May I ask how much rent you were paying trackstar, where you feel maintenance was lacking/inferior?

Did I miss something?    I didn't see where she divided 4 bedroom apartments to make 4 one bedroom serviced apartments.

Generally only Property Managers themselves have done the specific course.
Most often, not one of their peers has, so how could the peers select a "good" Property Manager?    They wouldn't know what they were looking for?

What a clever girl is Carole????    Good on her for taking the initiative, I take my hat off to her.
……..and to you too Angel, for sharing her story
A desalination plant has been built over the last few months here in W.A., 20 minutes North of the town I live & operate a business in.    Quite a few of the construction workers were fly-in-fly-out, & one of the supervisors in the desal plant rented six 4 x 2  houses in his name from a local real estate agent, sparsely furnished them, then "sub-let" each bedroom to a fly-in-fly-out worker, their rent including electricity, water, gas & lawnmowing, plus some profit for himself, which partly included cleaning when they vacated.
He didn't "service" the houses, as Carole did, but he made enough profit to make it worth his while.
The Real Estate agent still did 3 monthly house inspections, so the tenants were responsible for maintaining the house in the condition stated in their original Property Condition Report.

There needs to be plenty of other types of industry in the area for there to be no risk.

Educational post, thanks ALF1  

Not really sure which doomers & gloomers you're referring to gronk007, want to enlighten me?

Another trick that worked on the last three property purchases made by my ex partner, was to tell the agent at the time of handing over his signed offer, that it would be his only offer.
It worked perfectly the first 2 times, he got the properties at his offered price.   The third time, the seller negotiated, but only by $1000.00, which was agreed to by my ex.    He still felt he'd won!
And like you said ALF1, to hell with etiquette!
When our agent first met my ex partner & I, he actually said  "I can't hand over an offer like THAT!"  when we made our first very low offer on a house.     But he got used to us!     Especially when he realised our very low offers worked!       Our habit was to buy a house in a pleasant street that the general public didn't want because the carpets were worn, or the curtains were out-dated. We just knew we'd get them cheap – & of course we threw out the carpets & curtains, paying for new ones from the mortgage, which increased the rent by $15 a week, but only cost about $2.00 a week in extra mortgage repayments.

Choose an independent agent, who's then working in your favour, and not the sellers, and ask "if this was you, what would you offer?"
He/she may skirt around the answer you want, but watch the body language very closely to determine his/her truth.   You'll probably get the answer you were looking for anyhow.
Hmmm, if the property you're pursuing is for your place of residence, that's a slightly different kettle of fish.     In that case, what you pay, is what you feel the property is worth to you, & you'll no doubt have your little heart attached to the house (or the shed?)    Still consider the length of time it's been on the market, before deciding what to offer.      I know if I was selling my own house, & it had been on the market for more than about 3 months, I'd be getting peeved at having to keep it in pristine presentation "just in case."    It  would also be difficult to know my next move, if I was relying on the sale of this house to be able to move on.  So I suspect after about 3 months I'd be willing to consider a lower offer.
I can't help but think that if a person is  demanding a set price or higher, that perhaps they're not really ready to part with it yet.     What do you think?

Hi Rachel,
I didn't see your March 31st letter arrive???
I would've chosen step 1, then held my breath!
Which did you choose?