What Does Property Management Cost on the Monterey Peninsula?

If you're shopping property managers on the Monterey Peninsula, you've probably noticed that no two proposals look alike. One firm quotes "8% flat." Another quotes "6% plus fees." A third quotes "10% but everything's included." Comparing them feels deliberately difficult — and that's because it often is.

Here's every fee you might encounter in a Peninsula PM proposal, what each one actually covers, and what's fair in 2026.

1. Monthly Management Fee

Typical range: 6–12% of collected rent
Fair: 7–9%

The core fee. Should cover rent collection, tenant communication, maintenance coordination, lease enforcement, and financial reporting. Watch for "collected rent" vs "scheduled rent" language — if a tenant doesn't pay, you shouldn't either. Collected-rent billing keeps incentives aligned.

2. Leasing / Tenant Placement Fee

Typical range: 50–100% of first month's rent
Fair: 20–50% of first month's rent

Covers marketing, photography, showings, screening, and lease drafting for a new tenant. Some firms charge "one full month's rent" — that's aggressive on the Peninsula where leasing costs are genuinely lower than in Silicon Valley or SF. A 20–30% leasing fee is generous pay for the work.

3. Renewal Fee

Typical range: $99–$400 per renewal
Fair: $0

Many firms charge a flat fee when a tenant renews. This is lazy revenue — renewals are the easiest part of the business (no showings, no screening, no marketing) and should be absorbed by the monthly fee.

4. Vendor Markup / Coordination Fee

Typical range: 0–15% of invoice
Fair: 0%

Some firms add a markup to contractor invoices (a plumber who billed $800 becomes $920 on your statement). Others charge a flat "coordination fee" on top of repairs. This is where opaque pricing gets expensive. Ask directly: "Do you mark up vendor invoices?" and get it in writing.

5. Setup / Onboarding Fee

Typical range: $0–$500
Fair: $0

Some firms charge to onboard you. The argument is that onboarding has real costs — but so does acquiring a new client in any business, and they don't charge you to sign up. A setup fee is usually a sign the firm operates on franchise economics.

6. Eviction / Legal Fees

Typical: Hourly ($150–$250/hr) or per-case ($500–$1,500)
Fair: Hourly, itemized

Evictions are genuinely expensive and time-intensive. Hourly billing with transparent time logs is fairer than a flat case fee that doesn't reflect actual complexity.

7. Short-Term / Vacation Rental Management

Typical range: 18–35% of gross booking revenue
Fair: 20–25% all-in

STR is legitimately more work than long-term — nightly turnovers, guest messaging, dynamic pricing, licensing. A 22% all-in fee is fair when it genuinely includes cleaning coordination, TOT filing, and 24/7 guest support. Watch for firms that charge 18% but then tack on per-turnover fees that net out higher.

8. Inspection Fees

Typical: $75–$200 per inspection
Fair: Included for routine, charged only for specialty

Routine mid-lease inspections should be in your monthly fee. Move-in and move-out inspections absolutely should be included. Per-inspection charges add up fast — and if a firm is nickel-and-diming inspections, they'll nickel-and-dime you elsewhere.

9. Minor Repair Threshold

Some firms include minor repairs (under $200–$300) in the monthly fee; others pass every repair through at cost. Either approach is fair — just know which applies. Ours includes anything under $250.

The Transparent Standard

A fair Monterey Peninsula PM proposal should look like this:

• 8% monthly (of collected rent)
• 20% leasing (one-time, per new tenant)
• $0 renewal fee
• 0% vendor markup
• $0 onboarding
• $199/hr eviction (itemized, only when required)

That's our fee schedule, and it should be the baseline for anything you compare against. If a proposal includes anything beyond those lines, ask what it's for — and whether it's negotiable. Usually it is.