On the eastern side of Oz the property mgmt % ranges from as little as 6% up to 9.9% (incl GST). Personally I would never manage the property myself as I prefer to distance myself from the tenant as well. I do however still ask to be part of the selection process when finding a tenant (you do not need to meet them but should look over their application prior to the agency selecting them to make sure you are happy with it). A good agency should do the mgmt for a set percentage and this cost includes all routine inspections, ingoing and outgoing inspections, advertising etc (otherwise what is the mgmt fee for). The only other costs you should have is one off cost if a new tenant is required whereby the agency receives first weeks rent as a letting fee – at least this is how it works in my area.
If you are trying to save costs why don’t you ask the agency to waive the monthly postage fee (sometimes over $10/mth) and have all statements emailed to you instead – they should charge you postage costs if no postage is needed.
Lastly, I highly recommend landlords insurance – I am a property manager myself and can tell you some aweful stories of loss by owners caused by tenants. They were fantastic when they moved in but their circumstances changed. For the cost of one weeks rent you can insure against a tenant defaulting on rent or causing damage and not paying for it. The laws (well in NSW anyway) are very one sided towards the tenant and it can take months to have a bad tenant removed from a property even after they have stopped paying you rent.
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