Should You Hire a Property Manager? What It Costs and What You Actually Get

Most landlords start out self-managing because it seems obvious: you own one rental, the tenant pays on the first, and the occasional leaky faucet is a Saturday-morning job. Then the portfolio grows to three doors, a tenant stops paying in August, the AC dies in the same week, and you start wondering what that 10% fee would have bought you. A good property manager is worth every dollar. A bad one costs you that fee plus everything they let slide. Here's what managers charge, what they do for it, and how to tell which kind you're talking to.

What a property manager actually does

A full-service residential manager takes on the whole job of being a landlord, day to day:

• Marketing and leasing. Pricing the unit, photographing and listing it, answering inquiries, running showings, and getting a lease signed.
• Tenant screening. Applications, credit and background checks, income and landlord verification, applied the same way to every applicant. This is the step that decides how the next year goes. Our tenant screening guide covers what a good process looks like.
• Rent collection. Online payments, late fees, and the first uncomfortable phone call when rent doesn't show up.
• Maintenance and repairs. Taking the 11 p.m. call about a burst pipe, dispatching a vendor, and approving routine repairs up to an agreed limit.
• Inspections. Move-in and move-out condition reports and periodic walk-throughs while the tenant lives there.
• Lease enforcement and evictions. Notices, violations, and, when it comes to that, filing and appearing in court.
• Accounting. Monthly owner statements, holding security deposits, and year-end paperwork for your taxes.

Some managers offer leasing-only (sometimes called tenant placement): they find and screen the tenant, sign the lease, and hand you the keys. That's a reasonable middle ground for landlords who don't mind the day-to-day but hate the vacancy scramble.

What it costs

The headline number is the monthly management fee, but it's rarely the whole bill. In most Louisiana markets, expect something like this:

Single-family homes and small portfolios tend to land at the higher end of the percentage range. Larger portfolios and apartment buildings can negotiate lower. A flat monthly fee (say, $100 per door) is less common but does exist, and it's worth comparing against the percentage.

Run the real number. On a $1,500/month rental, a 10% fee is $1,800 a year. Add a placement fee of half a month every other year, a renewal fee in the off years, and a 10% markup on $2,000 of repairs, and you're closer to $2,900 a year, or roughly two months of rent. That isn't automatically too much. But it's the number to weigh, not the 10%.

The fees that hide in the contract

Two managers both quote "10%," and one ends up costing hundreds more a year. The difference is in the fine print. Read the management agreement for:

• "Collected" vs. "scheduled" rent. You want the fee charged on rent the manager actually collected. A fee on scheduled rent means you pay management on a month the tenant didn't pay.
• Maintenance markups and in-house crews. Some managers add a percentage to every invoice or send their own maintenance staff at a premium. Neither is a scam, but you should know which you're getting and be able to see the original vendor invoice.
• The repair approval limit. Most agreements let the manager approve repairs up to a set amount without calling you ($250 to $500 is common). Too low and every clogged drain needs your sign-off. Too high and you find out about a $1,400 water heater from your statement.
• Termination terms. How much notice to cancel, whether there's a cancellation fee, and, the one that bites, whether the manager keeps earning a fee on a tenant they placed after you leave. Make sure you can leave with 30 days' notice, a reasonable fee or none, and your tenant, deposit, and files.
• Who holds the deposit. It should sit in the manager's escrow or trust account and transfer with documentation if you part ways. See our guide to Louisiana security deposit law for what the statute requires at move-out, whoever is holding it.

When hiring a manager makes sense

A manager usually earns the fee when one or more of these are true:

• You live far from the property. If a maintenance call means a two-hour drive, or you've moved out of state and kept the house, management is close to a necessity.
• You own several doors. Three to five rentals is where self-managing starts to feel like a part-time job. Past that, it is one.
• Your time is worth more than the fee. If you'd spend 6 to 10 hours a month on calls, showings, and bookkeeping, divide the fee by those hours. If you'd pay that hourly rate to get your evenings back, hire someone.
• You don't want to be the bad guy. Late-rent calls, lease violations, and evictions are uncomfortable. A manager handles them professionally and consistently, which also protects you legally.
• You're not sure of the rules. Fair housing, deposit timelines, eviction notice requirements, and habitability standards all carry real penalties when you get them wrong. An experienced manager does this every week.

When self-managing makes more sense

Managing yourself is a perfectly good choice when:

• You live nearby and have the time. One or two rentals within a short drive are very manageable.
• You're handy, or have vendors you trust. Much of what a manager charges for is the vendor network and the phone. If you already have a plumber, an electrician, and an HVAC company who pick up, you've covered a big piece.
• The margins are thin. On a property that barely cash-flows, a 10% fee plus placement can turn it negative. Run the math before you sign.
• You have a long-term tenant. If a reliable tenant has renewed three times and calls twice a year, a manager doesn't have much left to do.

If you self-manage, lean on a few systems: a written screening policy, an online rent payment tool, a move-in inspection checklist with photos, and a plan for keeping good tenants so you're not filling the unit every year.

Louisiana specifics worth knowing

Managers generally need a real estate license. In Louisiana, leasing or managing property for someone else for a fee is generally licensed activity under the Louisiana Real Estate Commission (LREC). The manager should be a licensed broker or work under one, and rent and deposits should move through the broker's escrow account. You can look up any licensee on the LREC website. Someone collecting rent for a fee without a license is a red flag, whatever they call themselves.

Hurricane season is a management job. Ask how the manager handles storm prep and recovery. Who secures the property, who documents the damage, how quickly they get a roofer or a tarp crew out when everyone else is calling the same three companies, and how they coordinate with your insurance adjuster. A manager with a real plan here is worth a lot in a bad year.

Know the market they work in. Rents, tenant pools, and vacancy rates are very different in a New Orleans shotgun, a Baton Rouge college rental, and a Lafayette single-family home. Ask what they'd price your unit at and why. A good answer looks like our guide on how much rent to charge: comparable units, condition, and current days on market, not a guess.

Questions to ask before you sign

Interview at least two or three managers. Good ones will answer these without hesitating:

1. How many doors do you manage, and how many per property manager on staff? One manager juggling 200+ units is a warning sign.
2. What's your average days-on-market to lease a unit, and your average tenant stay? These two numbers tell you how well they lease and how well they keep tenants.
3. Walk me through your screening criteria. You want a written standard applied the same way to every applicant, not "we get a feel for people."
4. How do tenants submit maintenance requests, and what's your after-hours process? Is there a real person or service answering at night, and what counts as an emergency?
5. Can I see a sample owner statement? You should understand exactly where every dollar went each month.
6. How do you market a vacancy? Good photos, a listing that shows up where renters search, and a fast response to inquiries. If their listings look like phone snapshots of dark rooms, yours will too.
7. What does it cost to leave, and what happens to my tenant if I do? Get the answer in writing, in the agreement.
8. Can I talk to two current owners? Then call them.

The bottom line

A property manager is a trade: you give up 8% to 12% of your rent, plus placement and renewal fees, in exchange for your time, your phone, and a professional handling the hard parts. That trade makes sense for out-of-area owners, growing portfolios, and anyone who'd rather not be on call. It makes less sense for a single nearby rental with a long-term tenant and a landlord who doesn't mind a Saturday repair. Whichever way you go, total up the real cost, not the headline percentage, read the termination clause twice, and make sure whoever manages the property is licensed, organized, and good at finding the right tenant, because that decision shapes everything else. This is general information, not legal advice. For questions about a specific contract, a Louisiana real estate attorney can review it before you sign.