Hi,
I have purchased my first IP and would like to know what are the important questions to ask RE agents concerning property management ? (to help decide which agent to use)
eg. Fees – I read on another post that 7-10% is standard – is this the only usual charge from the agent ?
Does anyone think that agents in the ‘Jenman System’ are more ethical/honest than your average RE agent ? – and is this something to be concerned with ??
Regards,
AndrewNoah,
There´s a good list of questions to ask your PM in Anita Bell´s book `How to Pay Off Your IP in 5 years´.
kay henry
Your property manager is usually different from the real Estate agents in the usual office, and 9 times out of 10 a female i’ve found..
As with R/E agents, there are both good and bad, and what they say in an initial interview may not be the case when using them, you may even wind up with thier ‘off-sider’ looking after your property.. beware the PM that has ‘too many’ properties on her/his books.. your IP is important to you, you want it to be important to them too..
8.5% seems to be standard in WA, then you have other associated cost’s, easiest way is to walk into the nearest R/E office and ask to speak to thier PM or such and explain you have a IP you’d be interested in them managing, get a breakdown of cost’s..it may just be the company you go with ( they’re close to you )
I usually try to use a PM located in a R/E Agency close to the area i invest in, usually one in a Good location for prospective tenants to see your property in the window..[
]Why not post where your IP is located ?? you may just get a *referal* from this forum [^]
REDWING
“Money is a currency, like electricity and it requires momentum to make it Effective”
Based on my experience to date – they are all the bloody same.
You need to manage them and watch what they do. I had a rental that took 6-8 weeks to find a tenant. I rewrote the add myself and we got a tenant that week.
In metro Melb I pay 5% if I have two properties with them and in the past 7% if only the one. Dont forget its plus GST ie. 5.5% and 7.7%.This is what I would ask?
1. How many people dedicated to rentals?
2. What hours are you open on weekends?
3. How long you been at the agency?
4. How long you been doing rentals?
5. How long has your agency been in the area?
6. Roughly how many rentals on your Books?
7. What is your limit on maintenance? eg. get quotes over $100 otherwise they authorise work done.I was just about to post this same thread. I will make my final pick today as to who we will use to manage our quakers hill property.
We have one lady coming out today who is from the Jenman system. Im not sure about it yet so i will play it as we go today. I will try out a few of the quetions Yack has mentioned.
Out of the 2 that i have already had around 1 was young very nice girl. And the other was more experienced and ALOT more aggressive and forward. Straight to the point. Maybe a little too intimidating though. Any thoughts on this?
Going rate around here is 6.6% plus the usuals.
Cheers
<<<And the other was more experienced and ALOT more aggressive and forward. Straight to the point. Maybe a little too intimidating though. Any thoughts on this?>>>>
Go with the more experienced agressive one. You want a tough but fair property manager, especially dealing with tenants. The more experienced ones know a good tenant from a bad one.
Good luck.
I want my PM to be able to stand up to unruly tenants. Luckily we have had none of those yet but, ‘a very nice young girl’ may not be able to stand up to them.
Just my 2 cents
‘Eat rich food, barbeque a yuppie’
Cheers guys,
I had a feeling i should go with the more aggressive. She was not rude or anything just firm which i guess it was i need to look after my property.
Unless the Last one that comes today at 12.30 is REALLY good then i will be going for Miss aggressive.
Thanks again.
Thanks a lot for the input guys…
My IP is in Toowoomba (QLD) and I’m in Syd so I may not be able to meet any PMs before sometime after settlement when I can get up there.
Andrew.
Well Yack, I’m with you on this one, you have to manage the PM’s and then I wonder why I’m not just managing the property myself. (Distance is the reason, the one that is close enough I do manage myself, without problems).
My biggest problem has been getting the PM’s to actually put the ad’s in the paper, you’d think they were paying for the ad’s themselves! Their answer is that “putting the property in the window” is usually enough. When I used to rent, I never looked in agents windows, I always looked in the paper, so figure there are others out there like me, therefore want it advertised in the paper. At the interviews they all said this was part of their marketing…
Good Luck is all I can say.
Fortune Favours the Bold.
Purple
Actually I never looked in the paper when i rented. I always went to the agents and got a copy of their rental list. But I got the agents to modify the desc of my property on their rental list. And low and behold it was rented within a week.
Hi Yack,
Can’t see why I can’t have both if I’m paying for the ad! Seems to be drama…perhaps they underquoted on the cost of the ad’s, it’s the only thing I can think of. However, I think I might just check out the description at the desk though too…thanks for the tip.
PK
Fortune Favours the Bold.
I know I always went to the Agency for a listing as well when I was renting… so I could see pictures! That said, I suppose it could be a good idea to make sure the agency is in a busy street for walk-in traffic right ?
I got a couple of replies from agents in Toowoomba using questions similar to those yack suggested, and it seems like 7-8% + 1wks rent as letting fee is std. They also told me that vacancy rate in this town is around 1%.
Regards,
Andrew.It is hard dealing with agents in toowoomba
I found that most did not respond to my email when I asked about selling, not property management so that was bad enough.I did however find one lady that was very ‘agressive’ but she was in sales and she sold my property when others couldnt. If vacant land counts.
I can give you her name and she might have a PM section.
Yes please elves, send me the details of the agency…
]
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
