Pricing
What management costs, and what moves the number
Management here is priced as a percentage of collected rent plus a one-time leasing fee. What that works out to depends on your property — so this page covers what drives it, and every line item worth comparing.
How it is priced
Residential property management in Greater Boston is almost always priced two ways at once: a percentage of the rent collected each month, and a one-time leasing fee when a new tenant is placed. Placement-only work is a single fee expressed as a share of one month’s rent, with no ongoing percentage.
We quote per property rather than publishing a rate. Not to make you call — you can have a number the same day — but because one figure would be wrong for most people reading it. The rate that makes sense for a single-family house is not the one an owner with six units should be paying, and vice versa. What you get instead is a written quote covering every fee that would apply to your property, before any agreement.
Two ways to work with us
Full-service management
Everything between an empty unit and money in your account, handled and reported monthly.
A percentage of the rent collected each month. Priced per property — see what moves the number below.
Term: A 12-month minimum commitment.
- Rental analysis and pricing
- Marketing, showings and tenant placement
- Screening against written criteria
- Massachusetts-compliant lease and disclosures
- Rent collection and monthly owner disbursement
- Itemised statements with vendor invoices attached
- Maintenance coordination and after-hours emergency response
- Registration, inspection and deposit compliance
- Renewal recommendations and lease renewals
Best for: Owners who want the rental income without the administration, the availability or the compliance exposure.
Tenant placement only
We price, market, show, screen and lease the unit. You manage it from there.
A one-time fee on lease execution, expressed as a share of one month’s rent. No ongoing management fee.
- Rental analysis and pricing
- Photography, listing and syndication
- Showings run by a person
- Full applicant screening
- Massachusetts-compliant lease and disclosures
- Move-in condition documentation and lawful deposit handling
Best for: Owners comfortable managing day to day who do not want to run a leasing process — often a single nearby unit.
What moves the number
These are the things we actually look at. Knowing them ahead of a conversation tells you roughly where your property sits — and which of them you could change.
- How many units
- A portfolio costs less per unit to run than a single property — one relationship, one statement, one set of vendor visits. This is the single biggest factor, and it is why a published one-size rate would overcharge multi-unit owners.
- What kind of property
- A single-family house let whole is simpler than a three-family with shared heat, one roof, a shared entry and three tenancies on different dates. Small multifamily carries more coordination, and the quote reflects it.
- Condition and age
- An older building with original systems generates more maintenance coordination than one recently updated. This cuts both ways — a well-maintained property is cheaper to manage, and we would rather tell you that than pretend the work is identical.
- Tenanted or vacant
- Taking over a sitting tenancy means transferring the lease file, the deposit and its documentation, and the tenant relationship. A vacant unit means starting with leasing. Different work, different starting point.
- Where it is
- Distance and density affect how efficiently a property can be visited and serviced, and which trades are realistically available to it.
- What you want handled
- Full management and placement-only are different engagements. Some owners want something in between — and if you only need part of the job, you should only pay for part of it.
Every fee worth asking about
Ask all of these of every manager you are comparing, including us. Two firms quoting the same headline percentage can differ substantially once the rest of the agreement is counted — and the differences concentrate in the lines nobody asks about.
| Ask about | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Management fee — on collected or scheduled rent? | A percentage charged monthly. On collected rent, the manager earns nothing during a vacancy or a non-payment. On scheduled rent, the fee is due on what the lease says should have arrived, whether or not it did. | Two managers quoting the same percentage can mean very different things. Scheduled-rent billing removes the manager’s financial stake in the two situations where you most want them motivated. |
| Leasing / tenant placement fee | A one-time charge each time a new tenant is placed, usually a share of one month’s rent. | This is often the largest single fee you will pay in a year. It also means anything that keeps a good tenant in place is money saved here, not just on turnover cost. |
| Lease renewal fee | Charged when an existing tenant stays on rather than moving out. | Ask whether there is one and what it is. A renewal costs a manager far less work than a placement, and the fee should reflect that. |
| Markup on vendor invoices | A percentage added on top of what the trade actually charged, so a $400 repair reaches your statement at more than $400. | The fee most likely to be material over a year and least likely to appear in a pricing comparison. Also ask whether you see the original invoice or only the marked-up figure. |
| Setup or onboarding fee | Charged once when a property first comes under management. | Easy to overlook when comparing monthly percentages, and it lands in the same month as your other transition costs. |
| Vacancy fee | A fee charged while the unit is empty and earning nothing. | Worth knowing about before a vacancy, not during one. |
| Inspection fees | Charged per periodic or move-in/move-out inspection visit. | Ask how many visits a year are included and what an extra one costs. |
| Eviction coordination | Coordinating with counsel, preparing documentation and attending court. Legal fees and court costs are separate and are always the owner’s. | Rare, but expensive when it happens. Know the number before you need it. |
| Early termination | What it costs to end the agreement, and how much notice is required. | The part of a management agreement least likely to be read and most likely to matter. An agreement that is hard to exit is a substitute for doing the work well enough that you would not want to. |
How you get a number
A conversation
About the property, its condition, whether it is tenanted, and what you actually want handled. Fifteen minutes, and it is where most of the quote is determined.
A written quote
Every fee that would apply to your property, with the basis each is calculated on. Free, and in writing before any agreement — so you can compare it against anyone else on the same terms.
The agreement
Full-service management is a 12-month minimum commitment. The agreement states that term, the notice period and what termination involves, and we walk you through all three rather than leaving you to find them.
Your rental analysis
The first piece of work we do for you: what the property should achieve, built from comparable leased units, and what it needs before it goes to market.
What is not in the fee
The cost of the work itself. Repairs and materials, turnover and make-ready, utilities where they are the owner’s, and legal fees and court costs in an eviction are property expenses rather than management expenses. They are billed at cost with the vendor invoice attached to your statement.
The distinction matters when comparing quotes: a manager who folds some of these into the percentage is not cheaper, and one who bills them at cost is not charging extra. Read what the percentage buys before comparing the percentages.
Pricing questions
Residential management here is normally priced as a percentage of rent collected each month, plus a one-time leasing fee when a new tenant is placed. What that percentage works out to depends on the property — how many units, what type, its condition, whether it is already tenanted and where it is. Those differences are large enough that a single published rate would be wrong for most owners, which is why we quote per property rather than off a rate card.
Because it would be misleading. A rate set for a single-family house is the wrong number for an owner with six units, and a rate set for a portfolio is one a single-property owner would never be offered. Publishing one figure means most readers see a price that does not apply to them. You get a written quote covering every fee that would apply to your property, before any agreement — which is the thing that actually lets you compare managers.
You can ask, and some clients do. What we will not do is quietly move a headline percentage down and recover it somewhere less visible — a lower management fee alongside a vendor markup or a renewal fee is not a discount, it is a rearrangement. Any change to the quote is a change you can see.
Yes. Full-service management is a 12-month minimum commitment. The agreement states that term, the notice period and what ending it involves, and you see all of it in writing before you sign.
Ask this of every manager you compare, because two firms quoting the same percentage can mean very different things. A fee on collected rent means the manager earns nothing during a vacancy or a non-payment. A fee on scheduled rent is due on the rent the lease says should have arrived, whether or not it did — which removes the manager’s financial stake in exactly the two situations where you most want them motivated.
A percentage added on top of what the trade actually charged, so a $400 repair reaches your statement at more than $400. It is the fee most likely to be material over a year and the least likely to show up in a pricing comparison. Ask directly whether there is one, what it is, and whether you see the original invoice or only the marked-up figure.
The cost of the work itself. Repairs and materials, turnover and make-ready, utilities where they are the owner’s, and legal fees and court costs in an eviction are property expenses rather than management expenses, billed at cost with the vendor invoice attached to your statement. The management fee buys the management, not the maintenance.
Usually the same day as a short conversation about the property. The quote is free. The rental analysis comes after you sign — it is built from comparable leased units, and it is the first piece of work we do for a new client.
More on how we work in the owner FAQ, and an honest comparison of your options on why Livo.
Get a number for your property
A short conversation, then a written quote covering every fee that would apply. No obligation, and nothing to sign to get it.