tribunal representation fee: This is a fee to cover the representation of the landlord or investor in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, also known as QCAT.

The investors will often be charged a letting commission by most Agencies as well. This is a fee charged to the landlord to retain or secure the premises for letting. Agencies set their own letting commissions, but an average fee will often be the equivalent of one to two weeks’ rent, as well as GST.

Leveraging Pure Real Estate to Manage Your Investments

Pure Real Estate are specialists in property Management and Sales. We are an experienced team and can help you get the maximum return out of your investment. Our team receives priceless training and industry experience, along with constant mentoring to guarantee your investment is in very capable hands.

You have built your real estate portfolio up as an investment for your future, and your wealth, and we strive to make sure you see your properties valued and maintained well. Effective property management takes skill, experience, the right personnel, and most importantly, time. We have the resources and the drive to put in the time needed to ensure you maintain maximum value and income from your properties.

No matter if you own one rental property, or buildings comprising hundreds of individual rental units, you deserve the attention and management skill of our Team. In addition to managing the physical property, we ensure that you are renting only to top-tier tenants that have been pre-screened to assure a good fit.

Our management fees are market rate with no other fees or charges.

Included in our fees are:

• 3 routine inspections per year with photos
• Rent paid to you weekly as well as a weekly statement
• End of year financial statement
• Owner online portal
• Dedicated experienced Property Manager

If you would like to have a no-obligation chat about our promotion or property management process,

Please give me a call on 0406 743 965 or submit an online enquiry.