As a short-term rental host, you may be considering hiring a property manager. However, if you’ve never worked with one before, you might not be entirely sure of the going rates for the different services they offer. This blog post will explore the different services property managers may offer and how much they typically cost. By the end of this post, you’ll have a firm understanding of the different property manager chargers out there.
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What do property managers do?
In essence, property managers handle the day-to-day management of a short-term rental. They’ll handle key exchange, send check-in information to guests, and be available to guests throughout their stay. In short, they’re the go-to person who can handle anything that comes up during a booking.
What affects property manager chargers?
How much you’re going to pay for a property manager depends on a few different factors. For instance:
Location
Like any business, the cost of living in the location where your property is located is going to have an influence on how much you’re paying a property manager. For instance, a property in Newport, Rhode Island, is naturally going to incur higher management costs than a property in, say, Carbondale, Illinois.
Size
Bigger property? Bigger prices. Managing a 5-bedroom property takes more work than a one-bedroom; it’s just simple math. How much you’re asking a manager to manage will affect the property manager’s charges.
Services
The specifics of how much you’re asking a property manager to do will affect the cost. For example, here are some things a property manager could handle for you:
- Check-in/Check-out
- Key exchanges
- Communicating with guests
- Problem solving
- Handling turnovers
- Pricing your nightly rate
- Restocking
Some property managers offer a few of these services, and others offer all. Depending on what you want them to do will impact how much you’re paying for their services.
So, how much do property managers charge?
There are a few classic ways that property managers set their rates. We’ll explore them here.
Percentage-based
Some hosts will ask for an agreed-upon percentage-based fee. Meaning they’ll earn between 8% and 15% of each booking. For example, if you have a $1,000 booking and their fee is 10%, you’d pay them $100 for that booking.
Flat-fees
Other property managers charge flat fees. A flat fee is a pre-determined dollar amount that you’ll pay each month regardless of how many or how little bookings you have that month.
Combination
Some property managers charge a combination of both the percentage-based structure and flat-fee structure.
Fees to keep in mind
It’s not uncommon for there to be some additional fees for property managers. They might include:
- Onboarding
- Cleaning coordination
- Maintenance markups
- Emergency call-out charges
- Cancellation fees
How Host Tools can help
Alternatively, investing in online property management services like Host Tools can help if you don’t want to hire a property manager. Our services automate so much of the hosting experience. For example, hosts can automate all of their guest communications, set up smart locks for self-check-in rather than key exchanges, and automatically coordinate their cleaning crew. With services starting at $28/month…we’re that perfect happy medium.
Final thoughts on property manager charges
Ultimately, whether or not you choose to hire a property manager comes down to personal preference. However, having Host Tools on your team will reduce your workload by up to 80%. Sign-up for a free trial today and see just how simple hosting can be!
Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today!
