Forum Replies Created
Hi Matt welcome aboard [
]This site is a great wealth of knowledge and I am sure you will pick up a great deal from discussions with other like-minded people.
Regards,
BrettAs discussed the options are relatively straight forward:
1. Spend a small % of your cashflow on getting proffesional property management so that you have more time to look for bigger and better deals.
2. Manage the properties yourself, increase your cashflow a little bit but spend more time dealing with tennants, problems, learning how to effecitvely manage etc.
So lets assume that want to go down the track of getting professional property management. Where do we begin? What issues/criteria should be covered in meetings with potential managers?
Here is a small list of issues which I think you should make sure your property manager has the capacity to deal with, perhaps others would like to add their own issues so we can put together a comprehensive list for people to use in the future as a reference.
They should:
* Advertise the property to prospective tenants in an efficient manner to minimise property vacancy and personally interview and reference check all prospective tennants.
* Have all Tenancy Agreements in writing, incorporating all the terms and conditions of the Tenancy.
* Lodge the rental bond with the appropriate agency.
* Have the tenant sign a written report on the condition of the property prior to tenancy.
* Provide a monthly statement with rental monies.
* Notify owners about necessary and prevenative mainenance.
* Conduct a routine inspection of the premises every six months and provide written report over 12 months (unless one is needed sooner).
* Have a team of maintenance contractors on immediate notice.
* Inspect all major maintenance work prior to payment.
* Pay property accounts and statutory charges as directed, including water rates, council rates, body corporate fees, public lighting, insurances etc.
* Provide effective follow-up of rental arrears.
* Prepare applications and serve notice to the Tenant and the Residential Tenancy Tribunal in compliance with relevant legislation and/or the Tenancy agreement.
There’s a bit there to think about, but looking it over I think I will be more than happy to have a proffesional deal with all that.
Regards,
BrettHi John,
This is a situation I will find myself in a bit later once I make my first purchase. My personal view is that time is your most valuable asset. By buying the services of a property manager you are infact buying yourself time that would otherwise be spent dealing with the tenant, fixing toilets etc..etc.. If you get a property manager, you’re diverting a small % of your monthly rent to have all the affairs of the property managed so you are free to look for bigger and better deals. On the other hand you could save yourself a little money and manage your properties yourself.
If you do plan to manage the properties yourself to save yourself the money then I would strongly suggest that you invest the time to learn how to be a property manager and speak to others who manage properties themselves to hear how they’re going, what troubles they’ve had, issues they’ve had to deal with etc. Perhaps there are others here who can give their input on how they’ve gone managing their own properties. [
]Regards,
BrettThanks very mucn Lance and Sooshie the information has helped.
Regards,
Brettquote:
I want to ask, risky for whom? The investor or vendor financier or the wrappee? The answer to the question depends on your clarifying answer.Hi Sooshie [
]My presumption is that the reason someone is coming to you to buy the property and accept financing from you (at a slightly higher rate than normal) is because the person cant get financing at a bank or other similiar institution (otherwise if they could get financiing at a lower rate, why wouldnt they) so if this is indeed the case, isnt it risky to take the person on if there is a ‘above average’ chance they could not meet their repayments. I havent done any reading into finding out what happens if the person is unable to meet their repayments, so there might be some issues there that make things clearer. [
]Regards,
BrettHi Steve
From what I can tell the website looks very sleek and well put together (I do web design myself), so good work there. [
]My suggestions for ‘improvement’..
1. Forum Contributions
Jeff Rosales brought up some excellent points concerning the value of contributions made to the forum. Admittedly this isnt something which can be directly ‘controlled’ but in reading through several forums on a regular basis you tend to notice quite quickly which forums are just 99% questions with 1% meaningul and constructive answers. From the limited time I’ve spent reading through some of the topics here I’m pleased to see that people are trying to make meaningful contributions of their knowledge. Investing is a team sport and you need a good team (Tax Accountant, Soliciter etc.) supporting you as well as having support from others on a community level to share experiences, offer advice on issues and try to answer querys where possible. As long as this keeps up the forum will be an excellent Property Investing Resource.The fact that Steve contributes to the forum as well I found quite amazing, only because I think its rare to actually see the guy you read about having had all this success actually being actively involved in helping the community when possible, so great work there! [
]2. Book Library
I personally believe that one needs to adopt an attitude of continual learning in order to achieve their financial freedom and to that end books/audiobooks I think are a great resource. You might like to have an additional area on the site with recommended books covering various issues/topics in property which either Steve and/or the community strongly recommends to people in order to learn and increase their knowledge and understanding.3. Articles Section in Forum
The articles section is a good resource but I think it would be more effective the more ‘up to date’ the articles in it are. Im not sure who contributes/updates this section, but perhaps a helpful means of ensuring there is a good and current supply of meaningful articles at your fingertips there could be a section on the forum devoted to articles where people can post links to them or copy and paste them into the forum, and then from that, particular articles could be taken and added to the actual Article Section on the website for easier reading.4. Organisation of Memebers in same States
Another suggestion is to have a means of some kind to promote greater ‘networking’ of members who are in the same state. The fact that the majority (probably 99%) of members are Australian is fantastic and we can all learn from others around the country, but I’ve noticed a fair amount of people looking for others in their area/state, or asking who else is in their state etc. This might just be a means of adding and additional “State/City” line to a User’s profile so people can see what location the person actually is (other than just the country)Property Investment knowledge and good communication of that knowledge amongst the members will be the key to success, so anything which helps support that goal will benefit everyone. [
]Regards,
Brett
]
