Property Management Fees in Long Beach: A 2026 Owner Guide

A licensed broker’s full fee schedule, side by side with the sneaky fees the rest of the industry hides. Real math on a $2,500 Long Beach rental. No hidden line items.

Miles Williams, Broker/Owner of Real Property Management Southland

In Long Beach in 2026, expect to pay between 5.9 percent and 8.9 percent of collected rent for a standard single-family home or condo, depending on the service tier. At Real Property Management Southland, that breaks into three plans: Basic at 5.9 percent, Premium near 7 percent, and All-Inclusive at 8.9 percent. Owners with 10 or more units on one property qualify for volume pricing of 4.9 percent. My leasing fee is a flat $399 (versus an industry standard of one full month of rent), inspections are $55 per visit, setup is zero, and I do not mark up maintenance. If a property manager will not show you the full fee schedule in writing, walk away.

Quick Answer: What You’ll Pay in 2026
The Three-Tier Plan Structure
When the 4.9% Volume Rate Applies
The Leasing Fee Trap
Hidden Fees to Hunt For
Real Math on a $2,500 Rent
Inspections, Renewals, Ancillary Fees
Compare Two Quotes Apples to Apples
Deposit-Free Tenant Economics
Our Three Written Guarantees
Quick Reference Cheat Sheet
Common Questions

In 2014, I was finishing up my last semester of grad school at Long Beach State. My wife was pregnant with our first child, and I had just started working for a property management company. After about four months of working there, the opportunity came to open up my own property management company. Eleven years later, my team and I manage over 730 properties across Long Beach, Lakewood, Downey, Cerritos, Torrance, and 15 other cities in Southeast LA County. Our retention rate is 95 percent. Over 800 five-star reviews. A 4.8-star rating on Google with 921 total reviews at last count. I am telling you that up front because this article is about money, specifically how much you should pay a property manager in Long Beach, and you deserve to know who is doing the talking. I am a licensed California real estate broker (CA DRE #01968830) and I publish my fees online. My whole business is built on that one decision. Here is the truth about most Long Beach property management quotes: the headline rate is a distraction. The headline rate is what the sales rep wants you to focus on. The real cost is in the fine print, in the ancillary fees, in the maintenance markup, in the setup fee, in the lease renewal fee, and in the termination clause. I have watched owners get quoted 6 percent by one company and 8.9 percent by my company, then come back a year later and tell me they would have saved $3,000 going with me because of all the hidden fees the cheaper company tacked on. This is the article I wish every price-conscious landlord in Long Beach had in front of them before they signed a single property management contract. I am going to show you my complete fee schedule. I am going to show you the seven fees other companies charge that I do not. I am going to do the actual math on a $2,500 per month rental and a $3,500 per month rental so you can see what a year really costs. And I am going to end with the one-question test you can use to shut down any property manager who refuses to put their fees in writing.

Quick Answer: What You’ll Pay for Long Beach Property Management in 2026

Let me give you the numbers first, then the context second. If you own a standard single-family home or condo in Long Beach and you are shopping for a property manager in 2026, here is what the real pricing landscape looks like. The honest 2026 Long Beach range:

Monthly management fee (standard SFH or condo): 5.9 percent to 8.9 percent of collected rent
Monthly management fee (10 or more units on one property): 4.9 percent volume rate
Leasing / tenant placement fee: $399 flat at my company versus one full month of rent at most competitors
Lease renewal fee: $150 to $295 typical, included in some all-inclusive plans
Inspection fee: $55 per visit at my company, $75 to $150 at most competitors
Setup or onboarding fee: $0 at my company, $250 to $500 at most competitors
Maintenance markup: None at my company, 10 to 20 percent at many competitors
Eviction coordination: $500 to $750 typical pass-through plus legal
Termination notice: 30 days maximum (walk away from 60 or 90 day clauses)

Notice something? Every single one of these fees is a line item you can ask about directly. None of them are secret. A property manager who will not name every one of these in writing is hiding something, and you should assume the worst about what. Miles, on why I publish my fees: “There’s nothing I hate more than not being able to shop for pricing online and have it be clear and transparent when I’m looking for a service. I took that same thought to my business and decided to be very clear and transparent with our pricing.”

The Three-Tier Plan Structure (Basic, Premium, All-Inclusive)

For standard single-family homes and condos, I offer three plans. The owner picks. It is up to the owner. I am not going to nudge you into the expensive tier if the cheap one fits you better, because I would rather keep you for 10 years on the Basic plan than chase you for one year on the All-Inclusive plan. Here is how each tier is actually structured. Real plans, real numbers, real decisions.

Basic Plan: 5.9 Percent of Collected Rent

The Basic plan is for hands-on owners who still want to be involved in decisions. You get core management: rent collection, tenant communications, maintenance coordination, accounting and monthly statements, owner portal access, and lease compliance. You still approve maintenance above a threshold, you still get notified on major issues, and you are the final voice on decisions that go beyond routine. Think of Basic as having a professional operations team running day to day while you stay in the driver’s seat on the big calls. Basic is the right pick if you own one or two properties, you live in or near Long Beach, you enjoy the asset-management side of landlording, and you want professional help without giving up control. It is also the right pick for owners who want to keep monthly costs as low as possible while still having an accountable broker backing them up.

Premium Plan: Right Around 7 Percent

Premium is where most of my owners land. It sits in the middle at about 7 percent and adds deeper reporting, additional inspections, and more protection on the leasing side. You get everything in Basic plus enhanced screening, more frequent property evaluations, tenant placement protection, and reduced leasing friction when a unit turns. It is the plan for owners who want real property management but still want me to check in on the biggest decisions. Premium is right for owners who have moved from one rental to two or three, who do not want to be woken up at 2 a.m. by a maintenance call anymore, and who want confidence that someone is watching the property even when nothing is wrong. It is the plan I recommend most often for working professionals who bought their first investment property five years ago and are now realizing they need a real partner.

All-Inclusive Plan: 8.9 Percent of Collected Rent

The All-Inclusive plan is my flagship for absentee owners, busy investors, and anyone who wants to be truly hands-off. Everything is bundled. The leasing fee is rolled in. Lease renewals are included. Inspections are included. Eviction coordination is included. You pay one flat percentage of rent and we handle everything. You do not get a $399 line item three months in. You do not get a renewal invoice. You do not get surprised. You get a monthly statement and a deposit to your bank account. That is it. All-Inclusive is right for owners who live out of state, owners who inherited a property and do not want to learn the business, owners with full-time jobs who value time more than basis points, and owners who have been burned on surprise fees in the past and want rate certainty above all. On a $2,500 rental, All-Inclusive runs about $223 per month, and for that you get all-in predictability. Which plan should you pick? If you are a hands-on local owner and want lowest cost, go Basic. If you want real protection with active management and still want to be looped in, go Premium. If you live out of state, are busy, or just want zero hassle, go All-Inclusive. I will tell you on the intro call which one I think fits your situation. I have no incentive to upsell you, because a happy owner on Basic is worth more to me over 10 years than a frustrated owner on All-Inclusive for one.

When the 4.9 Percent Volume Rate Actually Applies

You will see other property management companies advertise a 4.9 percent rate as their lead number. I want to be honest with you about how that really works at my company, because I have seen the 4.9 percent number used to bait owners who will never actually qualify for it. My 4.9 percent rate applies to properties with 10 or more units on a single address. That is the volume tier. If you own a 12-unit apartment building in Signal Hill, or a 15-unit complex in Bellflower, or a 20-unit property in Lakewood, you qualify. If you own three single-family homes scattered across Long Beach, you do not qualify for 4.9 percent no matter what the lead ad says. The economics of managing one 12-unit building are completely different from managing 12 separate single-family homes across 12 different zip codes, and honest pricing has to reflect that. Here is the actual quote from me on how my pricing works: “For standard single-family or condos, the property owner can choose from three different plans. We have a basic, premium, and all-inclusive plan. Those range from 5.9 to 8.9 percent, and it’s completely up to the property owner to choose. For lower or more customized pricing, the biggest impact on that is the number of units or doors that are on a property. For example, if there’s 10 units or more on a property, we qualify for our 4.9 percent pricing.” If you are a multi-family owner, call me directly. I will run a custom quote that reflects your actual portfolio, not a lead-gen number. If you are a single-family owner, I want you to know that the 4.9 percent number you see in some ads is not apples to apples with what you will actually pay as a small-portfolio owner.

The Leasing Fee Trap (Why $399 Flat Beats One Full Month)

The leasing fee is the single biggest hidden cost in Long Beach property management, and it is also the fee that tells you the most about how a company really sees you. Let me explain. A leasing fee, sometimes called a tenant placement fee, is what a property manager charges to find a new tenant and get them into the unit. This covers marketing the vacancy, running showings, screening applicants, drafting and signing the lease, and coordinating move-in. It is real work. It is not free. Somebody has to pay for it. The industry standard in Long Beach is one full month of rent. On a $2,500 single-family home, that is $2,500 every time you turn a tenant. On a $3,500 condo, that is $3,500. On a $4,500 two-story rental, that is $4,500. You pay that every single time a tenant leaves, which in California is on average every two to three years. Over a 10-year hold, that is potentially five separate leasing fees totaling $12,500 to $22,500 just to fill vacancies. My leasing fee is $399 flat. Period. $2,500 rental? $399. $4,500 rental? Still $399. Why would I leave that much money on the table? Because I am playing the long game. Miles, in his own words on the $399 flat leasing fee: “For us, we’re playing the long game. We don’t even break even on our costs to fill your property with our leasing fee being so low. We know that we’re going to establish a great relationship with you as a property owner, and we want to manage it for the long term. So, we also are considerate that there’s nothing more expensive for a property owner than vacancy. You’ve got turnover costs, vacancy with no rent coming in and you’re obviously paying the mortgage, the property insurance, the taxes, utilities during that time.” That quote is the whole philosophy. Every dollar I charge you on a leasing fee is a dollar that competes with my ability to earn your trust long-term. I would rather take a loss on the leasing side and keep you for 10 years than win a big fee once and watch you leave two years later with a bad taste in your mouth.

Let Me Show You the Real Cost Difference

Here is a side-by-side on a single $2,500 per month Long Beach rental over a 5-year hold with two turnovers.

Scenario	Turnover 1	Turnover 2	5-Year Total Leasing Cost
Competitor charging one full month	$2,500	$2,500	$5,000
RPM Southland $399 flat leasing fee	$399	$399	$798
Your savings over 5 years	$4,202 on a single $2,500 rental

That $4,202 in leasing fee savings often wipes out the entire difference between my Basic 5.9 percent plan and a competitor’s “cheaper” 5 percent plan. This is what I mean when I say the headline rate is a distraction. You have to look at the whole cost structure over multiple years, not just the monthly management line. And here is the kicker: on my All-Inclusive 8.9 percent plan, the $399 leasing fee is already rolled in. You pay zero extra on turnovers. Zero. On a $3,500 condo, an All-Inclusive owner saves $3,500 in leasing fees at every turnover on top of the predictability.

Hidden Fees to Hunt For in Every Competitor Quote

Here is the part where I get a little direct. These are the fees I do not charge. They are all standard practice at other Long Beach property management companies. I am not naming names, because I do not need to. You will find these on the second or third page of most PMs’ agreements if you look. I am listing them so you know exactly what to hunt for before you sign. Read this before your next PM sales call: Ask for the complete fee schedule in writing. Not the “starting at” rate. Not the “typical range.” The complete, line-itemed schedule that will apply to your specific property. If they cannot or will not send it, the call is over. Transparent companies publish pricing.

Common Industry Fees We Don’t Charge

Setup or Onboarding Fee. Many Long Beach PMs charge $250 to $500 before they have managed a single dollar of your rent. My setup fee is zero. I have said this publicly before: “We don’t have that.” Marketing or Advertising Fee. Some companies charge $100 to $300 per vacancy to cover photos, listing syndication, and ad placement. I do not. Marketing is part of the leasing process and it is baked into my $399 flat fee. Maintenance Markup (10 to 20 percent). The quietest hidden fee in the entire industry. Some companies quietly add 10 to 20 percent to every maintenance invoice. I do not mark up maintenance. You pay the vendor cost, full stop. Reserve Fund Fee. Some PMs require a $500 to $1,000 reserve held in their account, and some of them keep the interest. I require a small working reserve per property only for tenant-demand repairs, and the money stays in your owner ledger. Technology or Portal Fee. A handful of companies charge $5 to $15 per month per unit for the owner portal, tenant portal, or online payment processing. At my company, the portal is included. Bill-Pay or ACH Fee. Some PMs charge $5 to $10 every time they pay a utility bill, an HOA fee, or an owner disbursement on your behalf. That adds up fast on a property with multiple recurring bills. I do not charge for routine bill-pay. Year-End Accounting Fee. Some companies charge $150 to $300 for your year-end 1099 and owner statement package. I include year-end reporting as part of standard management. Tax documents go straight into your owner portal in January. Early Termination Penalty. Many Long Beach contracts hit you with a 2 to 3 month penalty if you cancel early, on top of a 60 or 90 day termination notice. My termination clause is 30 days, and the 60-day satisfaction guarantee gives you a no-penalty exit in the first two months if we are not a fit. The math on hidden fees is brutal. On a single $2,500 per month rental managed for 3 years with one turnover, a competitor charging a 6 percent headline rate plus a $400 setup fee, a 15 percent maintenance markup on $3,000 of annual repairs, a $200 year-end fee, a $10 per month tech fee, and a one-month leasing fee on turnover will actually cost you over $7,400 more than my Basic plan at 5.9 percent with zero add-ons. The “cheaper” company was over $7,000 more expensive in real dollars. This is not a hypothetical. I have seen this exact math play out with owners who switched to us after a year somewhere else. Miles, in his own words on competitor fee structures: “We do have competitors who advertise lower pricing as a management fee, but then have several additional ancillary fees that when you compare apples to apples make their pricing significantly more. For example, many of our competitors charge a startup or a setup fee and before you even start working with them, you need to pay them a setup fee. We don’t have that.”

What Your Monthly PM Cost Actually Looks Like (Real Math on $2,500 and $3,500 Rents)

Percentages are easy to compare in a spreadsheet and hard to feel in your bank account. Let me walk you through what each of my three plans actually costs on two common Long Beach rent points. You can skip straight to whichever row matches your unit.

Scenario A: $2,500 per Month Long Beach Single-Family Rental

This is the most common price point in neighborhoods like Bixby Knolls, North Long Beach, Wrigley, and parts of Lakewood. A 3 bedroom 2 bath single-family home renting for $2,500 per month.

Plan	Monthly Rate	Monthly Cost	Annual Management Fees	What’s Included
Basic	5.9%	$147.50	$1,770	Core management, owner portal, rent collection, routine maintenance coordination
Premium	~7%	$175	$2,100	Basic plus enhanced screening, additional inspections, extra tenant placement protection
All-Inclusive	8.9%	$222.50	$2,670	Everything bundled: leasing fee, renewal, inspections, eviction coordination

Add one turnover per year with a $399 flat leasing fee on Basic or Premium (not needed on All-Inclusive). That takes Basic to about $2,169 per year all-in and Premium to about $2,499 per year all-in. All-Inclusive stays at $2,670 with leasing included. On this size rental, the All-Inclusive plan is just $171 more per year than Premium with zero surprise invoices. Many absentee owners think that is the best $171 they spend all year.

Scenario B: $3,500 per Month Long Beach Condo or Upgraded SFH

This is what you see in Belmont Shore, Alamitos Heights, renovated Bixby Knolls, and newer condo buildings around Downtown. A larger or higher-end unit at $3,500 per month.

Plan	Monthly Rate	Monthly Cost	Annual Management Fees	With One Turnover
Basic	5.9%	$206.50	$2,478	$2,877 (+ $399 leasing)
Premium	~7%	$245	$2,940	$3,339 (+ $399 leasing)
All-Inclusive	8.9%	$311.50	$3,738	$3,738 (leasing already included)

Now compare that to a “typical” Long Beach competitor charging 7 percent headline plus one-month leasing fee. On the same $3,500 condo with one turnover per year, that competitor costs you $2,940 in management plus $3,500 in leasing, totaling $6,440 for a single year. My All-Inclusive plan at $3,738 is $2,702 cheaper in year one alone. Over a 5-year hold with two turnovers, the gap exceeds $5,000 in real savings. This is what “playing the long game” looks like in a spreadsheet. I take the hit on the leasing fee because it saves you thousands and it keeps you from feeling nickel-and-dimed every time a tenant turns. Meanwhile, the competitor pocketing the full-month leasing fee is watching me eat their lunch on retention, and they cannot figure out why.

Decision Matrix: Which Plan Fits Your Situation?

Situation	Basic 5.9%	Premium ~7%	All-Inclusive 8.9%
Hands-on local owner, 1-2 properties	Best fit	Good	Overkill
Working professional, 2-5 properties	Good	Best fit	Strong option
Out-of-state or absentee owner	Risky	Good	Best fit
Wants rate certainty, hates surprises	Not ideal	Good	Best fit
10 or more units on one property	Custom 4.9% volume quote

Inspection, Renewal, and Ancillary Fees Explained

The monthly management fee and the leasing fee are the two big line items. Everything else falls into the “ancillary” bucket, and it is where most landlords get tripped up because they never thought to ask. Here is what you should expect on each ancillary fee in Long Beach.

Inspection Fees

Property inspections are not optional. If your property manager is not physically walking your unit every six to eight months, they are not actually managing your property. I charge $55 per inspection visit, which is below the $75 to $150 most competitors charge, because I want there to be zero financial friction on owners who want more visits. Here is what my inspection process actually includes. Photos of every room. Photos of every bathroom. Photos under the sinks. Running every faucet to check water pressure and drainage. Checking the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Checking the HVAC filter and noting the replacement date. Scanning for lease violations (unauthorized pets, subletters, unauthorized modifications). Flagging deferred maintenance issues before they become expensive emergencies. A polished report goes to your owner portal with every photo organized by room. You can log in at any time and see exactly what your property looks like on the inside. Miles, in his own words on inspections: “This is a crucial, crucial step of the management lifecycle and cannot be skipped.” This is not marketing language. This is operator language. Owners who skip inspections end up with expensive repairs that could have been caught when they were cheap. Owners who inspect regularly catch a slow leak before it ruins a subfloor, catch an unauthorized pet before the HOA gets involved, and catch a tenant lease violation before it turns into an eviction. $55 is the cheapest insurance policy I sell.

Lease Renewal Fees

When a tenant renews their lease instead of turning the unit, there is still work involved. Market rent research to make sure you are not leaving money on the table. Negotiating the renewal terms. Drafting and signing the new lease agreement. Updating all records. At most Long Beach property management companies, this is a $150 to $295 fee per renewal. On my Basic and Premium plans, that is the range. On my All-Inclusive plan, renewal fees are bundled in for zero extra cost. Here is why renewals matter more than most owners realize: a renewal saves you the full turnover cost. No leasing fee, no vacancy, no cleaning, no painting, no make-ready. A good renewal is a several-thousand-dollar decision dressed up as a paperwork task. I would rather push a fair renewal than chase a $200 rent bump that loses you the tenant and costs you $5,000 in turnover.

Eviction Coordination Fees

Nobody wants to talk about evictions, but I would rather tell you the real number than have you discover it at the worst possible moment. A standard California eviction in Long Beach runs roughly $500 to $750 in coordination fees to the property manager, plus attorney fees, plus court filing costs, plus the sheriff lockout cost. A contested eviction can run $3,000 to $6,000 all-in. An uncontested eviction is often closer to $1,500 to $2,500 all-in. At my company, my eviction coordination fee is fully disclosed in the management agreement. I work with a local California landlord-tenant attorney, I handle all the paperwork and court coordination, and I make sure your case is moving forward as fast as California law allows. If I sense you might need an eviction in the next 90 days, I tell you so before it happens and we plan for it. No surprises.

Tenant Screening and Application Fees

Application fees are typically paid by the tenant, not the owner. In California, landlords can charge a credit and background check fee to applicants that reflects the actual cost (usually $40 to $60 per applicant). I run a thorough screening that includes full credit pull, criminal background, eviction history, rental references, and income verification. That screening is the difference between placing a tenant who pays on time for three years and placing a tenant who defaults in month four.

Termination Fees

This is the fee that will bite you hardest if you do not read the fine print. Most Long Beach property management contracts lock you in for 12 months and require 60 to 90 days of notice to terminate, often with a penalty on top. My contract is 30 days of notice, no penalty, and you have a 60-day satisfaction guarantee up front that lets you walk away with zero cost if we are not a fit. I will cover the guarantees in more detail later in this article.

How to Compare Two Quotes Apples to Apples

This is the section that is going to save you the most money, so stay with me. You cannot compare two property management quotes by looking at the headline percentage. You have to run the full math on the full fee schedule over a full year, including at least one turnover. Here is the exact process I would use if I were hiring a property manager myself.

Request every fee schedule in writing. Email, PDF, whatever. No phone-call “trust me on this” numbers. If they will not send it, the interview is over.
Build a one-page comparison grid. Rows: monthly management percent, leasing fee, renewal fee, inspection fee, setup fee, marketing fee, maintenance markup percent, reserve requirement, tech fee, bill-pay fee, eviction coordination, termination clause. Columns: each company you are comparing.
Plug in your actual rent number. Not industry averages. Your number. Calculate monthly management fees at each company as a dollar figure, then annualize.
Add one turnover per year as a baseline. Apply the leasing fee, a typical $500 in turn costs, and factor in 15 days of vacancy in the math.
Add the setup fee as a one-time cost spread over 12 months. A $500 setup fee is really $42 per month on top of the headline rate. Put it in the math.
Estimate annual maintenance at $2,000 to $3,500. Apply the maintenance markup percent to that. A 15 percent markup on $3,000 is $450 of invisible cost per year.
Total the first-year and three-year costs. You will often see the “cheaper” company is actually $1,000 to $3,000 more expensive over a year once you add everything up.
Read the termination clause last. If it is longer than 30 days or carries a penalty, discount the offer heavily. Bad termination clauses trap you.
Ask: “What happens if you fail to deliver?” Companies with guarantees will have a written answer. Companies without will hedge. Write down the answer verbatim.
Sleep on it. If you are being rushed to sign, you are being sold, not served. The right property manager will give you time to decide.

I run this exact exercise on the phone with owners several times a month. What I see again and again is that the “cheapest” quote on the surface turns out to be the most expensive in the real world, and the owner ends up saving $1,500 to $5,000 per property per year by going with a company that published their full fees up front. This is not a sales pitch. It is math. The one-question test: At any point in the sales call, ask the property manager: “Can you send me your complete fee schedule in writing before we end this call?” If the answer is yes and it arrives within 10 minutes, keep interviewing them. If the answer is “we can discuss that at the next step” or “our pricing is custom to each property” with no numbers attached, the interview is over. Transparent companies publish pricing. That is my whole philosophy and it should be yours too.

Deposit-Free Tenant Economics (The Obligo Program)

I want to give you one example of a fee-adjacent program that actually helps both owners and tenants. It is called Obligo. It is a deposit-free rental program that we offer at my company because the math just works. Here is how it works. A traditional tenant moving into a $3,500 per month rental has to come up with $3,500 first month plus $4,000 to $5,000 security deposit, which is $7,500 to $8,500 up front. That is a huge barrier. A lot of qualified tenants cannot clear it, so they either walk away from your property or they move in broke, which is not great for anyone. With Obligo, qualified tenants pay a one-time fee ranging from $200 to $500 depending on their credit tier, instead of the traditional security deposit. Your property is still fully protected. If there are damage charges at move-out, I submit them to Obligo, Obligo cuts me a check, and the check goes straight to you as the owner. Your protection is unchanged. Your applicant pool just got much bigger. Miles, in his own words on why Obligo matters: “This is a really important program, especially right now, where days-on-market is through the roof. Obligo guarantees that if there are any charges that need to be charged against the security deposit, we can submit those to Obligo, and they cut a check directly to us, which goes to reimburse you as the property owner for any damages.” I mention this because when you are comparing management fees across companies, most owners never think about whether the property manager has access to programs like this that expand the tenant pool. A slightly higher management fee from a company that fills your vacancy in 21 days with a deposit-free program is much cheaper than a rock-bottom fee from a company that takes 45 days because they filter out 40 percent of qualified applicants. Every day of vacancy at $3,500 per month is $115 out of your pocket. You do the math.

Our Three Written Guarantees

Fees do not mean anything if the company has no accountability to deliver. Most Long Beach property management contracts lock you in for 12 months with a 60 to 90 day termination clause and zero skin in the game if things go wrong. I do the opposite. Every owner who signs with Real Property Management Southland gets three written guarantees that I do not know of any other major Long Beach PM offering. Miles, in his own words on why we offer these: “Committing to a property manager is a big, big deal. When done right, it can be one of the best things you have ever done for your asset. When done wrong, it can be catastrophic. So, we wanted to give you some outs in case you feel like we are not a good fit. We know we are, and we know we are going to deliver on our promises, so we are not worried about these guarantees. But myself as a consumer, I do not like being stuck in long contracts if the other side is not holding up their end of the bargain.”

Guarantee 1: Six-Month Tenant Placement Guarantee

If a tenant we place breaks their lease within the first six months, we replace them at zero leasing fee to the owner. You do not pay for our screening mistake. Period. In fee-speak, that means the $399 flat leasing fee I charge becomes zero if we did not do our job placing the first tenant. We eat the cost. Rarely, rarely do we have to honor this one, because our screening process is built to prevent it. But when it happens, the cost does not fall on you.

Guarantee 2: 29-Day Rental Guarantee

We commit to filling your vacancy within 29 days of listing, or we reduce our fees until we do. That is fee accountability in writing. Vacancy is the single most expensive thing that can happen to a rental property owner, and most property management companies have no incentive to move fast because they do not lose anything when you do. On a $2,500 Long Beach rental, every 10 days of extra vacancy costs you $833 in lost rent plus ongoing mortgage, insurance, taxes, and utilities. When we put our money on the line with a hard deadline, we are telling you we think vacancy is as expensive for us as it is for you. We eat the cost if we are wrong.

Guarantee 3: 60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee

If you are not happy with our service within your first 60 days, you can cancel the management agreement with no penalty. No termination fee, no wind-down cost, no fight. You walk away, you keep your money, we hand back the keys. Rarely, rarely do we have to honor this one. But the fact that we offer it is a statement about the fee structure. A company that charges hidden fees cannot afford to offer a 60-day no-penalty exit, because too many owners would find the hidden fees inside 60 days and leave. Our transparency is why the 60-day guarantee is possible. Why this matters when you are comparing fees: A company that offers written guarantees has to deliver. A company that does not offer them has nothing on the line when service slips. When you are interviewing other Long Beach property management companies, ask them directly: “What guarantees do you offer on your fees, and what happens if you fail to deliver?” Their answer will tell you more about the company than any sales pitch.

Let Me Run Your Real Numbers

Send me your current quote (or your current PM’s fee schedule) and I will show you in 15 minutes exactly what you are paying versus what you would pay with Real Property Management Southland. No sales pitch. Just math.

The Right Question to Ask About Fees

I want to end the main body of this article with a reframe. Every property owner I talk to eventually asks the same question: “What is your fee?” That is the wrong first question. It is a natural question, and I understand why people ask it, but it gives a property manager zero incentive to prove anything beyond being the cheapest number on the page. Miles, in his own words on the philosophy shift: “Every property owner should look at their property as an asset and not just what’s the fee a property manager is going to cost me. So they should ask, how are you going to increase the value of my asset over the time that it’s under your management?” Here is the reframe. Your rental property is an asset worth $600,000 to $1.2 million at current Long Beach valuations. The property manager’s fee is typically 5.9 percent to 8.9 percent of collected rent. On a $2,500 rental, that is $147 to $223 per month. A 0.25 percent difference in monthly rate on that property is $75 per year. Meanwhile, the difference between a mediocre property manager and a good one in terms of tenant quality, maintenance spend, vacancy days, and rent growth is easily $5,000 to $15,000 per year. The right question is not “what is your fee?” The right question is “how are you going to protect and grow the value of my asset?” The cheapest management fee in Long Beach can cost you a fortune if the company lets your property deteriorate, places bad tenants, or misses annual rent increases. A slightly higher fee from a company that actively manages your asset is a dramatically better outcome for your net worth. That is the whole game. I am not asking you to pay more than you should. I am asking you to stop grading property managers only on the headline rate, and start grading them on the full fee schedule plus the asset outcome. If you do that, I think my published fee structure holds up very well against any other company in Long Beach. And if it does not for your situation, I will tell you so on the call.

2026 Long Beach PM Fee Cheat Sheet

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I will email you my full fee schedule, run the 12-month math for your specific property, and tell you honestly whether Real Property Management Southland is the right fit. If we are not, I will point you to who I think is. No sales pressure.

Miles Williams

Miles founded Real Property Management Southland in 2014 while finishing grad school at Long Beach State. Eleven years later, he and his team manage over 730 properties across Long Beach, Lakewood, Downey, Cerritos, Torrance, and the surrounding cities. He built his business on published pricing because he believes landlords deserve the same transparency he expects as a consumer. 95 percent of his owner clients have been with the company for more than a year, and over 50 percent have been with him for more than five.

Real Property Management Southland Blog