Can anyone please offer suggestions as to how to entice a tenant to lease my property.
Since settling on my first investment property on 30 June my property manager has been unable to secure a tenant. I have dropped the rent $15, offered a free dvd player, have a big sign out the front of the property, have advertised on 3 internet sites, have had two open for inspections (of which noone turned up), what else can I do????
The property is a 2 bedroom apartment in Caulfield South, Vic in a small block of eight, back of the block, only block of units in a nice street, ground floor, security entrance, car space and I did a cosmetic makeover before settlement including new kitchen, paintwork, shower screens, regrouting bathroom, retiling bathroom and loo floors, locks on all windows, and general clean.
Just paid my first months interest payment and boy didn’t that hurt without any rent to subsidise it.
Any suggestions, positive or negative, greatly, greatly appreciated. I am starting to wonder where I went wrong!!
Thanks heaps
ShelleyHave you considered trying another property manager?
I hope you get someone soon – the property does sound nice.
Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
you might need to strongly express your concerns with the property manager. What i have done is advertise with 2-3 real esate agents and told all 3 agencies that who ever got me a tenant first could manage the property, got a tenant fairly quickly
hope that helps
Originally posted by Property Passion:you might need to strongly express your concerns with the property manager. What i have done is advertise with 2-3 real esate agents and told all 3 agencies that who ever got me a tenant first could manage the property, got a tenant fairly quickly
hope that helps
Be very careful that they don’t try to win your business by being the quickest to find you a tenant. Which sounds like what you want.
You may well be given a tenant that noone else wants. I would rather take the time pressure off a single agent and have them find the tenant that gives them (and hence you) the least amount of headaches during the duration of their lease.
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
I have an exclusive agent agreement for 60 days and am confident that once they get some-one all the right checks will be done to ensure I get some-one good so trying another property manager at this stage is a no-go.
First investments are always the hardest as the fears and emotions take charge that much easier.
Was it so hard a struggle that you barely had the cash to fund buying it with no buffer for problems like this or is it that you were grossly overquoted the rent for the area from a conman of a sales agent.
Did you check rents and what inclusions were needed to obtain those rents in that area before buying? Did you question any other agents before signing your management agreement? What rent do you actually need for this to be comfortable and is this figure achievable as is?
Kid yourself not, property involves research not just in purchasing, but management, maintainance issues, loan structures, existing or proposed infrastructure effects on your little “baby”. All of these factors are not to be glanced over but ruthlessly persued for your best result, and not the agents.
Good Luck
DD
Buyers Agent (Dip Financial Services(FP)
Don’t sweat the small stuff,and it’s all small stuff!!You could set it up as a fully serviced apartment (or at least fully furnished and equipped, if you don’t want to be bothered with weekly cleaning and a linen service). Then get the agent to advertise it with companies that specialise in relocating people or providing short-term accommodation for travelling executives. These are often short-term rentals (1 mth minimum), but you can charge alot more.
Advertise on Uni accommodation websites (will most probably need to be fully furnished).
Make sure the internet ads have good photos that highlight the property’s strong points.
Put ads up in place around on noticeboards in the area, like laundromats, supermarkets, the local deli.
Make sure the rent you’re charging is comparable with that being charged for similar properties in the area.
Don’t panic – you only need one person to sign!
good luck,
CarlinIf you want a solution best bet is to give exact details as to work done, how much rent you expect and post a link to the property. You say you dropped the rent $15, but from what unrealistic amount could be the key.
Many these days buy properties from a highly leverage position following very bad advise from so called experts and then expect that there new tenant will automatically pay an inflated rent for a “cosmetic makeover”, cosmetic makeover is exactly that, really not worthy of a rent rise, maybe the property was in dire need of it to begin with.
Then again R/E is so fickle that it would not surprise me if you got another agent and rented the property in a day or two, it could be that you have simply picked a bad manager.Do all residents in the building know there is a flat for lease?
Maybe someone will want to move to what sounds like a nicer flat?
Maybe someone will have a friend who wants to live in the same building as them?Tax Depreciation Schedules
Australia wide service
1300 660033
[email protected]
http://www.depreciator.com.auThe rent is probably still too high. Drop it to something more realistic. Some property managers have no more experience than you do, so sometimes you have to manage them to make sure the job is done properly.
Also, I find that ringing the property manager every day to ask what they are doing to secure a tenant is a good idea. Remember THEY are working for you, and eventually your tenant. Make them work for it and dont expect a tenat to fall into your lap.
Another thing, READ the ad they have for your place. If it is a BORING ad people wont be interested in looking at at. Try using some exciting words in the ad,
‘Modern 2 bedroom apartment in handy location, close to beach, south yarra cafes & restaurants, plenty of space, large kitchen with lots of storage, car parking on site and free DVD player – be quick for this apartment!’ Spice it up a bit, a lot of these guys write boring ads all day so why is yours any different from the other 90 apartments on thier books?
Keep pushing on, you will find someone [helmet]
Dev * [kid]
Thanks so much for all your replies. I have taken them all on board and am putting on my thinking cap.
Fingers crossed I will a tenant very soon.
Shelley
I wonder if it is something to do with the area at themoment.Although it is quite a respectable area,I occassionally do some maintanence on a block of flats just near the corner of HAwthorn and Glenhuntly roads.It is a block of eight,all owned by the one person.When I was there a month ago,there were 4 vacant,2 of which had been empty for 2 years.Admittedly the place is in need of a little TLC,unlike your place.And another tenant toldme he was moving out too,so that is 5 out of 8 empty.
Tools
I lived in a flat in Caulfield South a few years ago. The place my partner and I rented was advertised in the newspaper, and was manaaged by the owners, they had an open home on a Saturday, and we offered to rent it on the spot (it was cheaper than the rest of the market)
Make sure that the property is being advertised in the papers.
Awww Shelley, that’s a long period of vacancy. Your apartment sounds really nice.
I strongly agree with voigtstr that placing ads in the (local and surrounding areas) newspaper is a must. Both times, my tenants reacted to the ad in the paper, not to the ad on the internet or agency’s window.
Are the other units in the block also being looked after by your property manager?
Have you found out how much the rent is for the other units in the same block?Has there been any interest at all, have some people looked at the apartment?
If there hasn’t been any interest, perhaps I would sit down with the property manager to openly discuss why they think the apartment has has been ignored so far. He/she should have suggestions to help.
If people have inspected it but after seeing it have lost interest, what reasons have they given for not wanting to rent it? (Hehe maybe they did’t like the dvd player).
But… whatever the reason for this longish vacancy is, it is important to find out exactly what that reason is so that you can fix that problem.
I really hope you find a good tenant soon, Shelley!
Celivia
Wooooo Hooooo!!!!! I have a tenant. Signed yesterday for a 12 month lease at $225/wk. A little below what I was hoping for but just glad to have some-one in there to help me pay for it.
Thanks for all your responses.
Shelley
[strum] [laughing] [party] [thumbsup2]
Celivia
happy for you [biggrin]
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
