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A PM nets $2,419/yr on an $1,800 rental after the vacancy edge. Self-managing at 4 hrs/mo breaks even at $50/hr — value your time above that and the manager is cheaper than you.
The property-management question is not "is 10% a lot" — it is "what is my hour worth, honestly." Full-cost the PM: 10% of $1,800 monthly ($180) plus a 75%-of-a-month leasing fee per turnover every two years — $2,835/yr gross, minus the vacancy a professional leasing operation saves (2 weeks per turnover, $416/yr equivalent) — $2,419 net. Self-managing at 4 quiet hours a month and a $50 honest hourly is $2,400. Breakeven: $50/hr. Below it, self-managing is a part-time job that pays decently; above it, you are paying yourself a below-market wage in the most interruptible hours of your week. This calculator runs your numbers — including the hours input where owners lie to themselves.
Landlords use it before signing a management contract: the PM nets $2,419/yr after the vacancy edge — self-managing breaks even at $50/hr, so the question is what your 2 a.m. hours are worth.
Four things, worth pricing separately. Labor: tenant communication, rent collection, maintenance coordination, inspections — the hours this calculator prices. Legal compliance: deposit deadlines (miss the 14–30 day itemization window and forfeit the deposit plus penalties in many states), notice forms, eviction process — a single botched eviction costs more than years of fees, and PMs do them weekly. Vendor economics: established PMs get plumber and HVAC rates 10–30% below retail and priority scheduling — though watch the maintenance markup (10% on YOUR repairs is standard; negotiate or cap it). And vacancy speed: professional photos, syndicated listings, and same-day showing response compress days-to-lease — the vacancy-edge input in this calculator. What it does NOT buy: aligned incentives — the PM earns the same 10% whether your rent is market or 10% under, collects the leasing fee BECAUSE of turnover, and marks up maintenance they authorize. You are hiring an agent whose economics differ from yours; the contract terms (fee, markup, termination clause) are where that gets managed.
Four profiles. The local single-unit owner with a stable long-term tenant — the actual workload is a few hours a month plus rare events, and the PM fee taxes a relationship that is already working. The handy owner: if you can diagnose the water heater, snake the drain, and swap the disposal yourself, you are removing the PM's vendor margin along with the fee. The landlord-by-disposition: some owners enjoy the business — tenant screening, make-ready project management, the occasional small-claims filing — and for them the hourly is not a cost, it is the hobby. And the margin-thin deal: a rental cash-flowing $250/month cannot donate $200 of it to management and remain a deal — self-management is sometimes what makes the proforma real, though run the reserve calculator first to confirm the flow is real at all. The honest test regardless of profile: could you handle a 2 a.m. burst-pipe call, a nonpayment eviction, and a fair-housing-sensitive rejection in the same month? The PM question is really a question about that month, not the average one.
Interview like an employer checking references, because you are. The questions that separate pros from rent-collectors: What is your average days-to-lease, and can I verify it against your current listings? (Cross-check on Zillow — the listing dates are public.) What percentage of your placements are still in place at 18 months? (That is the turnover-incentive test.) What is your eviction rate and walk me through your last one? What exactly is the maintenance markup, and can I cap approvals above $300? Who covers leasing-fee clawbacks if a placed tenant leaves in 90 days? Then the contract: management fee on COLLECTED rent only (never on vacant months), leasing fee 50–75% of one month (negotiate at scale), markup disclosed, and a 30-day termination clause without penalty — a PM who will not let you leave is telling you something. Verify license (most states require a real-estate broker license for PMs), insurance (E&O), and trust-account handling for deposits. Get three proposals and plug each fee structure into this calculator — the cheapest monthly fee with a 100% leasing fee and 15% maintenance markup is often the most expensive option.