Hiring a Property Manager in San Antonio: Fees, Contract Terms, and When to Self-Manage

A competent property manager in San Antonio typically costs 8–10% of collected rent plus a leasing fee equal to half a month to a full month's rent, and that's before add-ons like renewal fees, maintenance markups, and vacancy charges. Whether that's a bargain or a slow leak depends on your rent, your distance from the property, and how many units you own. This walks through the real numbers, the clauses that quietly transfer risk to you, and the point at which self-managing stops making sense.

What San Antonio managers actually charge

Most residential managers in Bexar County price on some combination of the following. Ask for every line in writing before you sign — verbal quotes routinely leave out three or four of these.

• Monthly management fee. 8–10% of collected rent is standard for a single-family home. Some managers offer a flat monthly fee ($99–$150) that looks cheap on a $2,200 rental but stops looking cheap when you realize what's excluded.
• Leasing fee (new tenant placement). 50–100% of one month's rent. This covers marketing, showings, screening, and lease preparation. A few charge a flat $500–$800 instead.
• Renewal fee. $200–$400 or 10–25% of one month's rent when an existing tenant re-signs. This one surprises owners.
• Vacancy fee. Some contracts charge a reduced monthly fee ($50–$100) while the unit sits empty. Others charge nothing. Read the vacancy clause.
• Maintenance markup. 10–20% added to vendor invoices, or a flat coordination fee per work order. Some in-house maintenance teams bill hourly at $75–$95.
• Eviction handling. $200–$500 to file and appear in Bexar County JP court, plus filing fees and attorney costs if it escalates.
• Lease-up marketing. Professional photos, MLS/SABOR syndication, and sign installation are sometimes included, sometimes billed separately.
• Reserve requirement. $250–$500 held in your account for emergency repairs the manager can authorize without calling you.

On a $2,000/month house with one turnover every two years, a 10% + one-month-leasing structure runs roughly $3,400/year — about 14% of gross rent when averaged across the cycle.

What the contract must say (and often doesn't)

Property management agreements in Texas are drafted by the manager, for the manager. Every clause below is negotiable if you catch it before signing.

Termination rights

Look for a 30-day termination without cause clause and no early-termination penalty. Some contracts require 90 days' notice, or charge a "lease-up recovery" fee equal to the leasing commission if you cancel while a tenant they placed is still in the property. That last one can be $1,500+ on exit.

Scope of authority

The manager should not be able to spend more than a stated dollar cap (commonly $300–$500) on a single repair without your written approval, except in a true emergency — burst pipe, roof breach, HVAC failure in July. Get "emergency" defined in the contract.

Trust account and disbursement timing

Under TREC rules, a licensed broker managing property must hold tenant funds in a separate trust account. Confirm the manager is a Texas real estate broker or works under one — property management for a fee is a licensed activity in Texas. Owner disbursements should hit your account by a stated day each month (usually the 10th–15th).

Repair duty compliance

The manager is your agent for Texas Property Code § 92.052 (landlord's duty to repair conditions that materially affect health or safety). If they miss the statutory response window after a written tenant request, you can be on the hook for tenant remedies under § 92.056 — including lease termination and one month's rent plus $500 in damages. The contract should obligate them to log, timestamp, and respond to repair requests, and to indemnify you if they don't.

Insurance and additional insured status

Require the manager to name you as additional insured on their E&O policy and to carry general liability. You should carry a DP-3 (dwelling) landlord policy — a standard HO-3 homeowner's policy will not cover a tenant-occupied rental, and an insurer that finds out after a claim will deny it.

The math: when a manager pays for itself

Run this before you sign anything. Managers earn their fee on three things: reducing vacancy, avoiding bad tenants, and absorbing 2 a.m. phone calls. Everything else is convenience.

• Vacancy avoidance. If a manager leases in 25 days versus your 45, that's 20 days × $67/day (on $2,000 rent) = $1,340. On a $2,000 unit, their annual 10% fee is $2,400. They need to be materially better at leasing to break even here alone.
• Bad-tenant avoidance. A single eviction in Bexar County JP court runs 4–8 weeks of lost rent, filing fees ($121 for a JP eviction plus service), possible property damage, and the cost of turning the unit again. One prevented eviction pays for 2–3 years of management on most homes.
• Time. If you value your time at $75/hour and self-managing consumes 4 hours a month plus 20 hours of leasing every turnover, you're spending $4,100/year of your own labor on a $2,000 unit — more than a manager costs.

The clean cases: you live outside Bexar County, you own 3+ doors, or you're a PCS-ing servicemember at JBSA-Randolph/Lackland/Fort Sam who may deploy. The muddy cases: one local rental within 20 minutes of your home, stable tenant already in place, no plans to expand.

Red flags when you interview managers

• No Texas real estate broker license. Property management for compensation requires a TREC broker license or working under one — verify at trec.texas.gov.
• Refuses to name their maintenance markup. It's always there. If they say "we don't mark up," ask whether their in-house vendor is a related entity.
• Uses a homegrown lease instead of the TAA (Texas Apartment Association) residential lease or a TREC-compliant custom lease reviewed by counsel. The TAA lease is the workhorse in Texas rentals for a reason.
• Won't share their tenant screening criteria in writing. This is where fair housing exposure lives.
• Guarantees rent. Nobody can. Ask what happens in month two of vacancy — that's the honest answer.
• Vague on the eviction process. The right answer includes the 3-day notice to vacate under § 24.005, JP court filing in the correct Bexar precinct (1–4, by property location), a hearing 10–21 days out, and a writ of possession executed by the constable if you prevail.

What most people get wrong

• Assuming the leasing fee is one-time. It resets every time a new tenant is placed. On a property with 18-month average tenancy, you're paying a leasing fee every 18 months.
• Not reading the renewal fee clause. A $350 renewal fee three years running is $1,050 for signing the same tenant to the same house — often more than the manager spent on the entire renewal.
• Ignoring maintenance markups on small jobs. A $180 disposal replacement becomes $216 after a 20% markup. Over a year of small work orders, this is often the second-largest cost after the base fee.
• Keeping the homestead exemption after moving out. Once the property is a rental, it's no longer your homestead. File the change with BCAD; failing to remove the § 11.13 exemption can trigger back taxes and penalties when they catch it.
• Letting the manager pick the insurance. Confirm you have a DP-3 landlord policy, adequate liability (often $300K–$1M), and loss-of-rents coverage. Do this yourself with your own agent.
• Skipping the mid-lease inspection. Contracts should require the manager to inspect the interior at least once during the lease term. Without this, you find out about the dog and the water damage at move-out.

Self-managing: when it's the right call

If your rental is within a 25-minute drive, you have one or two doors, and you're comfortable running a TAA lease, screening through a service like RentPrep or TransUnion SmartMove, and filing a JP eviction yourself if it ever comes to that, self-managing on a $1,800–$2,400 house nets you $2,000–$3,500/year that would otherwise leave your account. Set up a dedicated bank account, keep every receipt, and treat it like a business — because for Schedule E purposes, it is one. Talk to a Texas CPA about depreciation and the passive activity rules before your first tax year closes.

When you're ready to list, HomeFinder lets San Antonio owners post a rental at /list-your-home, and if you'd rather hand it off, browse vetted local managers and agents at /agents. More landlord guides live at /resources.