to manage or not to manage

Yes know the rules as a landlord, but importantly know your tenants rights and rules…because you can bet they will.

Check out the Resdidential tenancies for whatever state you are in, all sorts of info, as does fair trading web site.

Keep good records,
Vett your tenants
have a lease
have a property report completed
make sure you lodge a bond with the bond board
give receipts
be accurate in your record keeping
try and remain removed emotionally from the experice
be warned, if self managing, you will get the calls! That can mean no peace and you phone number is out there and open to abuse.

there are heaps more, but I am brain dead

also if you manage yourself you don’t have that impartial wall between you and the tenant. With an agent you can play the whole good owner / mean agent routine. property management is a numbers game from what I can gather – you may have 100 properties on your rent roll and 4 or 5 may give you all the headaches. If you manage yourself, your rent roll consists of just your properties. chancs are they will be fine, but if 1 or 2 give you headaches you will need more than a disprin to solve it. any PM’s out there care to comment?

Alternatively, become a joint venture partner in one of our property development partnerships – contact me to find out why our developments are unique. John – 0419 198 856

hi Phil and all

i’ve managed properties myself and it’s areal hassle, not worth it in my opinion, think of the worst senario, do you want to deal with it or would you rather have someone else. i’ve managed a property 30km away and put in anice single mum, but she got back with her drug selling husband who caused heeps of problems, i had the neighbours of the property ringing me and complaining, this is one of the few times i’velost sleep over properties.
hey but it will give you a good idea of what PM have to go through, so yes give it a try.

regards westan

I find +ve cashflow deals in New Zealand which I sell to other investors. To be on my database send an e-mail to [email protected]

Property management fees are the best for peace of mind. Sure sometimes they get paid for merely banking cheques and sending me the difference, but when there are problems thats when they earn their money and I have some peace of mind.

A good working relationship with a PM is as good as investment as great tenants and good sales agent contacts. Give the current people the flick and find someone, who will give you the information, insight for future purchases. Know your longer term vision with regard to IP and let them know. All PM’s and sales agents in my experience respond well to this approach. In my opinion, 3, 5, 7% or whatever commission you are charged, is a small price to pay.

James

anyway PM’s are a tax deduction

I manage all my IP’s and haven’t had any major probs.
I quite enjoy it. The only bad experiences I’ve had is with property managers.

I say “if you want something done right – do it yourself”. Now that’s what I call piece of mind!!!!

My only advise is be organised and professional, you only have one IP to manage so you should be able to do better than a PM who looks after over 100 IP’s

And get onto overdue rent straight away

Have Fun!!!!

Hi Phil ,
Since your lease is about to end and presuming the same tennants will sign a new lease you should be able to get the info from your current pm on whether the tennant were paying the rent on time everytime . This would be agood guide on whether it is a good idea or not to manage yourself. However if they were irregular and took phonecalls and follow ups to get a few rent checks i would deffiantely stay with a PM . But if they are good payers and not on the phone aking for maintance every second day you would think the odds are in your favour that it should be a fairly painless procedure managing it yourself.

I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken !

Phil,

I didn’t realise you were also in Perth. You don’t need a solicitor. But go to the newsagent and buy a book called “The Landlord’s Handbook”, it’s under $20 (your looking for a blue covered book about A4 in size). Not all newsagents stock it, but quite a few do, so shop around, if you can’t find it then ring The Dept of Consumer and Employment Protection, they will post out but will charge you for the postage on top of the book. The book covers everything to meet WA laws from leases, to lodging your bonds, property condition reports, to breaches, to lodging documents with the courts and even “abandoned goods”. It covers the lot, you can’t go wrong if you read this.

Regards
PK

Fortune Favours the Bold.

Hi Phil,

Yes you can purcahse the agreements forms at the newsagency or alternatively, type it out yourself (bit time consuming). Yes, it’ll stand up in court as long as both parties have agreed and signed. You can even delete or add items as long as you don’t breach the Tenancy Act.

You can also purchase an information sheet called “Residentail Tenancies Act 1987 Information for Tenant”. I give this to the tenant at the same time as giving/sending them the lease to sign so that they know that I know their rights and hopefully won’t try and pull anything else over me.

Also read page 15 of the book “re-newing a lease”. If your tenant is staying then they don’t have to sign a new lease, it’s their choice. It then becomes a periodical tenancy rather than a fixed term tenancy.

Regards
PK

Fortune Favours the Bold.