St. Augustine Property Management
Let us manage your St. Augustine rental property
Owning a rental property in St. Augustine — whether you live nearby or hundreds of miles away — still means someone has to market it, screen the tenant, collect the rent, coordinate repairs, and keep you informed. Cool Realty LLC handles all of that as your St. Augustine property manager, with bilingual staff you can actually call and reach a person.
Request a free rental analysis with the form to the right to see what your St. Augustine property could rent for.
The Full Picture
What Does a Property Manager Actually Do?
Behind every rental that's "fully managed" sits the same four-part job: get it rented, keep it rented, keep it in good shape, and keep the owner in the loop. Concretely, that means marketing and screening to land a qualified tenant, rent collection and communication to keep the tenancy running smoothly, scheduled maintenance and inspections to protect the property itself, and portal-based reporting so you're never finding out about a problem after the fact.
One Cool Realty property manager owns all four pieces for your St. Augustine property — not a different department for each. There's a specific person who knows your property, and you call them directly instead of a general queue.
Know The Difference
Property Management, Vacation Rentals, or HOA Management: Which Do You Need?
Search for a St. Augustine property manager and you'll find three different businesses mixed into the same results. Knowing which one you need before you read further saves time.
Long-Term Residential Management
One tenant on a standard lease (typically 12 months), paying rent monthly, managed day-to-day for as long as they stay. Converting a property out of seasonal or vacation use and into a standard lease also starts here — we can walk through what that change looks like for your property.
Vacation & Short-Term Rental Management
A different business entirely: nightly or weekly bookings, guest turnover between stays, cleaning on a completely different cycle. Cool Realty does not manage vacation or short-term rentals.
HOA & Condo Association Management
Managing the association itself — dues, common areas, board governance — rather than an individual owner's rental unit. Cool Realty manages individually owned rental properties for their owners, not HOA boards.
Vacant Home Watch
If your property simply sits vacant — a seasonal or absentee-owned home that isn't actively rented at all — that's not management, it's monitoring.
See Home Watch Services →If you have, or want, one tenant paying you rent every month, you're in the right place.
Property Fit
What Types of St. Augustine Properties Do We Manage?
We manage individually owned single-family homes, townhomes, and condos, leased to one tenant at a time on a standard lease. The one exception is larger condo buildings — typically three stories or more — that fall under Florida's structural inspection and reserve-funding requirements; we don't take those on. If you're not sure whether your property qualifies, ask — it's a quick answer.
- Single-family homes
- Townhomes
- Condos (excluding 3-story+ association buildings)
What We Do
Our St. Augustine Property Management Services
Rental Property Marketing
Every listing gets professional photography, a 360° virtual tour, and syndication to Zillow, Realtor.com, Apartments.com, and social media — the combination that most determines whether a renter clicks into a listing or scrolls past it. Pricing comes from a rental analysis rather than a guess, which matters in a market where a mispriced listing can sit for weeks while a correctly priced one moves fast.
Tenant Screening & Placement
Every applicant is screened before a lease is ever offered: credit check, criminal background check, sex-offender registry search, income verification, rental history, and prior evictions. Once an application clears, we handle the lease signing, security deposit collection, and move-in coordination.
Rent Collection
Rent is collected online through the tenant portal, with owners able to see activity and get paid out through their own owner portal in real time. Rent is due on the 1st with a grace period through the 3rd; a payment still missing on the 4th gets a posted late notice and a late fee, and we contact the tenant directly to resolve it before anything moves toward eviction.
Property Maintenance
A maintenance request submitted through the tenant's portal gets matched with a vendor from our network — licensed, insured, and built over more than 20 years serving Northeast Florida — and nothing proceeds until you've approved the quote. Smaller jobs go to our in-house handyman at $50/hour plus materials.
Property Inspections
Inspections happen on a defined schedule, not just "periodically." Full schedule just below.
Lease Management & Renewals
A renewal includes an updated lease, a pre-renewal inspection, and a brief tenant re-qualification, for a $350 renewal fee — handled before the current lease runs out, not after.
Financial Reporting
Statements, income and expense tracking, and maintenance approvals all live in your owner portal, checkable anytime without a phone call. Year-end summaries and 1099 tax documentation are available on request.
Eviction Protection
Direct communication with the tenant resolves most payment problems long before eviction enters the picture — across Cool Realty's full portfolio, fewer than 0.3% of leases ever get there. The attorney who wrote your lease also handles any filing, and Advanced Eviction Protection is available as an optional $30/month add-on.
Pet Screening
Every pet application includes a pet profile and a vaccination/behavior review before approval. Approved pets carry a one-time, non-refundable $350 deposit and $25/month in pet rent, backed by up to $1,000 in pet-damage coverage.
| Inspection | When |
|---|---|
| Pre-Move-In | Before the tenant moves in |
| Tenant Self-Inspection | Within 48 hours of move-in |
| Six-Month | At the midpoint of the lease term, in person |
| Pre-Renewal | 60 days before lease expiration |
| Move-Out | When the tenant vacates |
| Additional | Available at any point for an added cost |
Property Inspections (above) runs on this fixed schedule — not a vague "periodic" promise.
Transparent Pricing
How Much Does Property Management Cost in St. Augustine, FL?
Here's our full fee structure — no vague ranges, no calling to find out.
Full-Service Management
We handle everything, start to finish.
10%
of collected rent, from month two
$750 onboarding ($350 upfront, $400 on placement) · 9% for active-duty military
- Marketing, screening & placement
- Rent collection & owner portal
- Maintenance coordination
- Defined inspection schedule
- 0% fee while vacant
Tenant Placement Only
You take it from there once a tenant's in place.
$100
+ one month's rent · no ongoing fee
10% off the rent portion for active-duty military (the $100 base stays the same)
- Marketing, showings & screening
- Lease signing & move-in coordination
- No ongoing monthly fee
- You manage day-to-day after move-in
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Property setup & onboarding | $750: $350 upfront and $400 on tenant placement |
| Lease preparation | $65 — attorney-prepared lease |
| Monthly management fee | 10% of collected rent, starting month two |
| Military discount — full-service | 9% monthly fee (instead of 10%) |
| Fee while vacant | $0 |
| Tenant-placement-only option | $100 + one month's rent (no ongoing fee) |
| Military discount — tenant placement | 10% off one month's rent (the $100 fee stays the same) |
| Lease renewal | $350 |
| Advanced Eviction Protection (optional) | $30/month |
| Pet damage coverage | Up to $1,000 |
| In-house handyman | $50/hour plus materials |
| Home Watch (vacant/seasonal, no tenant): single visit | $82.50 per visit |
| Home Watch: bi-weekly visits | $150/month |
| Home Watch: weekly visits | $300/month |
See Property Management Pricing for the live, current version of this table. If your property sits vacant between tenants rather than being actively rented — a seasonal or absentee-owned home — that's a different service rather than management. See Home Watch Services for how that differs.
Confident Risk Reversal
Our Guarantees
You're not taking this on faith — two specific guarantees, in plain language.
Lease Term Guarantee
If a tenant we place doesn't fulfill their lease term (12 months, generally), we replace them — without charging the onboarding fee a second time.
90-Day Placement Guarantee
If your property hasn't been placed with a tenant within 90 days of being listed, you're free to cancel the management agreement.
Pick Your Fit
Tenant Placement, Full-Service Management, or Home Watch — Which Do You Need?
Not every owner needs the same thing from a property manager, and St. Augustine's mix of long-term rentals, seasonal homes, and vacation properties makes the right fit less obvious than in most markets. Here's how the three services split:
Full-Service Property Management
10% of monthly rent
Covers the whole job for an actively rented property — marketing, screening, rent collection, maintenance, inspections, financial reporting, renewals, and eviction handling if it's ever needed. $750 onboarding ($350 upfront, $400 on placement), a $65 attorney-prepared lease, and 10% of monthly rent starting month two (9% for active-duty military) — nothing charged while vacant.
Tenant Placement Only
$100 + one month's rent
Fits owners comfortable running the property themselves once a tenant is in place, but who want it marketed, shown, and screened by someone who does this full-time. No ongoing fee afterward — active-duty military owners get 10% off the rent portion (the $100 base stays the same). Day-to-day management is back in your hands once the lease is signed.
Home Watch
From $82.50 per visit
For a property with no tenant at all — a seasonal home, a vacation property sitting empty between visits, or a house that isn't on the rental market yet. No lease, no tenant to manage — just scheduled visits so a leak, storm damage, or break-in gets caught early rather than discovered weeks later.
See Home Watch Services →If your property has, or will soon have, a tenant paying monthly rent, you're choosing between the first two. If it's sitting vacant with no rental plans yet, Home Watch is the better starting point.
Start To Finish
How Our St. Augustine Property Management Process Works
Ten steps, the same sequence every time — from the first rental analysis to renewal or turnover.
Rental Analysis
We compare your property against current St. Johns County rental activity to recommend a price that supports a fast placement and a fair return.
Preparation
We flag anything worth addressing before listing — a repair, a cleaning, a small fix — so the property doesn't lose applicants to an avoidable first impression.
Marketing
Professional photography, a 360° virtual tour, and the listing goes live across the major rental sites.
Showings
Prospective tenants walk through the property in person.
Screening
Credit, income, criminal background, sex-offender registry, and eviction history — every applicant clears all five before approval.
Lease & Move-In
The lease is signed, a move-in inspection is completed, and the tenant files their own self-inspection within 48 hours.
Ongoing Management
Portal access goes live before the first rent payment is due, and day-to-day communication runs through it from there.
Maintenance & Inspections
Requests route through the portal, and the six-month and pre-renewal inspections happen right on schedule.
Owner Reporting
Statements and portal access keep you current without having to check in.
Renewal or Turnover
At lease end, it's either a renewal, or we handle the move-out inspection, deposit reconciliation, and re-marketing to minimize the gap before the next tenant.
How Much Could Your St. Augustine Property Rent For?
Two identical floor plans a few blocks apart can rent for noticeably different amounts once you factor in condition, updates, proximity to the historic district or the beach, and the time of year a property hits the market — St. Augustine's tourism-driven rental demand shifts more by season than a typical Florida market does. A rental analysis compares your property against what's actually renting nearby right now, rather than a rule-of-thumb percentage or an outdated listing — and it's the fastest way to find out whether a property currently used as a vacation rental, or sitting vacant, would perform better as a standard long-term lease.
Find Out What Your Property Could Rent ForBuilt For Every Situation
Property Management for Different Types of St. Augustine Owners
First-Time Landlords
First rental, and not sure what you don't know yet? The two places people usually trip up are screening — it's tempting to rush when a vacancy drags on — and maintenance, where it's hard to tell an urgent fix from one that can wait. We handle both directly, and we'll walk the property with you before it's listed to flag anything worth addressing first.
Accidental Landlords
A rental property isn't always a plan — sometimes it's an inheritance, a move where selling didn't make sense, or a previous home you never got around to selling. However you ended up here, the day-to-day — screening, maintenance calls, rent collection — is the same work an intentional investor signs up for. We take that part off your plate.
Out-of-State & Absentee Owners
Everything — maintenance approvals, financial reports, inspection updates, statements — runs through your owner portal, so being hundreds of miles from the property isn't a barrier to knowing what's actually happening with it.
Military & PCS Owners
PCS orders to or from St. Augustine come with a tight timeline, and Cool Realty's active-duty military rate is built around that: 9% instead of the standard 10% on full-service management, or 10% off the one-month's-rent portion of the tenant-placement-only fee (the $100 base stays the same either way). A free rental analysis up front also helps you decide whether renting or selling makes more sense before you move.
Military & PCS Relocation →Vacation-Home Owners Converting to Long-Term Rentals
If your property has been run as a short-term or vacation rental — or sat as a seasonal second home — moving it to a standard, long-term lease changes the economics and the day-to-day: one qualified tenant and one monthly rent payment instead of a rotating calendar of guests, cleanings, and turnover. A rental analysis is the clearest way to see both sides before deciding.
Local, Bilingual, Accountable
Bilingual, Local, and Serving St. Johns County
Cool Realty is based in Northeast Florida, not managed as one territory inside a national portfolio — close enough to reach your property in person, not a call center routing requests to a contractor network it doesn't know. Our team provides support in English and Spanish. David Cool, our Managing Broker, has spent more than 20 years in Florida real estate sales, marketing, and property management, and is an active member of NARPM; Cool Realty is also affiliated with JAX REIA, NEFAR, and real MLS.
St. Augustine's rental demand doesn't come only from tourism, even though tourism shapes the local economy more than in most Florida cities. Flagler College, Flagler Hospital, and a steady base of healthcare, municipal, and hospitality workers all rent rather than own, and that demand holds up even with how visible the vacation-rental market is here. St. Johns County's growth corridor west of the historic core — World Golf Village, Nocatee, Palencia — adds a second, different kind of rental demand from families relocating for schools and new-home communities.
One detail worth knowing if your property sits in the historic district: St. Augustine runs a historic preservation review process for exterior changes to older homes there, separate from the standard building permit process. If that applies to your property, it's worth checking with the city before planning any exterior work.
Service Area
Areas We Serve Near St. Augustine
In addition to St. Augustine itself, Cool Realty manages rental properties throughout these nearby communities.
St. Augustine & The Historic Area
Growing Communities
Beyond St. Johns County
Don't see your community listed? Ask us — we may still serve your area.
Before You Sign Anything
How to Choose a Property Management Company in St. Augustine
A few things are worth checking with any company you're considering, regardless of who you choose.
- Is the full fee structure published, or do you have to call to find out?
- Are guarantees specific and in writing, or just implied?
- Is there a defined inspection schedule, or just 'regular checks'?
- Do they actually manage long-term rentals, or is their real business vacation rentals or HOA/association management?
- Can you see a sample owner financial report before signing anything?
- What actually happens if a tenant stops paying or needs to be evicted?
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
-
What does property management include in St. Augustine?
The full job: marketing the property, screening and placing a tenant, collecting rent, coordinating maintenance, keeping inspections on schedule, handling lease renewals, reporting the financials, and managing an eviction if one's ever needed. -
How much does property management cost in St. Augustine?
Full-service management is 10% of collected rent starting in month two (9% for active-duty military), with a $750 setup fee and no fee while the property is vacant. A tenant-placement-only option is also available for $100 plus one month's rent, with no ongoing management fee — and 10% off the rent portion for active-duty military. See the full pricing table above for every figure. -
What percentage do property managers charge?
At Cool Realty, 10% of collected monthly rent for full-service management (9% for active-duty military owners), beginning in the second month. -
Do you manage vacation rentals or short-term rentals?
No. We manage long-term residential rentals — standard leases, typically 12 months, with one tenant paying monthly rent. If you're looking for vacation or short-term rental management, that's a different kind of service than what we offer. -
Do you manage HOA or condo associations?
No. We manage individually owned rental properties for their owners — not HOA boards or condo associations as a whole. -
How often are rental properties inspected?
Five points built into the lease: a pre-move-in inspection, a tenant self-inspection in the first 48 hours, an in-person inspection at the six-month mark, another 60 days before the lease renews, and a final one at move-out. -
How do property managers determine rent?
By comparing your property to similar active rentals in the current St. Johns County market — condition, location, and size weighed against what's actually renting now, not a generic citywide average. -
Is there a fee while my property is vacant?
No — $0. See the pricing table above for the full structure. -
Do you manage condos and townhomes?
Yes — condos, townhomes, and single-family homes. The only property type we pass on is larger condo buildings (generally three stories and up) that trigger Florida's structural inspection and reserve-funding rules. -
Do you work with out-of-state or absentee owners?
Yes, regularly. Portal access covers inspections, financials, and maintenance approvals specifically so that living hundreds of miles away doesn't mean losing visibility into the property. -
What happens if a tenant stops paying rent?
There's a grace period through the 3rd of the month; a payment still missing on the 4th gets a posted late notice, a late fee, and a direct call from us to the tenant to work it out. Eviction is the last resort, not the first move — and across our full portfolio, fewer than 0.3% of leases ever actually get there. -
Is there a guarantee on tenant placement?
Two. A placed tenant who doesn't finish their lease term gets replaced at no extra onboarding cost, and if 90 days pass with no tenant placed, you're free to cancel the agreement. -
Do you offer a discount for military property owners?
Yes — two ways. Full-service management drops to a 9% monthly fee (instead of 10%) for active-duty owners, and the tenant-placement-only option gets 10% off the one-month's-rent portion of its fee (the $100 base fee stays the same). -
Do you allow pets in managed properties?
Case by case, yes. An approved pet comes with a $350 one-time deposit, $25 a month in pet rent, and up to $1,000 in damage coverage built in. -
What's the difference between tenant placement and full-service management?
Tenant-placement-only ($100 + one month's rent) covers marketing, screening, and lease signing, with no ongoing monthly fee — you take over once the tenant moves in. Full-service management (10% of monthly rent) keeps us handling rent collection, maintenance, inspections, and renewals for as long as you want us to. -
What's the difference between property management and Home Watch?
Property management is for an actively rented property — marketing, screening, rent collection, and everything in between. Home Watch is for a vacant, seasonal, or absentee-owned property that isn't being rented at all: scheduled visits to check on it while you're away, not tenant or rent handling. -
Are security deposits and normal wear and tear handled a certain way in Florida?
Yes. Florida law sets specific rules for how security deposits must be held and returned, and draws a line between normal wear and tear (not chargeable to the tenant) and actual damage (which is). We follow those requirements on every managed property. -
How do I get started?
Request a free rental analysis, and a property management specialist will walk through your property and the current St. Augustine market with you.
Request Your Free Rental Analysis
Request a free rental analysis, and a property management specialist will walk through your property and the current St. Augustine market with you — no obligation.
Request Your Free Rental AnalysisAreas We Serve
- Jacksonville
- Orange Park
- St. Johns
- St. Augustine
- Mandarin
- Middleburg
- Yulee
- Fleming Island
- Green Cove Springs
- Oakleaf Plantation
- Nocatee
- Durbin Crossing
- Fernandina Beach
- Julington Creek
- Ponte Vedra
- Wildlife
- Atlantic Beach
- Jacksonville Beach
- Neptune Beach
- Southside
- Southside Mandarin
- Riverside and Avondale
