Investment property owners who choose to use a property management company may have questions about where their fee money goes. While we can’t speak for other organizations, when you work with The Realty Medics, we can explain real estate property management fees in Central Florida.
Common Property Management Fees
Leasing Fee
Finding the right tenant for your Orlando investment property is arguably the most important part of owning long-term rental homes. The leasing fee covers all the work that leads up to placing tenants.
Before we’ll even list your home, we want to make sure it’s compliant and in the best shape to attract top candidates. That’s why our leasing fees include rental inspections, a “rent readiness” evaluation, repair bids, and oversight of work needed.
Once the property is ready, our leasing fee also includes professional photos for listings, property showings to potential tenants, and thorough background checks on every applicant.
Management Fees
Property management fees in Central Florida can be a percentage of the rent collected or a flat rate, depending on your agreement. In our market, you can expect to pay 8 -12% for a percentage based fee structure. Management fees cover the day-to-day activities to ensure your investment is contributing to your portfolio.
Management fees cover activities like:
- Fielding tenant communications
- Addressing maintenance and repair issues
- Interacting with HOAs
- Ensuring tenant adherence to terms and conditions of the lease
- Collecting rent
- Disbursing owner payment
- Preparing owner statements
Renewal / Re-Lease Fees
If tenants stay after the end of their lease agreement term, the owner will be charged a renewal fee. (The owner will be charged a leasing fee if new tenants move in.) This fee covers tasks like running an updated rental analysis to ensure the best rent rates, negotiating higher rental amounts, and the preparation and execution of renewal paperwork.
Optional Protection Programs
The Realty Medics offer a few additional protection programs that owners can opt into:
- Eviction Protection – Covers almost all legal costs related to evictions (such as legal, court filing, and process fees)
- Damage Protection – Reimburses up to $2,500 over the security deposit of damages caused by tenants
- Rent Protection – Guarantees owners receive up to 30 days of rent, ensuring consistent rental income due to non-paying tenants
Fees The Realty Medics Don’t Charge
Some Orlando property management companies will charge owners additional fees for their services. While The Realty Medics don’t charge these fees, we want owners to be aware of what they are (and beware of these hidden costs):
- Initial Set Up Fee – Some companies charge a fee just for setting up a new account. Yeah, we don’t.
- Cancellation/Termination Penalty – If you’re not happy for any reason, we won’t shake you down for more money on your way out the door, just give us 30 days written notice and we will terminate the agreement without penalty.
- Maintenance Work Mark Up Fee – We pass our prorated rates onto our clients instead of charging you to access our professionals.
- Eviction Fee – Some places charge fees for this. With us, owners pay attorney and court costs, but coordinating the process is part of the monthly management fee. In addition, The Realty Medics offer an optional protection program for owners to opt into.
- Lease Preparation Fee – The Realty Medics include this lease preparation in leasing/renewal fees, others make this a separate line item.
- Technology Fee – The Realty Medics was founded by a NASA scientist who doesn’t believe in charging extra for his brain superpowers. Other places don’t have the same smarts around the office.
- Document Fee – Some places charge owners to get access to their own documentation. At The Realty Medics, owners can access their documentation at any time in the Owners Portal.
- Transfer Fee – Some property managers charge a fee to transfer a tenant-occupied property to another property manager. Just, why?
- Inspection Fee – Unlike some companies, the Realty Medics include inspections in the leasing/renewal fee.
- Vacancy Fee – Some property managers charge a fee whether a rental is occupied or not. Watch out for language in the lease agreement that alludes to this.
- Utility Set Up Fee – Owners can handle this themselves or choose to have The Realty Medics handle the utilities for an optional fee. However, many property management companies will charge a fee to do it for the owners because it’s a time-consuming task.
More Questions?
The Realty Medics make sure our owners (and tenants) completely understand their agreements. If there are ever questions, our property manager experts are available to help answer them! If you have questions about your lease agreement or want to learn more about how The Realty Medics take care of our clients, reach out! Call us at 321-947-7653 or Contact Our Team online.
