i think this thread has de-evolved into this being the answer for every post now.
Will agents ever stop the crap?
- Thread starter evand
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i think this thread has de-evolved into this being the answer for every post now.
This is a joke right?
No one's forcing you to invest in residential property. If you believe that the terms of the deals are stacked heavily in favour of the counterparties you're dealing with, why are you investing in this asset class? You've plenty else to choose from...
This is a joke right?
No one's forcing you to invest in residential property. If you believe that the terms of the deals are stacked heavily in favour of the counterparties you're dealing with, why are you investing in this asset class? You've plenty else to choose from...
Duh, no-one's forcing tenants to apply for particular properties either. It's a shame agents aren't free to charge whatever they like... after all, prospective customers (tenants) could then choose to deal with cheaper agencies.
Maybe we'll start to see the emergence of the rental equivalent of the "Buyer's Agent".
whilst you make a fair point - i must also point out that given it takes several hours to vet every application received properly for you, the owner... if we get four applications for the same property, write off a day or two to do the work, then several hours a year to do inspections etc. somebody has to pay for that. Given that we pay for all the different system accesses to vet your tenants (TICA etc) and make the dozens of calls to check them out, and photocopy dozens of pages, cut your keys, pay re.com to market it, arrange your ads in the paper, use our own petrol to regulary check out your home and get over there for new tenancy inspections as well as the quarterlies etc. and still pay our staff to do all that, i think its very fair.
As for your comment about advertising - for the millionth time - agents are not permitted to make money out of advertising - we can only charge what we are charged for the papers... i.e. we pass the invoice straight on.
and given we charge 7.5%+gst for our rates, you try running a business on that sort of money. You expect us to manage every aspect of your prized investment but then decide that paying us 20 bucks a week and then a few hundred dollars once every year we are ripping you off?? the let fee hardly helps us anyway - PM is not a hugely profitable business.
But at the end of the day - remember it is a business - if we didn't make SOME money out of it, we wouldn't do it...the same as every other business ever created!
WA is different to qld so i can't comment for your issues there - but any time you are over here and want to see just how much work goes into each property, feel free to drop in - my PM would love to tell you all about it.
Letting fee makes sense.. that's when they do all the work to find the tenant.
Property management fees are quite cheap in Australia. In the UK 10% is cheap, average in London was 15% couple of years ago, some charged 17.5 %.
How is that not fair? A tenant is without a home if you evict at short notice, whereas the landlord is without a source of income. The priorities should be biased in favour of the tenant in that situation.
Two weeks is a reasonable amount of time as it is.
I totally agree with the above sentiments. A good property manager is like a jewel. Most landlords get more than their money's worth if the PM is doing his/her job properly.
I'm one of the lucky ones who has a fantastic PM - I'm happy to part with a letting fee plus 7.5% management fee.
My thoughts exactly
Not for a tenant. To find a place, relocate possessions, stop all mail coming to their old address - this takes far longer than two weeks. The landlord by comparison has it much easier.
That's not totally true as ther is a thing called economies of scale at work. Also, a lot of the work is performed by low paid employees.
If it wasn't profitable agencies wouldn't do it. Simple.
And agencies make a hell of a lot of money selling their rent rolls. I cant quite remember what the multiple of earnings per tenant to sell is but its very high.
Agencies build up their rent roll with a sole view to selling at a a later point. Can be very profitable.
If it wasn't profitable agencies wouldn't do it. Simple.
And agencies make a hell of a lot of money selling their rent rolls. I cant quite remember what the multiple of earnings per tenant to sell is but its very high.
Agencies build up their rent roll with a sole view to selling at a a later point. Can be very profitable.
While I am not advocating that application fees should be charged, I believe that a fee should be charged and refunded to Tentant who gets the rental.
Due to lack of rentals, we are beginning to see a lot of prospective Tenants put applications on several different properties in several different agencies and then taking their pick once thay get approvals. Time is spent in processing these applications. LJ Hooker had a good thing with the A1 tenant card - perhaps some Company could do a central processing for all Tenants and the Agent just emails for a report.
As someone just said that was your choice to run a business. All I tried to say it should not become a norm but an optional. You quoted 7.5% do not forget GST, property condition report, routine inspecioon fees.... all together, is about 14-17%. Do not just tell one side of the story.
Just refer to the person said that was our choice as landlord. That is true. Remember it is private market supplying a significant rental properties. However, no organizations etc take care of the landlords and voice their concerns. It is really interesting.
Here is the full story...
WE DO NOT CHARGE FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE 7.5% + GST AND ONE WEEKS LET FEE. No other charges EVER - No condtion reports, inspection reports are EVER charged for - they are part of the service.
and as for the sale of rent rolls and economy of scale - yes they sell for a good chunk of cash, but that doesn't help day to day costs of running them - only if you sell them. As for scale - yes they can be profitable with very large numbers, but then you have to wonder about service provision...
and yes it is our choice to run a business and charge what we want to for that - but then we get complained about for charging fees...we can't win at all can we!
Not as a reply to any post
If a real estate agent buys a used car, who is the bad guy?
have had 1 bad(bad[sup]nth[/sup]) 1 good rea. for me that means 'bout the same as every other profession. but I don't tell everyone about the good one, only bi##h about the bad one.
bad: would not pass offer to the vender, as his other had put in a V.lowball offer on the property and wanted to ensure they would get it, then got very abusive when I rang the vendor to make sure the offer had been received
(no longer operating as rea)
bad: would not pass offer to the vender, as his other had put in a V.lowball offer on the property and wanted to ensure they would get it, then got very abusive when I rang the vendor to make sure the offer had been received
(no longer operating as rea)
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I tell a liar. Just remembered it is not 7.5% plus GST, it is 6.5% plus GST because I've got a number of properties with my agent. I do not pay for property condition report, routine inspection fees. Where do you get 14-17% from? I pay 6.5% plus GST, nothing else unless my tenant leaves. This doesn't happen often as I do try to run it as a business by regarding tenants and even real estate agents (believe it or not!!!) as valuable clients.
I didn't think that Queensland was that different from WA. Where do you get those extra costs from? Not all real estate agents are shonky just as not all landlords or tenants are shonky so give agents a break will you?
I'm not a real estate agent, don't have friends or family who are agents so have got no bias. I've come across some ethical ones as well as some shockers!
That may be the case in Brisbane and I only wish you guys were here, but it's a different game over here in the wild west.
After 25 years of self managing and after a close call getting rid of my second consecutive crap tenant in 6 months, I decided that the attitudes of renters or perhaps people in general, seems to be changing for the worse. It was time to hand over the dramas to a PM.
I shopped around and all the agents seemed fairly similar. In the end this is what I am being charged:
Advertising $40.00 per week.
Letting fee 2 weeks rent plus GST
Management Fee 9.35%
Property Condition Report $55.00 per hour up to max $165.00
Final Bond Inspection $60.00 per hour up to max $180.00
Inventory report fee $55.00 per hour
Routine inspection reports fee $55.00 (1st inspection at 6 weeks then 3 months thereafter)
Fixed Lease renewal negotiation fee $44.00
Annual financial summary $33.00
Court/Tribunal appearances $80.00 per hour
Administration fee $10.00 per month
Title search fee $15.00
tenant inquiry fee $40.00 per tennancy
Postage Petties etc $7.70 per month
What the difference is between petties, admin and management is, I don't know, however I tried to negotiate but to no avail. Apparently the PM didn't have the authority to negotiate on anything. I couldn't wait for an appointment with the principle as I was short of time and needed to start my journey home, waiting around days for some shark in a slick suit to condescend to talk to me was impossible at the time.
Money for nothing I reckon. Time will tell what style of service I get for all these charges.
Cheers,
Beef.
Unfortunately real estate agents charge a lot more in WA than they seem to in Qld. The norm is 8.5%, +GST, + 2 weeks letting fee (all payable by owner), plus insepctions, plus tribunl representation, plus tenancy end reports (wtf? how is this different from a regular inspection?), inventory reports (I have no idea what this even is...), +, +, +.
Still worthwhile investing in property, and despite the costs I still cant be bothered managing my IP myself.
My biggest cost by a long way is interest, property management pales into insignificance.
Dang - beaten to the punch by Beef Hooked
BTW Beef, dont expect too much. Think of r/e like any other professional or tradie working for you; you will need to manage them. They will do a job, but some need extra guidance
TB
Thanks TB, I'll keep that in mind. I, like everyone I'm guessing, have had some absolutely brilliant tradies and unfortunately some real nongs. Fingers crossed for the former.
Perhaps I was a little harsh but just reading what a great deal the investors over east get made my blood pressure rise slightly towards the danger zone, and like you say it seems they charge 3 times for the same service under a different euphemism. Talk about "The Hollow Men", WA agent's can spin faster than a Westinghouse twin tub.
Cheers,
Beef.
Perhaps I was a little harsh but just reading what a great deal the investors over east get made my blood pressure rise slightly towards the danger zone, and like you say it seems they charge 3 times for the same service under a different euphemism. Talk about "The Hollow Men", WA agent's can spin faster than a Westinghouse twin tub.
Cheers,
Beef.
Queensland: white shoes, bowling hats, pumpkin scones
WA: thongs, shorts, sailboats
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