Just been told by our property managers on Brisbane Northside that the rental market is unusually quiet at the moment, more vacancies than usual in recent times. I noticed big for rent ads in the local papers. Is there anyone else out there having this problem? We had tenants move out about 3 weeks ago and only one application on the property so far.
ThanksSnoopyII
Mate, I had my property empty for 2 months over Christmas and another mate of mine has had his empty for 10 weeks. He still has no takers. We are on the Gold Coast, but I can tell the rental market is really bad at the moment for us Property Investors, but good for renters.
Hmm ok. What is this due to do you think? We have had this (our only one so far) for 6 years and the first time it has been a bit slow .
My previous tenant was paying me $425pw and guess what —- they bought there own house because of the Govt doubling the FHOG. I'm now getting $420pw. I think allot of young renters bought there own places leaving a huge gap in the rental market. However, my properties in NSW are renting back to back and increasing 5-10% each time. No such luck in QLD though!
For us, when the tenants decided to move on, the agents told us that we could up the rent to $310 from 300, to keep up with the market, now we are looking at back to 300 or worse. But this seems to have come upon the agents quickly, they seem perplexed. so wondering if there has been a change in the market recently. So along with FHOG, what about NRAS, will that have an effect on properties not in the scheme? I would think it might?
I advertised mine at first $430pw thinking it will be snapped up, but then reduced it to $425 then $420. I should of dropped the price allot sooner. You may find advertising at $295pw it may get snapped up. The NRAS, in my opinion is more directed to very low income earners. Persons your Agent would probably not rent to anyways.
This is true, we will consider lowering the rent in order to get a tenant, rather than holding out for more money. Don’t like the idea of paying the interest out of our own pocket for very long!!
one good thing is we have had time to give the property a GOOD clean up, put in some more ceiling fans, curtains, the agents will put new pics on the internet today (i hope). That might help.Snoopy 11
I have 3 properties in that area, one is coming up for new lease, but will be advising current tenant to leave, they are a pest. Asked agent about current demand and told still good demand in Bracken Ridge ( current tenant to leave ), will soon see how it goes ?ok, yes, let me know how you go with that. I think we will see if the weekend brings any renters our way and if not, then drop our price to $295.00.
Happy for any other input.
Cheers
SnoopyIII have a small relocation business in Brisbane which requires that I find rentals for emigrants moving to Brisbane. I am currently looking for rentals for 3 families. Owners of rental homes in the Brisbane area are welcome to send me details of their properties and contact details of Property Managers and who knows, perhaps I can find a tenant for you.
Hi Veronique
Ok, interesting. This is a 3 br with open kitchen/ living area, so only really suited to couple and one or 2 children at the max.would this suit?
Snoopy I would need more information, especially area, but also weekly rent. You are welcome to PM me with details.
I'm aware of downward pressure on rents at the moment in the outer Northern Suburbs, places around 30k from the CBD specifically. Lots of development stock is being bought by investors and it's all being placed on the rental market, depends a lot on the specifics of where you are and what you are renting.
Some recent rental data from the REIQ (March 2010, .pdf file)
Thanks for that info, the REIQ report has plenty of stats to look at. I guess we are pretty much outer northern suburbs at Strathpine/Lawnton area? I would much rather “meet the market” than have an empty house. I see there is a thread before my post, which I could benefit from, seems a few people are having problems like this and looking at their options to get their properties rented.
I didn’t hear back from Veronique, above, re her options. I did send her an email though.
ThanksSnoopy II
Agreed about meeting the market, vacancy and changeover costs tend to be much larger than a few after tax dollars per week in reduced rent.
I was renting for the first time in my life post GFC n the Southwest of WA , I paid top $ I , I ignored peoples advice to not rent through Ray White, and after twelve months of maintenance promises unkept and untold text msg about overdue rent (their bad bookkeeping) I decided to move out and buy another house, the rent market has a grapevine and I would stay away from using Ray White just like everybody warned me, stay away from unpopular agents., I now I tell anybody that will listen not to rent through Ray White Bunbury.
In 3 weeks I will be taking possession of a duplex I wont use Ray White as an agent . but I will be listening to what other people around Bunbury say.
For the first time last year I was a renter not an owner and the way Ray White Bunbury treated me, they sure as hell wont be my agent ever.hmmm – a bit off topic Star? or did i miss your point?
star. wrote:I was renting for the first time in my life post GFC n the Southwest of WA , I paid top $ I , I ignored peoples advice to not rent through Ray White, and after twelve months of maintenance promises unkept and untold text msg about overdue rent (their bad bookkeeping) I decided to move out and buy another house, the rent market has a grapevine and I would stay away from using Ray White just like everybody warned me, stay away from unpopular agents., I now I tell anybody that will listen not to rent through Ray White Bunbury.
In 3 weeks I will be taking possession of a duplex I wont use Ray White as an agent . but I will be listening to what other people around Bunbury say.
For the first time last year I was a renter not an owner and the way Ray White Bunbury treated me, they sure as hell wont be my agent ever.Ray White manage the complex I live in (owner-occupier) here in Canberra and I regard then as absolutely hopeless in regards to the upkeep of the property. If it were solely up to me I'd have the property manager changed tomorrow. Sadly the majority of the apartments are owned by investors who couldn't care less about the state of the complex as long as they get their rent on time.
I have a different perspective as a tenant. I am 40 years old, am over educated and have a well paid job. I have been renting for nearly 20 years and have a perfect rental record. I ALWAYS pay my rent on time and am clean and tidy.
There are some very bad rental agents out there. You may be frustrated about not filling your vacant property, but you may find at the other end tenants very frustrated about waiting to hear more than 2 weeks about their rental application. THIS IS NOT UNCOMMON. You might also find it easier filling your rentals if you can show the house during hours that suit them. Not during hours that most of the population are working.
Before realestate.com it was much easier to find a rental property in the newspaper, where all contact was with the owner, which as a tenant I cannot explain how much I prefer this. It was rare for an owner to raise rent on a tenant once they had a good one and they always responded to requests for repairs. My rent has gone up $40/week in 2 years. If you have a good tenant make sure you keep them. I am certainly thinking about moving to get a cheaper rent from someone who is having trouble renting their property. Others in my block are $30 a week cheaper so I am being ripped off. It is now worth the trouble of moving.
For my previous rental, the agents never did proper repairs – even dripping taps that were wasting litres of water an hour (during a bad drought!). Or it just never happened. I have often heard the line “the owner doesn’t want to pay for that”. Often I find this hard to believe.
In my current rental, we had a broken toilet for nearly a year. We have INCONVENIENT “inspections” every 3 months and alway wrote this on our inspection form. You may find that agents you pay to do 3 monthly inspections send out their most junior employees. Our broken toilet was photographed 4 times by different people during inspections, and yet it took a year for the agents to do anything about it. I found the photographing particularly funny. As we had another toilet we didn’t push this – but the toilet did become stained because of the fault. Which leads me to a question to you owners … after being in this place for 2 years do do you think it’s fair that I’m inspected every 3 months?
If you have an agent, don’t assume they are doing the right thing by you. Assume they are doing the right thing by themselves, or are doing what they can be bothered doing. They will still be charging you one way or the other. What’s more they will not change if you don’t keep on top on them. Of course I am sure there are some good agents out there – but from a tenants perspective they are very rare. If you have a good tenant you don’t have to pay your interest out of your own pocket. Rental agencies get paid for the properties they manage. Tenants fork out the cash for the both of you.
Hi PT,
Interesting to hear your perspecitve. I think you are right, the agents can make or break the whole thing. I do find the that ‘rental manager” we are using is getting younger and younger and the other girls in the office are very young too, so no doubt they have not much perspective for either the renter or the owner.
From the owner point of view, we go through an agent because we have tried self managing and found that we usually ended up giving away free weeks rent ( people haven’t paid the rent and we were too kindhearted) and having massive cleanups when people moved out (again our own fault, to some extent).
Have you rented through any rental only agencies? you know, not Real Estate agency. I wonder if they would be any better, as the whole business is focused on the rental side?
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