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Love your work Banker, lol.
Mackay, Central Queensland. Gateway to the Bowen Basin Mining and the beautiful Whitsunday Islands.
Does it get much better?
We offer a service similar to that as well , for $500 we advertise, screen and shortlist tenants for client approval, sign up the selected tenant for the lease and then when all finalised hand it back to the landlord to maintain. Its good to see someone else out there is doing it also.
I am still managing my own properties, all with tenants I did not know before. One of my tenants could not get a lease with any RE in the area. He had been living in a friend’s granny flat for 11 years prior to moving into my unit. Have not had any problems, rent goes in every week without fail and he keeps it in pristine condition.
Lobster,
the fees you have mentioned are the precise reason I decided to get into Property Management. I was in the same position as you, managed my own property at first but when I purchased multiple properties decided on a Property Manager. I could not believe the fees they were trying to charge for all the little things. The thing that really gets me is this, the RE charges on average about 9%, but then on top of that as you mention there are all the other charges: admin, entry inspection, exit inspection, routine quarterly inspection, letting fee………..
If the RE is charging for all of this on top, what the hell is my 9% paying for?OK I’ll stop ranting now.
Here is what my agency charges as a comparison.
Advertising – Depends on how much Landlord wants done but it is a cost passed directly to you, we make no money from advertising
Letting Fee – 1 weeks rent
Management Fee – 8% inc GST
It all comes down to finding the best PM solution for you, so keep shopping around, there has to be a RE agent over there who is focussed on providing you a service not just taking your money.Most of the RE agencies in Qld are fairly similar although I have noticed that admin charges of around $5.00 per month are standard.
Lisa,
as the guys above have said it all comes down to how much you and your husband are prepared to do for yourself. If you attended the course you would be fast tracking possibly 6 months worth of work on your behalf learning about research, finance and strategy. So I guess if you are willing to work hard for 6 months on those things you could save yourself $6k. On the other hand if you want it at your fingertips now, then you might consider $6k a worthy investment.
Best of Luck
Moranbah and Dysart are the pick due to their close vicinity to mines in the area.
Moranbah in my opinion is the better of the two, it services the following mines: Goonyella/Riverside, Moranbah North, Peak Downs, Millenium/Poitrel, Carborough Downs, Burton Downs, Isaac Plains, Macarthur Coal, Moorvale. Plus there are new applications for mines in areas surrounding Moranbah. So as you can see there are plenty of employees looking for accommodation. Moranbah has great facilities, shopping, schools, swimming pool and the list goes on.
Dysart is the smaller of the two, but still has plenty to offer. Close vicinity to Saraji, Norwich Park, Lake Vermont, German Creek. Facilities aren’t quite as good as Moranbah but things are on the improve.
With the great returns they are both very good options for investment. Middlemount, Clermont, Tieri and the likes are all alot smaller and have residents working at only 1 or 2 mines.
With the increase exposure to safety, many families are choosing the lifestyle of coast living in say Mackay and bus companies transport the mine employess to and from work. This is a trend for the coal mines in the Goonyella Coal chain. Similar things seem to be happening for the Blackwater coal chain with people choosing areas around Rockhampton and commuting to their mine of choice.
Everything will be fine as long as there is coal, and nobody knows how long that is going to be, but I wouldn’t want to own a property in one of these towns when that day comes when the coal runs out or the demand/need does.
I lived and worked in the Dysart and Moranbah area for years, the best fun you are going to have with your dogs is keeping them clean. They don’t get much rain, so grass in your yard is a premium. Unfortunately the dirt is red and doesn’t mix well with golden retrievers.
I am a PM servicing Mackay and the mining areas, as far as pets go I would have to say that if two applications were even in every way and one had pets, I would present both to the vendor, but more often than not they go with the no pets option.
There is a lot of demand for all areas in the bowen basin at the moment, very strong signs for coal and with the missing link under construction and due for completion in 2012 the immediate future seems secure.
If there are any other questions, feel free to contact me. But I think if you scroll back through this very good thread you will find the answer to almost every question. This is possibly the best resource available to Bowen Basin investors I have ever seen!
Thank you to Daedalus for your insights and for sharing them.
Cheers Duckster.
The Website – I am currently waiting for an upgraded site to be developed for me by another company. My current site is a simple template I have modified which is supplied by the company hosting my site. Unfortunately I know sfa at this point in time about changing the HTML code so that search engines pick up my site. What I will do is make sure all the things you mentioned I discuss with the guys developing my new site. Thanks for the tips though, I am learning more and more every day, which I love.
Scratch Property is based in Mackay, Central Qld and services Mackay and the mining towns in the Bowen Basin west of Mackay including Moranbah, Dysart and Middlemount.
Fair point Sonya, $30 is a little extravagant I have to admit, i fit were more like $15 which is say the cost of tow movie tickets (on cheap night, lol) then it might make the equation a little better. What I definitely want to do is avoid that big stick approach, I am just looking for every possible way to encourage tenants to pay early or on time rather than punish them for being late. Its all about creating a positive result for tenant, landlord and property manager, and if there is an outside the square way to achieve that then that is what I want to employ.
Thanks Rachel and Mike for the comments. Rachel, that is a big oversight on my part I will get in and update that asap.
Mike, thanks for the link I will check them out, going by your post they seem to be very similar to what I am trying to achieve.
I really want to manouvre away from the big stick approach to property management using the threat of legal and financial ramification as the motivating factor for tenants to pay their rent on time. I manage my own properties by offering the tenants incentives to pay on time and even provide gift baskets to them at Xmas time if the property is being looked after (which they always have done).
As a property owner, if I as your property manager came to you and asked if you would be willing to spend $30/month on an incentive for the tenant to pay their rent before the due date, would you be interested or do you see that as an unnecessary expense?
Great Post D
Don’t waste your valuable time or energy, there is so much more out there.
the Nood,
it all comes down to how much work you are willing to do educate yourself. Don’t rush into it, take a few months, 6 maybe, to read some books, read API, research previous threads on this site, check out realestate.com.au.
If you rush into a property recommended by another company, fair chance they are getting a better deal than you. Not always the case but be very wary.
Richard, looking forward to your article in API, always enjoy your knowledge shared on here.
If you’re aiming at a higher quality tenant with a higher then average income then you are going to need to finish the development with high quality furnishings to justify the rent you want. This forum is great for free advice but I’m not sure if you will get the right answer. For a development like this it might be worth enlisting the help of an interior designer? If you don’t want to outlay the fee for their service, as they don’t come cheap, talking to a real estate agent who has had successful sales in that area or that type of property and ask their opinion.
thanks sonyasal, I really appreciate the feedback. I have been tossing a heap of options around in my head on which way to do some things and the word pro-active always resonates so I think I'm definitely on the right track if landlords are appreciating that style.
Most of the negative feedback I have gotten from friends about their PM's is that they are very reactive and don't communicate very well so I wil be making sure that the lines of communication are open and used regularly.
Get a couple of property managers to do a rental appraisal on your property.
Being emotional is fine as long as you are using it to your advantage, like its where you live so you know the area well. As long as you still perform your due diligence and run the numbers I have no doubt you will find a good investment in Cairns.
Most financial advisors highly recommend diversification across your portfolio, I agree with RnP, at the end of the day it does come down to the figures. However one thing you may consider is that if your portfolio is dominated by houses, maybe purchasing a unit is a minor form of diversifying?
Just a thought.
Shane
Scratch Property
http://www.scratch.net.auI would see what other people have to say. But one thing I would do is change your loan from P&I to Interest only with an offset facility. It gives you the flexibility of having access to the money you pay down on the loan without having to refinance
Shane
Would probably need some more info from the person giving you that advice, but personally I don't see the need to seel the property when you guys could easily access the equity by borrowing against it.
Shane
McGunga,
trustee is right in what he says, if your property is negatively geared and owned by the trust then you give up any ability to offset the losses against your personal income. However what you have to weigh up is that eventually this property will be positively geared and if you then decide to transfer it into the trust you will have to pay CGT and stamp duty. It might be worth taking that initial hit rather than being up for the fees down the track, like I said you will need to do the sums on which scenario will suit your situation best, probably something you need to speak to your accountant about.
Shane
