Passing the Cost of Advertising Back to the Owner Poll

I am glad you brought this point up on your blog. Marketing is a necessary part of any property management business in order to survive and compete against the other companies in the area. However, there seems to be some different beliefs on who should foot the bill. Each manager seems to do it a little different and there seems to be three options: #1 charge a flat fee for the property when it is vancant $50-$200, #2 charge the owner for the advertising on a per ad basis once they give approval, or #3 eat it for the owner. A couple of oberservations on this first of all a vacant property does the property manager no good or the owner (i.e. No Management fee / No Leasing Fee / Lost Mortage / Upset Managers / Headaches). The owner is tossing that morgage out the window along with other fees. Why has this imbalanced started. Some managers did not write there agreements correctly to allow for some fees and now are stuck or wanted to bring in as many owners as they could at a low rate and didnt realize how quickly these costs build up. Personally, from what I have seen in the industry if you want to protect yourself and keep owners happy it is best to charge a flat fee just when that property is vacant. Easy to manage and the other options will get you into to trouble in the long run. Let me know what you think!