Gumtree

[priscilla]

Have noticed gumtree has been mentioned a bit in relation to sourcing tenants. Just though I would share the expeiriences of 4 Landlords I am aware of who sef managed and used Gumtree to source tenants in the last 12-18 months. 3 of the properties (Parramatta/Blacktown area) were badly trashed and the tenants left owing the Landlords thousands of dollars. It is my belief that poor tenants target private Landlords on Gumtree to avoid the application process with REA's. These Landlords were all good trusting people however not diligent in checking references etc. just took the people at face value with minimal checks. The 4th Landlord is in an ongoing battle with their tenants over the rent and condition of the property.

I am sure not all tenants found on Gumtree are like this but I am yet to hear a positive story locating a tenant this way......quite possibly some of you will have such a story, to date I have only heard negative feedback.

 

[geoffw]

I've had an employee who was blacklisted in the TICA database- the only way he was able to rent a place at all was to rent privately- classifieds, Gumtree or whatever.

I have self managed in the past but I'd much rather pay the 8% to a good manager. It's a false economy to avoid paying that fee IMO.

Not only are you likely to get a lower standard tenant- when I switched back to a PM the rents were raised at the next review, as I had not been aware how much market rents had risen. This compensated for the PM fees and put extra money in my pocket- while avoidin the hassles.

 

[wylie]

Have noticed gumtree has been mentioned a bit in relation to sourcing tenants. ....

It is my belief that poor tenants target private Landlords on Gumtree to avoid the application process with REA's. These Landlords were all good trusting people however not diligent in checking references etc. just took the people at face value with minimal checks.

I agree with most of this, and we have had success via Gumtree, but we do get the dross too. We also had our advert stolen and used to scam at least one unlucky tenant and nearly another one, via Nigeria. Nothing we can do to stop that, but it can only really happen on Gumtree as those scammers cannot put their fake adverts easily on other sites that only take agent adverts.

So, we just always were very selective, and last time we found a tenant on Gumtree we sent her through the agency who vetted her and took the first week's rent. She is fantastic but was just sick of dealing with agents. She gives us jam, we respond quickly to any issues and she is a 10/10 tenant.

Not only are you likely to get a lower standard tenant- when I switched back to a PM the rents were raised at the next review, as I had not been aware how much market rents had risen. This compensated for the PM fees and put extra money in my pocket- while avoidin the hassles.

I also agree with this. Getting a feel for "what is market" is difficult when we self-manage. For several years now we have done "let only" and paid the agent one week's rent + GST plus advertising fee and at least we know that we are getting market rent. We then manage as we always have. Unless a tenant stays long term, this works for us. If they stay long term, it does become a bit of a guessing game, but the agent we use tells us "rents generally have risen by xx% or $xx per week for our style of house".

If you are careful, these risks are manageable.

 

[S.T]

I have 2 long term tenants sourced from Gumtree. It's really not much different if you do your own due dilligence and get rental referee's, signed privacy forms, facebook and google checks. This netts me an extra 6-8% with not much work involved.

 

[mattysavager]

We list our student accommodation stock on Gumtree as well as all the normal sites, and we do get a lot of enquiries via Gumtree. Many international students know gumtree (as it operates in many countries) and will find us that way.

We do list certain units and houses on gumtree, depending on the area. We don't bother for most of our properties in West End and other inner locations, as we rent these very quickly and easily.

If a property has taken longer than usual to rent, we put it on gumtree. We find that putting the property manager's name and mobile works better than having an agency name, as I do think many of the gumtree lookers are trying to avoid agents.

I've had one person turn up to an inspection with me, and then leave before seeing the property once he realised I was an agent and not a private landlord. Dodgy!

The proportion of tenants who come through Gumtree and are listed on TICA is definitely higher, though it can work sometimes. My advice is to be very cautious - with any applicant.

 

[INVSTOR]

Good points mattysavager! Do your DD and it shouldn't be a problem. Even a statement such as, 'good references required' may help to weed out timewasters. I've also found gumtree operates differently in different states. I'd imagine the comments here may be location relative for advertising property.

I've never advertised property but advertising furniture etc I've found Bris you need to supply a mobile number to get a response and most buyers are Maori. In Perth most use internet and email response is ok - and are quite often new Australians - French, Irish, etc.

 

[wylie]

I've never advertised property but advertising furniture etc I've found Bris you need to supply a mobile number to get a response and most buyers are Maori. In Perth most use internet and email response is ok - and are quite often new Australians - French, Irish, etc.

I never put my phone number on as I don't want random folk calling me. But most people are happy to give over their mobile numbers to anyone and everyone as they use them as their principal phone, whereas I like to keep mine for people I know.

I've also sold things on Gumtree that have been popular and I can manage the queue better via email.

I've never had issues with people in Brisbane sending emails, but I generally find one in two will not bother to follow up that initial contact. I've learned that whether selling or giving away, I now give the first person to email me a time limit before moving to the next one, because often they just don't bother past that initial contact.

 

[Lil Skater]

I've also advertised on Gumtree for hard to lease properties, or those suited to students.

You always have a few who are trying to avoid agents because they have history, but I've had a few that are just sick of dealing with agents, thought private rentals were cheaper, or some who have only leased privately.

I'm yet to have an issue with Gumtree tenants, but I have heard some shocking stories. I myself rented through a private LL many years ago and they took me on face value, no references or confirmation of employment, they were just that trusting.

It's more people not doing DD or being too trusting, then Gumtree itself.

 

[jingo]

I use agents for all my ip's, but when one is vacant I put an add on gumtree with the agent's details. I'm not sure whether the tenants we source in the end actually saw the add on gumtree, or the standard websites, but I figure it can't hurt - especially in the slower rental market that Melbourne is experiencing at the moment.

Recently, there hasn't been a day's rent lost between tenants in the IP's that have become vacant. (Two at the end of last year) I mostly put that down to my excellent agents - but who knows, perhaps the adds on gum tree are helping as well??

A couple of years ago I found my own tenant on gum tree for one of the ip's. But I refered her onto the agent and had them do all the checks, etc. She stayed for 2 years and paid her rent on time each month. She was a pain in other ways though - very particular and gave the agent grief - mostly about small insignificant things!!

Regards Jason.

 

[Indifference]

Bad Agents exist....

I "had" a rental in SE Qld for a few years. Used the same agent, that subsequently replaced their PM.... who then subsequently rented our IP to themselves under another name.... informed us all the checks were done & come back good, that the bond was paid and everything OK....

We'll.....*sigh*..... the B@#$! & her brood of unruly hoons, trashed the place, skipped town owing rent and the bond had never been lodged! This was our first IP & 2nd tenant.....

The REA had the hide to try and hold me to the letting contract after his PM did this to us & I had to fly interstate to sort it out. I was almost postal when the REA tried to give me a sob story of the PM did him more harm than us & that we couldn't get out of the contract.... well I did, after dialing a Lawyer in front of him... he caved.

So, for the record, REAs can be a horror story as well. I was burnt by one (badly) and his dear little PM, and this was from a "Professionals" franchisee, not some little vigilante one man show.... Yeah, I'm still bitter & don't deal with that franchise EVER...

 

[Aaron_C]

Gumtree is probably best for students as they usually have no/little rental history. Just got to keep an eye on them.

 

[Dylan33]

I'm currently advertising on Gumtree. I've had about 35 replies to my ad in three weeks. There is chaff to sort out, but after reading between the lines of a few conversations over email you can get a good idea of the dodgy ones.

I'm staggered by some replies though! I don't know what sort of response some people expect to there emails. One of them just wrote 3 question marks!
As if they expected me to respond with all the details of the property. Really! What chance do they think they had?

Of course there are the dodgy's who try it on, but also some respectful, genuine tenants using the site. It's up to the landlords to do the DD.

 

[INVSTOR]

I never put my phone number on as I don't want random folk calling me. But most people are happy to give over their mobile numbers to anyone and everyone as they use them as their principal phone, whereas I like to keep mine for people I know.

I've also sold things on Gumtree that have been popular and I can manage the queue better via email.

I've never had issues with people in Brisbane sending emails, but I generally find one in two will not bother to follow up that initial contact. I've learned that whether selling or giving away, I now give the first person to email me a time limit before moving to the next one, because often they just don't bother past that initial contact.

Yes, I found email system had a lot of timewasters, it was probably closer to 1 in 5 were serious buyers, providing mobile phone eliminated that and I started selling most stuff within a few hours, rather than days.

 

[nhg]

Do the same thing as Jingo,

Try to get a start before I finish renos and hand over to agent.

I placed an add for a property last week with move in date at the end of the month, with clear instructions the property will rent through an agent, have received 8 requests of which 4 I would be willing to rent to.

FYI Av. rent in area is $350, i'm asking for $500, due to some additions I have made. Everyone seems pretty happy with that deal, may push up to $550 in a year. I thought it would take 3-4 weeks to rent out.

I wrote down my number, though only 2 called, the rest emailed, a lot asking for the number HAHA.

I use agents for all my ip's, but when one is vacant I put an add on gumtree with the agent's details. I'm not sure whether the tenants we source in the end actually saw the add on gumtree, or the standard websites, but I figure it can't hurt - especially in the slower rental market that Melbourne is experiencing at the moment.

Recently, there hasn't been a day's rent lost between tenants in the IP's that have become vacant. (Two at the end of last year) I mostly put that down to my excellent agents - but who knows, perhaps the adds on gum tree are helping as well??

A couple of years ago I found my own tenant on gum tree for one of the ip's. But I refered her onto the agent and had them do all the checks, etc. She stayed for 2 years and paid her rent on time each month. She was a pain in other ways though - very particular and gave the agent grief - mostly about small insignificant things!!

Regards Jason.

 

[hematite]

I put up an ad for some spare rooms in my house to see market demand. Had 35 emails. About 5 were people i'd share my house with (professionals who could write a half decent email asking for more info etc), the rest were 18 yr old girls, drug users, people who could not read/spell, people who asked what the rent was etc.

 

[Andrew_A]

Some useful advice. It's probably just coming back to sourcing your tenants outside an agency and conventional tenant databases as your obvious people of dubious tenant character need to seek an easy mark, have to always be careful with the due diligence.

It's really a dash of common sense (not so common!?) and basic checks working out whether someone is likely to be a good tenant.

Anybody who's tried to lease property would have some classic stories about the applications, some people really have no clue how to manage in life and it shows, unfortunately for them. On the other hand I have a recent story from the last month about a wonderful young professional couple, new to the country, she is studying and he is attempting to be a politician in his native country, both present very well and have the funds and couldn't get a look in through conventional agents (no rental history) after multiple attempts at getting a lease, so had to go the private ad route and are paying a hefty premium for a basic privately rented unit, plenty more potentially excellent tenants like that around that are being forced outside the traditional agencies.

 

[geoffw]

It's difficult- especially when somebody else does the wrong thing.

It was very difficult to get a rental for my daughter, the first time she tried. She eventually got a place- then had flatmates skip out on her. I had to pay about $3k to ensure she didn't get a black mark.

 

[TMNT]

unless its student accom or very short stay accom,

I equate gumtree=dodgy people with bad track records,

why would they be there on the first place looking for a place??

 

[S.T]

why would they be there on the first place looking for a place??

One of my tenants, (over 2 years now), was looking at all the real estate websites AND Gumtree. This couple were renting through an agency and had perfect track record of rent payments, plus excellent work references. Some people like to think outside the square to find what they want. As has been said there is a lot of dodgey on free places like gumtree, but its still a legitimate market place.

 

[kathryn d]

unless its student accom or very short stay accom,

I equate gumtree=dodgy people with bad track records,

why would they be there on the first place looking for a place??

I haven't rented since 1980 (canada) and never in Australia.
If I had to rent here, I would take a private landlord over a PM, all things being equal.
The most important factor would be the actual property offered, and if it met my needs.

I certainly don't consider myself a dodgy tenant, but I'm sure to a PM, I am.
I wouldn't have references, or employment history to show.