Property Management 101

What is the Maintenance Coordination Fee?


When a new client comes to us we often hear questions regarding pricing, including specific charges. One charge that we hear questions about frequently is the maintenance coordination fee. The maintenance coordination fee is essential in helping us reserve team members dedicated to responding to and handling maintenance requests as quickly as possible. Below, we discuss some of the top questions we hear regarding the maintenance coordination fee.  

 

What is the maintenance coordination fee?

The maintenance coordination fee is a 10% fee that is only charged when a client is participating in the Full Service program. This fee is based off of the vendor’s invoice total, rather than being charged as an ongoing, monthly fee. This invoice is included with your monthly statement, so you know the exact amount of the charge, and what the charge went towards in regards to repairing or maintaining your home.

 

How much is the fee?

When a maintenance concern arises, we take full responsibility for handing the concern quickly and efficiently through our list of preferred, trusted vendors. To help us allocate resources and staff to handling any maintenance emergencies or concerns, we charge a 10% fee. This is calculated on the vendor’s invoice total.

 

What are the benefits of paying a maintenance coordination fee?

The maintenance coordination fee is a benefit to both the landlord and the tenant. This fee allows us to ensure we can dedicate team members as well as resources to guaranteeing maintenance concerns are able to be handled. When maintenance concerns are not handled quickly, especially in cases of an emergency, they can grow worse, or cause damage to other areas of the home. For example, if a pipe bursts, a few days could turn into not only needing to replace the pipe, but to also remove any mold that may have developed, or repair any water damage that may have occurred. It is essential to the maintaining of the property, and the tenant’s safety, that concerns are handled quickly. Our fee allows us to provide this quick turn-around, which could even save the landlord money in the long-run.

 

Another clear benefit is that we work closely with our vendors, and they provide an extra set of eyes on the property for us. If they spot something that doesn’t seem right, or other clear maintenance issues, they will let us know right away. This extra set of eyes will help to keep your property in great condition.

 

How will I know when something is charged?

When the maintenance coordination fee is charged, it will be put on the monthly statement to the landlord. It will provide details about what maintenance concerns were addressed, as well as how much is cost. The 10% is not taken off of the landlord’s monthly fees, but rather 10% of the vendor’s invoice. This means that if a vendor charges $100 for fixing something within the home, the maintenance coordination fee would be $10.

 

Why do we have the maintenance coordination fee?

We believe this fee is in our client’s best interest. We provide an all day, year-round hotline that a real person answers when there is an emergency. Being able to get ahold of someone when something goes wrong is essential to tenants reporting maintenance issues, building trust with their property management company, and staying in the property for longer. When the tenant calls into the hotline, they are able to try and troubleshoot the situation with them in appropriate situations. This way, small problems can be corrected on their own, and the client will save money by not deploying a vendor to resolve the situation.

 

If maintenance does need to come out, the hotline will schedule maintenance as soon as possible with the tenant, making the repair happen as quickly as possible. Once maintenance has been completed, our Maintenance Coordinator will review the vendor’s invoice to confirm its accuracy, and will reach out to the tenant to confirm that they are happy with the repair. Then, they will upload the invoice which we will pay for you utilizing your reserve account.

 

You will be able to see the invoice published in the Owner’s Portal, and it will be included in your monthly statement. This way, you can review the invoice against the charge showing on the statement. This allows you to see who the vendor is, what they have charged, and a description of what they were able to repair during their visit. Many clients appreciate this, as they don’t need to be brought into each maintenance concern, but rather will be notified.

 

How does the maintenance coordination fee benefit you?

Now that you understand why we charge a maintenance coordination fee, you may be wondering how else the fee is an asset to you and your home.

 

Often, people can pick out rental houses in a neighborhood by how well they are maintained. These houses may have paint that needs to be touched up, or the yard may be lacking proper care. You can spot them because they do not look well-maintained, and in some cases, they are even visibly run down. When clients come to us, they have this knowledge and are seeking to avoid their home looking like a rental home, even if it is one. Despite wanting this, many property management companies do not properly allocate money for handling maintenance concerns, and let small fixes go unrepaired. These small fixes can add up quickly, and even grow into larger, more expensive issues down the road.

 

At Rincon Property Management, we take maintenance very seriously. We want your home in great condition at all times, and do not want your home to appear run down, or easily picked out as a rental. By charging the maintenance coordination fee, our dedicated team members have the ability to stay on top of maintenance concerns. Property management companies are notorious for cutting corners when it comes to maintaining the home’s condition.

 

Our approach towards maintenance is to handle any issues quickly and efficiently, saving our client’s money in the long-run. If a company does not properly allocate money towards maintenance, it is the first thing to fall off. We believe that maintenance is the number one thing you do not want to neglect when renting out a home, for both the landlord, and the tenant.

 

How can you budget for maintenance?

When we discuss the maintenance coordination fee with clients, they may have questions about exactly what they can expect to pay.

 

On average, if you have a $3,000 per month rental home, you can expect to spend 5% of the income on maintenance. For a rental home in this price range, this amounts to $1,800 per year. Because our 10% maintenance coordination fee is calculated off of the vendor’s invoice, you could expect to spend only $180 over the course of a year on this fee. Over a year, this is only $15 each month to maintain your property correctly.

 

 

After managing properties for many clients, we have seen the best success using the 10% maintenance coordination fee, as well as the highest satisfaction with our clients.

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