[DanbParticipant@hoffmandJoin Date: 2015Post Count: 6]

December 14, 2015 - 9:20 pm

Corey Batt wrote:

David Hall wrote:

Also include a dishwasher if your place is more than 2 beds. They can cost as little as $300 + your time to install, but tenants want them.

Great when they kick the bucket and have to be replaced too. ;)

So you can replace tenants when they kick the bucket? :)

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November 23, 2015 - 9:31 pm

I had a young first time renting couple in one of my places, who must have been told that they wouldn’t have to pay for water use by their parents. When they realised that they WERE liable to pay for any water use, they put in a request that I pay for an electric water pump ($500 !) so they can use the rain water tank on the garden.
My answer was a solid NO! and reminded them that the town water supply will deliver to their door a trailer load of water for only $2 or $3.

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November 1, 2015 - 6:16 pm

I have been involved with gardening most of my working life, here are a few niches I see connected to work an arborist does.
1-Emergency Tree work-Storm clean ups etc inc work for insurance companies, you can charge a higher rate if you don’t mind waiting to get paid.
2-Specialist hedge pruning- this is the huge cypress hedges found in well to do suburbs and some high rainfall country areas.
3-also focus on strata/body corporates and property managers, as they often need someone at short notice to fix a tree problem.

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October 26, 2015 - 10:32 pm

Hi Paul, all good points from David Hall, I would add, to put tiles in the kitchen floor if you intend to rent it out eventually. Avoid the trendy glossy ceramics, they are an extreme slip hazard. Tiles are maintenance free and hard to damage, laminate boards need immediate cleaning and can be ruined by minor spills. Have also installed stick on vinyl timber into a unit kitchen before sale which I bought from Bunnings, it looked a million bucks.

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October 12, 2015 - 10:54 pm

Hi Krisdavant
In absence of having family or friends who have used and can recommend an agent, I would start with your local paper to see which agency has a presence in your suburb.
You want a company who sells plenty in your area so they can give you a true indication of price, and buyer expectations.
DO ask these questions-
1-What similar properties have you sold and what price did you get for them? They should bring a comparative sales report when meeting with you to back up their recommendations.
2-As an agent, what renovations (if any) would you recommend to yield the best price or quickest sale on my property?
3-What fees do you charge? What advertising package would you recommend for my property?
4-What strategy would you recommend for my property? Auction? Expressions of Interest? Opens, no opens?
5-Who do you think will buy my property? An investor or owner occupier? How will the strategy change to suit this potential buyer?

DONT choose the agent who recommends the highest sale price! Agents often inflate your expectations, there are several in my area notorious for this, they list a property at a high price, then pressure you within a week or 2 to drop the price because “the market wont bare the asking price”.

Now, don’t overcomplicate things, call 3 agents and organise a time to meet with you, give them each an hour of your time.
How is their phone manner or their office receptionist manner? Remember, your purchaser will make contact with these numbers, are they friendly, and do they get back to you when they say?
All agents on the first meeting will be on their best behaviour, but, how do they treat you, do they fill you with confidence and treat you with respect, do they pat your dog or just sneer at it?
At the end, its how you feel about the person you are dealing with.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Danb.

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September 25, 2015 - 11:21 pm

HI Azalia, cool profile pic!
I think the issue is here that the agent doesn’t work for you, they will attend an empty property to allow the basic opens and inspections, but having them go on other occasions for your benefit probably isn’t high on their priority list. The only way I could see around it was to negotiate a license to occupy at the time of the deal, so you could have the keys and access without involving the agent each time.