I have a property in Perth under management. Tenants appear to be good but with things in need of repair the prop manager is handy.
2nd investment property is in tasmania (I reside in melb). When I bought it, I heard the tenants wanted to stay on and were model tenants (young couple). Sure enough, this was the case when i met them and since the house is in good shape, I decided to self-manage. It’s been hassle-free from Day 1 so i am saving heaps on mgt fees for 12 months. But I will probably need a manager when these tenants vacate.
So the answer if you are keen to try is always going to be “assess both the tenant and your property” case by case. If you are still sitting on the fence, I would say “Heck try it once”.
Scarecrow7
“In times of crisis, both danger and opportunity are present”Saving heaps ?
Let us assume the rent is $ 100 per week and you self manage.
If something goes wrong with the property, let us just think about some of the simple things which could go wrong.
1. washer needs replacing
2. roof blows off in the storm
3. something goes wrong and there is no electricity suddenly and you get a frantic phone call
4. tenant leaves suddenly and the rent is in arrears.
5. tenant goes on holidays and their teenage son has several all night long drunken parties with damage caused to the house. Well, not much damage, just some walls kicked in by some drunken lout.
How do you envisage handling any of the above mentioned matters from interstate ?
Will you climb into the phone for example and get some quotes for the roof repair ?
How many quotes will you get ?
Do you have a list (or phone book) of tradespeople to call ?
As you are dealing with a tradesperson whom you don’t know anything about (unlike the managing agent) would you first of all make enquiries about their reliability and the quality of their work ?
Would you have a telephone conversation with the roof repairer to organise the repair or will you go and see him personally ?
After getting a number of quotes from roof repair people and finishing up with quotes varying between
$ 2,000 to $ 2,800 I guess you go and check out some of their previous jobs ?Let me correct myself, what is even more important than the quality of their work is to find out whether any of their past clients are so satisfied with the job they have done that they answer ‘Yes’ when you ask them whether they were so delighted with the roof repairman that they would have no hesitation to use them again.
Would you send these people a letter asking them these kind of questions or would you be pragmatic and utilise the phone to find this out ? Or do you think a hands on approach is better and ask them in person so you can judge whether they perhaps are bullshitting because the reference sounds more like they are the brother in law of the roof repairer ?
Will you therefore instantly hop onto a plane to attend to the problem or will you catch a slow boat ?
Are you able to get time off from work easily in an emergency ?
Do you still think it is best to self manage and if not, then what would need to happen for you to change your outlook ?
Pisces
Thanks PK
is there any reason my current PM would have to stop me taking on the current tennent, given that they found them? Just don’t want any legal ramifacations.
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