Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum – & forums in general so please bear with me?!
I've just replied to a previous thread re "help with a tenant" but got to thinking the difficulties we (hubby & I) have experienced as tenants & landlords with regards to property managers & that there are some questions I would welcome the forums' thoughts on regarding this topic – specifically, how to choose a property manager?I would firstly like to stress that this is not to "bag" property managers – but to gain some good advice & direction re decisions we will need to make in the future with our plans to expand our IP portfolio – & it seems from our experiences, choosing a property manager is extremely important to these plans.
For some background, we are currently in WA for work (mining boom), and have rented out our house in Brisbane & are renting a house in Perth. We plan to return to our house in Brisbane early next year & begin our property investing more "purposefully" (!!). With the Brisbane property we had some initial difficulties with gaining a tenant due to the need to find a new property manager / real estate agency as the 1st agency decided they didn't want to manage the property once we had moved interstate. We've also had one lot of tenants require to be evicted for non-payment of rent & a subsequent insurance claim over $5000 for loss of rent and tenant damage to the property. Current tenants maintain the property really well, but are struggling with the rent (3 bedroom, 2 toilet, highset brick & tile, polished floors upstairs, deck, 2 rooms downstairs & 800m2 block in Mango Hill next to North Lakes, renting $300/week. For those of you who know the area, commonly known as Mango Hill Village).
Our experience of renting in Perth is awful – & I won't rehash here what I've already posted in "Help with a Tenant" thread – but we want to hang in there til the end of the year – if we can…. (kids in schools, rent relatively lower than Perth median)
So, how do we go about finding a knowledgeable & reliable property manager? I understand word of mouth & this worked for us the second time round. What about the Real Estate Agency? We will need to develop good networks with agents upon our return, is this also the way to go to source reliable & knowledgeable property managers? Does the property manager need to be local to the area the IP is? (logic tells me yes, but what have been others experiences?) Are there going to be more rent defaults with rents being higher – as well as other living costs & tenants struggle to meet costs?
Any thoughts & input will be most helpful.
thanks,
AnniThe most important question to ask a potential property manager is this. Do they currently own an investment property of their own. If the answer is no they had better tick all of the other boxes to even gain your consideration.
I'm very familiar with the area you're talking about and generally the conditions are still improving for improved rental returns. The quantiity and subsequently the quality of tenants in the area is on the improved too. Previously properties would have rented to the first applicant. Now a property should attract 5+ applicants and 2 or 3 of them will meet the selection.
The most reputable agents in your area are agents who have managed properties for decades, who own investment properties themselves and have experienced the booms and busts of managing properties.
Feel free to contact me for a referral should you require one.
Thanks for your comments Opportunity in everything.
The first Real Estate Agency we used for managing this property was long established in the area & who we bought the property through, so we thought we were on our way to developing a working relationship with them, but that didn't quite work out that way! Thanks for the offer of referral which I will take you up on when we return to Brisbane.
AnniHere are some questions that we created for our property management company in SA:
http://www.adprop.com.au/cgi-bin/page.cgi?id=288
They are SA biased but you can still get some good ideas from it.
All the best
thanks Xenia, this is very helpful info for us.
Anni
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