PCS and the Sell-or-Rent Decision: The 8% to 12% Management Fee Math

The management fee, up front

Long-term residential management in Texas typically runs 8% to 12% of monthly collected rent, with a state average near 8.9%. Expect a tenant-placement or leasing fee of 50% to 100% of one month's rent, setup fees of about $100 to $300, and maintenance markups of 8% to 12% of vendor cost. Single-family homes tend to land at the higher end. On a $1,500 monthly rent, an 8.9% management fee is about $134 a month before anything else.

The rule most landlords wish they knew

Normally, IRS Section 121 lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain (single) or $500,000 (married filing jointly) on a home you owned and used as your principal residence for two of the five years before sale. Under the military suspension in Section 121(d)(9), active-duty members on qualified official extended duty, including a PCS to a station more than 50 miles away, can pause that five-year clock for up to 10 additional years. Rent the home during a PCS tour and you can still claim the full exclusion when you sell, as long as you met the two-year use test before the suspension. The election is made on the return for the year of sale and applies to one property at a time.

• Watch: Nobody Warns Military Families About Moving to San Antonio TX (YouTube)

The rate-lock argument

Roughly 74% of VA homeowners hold mortgage rates below 5%, and a replacement purchase today runs near 7.2%. Selling forfeits that cheap financing; renting keeps it alive and, in military-heavy areas like Schertz, Cibolo, and the corridors around JBSA, demand for rentals is steady. If you may return to the area, the suspension rule makes renting a genuinely flexible option.

• Schertz vs. Cibolo for military families
• The exact 2026 BAH rates at JBSA

The flip side: what renting really costs

Renting is not passive. Budget management fees, a leasing fee every turnover, vacancy between tenants, landlord insurance, property taxes that reset on the new assessed value, and deferred maintenance that comes due all at once. Many rentals do not cash flow in year one. If the numbers only work with optimistic occupancy, the honest answer is usually to sell.

The sell side

Selling costs typically run 9% to 15% of the sale price once commissions, closing costs, prep, and repairs are counted, and the equity is then yours to redeploy, including into a new home near your next duty station. The military exclusion protects your gain either way. The question is not which feels better; it is which set of numbers you can actually manage from wherever you are posted next.

• What San Antonio sellers actually pay in 2026
• What San Antonio sellers actually net: the 22.8% profit margin

Frequently asked questions