I guess a lot depends on not just the price but the level of service that you are after. While it may not be so important when a friend is living there, when it comes to strangers moving into your home its good to have an agent on your side that is going to put in the work to find you the right tennants that will not only pay the rent but look after your property as well. I have found that Wilson Pride in Elwood have been very thorough in the past in checking all references and doing inspections as well as taking a photo of a problem and emailing it to me if I wanted to get a quote to get something fixed. I honestly can’t remember what their fees were though, but sometimes its worth paying a bit more.

In your case it sounds like you may not even need a property manager unless its a case of not enought time to manage it yourself. So you could always get a private lease agreement drawn up, directly between yourself and your tennant.

Cheers,

Ana