Hello,
I have a single rental property in a rural town of population 4000. The house is a bit tatty round the edges, but this is reflected in the rental price. I am overseas and so the property is managed by the local real estate agent's office.
Whenever I need some maintenance done, the property manager only ever obtains one quotation (he seems to have one guy that does all the work for them) – this is fine for smaller maintenance jobs, but for work costing a couple of thousand dollars I'd prefer 2 or even 3 quotations, but when I request this I am invariably told how difficult it is to get anybody who is properly licenced and insured to quote .
Is this a satisfactory situation? I dont want to rock the boat if he genuinely cannot find people to quote, but I am a little worried that I am paying over the odds.
I'd be grateful for any advice
Many Thanks
TangataHi Tangata
That's the problem with owning a property in a small town. The PM may be right, there may only be one person who is readily available and qualified to do the work. The alternative is that the PM may just be taking the easy way out by getting the same person to do all the work. However, if this is the only PM in town, then you don't really have a choice but to stay with them. Even if there is another PM, you run the risk that they will do an even worse job and you are then stuck with them.
You could ask him to try to get further quotes but then you do run the risk that you will get him offside. I would just accept that that is the way it is.
There are at least 100 reasons I don't invest in small towns. This is just one of those problems.
As pointed out above, there is a general shortage of skilled labour in Oz and in small towns this is exacerbated. If the work is of a substantial nature, then you could ask the PM to get a second quote if the work is not of an urgent nature however it may be difficult. Better still, get the PM to roll up a number of the smaller jobs into a larger one so that it becomes a bit more attractive to those quoting.
Hi Tangata,
Just a suggestion but have you thought about about letting your fingers do the walking, and do a quick search online in yellow pages for the type of work you required, just to see for yourself if the Agent is telling the truth, and there's few tradies around to do your work?The real estate agent may also know who does a good job rather than have a nightmare job half done or mucked up.
My parents have a house in a rural location they have been doing up and trade people are hard to find.
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