Is this normal? Rental ad posted and no phone calls for two days

I'm in the process of purchasing a property in Guildford, NSW and I've already put down 0.25% deposit.

My intention is to sub-let each rooms to people who are seeking shared accommodation, and this is the only way for the property to pay itself off.

However, after posting an ad on Realestate.com.au and Domain.com.au, I haven't received a single phone call and it's has been officially two days.

This has never happened before. When I posted an ad for shared accommodation in Blacktown, NSW early this year (mid February), I received more than 3 calls on the first day, and an average of 1 phone call per day for the next two weeks.

I'll give it five more days and if I don't receive a single phone call, I may pull out of this property and lose the 0.25% deposit.

Just wonder... do you think it's to do with the time of the year? Or it's the location?

If you don't live in NSW, Blacktown is a major suburb with a big shopping centre, so it's not hard to sub-let. Whereas Guildford is a small Suburb, however it's just 3 stations away from Parramatta, which is like a 2nd Sydney.

The only issue is, for people who search Parramatta and the surrounding suburbs on Domain.com.au, only Granville, Harris Park and Merryland shows up, and Guildford doesn't. Only for those searching Merryland does Guildford show up.

Before I put down the deposit for this property, I've done a lot of research and found Guildford an actively area for people who are looking for shared accommodation. The average rental per room is between $130 - $150, whereas my advertised rate is $135 including bills, Internet and cleaning.

Please tell me what you think and what could be the problem.

Many thanks.
Lei
 
Last edited:
Personally looking at your listing... given the fact the most of the picture are of the surrounding areas rather than the actual room, kitchen etc i would rpesume it is a dump inside and not even bother... but that is just me
 
As said, why no internal pictures? Anyone who wants to know what the railway station looks like can use Google Earth.

If I were looking, I would want to see a picture of the room, bathroom, the kitchen and the lounge/rumpus. Does the room have a lock for privacy and security? I would also want to know how many are sharing, assume 6 as it is 6 bedroom.

BTW, is this legal? Most Councils have limits of the number of non-related people sharing a house.
Marg
 
Thanks Marg and NotAllPMsRBAD for your feedback.

At the moment, this property is tenanted. I think it's against Privacy Act to post internal photos on the net while the tenant is currently living inside.

Should I make it clear in the ad? That the property is tenanted but will be available for inspection soon? Is there anything else I can do to improve the ad? Or it's the location that's the problem and nothing can be done?

P.S. Marg...regarding your question, the council does not have a restriction on the number of unrelated people sharing a house, as long as each room has individual locks. So that's what I will do, after settlement.
 
Surely your ad should say that the property is not available for inspection.
I read the ad as being available now - maybe you should say the date it will be available.
Marg
 
I think it's against Privacy Act to post internal photos on the net while the tenant is currently living inside.
No, it may be considered against the Privacy Act to take internal photos, and then post them publicly which include the tenants possessions in the photos.
 
In Queensland you must get permission to use photos of tenants things. Not sure of other states.

We get around this by making sure we have photos of all houses when empty, so that whenever one is about to become available for rent, we can get the adverts up and running using the photos we have.
 
Wylie,

That's a great idea! In the future I will keep photos of empty premises to advertise when tenant is planning to move out.

Thanks.
Lei
 
In Queensland you must get permission to use photos of tenants things. Not sure of other states.

We get around this by making sure we have photos of all houses when empty, so that whenever one is about to become available for rent, we can get the adverts up and running using the photos we have.


Great idea and something I've tried hard to do as well. I'd agree with the others that some internal pics are required here, so see if you can get the tenant to move his personal belongings in order for you to do this.
Curious as to how you're arranging leases in share housing- do you have a separate one for each tenant or put them all on the one?
 
at what number of sublet rooms are you considered a boarding house? i thought if it was over 4 in nsw - but i am happy to be wrong.
 
I understand not showing tenants' possessions in photos, but surely pictures of the kitchen and bathroom show only fittings. If the property is rented by the room, then the furniture in the common areas must be supplied by the landlord, so pictures would be OK.
Marg
 
Back
Top