Hi Doogs
Just sold our motel in 2 parts, landlord and tenant.
Basically sold the leasehold tenant part myself because the broker was hopeless but contracted.
Not all but many brokers were ill-informed, lazy, slow, argumentative, expensive relative to effort.
Widespread situation of poor salesmanship and poor marketing skills, especially inept at writing ads to sell the sizzle and highlight the property's attributes. Weak or non-existant follow-up of leads and even interested parties after inspections.

Websites difficult to navigate, and they treat buyers as if location doesn't matter so don't mention it.
Ghosting to get enquiries (advertising non-existent properties).
Buying listings.
Treating sellers and buyers like there will not be any repeat business, and they're right, someone else gets it.

Just by doing the basics properly, the market will reward a newcomer in motel broking.
Not hard to compete with the above. However, be ready for all the anti-competitive tricks in the book.
As in war, the first casualty is truth.
good luck
cheers
thecrest

Look in the right hand column of this forum and you'll see the ad and link titled "1-On-1 Property Mentoring".
That's the RESULTS Program. It was very successful for us.
Cheers
thecrest

Hi Corey
10-12 hrs a day = 50 -60 hrs a week assuming only a 5 day week . . . hmmm. Long hours for $800 nett depending on the job.

This person can work long hours, that may come in handy.

For a single person, assuming that means no partner, no co-habitation person –  that's a lot of rent that could be probably halved by sharing and better spent ( invested in reno ), or saved as disposable income & used to increase borrowing capacity.

Assuming no prior knowledge in renos, this person should get a mentor or mentor program (see Steve McKnight's RESULTS in right hand column of this forum), but first see the accountant, like Terryw says, well said Terry, but accountants don't teach renos so the person will need to accumulate the reno & real estate investing knowledge and assemble the team  – reno advisor, mentor, accountant, network, etc. 

Wishing this person good luck on the journey.

Cheers
thecrest
 

Hi All –
TSAU. Sure is something that can be learned, and you're quite right about some aspects.
If I was planning for the best result in a tenancy with no regard for CG or anything about the investment potential of the property, I would choose a nice property that 75% of the population would be happy to live in. This ensures that the property attracts a number of the right type of tenant. Poor properties attract bad problematic tenants.
Second is the tenant selection process. This involves vetting the tenants from their applications. This takes some skill, experience, practice and preferably access to the database of TICA, which I used everyday as a PM.
A certain number of tenancy applications contain a bad tenant. Not surprisingly, they lie and camouflage their tracks. An experienced PM who vets tenants on a daily basis becomes sharper in perception, develops a nose, and if using TICA,  has the edge.

By all means try self management, but understand you are vulnerable until you gain enough experience to vet bad tenants.

Until that time, I suggest you only rent to tenants with the ability to pay the rent and to be safe, must have details you can confirm absolutely by phone or in person or by paperwork like –
a good employment record (no unemployed – Centrelink won't talk to a landlord), 
clean car interior (your property will look like their car interior in 3 months),
well dressed and groomed,
previous good rent record with a reputable Real Estate Agent (not private landlord setups popular with scammers),
refererees contactable at their workplaces,
all of which double checks with numbers and addresses in the white pages and yellow pages, 
100 points ID like drivers licence, medicare card, bank plastic, phone bill, rego papers, utility bills,
all must be current and match, so you know that the person you just checked out as "tenant wonderful" is actually the person standing in front of you. 
Now that is about 75% of the list I used to check on as a PM.  The above list will weed out all but the best scammer, who will beat most PMs coz they're not thorough enough, and as you can see from this hot topic, good PMs are a small percentage. 

However if it all turns pear shaped, and you're in over your depth, take it to a good PM who will take it over for you for fees, and clean up the mess.

Hope that helps those considering self management.

Good luck
Cheers
thecrest
 

Is there a man in the house ?

Gotta tell this story – tenant rings the PM complaining about rats in the roof, says  "definately rats." 
PM rings pest man who inspects roof space declares it's a possum, "doesn't do possums" departs and sends $60 callout fee bill to PM, property owner not happy, tenant not happy, tenant wants possum removed, rustling noises.
 PM calls possum remover man. He makes possum box for $80, traps possum and removes it for release elsewhere.
PM splits the possum man bill and charges tenant and owner $40 each for the possum box bill.
Owner and tenant then start arguing over who owns the box, both want it.
Possum man saws it in half and leaves. True story.   

Cheers
thecrest

Hi Gronk007.
Suggestions.
If the rental property is not far away, you could do a night time driveby and see if the lights are on and any cars there.

Ring the property, oops sorry wrong number.

Ensure that the Property Manager sends a warning letter every 3 days after the tenant is 3 days overdue, plus phone calls and then issues a termination notice on the first day that the law allows in NSW Qld or Vic or wherever your property is located. 

Your property manager sounds inept, stay on their case and ask for an immediate copy of every letter until arrears are paid up. Ring the PM every 3 days for an update  until you are satisfied they are working properly.

If the PM is slack or inept, there will be more rent arrears. 

Good luck
cheers
thecrest 

I used to rent out part of my place to someone who's work routine was exactly the same, 2 weeks on 1 week off, he worked on an oil rig.
Hardly ever saw him, great to share with.
You should be an ideal owner housemate, hardly ever there.
Adjust the utility consumption costs pro-rata, set house rules, buy the right place to attract the right tenant, but make sure your accountant thinks this is the best way to go. Could be a win-win.
Cheers
thecrest

Hi McGrandles
Sorry about your stroke, hope you are recovering well.
Agents and their sales staff work for money, excuse me stating the obvious.
 If time is more important to you  than the sale price, then i suggest you offer a bonus commission to the agency if they sell within a set period and above a set price. Make sure the price you set is market price, not agents inflated buy-the-listing-price. In the eyes of sales staff, that would set your property apart from others in the same price range, and motivate sales staff to promote it and show it to more prospects.

If you're not happy with the 2 agents, try a third but ask them to complete a sales folder display to show you how they would sell the property if you listed it with them, and compare it with current agents' efforts.
 
Spend $300-$400 for an independant valuation so you know what it's conservatively worth.

Good luck, hope you feel better soon and sell fast.

Cheers
thecrest