Do you manage your own property?

[happy landlord]

Another good company that offers a very good service for self managing landlords is {deleted} I have used them several times and had great success renting a few properties through their marketing on the internet. Service was very prompt and very reasonably priced.

 

[Deltaberry]

i self managed a few at one stage. had a tenant who i used to go out with which coincidentally was looking for an apartment when i needed to let out.

after that - a pretty big mistaken, late payments, multiple requests for B.S repairs , accusations that maybe someone entered her apartment at night. major nightmare. after that i just gave an agent to manage.

Haha that's is hilarious

 

[charliebean]

I also self manage.

I actually worked as a PM for a year, when we bought I used a local PM to rent it out and as we were going overseas not long after I let her continue on managing it until we got back (I had negotiated a 7 day notice of terminating the MAA)

Hated the whole experience mainly because I am a control freak, I lost confidence in the PM when she took 5 days to process an application and then ruled them out because they had one late payment on their ledger when I asked her why she hadn't even rang the PM to get an explanation turned out there was a very valid reason and they were otherwise great candidates then she almost had them sign a 12 month lease when I had told her I could only rent it out for under 12 months (we need to live in it for the FHOG and would of lost it if I hadn't made a point in confirming the lease term with her) so we then lost those tenants and had to start the whole SLOW process again. I was pulling my hair out.

I know there are good PM's out there but I think as I have a control freak personality and know how things should be done and now how long it takes to do them I think it's better for everyone if I self manage.

 

[achih]

Jaggannath

http://forsaleforlease.com.au/residential-lease-splash/ Is one company i am aware of offering this no frills management service.

You should be aware of this company because you own it, Michael Atwell http://forsaleforlease.com.au/about/

While trying to educate myself in this forum I have noticed you've been consistently advertising this company without disclosing your affiliation with it.

Until you start disclosing your affiliation with this company in your posts whenever you mention it, I will make it my routine to regularly search for and notify all readers of your deceitful advertising.

 

[Michael A]

Archih

I am not trying to hide anything. If any reader can identify another company that offers the ability to advertise on all the dominate industry sites nationally, checks references, collects rent, provide statements, chase arrears and provides all the necessary documentation bond forms, leases etc. for $600 pa. Then tell as about them. I only contribute to this forum to test if there is a market for the different products my businesses might offer.
I have no direct competitors for owner assisted business sales, commercial sales and leasing or owner assisted residential management. I do not know of any other providers of this service that have access to the industry portals that matter. I do have copycat businesses in the residential sales space that have copied what I offer.

As a disclaimer to keep you happy I also own a traditional real estate agency, holiday accommodation business, investment sales business and I build, develop, sell and hold my own developments.

 

[propertydeal]

You should be aware of this company because you own it, Michael Atwell http://forsaleforlease.com.au/about/

While trying to educate myself in this forum I have noticed you've been consistently advertising this company without disclosing your affiliation with it.

Until you start disclosing your affiliation with this company in your posts whenever you mention it, I will make it my routine to regularly search for and notify all readers of your deceitful advertising.

I agree totally with Achih - well done!
I am extremely disappointed with Michael A's repetitive posts and therefore have to be very cautious with the continual self promoting by Mr Atwell, fair enough if you want to advertise your own thing - there are plenty of other places to do that.
BUT TO say there are no other companies around doing the same and more is the biggest load of hogwash I have ever heard! Search for 5 minutes on GOOGLE and you will come up with plenty of companies that were established longer than 2010 when Mr Atwell established FSFL.

A few private owner orientated companies with fantastic customer service I have recently come across - to do your comparisons;
Landlords Choice
Investor Mentor
Property Now
Who all advertise in various states of Australia and offer many other valuable products.

I have personally spoken to each and every one of these companies and they are all extremely helpful in their own right, as Mr Atwell might well be, HOWEVER they are dedicated to Private Owner only and have no ulterior motive ie Full rent roll on the side :- ) Dedicated to private owners.


Kind regards
Lucas

 

[INVSTOR]

Thanks for the replies guys, it's good to know there are people out there more confident about self managing than my father I am sure I will be back on here to ask for opinions when it comes to selecting my tenant out of the pool.

How did you go with the tenant selection??

 

[Hysteria]

There are now companies that offer a no frills property management service which could be a safer first step than jumping into managing privately from the outset.
If you are prepared to conduct the routine inspections, prepare the condition report and coordinate the maintenance, these companies will prepare the lease, collect rent, chase arrears, provide statements, provide bond lodgment forms, send rental increase notices, provide access to agent only insurance products, handle the money in a trust account and most significantly advertise your investment property on the dominant industry sites like www.realestate.com.au so that you know you are getting the best marketing and can subsequently choose from the largest pool of potential tenants. $600 Inc GST pa for up to two leasing pa and all advertising costs. No more to pay.

I am using a popular real estate company paying 8% but they act like a no frills comapany. They collect the rent on time and its into my account on time but as soon as there is a maintanance issue they ask me what am I going to do about it. Then I am normally left to orgainize any trades.
Any one used one of these no frills companys around Brisbane as I might look into it.

 

[wylie]

I am using a popular real estate company paying 8% but they act like a no frills comapany. They collect the rent on time and its into my account on time but as soon as there is a maintanance issue they ask me what am I going to do about it. Then I am normally left to orgainize any trades.
Any one used one of these no frills companys around Brisbane as I might look into it.

Why are you paying 8% for what they do? Tenant will be paying rent straight into an account (more than likely). I'd be wanting more service for 8%.

Get the tenant to pay it straight into your account and save the 8%.

 

[Dazz]

I agree with wylie. 8% is a lot for a phone message relay service.


I'm happy to sit on my bum and collect your rent to. They can pay it into my account. I'll be very quick in passing 92% of it along to you.


When the Tenant wants a whinge, they can dump the steaming hot **** into my lap, and I'll make one phone call and dump it straight into your lap. PMs duty is simply to 'advise'....not manage. Too easy.


Once again, every problem that an Owner faces originates by the misconceptions created by the 'Property Manager' misnomer.


When people see a Property Manager title, they mistakenly believe that the person will manage the property. This is where it all goes pear shaped. If they had on their card 'phone message relay service'....then Owners wouldn't get all hot under the collar and expect any more than a relay service.

 

[Michael A]

Lucas
The three companies you mention do not offer a discount management service. They provide a marketing / leasing service only. None of these three companies can legally provide this service nationally as they do not hold the 7 licenses required to do this. Even Andrew (Property Now) will acknowledge this.
I am still unaware of any direct competitor to www.forsaleforlease.com.au leasing and "management" service. Happy if you can correct me on this.
I have been offering the owner assisted model since Jan 2008 and was the first and original company to provide access to www.realestate.com.au for private sellers. It was originally operated under a different name.
The only reason I established this business was to provide a viable alternative to the full service real estate agency for pro-active owners. This management product won't be of any interest to the majority, but clearly it’s a safer first step than doing every part yourself without any support. It fills the gape in between.

 

[Hysteria]

Why are you paying 8% for what they do? Tenant will be paying rent straight into an account (more than likely). I'd be wanting more service for 8%.

Get the tenant to pay it straight into your account and save the 8%.

Think I will look into doing that Wylie.
Recently they did organize a plumber to replace a hot water system, they sent me a quote for $1400, after ringing around myself I ended up getting a new 125 litre system Installed for $800. There trade services seem overpriced as well.

When you self manage and say you go on holidays O/S for a couple of weeks with no mobile service do you normally give the tenants another point of conatct eg family member or reliable friend if there are any issues?

 

[wylie]

When you self manage and say you go on holidays O/S for a couple of weeks with no mobile service do you normally give the tenants another point of conatct eg family member or reliable friend if there are any issues?

We went to Europe for three weeks at the end of August. My brother moved into our house to feed the dog and pat the kids .

We knew one of our tenants would be leaving, possibly while we were away. I left my brother's number with them, and they have our home number and email address. I left a signed "Release of Bond" form at home with a signed rental reference and a copy of their rent spreadsheet to prove the payment history. They knew they just had to call to get these things.

I had no worries about how they would leave the house and was happy for my brother to do a final inspection, get the keys and hand over the release of bond. We also had arranged for the agency who we asked to find us a new tenant to have everything ready to go.

For the past two years we have had this agent find us tenants. It is something we have always done, but for the cost of a week's rent plus GST and about $70 advertising, it is something we will probably continue with. They do find good tenants, and check out things that we cannot.

We generally put our sparky, plumber details in the leases but do ask tenants to call us first. We move quickly to fix things so have never had a tenant have to call in a "foreign" sparky or plumber yet.

We've always managed our parents' houses when they have been away in years past, or just to be the "other" person at the open house and to be a second judge of prospective tenants.

 

[Hysteria]

Insurance

Thanks wylie,
When you self manage is there any problem with getting landlord insurance? Im currently with terry scheer.

 

[wylie]

No trouble. Usually must have a lease (not month to month). Plenty will insure but I know terry scheer will not.

 

[SandraL]

Hi Lucas,

Thank you for mentioning our company in this thread.
We offer a 'Rental package' for landlords who wish to self-manage, but use some agent-assisted services for finding new tenants. We offer advertising on domain and realestate.com.au, a legal pack with all the neccesary forms, and a search on the National Tenancy Database. You can view our services at www.landlordschoice.com.au.

 

[propertydeal]

Lucas
The three companies you mention do not offer a discount management service. They provide a marketing / leasing service only. None of these three companies can legally provide this service nationally as they do not hold the 7 licenses required to do this. Even Andrew (Property Now) will acknowledge this.
I am still unaware of any direct competitor to www.forsaleforlease.com.au leasing and "management" service. Happy if you can correct me on this.
I have been offering the owner assisted model since Jan 2008 and was the first and original company to provide access to www.realestate.com.au for private sellers. It was originally operated under a different name.
The only reason I established this business was to provide a viable alternative to the full service real estate agency for pro-active owners. This management product won't be of any interest to the majority, but clearly it’s a safer first step than doing every part yourself without any support. It fills the gape in between.

This is a private owner thread and we are therefore NOT interested in your management services, and no they are obviously not greedy and dont have licences for every state in Australia, but LEGALLY if we are going to loosely utilise that term, they are permitted to advertise in the states in which they have the licences...


Rgds
Luc

 

[Dan_p]

There are now companies that offer a no frills property management service which could be a safer first step than jumping into managing privately from the outset.
If you are prepared to conduct the routine inspections, prepare the condition report and coordinate the maintenance, these companies will prepare the lease, collect rent, chase arrears, provide statements, provide bond lodgment forms, send rental increase notices, provide access to agent only insurance products, handle the money in a trust account and most significantly advertise your investment property on the dominant industry sites like www.realestate.com.au so that you know you are getting the best marketing and can subsequently choose from the largest pool of potential tenants. $600 Inc GST pa for up to two leasing pa and all advertising costs. No more to pay.

I think if you don't know enough about what you are doing, you stand to lose money managing a property yourself.

I would rather distance myself from tenants so it is not personal when it comes time to up the rent. A good pm can find more tenants then you can freeing up your time to concentrate on your profession, family time or hobby.

 

[Hysteria]

I think if you don't know enough about what you are doing, you stand to lose money managing a property yourself.

I would rather distance myself from tenants so it is not personal when it comes time to up the rent. A good pm can find more tenants then you can freeing up your time to concentrate on your profession, family time or hobby.

Im happy to pay an agent/PM to find new tenants and do the screening and organize lease etc then take over from there. Im not up with tenancy act or the lingo so will have to study this.

Do your Ray Whites/LJ Hooker provide just a service like this or do they shy away because they are only interested in obtaining the complete lease?

 

[RedCat]

I'm using Run and have been really happy (I don't have time or interest in self-managing). I'm paying them 5.5% and 6.6% and get regular property inspections. In Brisbane they arranged to have the vanity and shower screen replaced and in Sydney they arranged for some painting to be done and some fly screens. One group pays all the outgoings for me whilst at the other they're sent to me to pay but I guess I could choose to sort it one way or the other. I'm happy with them so far.