For rental owners
What property management actually costs here
Most owners compare management companies on the monthly percentage and stop there. That number is rarely where the money is. The fees around it, and the cost of a month sitting empty, matter more than the spread between 8% and 10%.
Updated 2026-10-02
The monthly fee is the part everyone compares
Ongoing management in Miami-Dade is typically quoted as a percentage of collected rent. Watch the word collected. A company charging on rent due rather than rent received gets paid whether or not your tenant did, which quietly removes their incentive to chase it.
Some companies quote a flat monthly dollar amount instead. On a higher-rent property that can work out cheaper; on a modest one it rarely does. Run it against your actual rent rather than the example on their website.
The leasing fee is where the real money sits
Placing a tenant is usually charged separately from managing, and it is commonly expressed as a portion of one month's rent, or the full month.
That fee repeats every time the unit turns. So a company that places a weak tenant who leaves in ten months has earned the leasing fee twice as often as one who places a tenant who stays three years. When you compare quotes, ask what their average tenancy length is. Most will not have the number, which is itself informative.
The fees that are easy to miss
Renewal fees when an existing tenant stays. Markups on maintenance, where the company adds a percentage on top of the vendor's invoice. Vacancy fees charged while the unit is empty. Setup or onboarding fees. Eviction coordination charges. Advertising charged on top of the leasing fee.
None of these are automatically unreasonable. What matters is that they are written down before you sign, and that you have added them up rather than comparing headline percentages.
Ask one question that cuts through most of it: on a property renting at my number, what will I actually pay you in a typical year with no turnover, and in a year with one turnover? Two figures. Any company that cannot produce them quickly is telling you something.
The arithmetic of self-managing
Self-managing looks free because the cost is your time and your risk, neither of which shows up on a statement.
The honest comparison is against vacancy. If a managed property leases three weeks faster than a self-managed one, that gap alone can exceed a year of management fees on a single turnover. Vacancy is the largest number in this business and it is the one almost nobody budgets for.
The second honest comparison is against a bad tenant. One eviction — lost rent, legal costs, turnover damage, re-leasing — typically dwarfs several years of management fees. Screening is the cheapest insurance available to a landlord.
What to ask before you sign anything
Who holds the security deposit, and in what kind of account? Florida has specific rules here and they are not optional.
What is the cancellation clause? A management agreement you cannot leave without a penalty is a different product from one you can.
Who approves repairs, and above what dollar amount do they call you first?
Is the person who will actually handle your property local, and will they physically go to it? This is the question that separates companies, and it is the one least often asked.
Common questions
What percentage do property managers charge in Miami-Dade?
Ongoing management is normally a percentage of collected rent, with tenant placement charged separately as a portion of one month's rent. The percentage is less important than the full fee schedule, because leasing and renewal fees usually move more money than the monthly spread between competing quotes.
Is a flat fee better than a percentage?
It depends entirely on your rent. A flat fee tends to favour higher-rent properties and a percentage tends to favour lower-rent ones. Calculate both against your actual rent rather than the example on a company's website.
Is self-managing cheaper?
Only if nothing goes wrong. The comparison that matters is not fees against zero; it is fees against the cost of extra vacancy and the cost of a tenant who should not have been approved. Either one can exceed a year of management fees in a single event.
What should I watch for in the agreement?
How the deposit is held, the cancellation terms, any markup on maintenance invoices, renewal and vacancy fees, and the repair threshold above which they must call you. Get the full fee schedule in writing before signing.
Want the real number for your property?
Send me the address and what it rents for. I will tell you what it should lease for today, how fast it should move, and what management would genuinely cost you in a normal year and in a turnover year.
Related
General information, not legal or financial advice. Fee structures vary by company and by property; get the full schedule in writing before signing a management agreement.