Location of Agent to rental property

[morgzzz]

Just wondering if I am better off having an agent in the same suburb as my rental property.

Our current rental property that we have just purchased is 10km from the agents office.
There are other agents 200m down the road from the property.

Do people still do most of their rental browsing online via the popular websites, or do they go into the agency for the rental vacancy lists and view the agents window.

My husband thinks we should consider moving agents because people who want to live in that suburb will walk the street and view the windows etc

For those with multiple properties do you have your properties listed with agents close by, or the same agent, or the one you purchased it from?

 

[DavidMc]

I would stick to a max of 30min drive. It's not the listings that will be the problem, it will be the inspections.

10km should be no prob (if outer burb). If it's across the CBD then no.

 

[DavidMc]

I would stick to a max of 30min drive. It's not the listings that will be the problem, it will be the inspections.

10km should be no prob (if outer burb). If it's across the CBD then no.

 

[Phiber]

I don't think any serious renter will drive down to the local agent to look through the window, especially when it can all be done from your smartphone.
If the agent that is 10km away is good, then I would keep it - but you might not know whether they are any good.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Why do agents have offices?

a) OFT requires a physical address
b) so prospective vendors can see their wares
c) to show how successful they are ie several shopfronts

Most of the business is done in the property itself so rarely do you have to be located near your rental market. The shop is for brand recognition and self-promotion.

Provided the agent isn't too removed from the area it should be fine - it's their problem to travel not yours.

Tenants don't care where the agency is located they found the property and that's what counts. They pay by direct deposit not cash at the agency.

 

[Propertunity]

Another consideration would be where a tradie has to go to collect a set of keys from the managing agent, to perform maintenance work, if the tenants are away at their place of work.

 

[beachside]

My last 2 have been about 20-25 minutes away, reasonably close. 30 minutes is probably a good limit.

Location is only relevant to tenant signing up, picking up/dropping keys off. tradies ditto with keys. Agents quite often range a little further so not a great issue as they will group 1/4ly inspections together in close proximity, but may be stretching their interest/flexibility for showing houses to potential tenants at short notice. Sus the agent out, some can accommodate a longer drive to show a house to potential tenant ... staff member living nearby etc.

I would not worry about people going into the nearest agency to look in their window, if they have to do that they are probably living on the edge without internet access, scraping for each penny (oh dear, showing my age) and not ideal tenants!!!

My local agents are friggin useless, not a good reason to stay local.

 

[wombat777]

So tenants don't walk into the agent and pay rent in cash anymore ;-)

( when I first rented a unit in Hornsby in '95, I used to walk into the agent's office 150m from my front door and pay the rent in cash )

 

[hugh72]

Agree with other posts that an agent within 30min drive is fine, I have one 2 minutes from a house and they are fairly ordinary and have one 30 minutes away and they are excellent. The only proviso to this is I would want that agency to manage plenty of others in the area so they can arrange inspections more efficiently and they might know the market better

 

[Scott No Mates]

So tenants don't walk into the agent and pay rent in cash anymore ;-)

( when I first rented a unit in Hornsby in '95, I used to walk into the agent's office 150m from my front door and pay the rent in cash )

Would you walk up the road carrying two weeks rent in cash nowadays?

 

[Rixter]

I prefer to have a PM's office local to where the IP is located... to cover all prospective tenant capture bases including office walk in traffic.

Ideally onsite management of my IP I've found to be the best.

 

[hugh72]

So tenants don't walk into the agent and pay rent in cash anymore ;-)

( when I first rented a unit in Hornsby in '95, I used to walk into the agent's office 150m from my front door and pay the rent in cash )

Once upon a time I used to go to the post office to pay bills, things have changed slightly

 

[Nick Valsamis]

As stated, 30min is the furthest you would want.

With regards to renting the property, the main thing to also consider is a property manager that is not managing too many properties so they can effectively lease your property.

You can easily test an agency by just emailing an enquiry for one of their on the market listings through realestate.com.au and wait for the response.
If they don't respond within 1 day, then they are potentially costing you $$$ of lost rent.
I've actually recently tested a friends property and the agent didn't email back for 2.5 weeks.

 

[Jess Peletier]

One area where it pays to have local is that they know the quirks of the area. For eg, many suburbs have split personalities where part will attract higher rent then another part.

A non-local agent will use the whole suburb to set rent where a local agent will know the difference.

Sort of similar to how a non-local selling agent can be a bonus when buying as they don't quite know the market.

 

[Ed Barton]

I would stick to a max of 30min drive. It's not the listings that will be the problem, it will be the inspections.

10km should be no prob (if outer burb). If it's across the CBD then no.

I'd limit it to a 15 min drive.

Condition and end/start lease inspections are not effected by distance - a more remote PM can arrange to do all these in one area at one time. It's the 'for rent' inpections I'd be concerned about.

I want a PM who can do an ad hoc inspection in under an hours notice. Not one who get's a call from a prospective tenant at 4pm on a Friday wanting an immediate inspection but can't make it till 2.25pm on Monday.

 

[Peter Parker]

I'd pick closer, other things being equal.

Especially if it's where the agent is continually driving past as it's on a main road or they have other IPs in the area. That way the good managers notice if there's emerging issues (eg the old car on the lawn or the couch on the verge) between inspections.

I'm sure that the busy manager secretly dreads the long drive when most of their other properties are closer and they can inspect more of them.

 

[esh]

My husband thinks we should consider moving agents because people who want to live in that suburb will walk the street and view the windows etc

Most people use the internet now to find a rental property. At the end of the day chose the agency based on the advice they give you, how they manage the property, how inspections they do and if they give proper advice to tenants for looking after the property. For example when I was in property management, I had to tell tenants many times to vacuum he carpets, clean up the mould etc etc. Send photos to the landlords and keep them up to date with what's happening with the property and how issues are being sorted.

 

[beachside]

It is all relevant to where you are located, traffic, density of area. My PM is about 15-20 min/ 11 km/ 3 suburbs beyond. This is within the local area and consistent population between. They manage quite a few in the area, so I am not a one off. On the other hand, I had a PM who was a bit closer at 8 km but over the other side of the motorway and in a different sort of area - inland rather than coastal and had little idea of my area.

But 30 minutes in the city could be 10 km and 6 suburbs, but regional such as NSW north coast such as Coffs Harbour and further north, 15 minutes could be 20km and only one or two suburbs/localities (satelite) and no nearer PM!

 

[morgzzz]

Thanks guys for your feedback.