Hi All,
I purchased an investment property in the bayside area of Melbourne in August. It is a 2 bedroom flat (no balcony or backyard), completely renovated 18 months ago, on Beach Road, short walk to train station and shops. Up until December we had a tenant. It has been 2 months now and we don't have any prospective tenants. The agent set the price quite high and I have requested the rent drop back by $35 back to what we were getting with the previous tenant. The agent is dumbfounded as to why there is little interest as are we. Do any of you have any thoughts as to what we should do?
wow! I must say I find that staggering.
Does it has air con? Is there anything you can value add to make it more attractive eg. dishwasher, update fixturesWhat suburb is it in?
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Has split system, dishwasher – everything is brand new. It isn't the most attractive building from the outside but we felt that the location, the beach, carport and the interior far outweighed the external look of the flat. Truly stumped!!
we were renting a shoe box in Aspendale for $320 a week and it hadn't been updated since the 50's no mod cons (but right on the beach). The landlord owned the whole complex and never had trouble getting tenants. I know how aggressive it is to rent around this way.
We were very lucky to get it too as we had a cat and a small dog and he had never let pets there previously. Does your property have a yard? Is it possible to be open to pets – maybe you could add a gimick of a weeks free rent to new tenant to allow easy transition to movingIt is in Sandringham. Doesn't have a yard – so probably wouldn't appeal to dog owners.
Not a bad idea to offer a weeks free rent…
Can't take credit for the weeks free rent – think that idea was in Steve's book
Gee I am still astounded – Sandrinham as well!!You may have to change your agent
What could a new agent do differently? I must admit, they aren't the most responsive to my queries!
How have they advertised your property? Is it on the internet? If so, maybe you'll post the link? Perhaps the wording of the ad could be improved?
Jacqui Middleton | Middleton Buyers Advocates
http://www.middletonbuyersadvocates.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeVIC Buyers' Agents for investors, home buyers & SMSFs.
Put it with muliple agents. Improve your odds. maybe the next agent has persons waiting for your style of proeprty.
It's a bad sign if your agent hasn't been the most responsive. A decent agent will be creative and pro active, not waiting for you to make suggestions such as dropping the rent by $35. I had to go through a couple of agents before I got a decent one. The first ones never contacted me when re-letting a property; the current ones would ring me up once a week giving me an update plus suggestions on how I could get a tenant. My current agent knows how to use the internet to my advantage eg they were able to keep my property on page 1 for quite a while.
A decent agent can make all the difference!! I agree that the wording can make all the difference. It's not just the wording though, you need a decent photo of your property..
Hi all.
Is it on Realestate.com.au? Our agent had ours on a couple sites, theirs and Domain and it hadn't popped up on RE.com.au after I called them they checked and they hadn't filled the thing in right so it wasn't on the major site. I have actually found every house I have rented on that site so get on to em. the other thing is to try and get a board up. You might have to call the Body Corp but its a small hassle if you can get a little for lease board up with the unit number and realtor's phone number.
If they are not responsive, get rid of them now. Think about when they don't get back to the tenant about a water leak or something and then don't get onto you about it. If they are not super quick on the email or phone they are no good for you. They are costing YOU money every week there is no one in it. I have no time for crappy PM's which is why mine are all gold! (I still have to call em and hassle them sometimes
Good luck!
D
DWolfe | www.homestagers.com.au
http://www.homestagers.com.au
Email MeSounds to me like you need to kick your agent for touch! Two months is a long time to be vacant and it sounds like they are not focussing on filling your property. Find somebody else who knows what they're doing!!!!
Good luck, I'm sure it'll get sorted.
VickySounds to me like you need to kick your agent for touch! Two months is a long time to be vacant and it sounds like they are not focussing on filling your property. Find somebody else who knows what they're doing!!!!
Good luck, I'm sure it'll get sorted.
VickyHi Pickle
I believe a change of agent combined with a week's free rent will do the trick but, just incase it doesn't, you might consider on selling the property with Vendor Finance.
With this type of sale, you can lock in a fixed level of capital gain and get the property to generate positive cash flow until the buyer refinances into a traditional home loan. You could then use the positive cash flow from this property to support a negatively geared property in another location.
As I said before, I'm confident you'll get it rented with a new agent and the odd incentive but it'sa good concept to have in your toolbox as a fallback position.
Cheers, Paul
Paul Dobson | Vendor Finance Institute
http://www.vendorfinanceinstitute.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeAn alternative way to finance your home.
According to SQM research the vacancy rates for Sandringham is around 4.2% so take this into consideration when making any decision as unfortunately sometimes its a simple case of supply and demand, it would also appear that the vacancy rate for the area has been historically quite volatile i.e. highs in jan '09 close to 9% which is very high.
http://www.sqmresearch.com.au/graphs/graph_vacancy.php?mode=%2F&postcode=3191&t=1
That said I would suggest you get a friend/colleague to mystery shop your property manager i.e. try to arrange a viewing etc, as unfortunately you may just have one of the many lazy property managers out there. Also worth trying to call a few other property managers in the area to ask them what their thoughts are on the rentals market, as if they are having problems too it may just be the market. On the other hand if they would expect your place to rent out quickly without problems then you know where to point the blame.
All the best
D2B
Hi all,
Thank you for your feedback – as luck would have it I was at the flat yesterday to do a little clean (seeing as it had been vacant for 2 months!) and 2 people walked past and popped their head in. They had seen it on the internet that morning and were keen to look at it. When they called the agent they said they would show them only during the week, however both girls work full time and they wouldn't have been able to view it. They came by to just have a look through the window and I just happened to be in there. They seemed like nice and responsible ladies and they said it was exactly what they were looking for… so I will get the agent to conduct their reference checks etc as they are keen to move in asap.
So a couple of little lessons I have learnt in my early investing path – be confident in discussing weekly rental rate based on your own market research – not just agreeing to a price the agent thinks it will get and … when looking at an agent to manage your property – discuss with them how flexibile they are with viewings on the weekend.
… And find another agent next time!!
If I was you I'd be finding another agent NOW … before you're in a right PICKLE!!!!!
Clearly the outfit you're using are inflexible and only prepared to work certain hours, which doesn't encompass the weekend, which is when most working people (i.e. the kind of tenant you probably want!!) are available to view a property. So many of these outfits forget who is paying them.
Let's face it, YOU found the tenant for them, and they're going to charge YOU a regular weekly commission for you allowing them to collect the rent for you?!!
That's my 2-cents worth – dump 'em.
You soooo better not be paying….the advertising, the letting fee, really anything to these agents. Get rid of them. Get the details call the ladies tell them that the agent has fallen through, call the agent get rid of them not necessarily in that order and call a couple agents tell them you have the tenant reday to sign on an what will they offer you.
That agent is obviously crap. One of ours was out doing a viewing on one of mine on Sat in the blazing heat even though she didn't think anyone would come.
Move on to someone you can have some semblance of faith and trust in to do the job properly!
D
DWolfe | www.homestagers.com.au
http://www.homestagers.com.au
Email Me
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