Getting rid of a property manager

D

Durka

I have an agent looking for a tenant for my property in Sydney. I have given the agent everything they needed to get a tenant, including dropping the rent twice ($40pw each time) from the original figure (which they suggested) and still they are unable to get any interest at all (0-2 tenants at an open).

What are my obligations to the agent? The agreement says

"This agreement shall commence on the xx/xx/xxxx (date sometime next week, when the unit is available for a tenant to move in) and may be terminated by either party giving not less than 30 days written notice of termination but without prejudice to any accrued rights or incurred obligations."

Given that the agreement has not yet commenced and there is no tenant to manage, do I still have to give notice? Or can I just pay them for the costs incurred (photography, advertising) and move on?

On a side note, has anyone previously in my situation noticed a performance difference in getting people in the door between agents? I am just perplexed as to why I am getting no-one through the door on a reasonably priced unit. My thought is that it went stale due to the original high pricing the agent suggested (which was a mistake), however would listing with another agent at the new, lower price fix that?
 
Go online and check out what comparable properties in your area are asking for rent. Ensure that you are at the lower end of the range.

Rentals are very price sensitive, and the fact that you have dropped your asking price twice does not mean that you are competitive.

So long as the property is widely advertised on the internet, appropriately priced with GOOD photos, I don't think that switching agents will achieve much, unless the agent is not responding promptly to enquiries. Have a friend phone to enquire and see how enthusiastic the PM is about your property and how easy it is to arrange an inspection.
Marg
 
Rental prices are never ever the same. It depends on the house and its area. I completely agree with, marg4000. You must upload good photographs of your house, so that the person who are in need of the house can approach you soon.
 
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Hey Durka

You should be able to end your current agreement with the agent. Just give them something in writing saying that you want to terminate the agreement (that has not started) effective intimately. Just so its all clear. And ask them to remove the advertising.


I'd do what Marg said and check to make sure its on a the right price now. Photos are good etc.
I like the idea of a friend (or even you if you can put on a good voice) and test the agent.

Basically as long as your property is not in ACT your ad should be on realestate.com.au.

If you change agents, your ad would be displayed back up the top of the list again on realestate.com.au so thats a big bonus.

I've found that If I change the price (even $5), the headline, first 3 lines of the description, photos (particularly the main photo) I boost the enquiry as it looks like a new listing again on realetate.com.au that tenants have not seen before.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. To answer some of the questions, I had professional photographs taken and the apartment was listed on both realestate.com.au and domain.com.au.

My first mistake was choosing an agent in the suburb over. As they had some properties in my suburb I thought that would be ok, but obviously the agent is not as knowledgeable about the suburb as I first thought. I know this as one of their other listings in my suburb has been on the market longer than mine now, so I am not the only landlord struggling to find a tenant with that agent in my suburb.

My second mistake (tied to the 1st) was trusting the agent's opinion with regards to pricing and formulating the listing. This was at a time when there was very little comparable stock on the market, and so direct comparisons were hard to make. Since then, dropping the price $40 then $45 (so went from $680 to $595 currently) on the agent's recommendation has not lead to any more interest. In the month that it has been on the market, there has been more stock come on, however at $595pw it is still the cheapest property in its class (1br, 1 car, same suburb).

My third mistake was leaving the photography of the unit to the agent, who brought in an outside photographer but didn't get pictures of the communal areas such as the rooftop terrace (which has 360 views over Sydney city and harbour) and pool, which are major attractions.

I have spoken to some other agents in the area, and the consensus is that the rental market is softening. My parents who own property a few suburbs over also have heard the same thing from their manager. So my guess is that it is a combination of market conditions and my agent's ineptitude.

Thanks for the tip about testing out my agent, I'll remember that one. Although to be honest, I am 90% decided I will get rid of my agent on Monday. I have given them everything they have asked for (with regards to price and time) yet they still have failed to even get people through the door, let alone tender an application.
 
I ended up letting go of my property manager. Even if the apartment was still overpriced, the fact was that even when they did everything their way they got no results, so I couldn't keep them around.

I have rung around a few agents I talked to originally in order to find a replacement. Funny how all of the agents are now telling me $100pw less than the price they told me 1 month ago :rolleyes:
 
$600/wk is a hefty rent for a 1/1/1 - which suburb are we talking Durka?

Is the agent letting you keep the photos or you've paid for them and got nothing?
 
It's in Potts Point, so definitely one of the more expensive suburbs in Sydney. The premium price comes from it being nicer than the average apartment (which are mainly smaller art deco apartments), includes parking (which is a rarity), is 300m to the station and 1 stop to the city, or you can walk in to the city. It is not an investment property, but a future PPOR (3-4 years down the track) as I am currently studying and travelling at this stage in my life.

I had 2 agents come around to inspect yesterday, one said $550pw, other said $550-600pw but to start at $580pw and go from there (although this same agent told me $650 a month ago). I have decided I am going to put it up at $550 in the hopes of quickly securing a tenant, as every day it is vacant from last Wednesday onwards is costing me money.

As for the photos, when I fired my previous agent they said to just come pick up the keys and that would be the end of it. So far they haven't billed me for anything, and I won't be raising the issue unless they do. I am getting new photos done with the new agent simply so buyers won't recall the previous listing when seeing them.
 
$550 is a good idea -- you'll cast a very wide net as realestate.com.au and domain's rental price brackets are inclusive so anyone searching for "up to $550" will find your apartment. A dollar over would lost a stack of searchers.

Best of luck.
 
Interesting, we have just received a report saying that April was the worst month for lettings in quite a while. I don't recall it saying why it was the worst, it just was. We also had quite a few properties vacant longer than usual, despite all efforts. Good luck with yours.
 
Peterw said:
Interesting, we have just received a report saying that April was the worst month for lettings in quite a while. I don't recall it saying why it was the worst, it just was. We also had quite a few properties vacant longer than usual, despite all efforts. Good luck with yours.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to know the statistics behind this. Different agents are telling me different stories about the state of the market. Is there a source of data I can query on the relative strength of the rental market for a particular suburb (or at least a given region) month by month?
 
Thanks for the article and SQM links. Seems there was the slightest of upkicks in vacancy in April for Potts Point, but nothing statistically significant.

Anyways, I signed with the new agent on Wednesday when I had the photos taken, listing went up on Thursday, agent brought someone through privately on Friday (yesterday) who took the place at $550pw. Looking at comparables I think it is on the low side, but at least it is rented for now. I will have lost about 3 weeks of outgoings due to vacancy, and don't want that to blowout any further.
 
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