Owner guide
What property management actually costs in Connecticut.
Most companies will not tell you their fees until you have given them your phone number. Here is the whole picture — the normal ranges, every fee the industry charges, and why the cheapest headline rate is often the most expensive deal.
What’s on this page
The short answer
In Connecticut, residential property management normally costs 8% to 12% of the rent you collect each month, plus a one-off tenant placement fee of half to a full month’s rent each time a new tenant moves in.
On a single-family home in Greater Hartford renting at $2,000 a month, that is roughly $160 to $240 a month for full management, and $1,000 to $2,000 once a year or two when the property turns over.
That is the part everybody quotes. The part that decides what you actually pay is everything underneath it.
Two companies quoting 8% and 10% can easily end the year in the opposite order once renewal fees, inspection fees and maintenance markups are counted. The headline percentage is the least useful number in the quote.
The two pricing models
Percentage of collected rent
The standard for residential property. You pay a percentage of what is actually collected, so a vacant month or an unpaid month costs the manager as well as you. That shared exposure is the point — it is what keeps a manager motivated to fill your unit quickly and chase arrears properly.
Watch for the phrase “rent due” rather than “rent collected” in a management agreement. Under “rent due” you owe the fee whether or not the tenant paid, which removes the alignment entirely.
Flat monthly fee
A fixed amount per unit per month, typically $100 to $200 for a single-family home. It is predictable, and on a high-rent property it can work out cheaper. But it is owed whether the unit is occupied or empty, which is a poor incentive precisely when you need a good one.
Flat fees make more sense on larger multifamily buildings, where per-door pricing is the norm and the economics are different.
Every fee, and what it should cost
This is the complete list of charges you may encounter in this industry. The middle column is the normal Connecticut range; the right column is what we charge, published so you can hold us to it.
| Fee | Typical in CT | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly management The headline number. Almost always a percentage on residential. | 8% – 12% of rent | 9% of rent collected |
| Tenant placement / leasing Charged each time a new tenant is placed. | 50% – 100% of one month | 75% of one month |
| Onboarding / setup A charge for opening your file. Increasingly common. | $0 – $300 per property | None |
| Lease renewal Charged when a good tenant simply stays another year. | $150 – $300, or 25% of a month | None |
| Vacancy fee A fee charged while the unit sits empty and earns you nothing. | $0 – $100 per month | None |
| Maintenance markup The largest hidden cost in the industry, and the hardest to see. | 10% – 20% on every invoice | None — you pay the vendor invoice |
| Inspection fee Per routine inspection, sometimes several a year. | $75 – $150 each | None |
| Technology / statement fee A charge for the software that sends you your own statement. | $5 – $15 per month | None |
| Eviction coordination Court costs and attorney fees are a real owner expense either way. | $200 – $500 plus legal | None (legal costs still yours) |
| Early termination What it costs to leave a manager you are unhappy with. | $300 – one full month | None — 30 days’ notice |
Typical ranges reflect what is commonly charged for residential property management in the Greater Hartford market. Individual companies vary — always ask for a written fee schedule.
Why 7% can cost more than 9%
This is the calculation almost nobody does before signing. Take a realistic year on a $2,000-a-month single-family rental: the tenant renews once, the property needs $4,000 of repairs, and two routine inspections happen.
Company A — “only 7%”
Company B — “9%, no other fees”
The 7% company costs $690 more than the 9% company — about 29% more — on an entirely ordinary year. Add a turnover, or a year where the boiler goes, and the gap widens.
This is not a trick particular to one company. It is how the pricing in this industry is structured: the number in the advertisement is the one you can compare, so that is the number that gets competed down, and the rest is recovered elsewhere.
How to compare two quotes properly
Ask every company these six questions in writing. The answers, not the percentage, tell you what you are buying.
- Is the fee on rent collected or rent due? Collected is the answer you want.
- Do you mark up maintenance invoices? Ask for a sample invoice from a real job, not a policy statement.
- What do you charge when a tenant renews? A renewal is the cheapest good outcome in this business and should not be a billing event.
- What do I pay while the unit is vacant?
- What does it cost me to leave? Notice period and any termination fee.
- Can I see the full fee schedule? If it is not offered as a document, that is your answer.
Managing and leasing residential property for someone else in Connecticut requires a real estate broker licence from the Department of Consumer Protection. It is reasonable to ask any company for its licence number, and reasonable to be concerned if it is slow to give it to you.
What we charge
Published, in full, on our pricing page — no form to fill in first.
- Full management — 9% of monthly rent collected.
- Leasing only — 75% of one month’s rent, one time.
- Five or more units — custom per-door pricing that falls as you scale.
No onboarding fee, no renewal fee, no inspection fee, no technology fee, no markup on maintenance, no fee while your unit sits vacant, and no penalty for leaving with 30 days’ notice. Screening fees are paid by applicants. Legal costs and the actual cost of repairs are owner expenses, billed at what the vendor charged with the invoice attached.
Common questions
A percentage aligns the manager with you: if the unit is vacant or the rent is not collected, the manager earns nothing. A flat fee is paid whether or not your property performs, which is why flat-fee managers are often slower to fill a vacancy. On a single-family home renting near the Greater Hartford average the two land in a similar place, but the incentives are not the same.
For residential property in the Greater Hartford market, 8% to 12% of collected rent is the normal range, with single-family homes usually at the higher end and multifamily buildings lower per door because the work is concentrated in one place. Anything under 7% is worth a second look — it usually means the money is being made somewhere less visible, most often on maintenance markups.
You should not, and with us you do not. Our fee is a percentage of rent actually collected, so an empty unit costs us too. Some companies charge a reduced "vacancy fee" during turnover — ask directly, because it is rarely volunteered.
Many companies add 10% to 20% to every repair invoice, or run an in-house maintenance arm that bills above market rate. It is the least visible fee and often the largest. On a property needing $4,000 of work in a year, a 15% markup is $600 — which can quietly exceed the difference between a 7% and a 9% management fee. Ask for a sample invoice before you sign anything.
The owner. A management company arranges and supervises work; it does not fund it. What varies is whether you pay the vendor’s actual invoice or a marked-up version of it, and whether you approve spending in advance. We work to a threshold you set — commonly $300 to $500 — below which we handle and document, above which we call you first.
No. Screening fees are paid by the applicants, not the owner. If a company proposes to bill you for screening, ask what the applicant is being charged as well.
Ignore the headline percentage and ask for the complete fee schedule in writing, then build a realistic year: twelve months of rent, one lease renewal, two or three maintenance calls, and one turnover. Price that same year under both quotes. The cheaper headline rate frequently loses.
Management fees are generally a deductible operating expense on a rental property, reported on Schedule E, as are maintenance, insurance and most other costs of running the property. We issue a year-end 1099 and an annual summary built for exactly this. Confirm the specifics with your accountant — we are property managers, not tax advisers.
Want the same numbers run on your property?
Send us the address. We come back within one business day with what it should rent for, what it costs to get there, and what it nets you after management — using the pricing published on this page, not a quote we invent for you.