Property managers are too easily scared when confronted with prospective clients asking for a discount. A majority of property managers are still unsure and uncomfortable about defending their fees.

“I will admit, when I was a Business Development Manager, in the early days, I would be going through an agreement and saying it as quickly as I could so they wouldn’t ask me for a discount.”

“Once I knew I had the confidence in the team behind me and I knew we were a good office and we were providing good services that were better than every other agency, I could defend my fees and say, “This is why we are better and this is why you pay X-amount of dollars a year.”

“If you are renting properties five or six days quicker than everybody else, you are potentially saving $300-$400 a year just on filling properties quicker, which is cheaper than a one per cent discount over the year,” he added.

The main reason PMs reduce their fees is fear of confrontation.

“Agents reduce their fees because they don’t know how to defend their fees. It is easier just to say ‘okay’ to get their signature than to say, ‘Well, no, this is what you get if you sign with us and this is why our fees are this price,’” he said.

It is natural and human to be scared of it. A PM commission is not like a bank percentage, which is what most owners think.

“Whether it is eight per cent or nine per cent, it is not a bank percentage. We are talking about three or four dollars a week. Break it down to a daily figure, if you have to.”