So I've been looking around the website, but I haven't been able to find anything that answers this specific question.  So instead, I'll just ask the question:

Background: I'm a DoD employee who might be heading out to Yokosuka for a 3-yr stint. I have a house that I just bought with my wife, so selling it would be a bad idea.  I have heard conflicting stories about whether or not the government pays for the management company you get to rent your house out.

The question:  For those of you who have not sold your house back in the states, did you have to shell out the cash for the rental management, or is that something the government pays / reimburses you for?

Any information you can vouch for would be greatly appreciated.

Hmmm... I am the wife of  a DoD employee also going to Yokosuka for a 3-year stint... I wonder if you are from the same agency... That would be great to have someone else going through the same situation at the same time!  As far as I know, they do pay for a management company since they don't help you sell your house.  However, this amount is calculated as income, so you have to pay taxes on it, but they reimburse you for the taxes.  (They take taxes out of the reimbursement, so they have to reimburse you for that as well.  Typical govt efficiency)

We have friends who work for the same agency who moved to Japan a few years ago, and their rental situation has been excellent.  I hope we have a similar experience.  (We sold our house in San Diego with a government buy-back and DO NOT recommend that ever.  We were completely ripped off and lost a huge amount of money.  In case that option ever comes up for you.)

Wow. That's better than us active duty types. We have to pay our property management company out of pocket. If anyone finds out otherwise, please post it. I would love to get free property management.

My husband is a DoD employee and we have been out here in Japan for 3 years and are headed back to the States to live on Saturday. We pay for a property management company for our house which has been rented out while we have been here.

As far as I know you pay out of pocket for the property management. There are management companies that work specifically with DoD homeowners. I believe if you go to the VA loan office (don't quote me on this) or PSD (again don't quote, it's been a while) you can get referrals on management companies. I vaguely remember asking around the time my husband found out about us leaving. From last I remembered the cost was about 10% of monthly rent, and additional costs for finders fee (in case renters are needed)...etc. At least that's what my husband and I were quoted.

One thing to stress, find an agent that is willing to email you as many pictures/scans as you need. The people my husband and I went with does monthly drive bys on the property to make sure it is being well taken care of, and does a bi annual thorough walkthrough. She takes lots of detailed pictures. Just recently we had a pipe burst in the house, and she took lots of pictures for that as well. Provided scanned copies for receipts, pictures as the work was being done, damage report, whole nine yards. It makes me giggle to think about the plumber working on replacing the pipes while she's snapping away.

Maybe it was personal property stateside San diego that told me about the property management companies....

Thanks everyone. This is good information. It's weird how the info differs depending on who you talk to.

RCaruso: Did you talk to your friends about their rental situation? Did they say they were being reimbursed? Also, it would be neat if we were part of the same group. I wouldn't be heading out, though, until later in the year. This is just a preliminary ' get everything in order first' kind of thing. You heading to the SRF?

travsmom: Were you given the option to have the gov't pay if you used a particular management company, or was it straight, 'good luck on your own' kind of thing?

RoboCat: You bring up the VA loan office; did you husband go over to Japan as military or as a civilian DoD employee? Also, thanks for the advice about the management company. It sounds like real good advice.

Penguinetti-
My husband doesn't know what the SRF is, so I guess not!  ;-)  

To any DoD people: His agency has regs for reimbursement of rental management fees.  He also says see the Department of State relocation guide.  Hope this helps!

Oh. Here's more info. If your regs come from the JTR, they are consolidated in chapter 38 which is apparently under revision currently. Now, I have to admit I have no idea what the above statement means, since I am not government employee. But mayb it means something to you all and can help.

Ugh. Federal Joint Travel Regulations. Thats what he was talking about. So in chapter 38 the rules for this are covered. If your travel regs are in the JTR, you will find the subject of rental management companies discussed.

Must be nice. I manage all three of my properties myself from Japan. Lots of late night calls, emails, and antacids.

I manage a property from Japan as well, I find it to be ridiculously easy and very profitable it involves me going to the bank once a month and making a deposit on a certified check. The leases for your state can be found online for free if you know where to look, then you can tailor them to your specific needs. I have had the same tenants since I have been in Japan and they just resigned a new lease for another 18 months. Most likely I'll just sell the property someday but currently it's a steady income and the benefit of being able to depreciate a rental home on taxes allows me just about avoid paying taxes on about 25K annually too.

Zero late night calls, emails for new leases every 18 months, no prescription or over the counter medication. I would say maybe it's a fluke but I have owned many homes in many states and have they have always produced similar results.

I recommend only buying at the right price, leasing to the right tenants and only selling for a profit. Many locations in country have declined quite a bit due to the housing implosion the location of my property hasn't really been affected since I have owned it. I purchased it on a short sale for about 80K less than the previous owner payed for the property and they spent about 50-70K completing the basement too.

So it can be a positive experience too if you play your cards right.

We are an AD family and manage our home in the States ourselves. We have a good home warranty so haven't had any huge issues thus far.

My friend says that they found a local property manager for their house and that they recommend that to everyone. The ones from DC aren't actually here taking care of things and she has heard horror stories about frustrating situations from other agents. Additionally, she says that the local managers are motivated to keep the house occupied since they only get paid if rent is coming in. They pay the manager a percent of the rent, then get reimbursed for that cost.