Do you trust your interstate RE agent?

[The_Bludger]

Next purchase I make, I'd like it to be an interstate purchase to minimise Land Tax, as well as spread the eggs so to speak.

One thing that worries me is trusting your agent. When stuff needs fixing, there's no doubt in my mind that agents get kickbacks from plumbers, sparkies, etc which makes the job a lot more expensive than it should be. Even worse, they could be lying about problems that don't even exist. Without physically being able to inspect the property at short notice due to distance or not being able to send your own tradies out there, how do you handle these sorts of situations?

 

[Propertunity]

You find someone you can trust. Then you check up on stuff they've done for you on one of your annual or 6 monthly checks.

Make sure you get 3 quotes for everything over $100 and you decide which one gets accepted.

Kickbacks are illegal and any agent worth his salt would both do & be seen to be doing, the right thing in your eyes and the Dept of Fair Trading's eyes.

 

[andrew_de_a]

I dont think agents get kickbacks from tradies. I have never heard of that.

 

[boods99]

^^^ he he

 

[Xenia]

Do you mean property managers? They would be the ones recomending trades people.

We do not get kickbacks from our trades people but have out own representatives that we work with. Efficiency and reliability are important qualities for trades people to have and we recommend those ones to our clients.

 

[The Fence]

Having worked as a tradie for many years for PM's...I never got a kick back request, nor did I offer one......but, generally you charged more for PM's and they didn't care much about the price...so long as the job got done to keep the LL happy....in saying that, a tradie would turn up pronto (to get the good $$$) yesd, give good service....

Most large jobs required 3 quotes to keep things a bit on budget and fair enough....

Only my observations and experiences.....

 

[units4me]

I do a lot of real estate work, and i too have never heard of or been requested to give kickbacks.

I also have an interstate IP, no issues with the PM's honesty.

Getting 3 quotes for a $100 job just wastes everybody's time. All my jobs are "just go ahead and fix it", or call us with a price if it's a major job. Very rarely do i need to call them to quote it though. Everybody happy