Managing Property while interstate

[Eli1]

Happy new year Somersofters.

I have an IP in Logan area which my current tenant is going to vacate on 16th of Jan. I have been managing the property myself as I also live in Brisbane.

But now I am moving to Melbourne in end of January. I already put the property on gumtree for rent and there is quite lot of interest for my property and I got lot of inquiries. The 3 people I have finalized for my property are:

1) Indian Couple (but they are going to India on 19th Jan and coming back on 25th of Feb. They told me they can give me rent and bond before going to india but their rent circle will start from 25th of Feb.)

2) A lady with her 16 year old son. Lady don't work and is on Centrelink. I asked her that can she arrange payments directly from centrelink and she said yes.

3) A young single lady who works in Logan Hospital and she wants to live alone in this property. (Sound fishy to me why she wants to live alone in a 2 bedroom villa)

If it were you, who would you finalize for your property?

And would you manage property yourself or give it to local agent if you were moving interstate?

 

[sanj]

#1 would be out for me purely because you'll be losing a fair bit by having rent only start 25th Feb.

#3 doesn't sound fishy at all, what's wrong with a single person living in a 2x1? At the moment I've got 2 single people living in 2 2x1 apartments that we own and the 2x1s I sold last year also were bought by single owner occupiers, nothing unusual there.

 

[D.T.]

Out of those I'd probably choose 3.

Some reason you don't have a pm handle it all for you though?

 

[wylie]

As others have said, why would you allow couple No 1 to dictate when they will start the lease? If you really like them they take it from 16 January. I have dealt with tenants like this. Yuck!

I don't see any issue with No 3 applicant wanting a spare bedroom, if she checks out.

 

[EN710]

#3 sounds ok. Many of my friends want additional bedroom as they have families visiting every now and then.

 

[Jamie M]

I'd go number 3.

I also wouldn't self manage from a distance - too much of a headache!

Best of luck with the move.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[DaveM]

#3 with a PM managing, and a LL insurance policy. Simples.

 

[Northy85]

Number 3 for sure. I had a single woman in my 3 bedroom house for years and she was an awesome tenant.

 

[beachgurl]

Go with No.3. I was renting on my own and would only consider 2 bedders. 1 bedders were like being in a shoebox.

 

[jim1964]

2) A lady with her 16 year old son. Lady don't work and is on Centrelink. I asked her that can she arrange payments directly from centrelink and she said yes.

I would go this one.Why???? We have numerous tenants pay with centrepay,never late,always on time.

 

[Biz]

I would go this one.Why???? We have numerous tenants pay with centrepay,never late,always on time.

The tenant can still just tell them not to pay though cant they?

I had a sinlge mother on benefits apply for one of my properties recently but wouldn't approve it based on that. The rent was $380 and she was getting $600 a week in benefits. I felt it was cutting it too fine.

 

[sanj]

As others have said, why would you allow couple No 1 to dictate when they will start the lease? If you really like them they take it from 16 January. I have dealt with tenants like this. Yuck!

I don't see any issue with No 3 applicant wanting a spare bedroom, if she checks out.

Nothing yuck about it, ultimately maybe the dates don't work out for the 2 parties, no big deal

 

[alicudi]

Hi

With the info presented I would choose option 3.

But if both partners in option 1 are working I would then prefer option 1.

Regards,

alicudi

 

[ChrisA1]

I would probably choose 3 as well. Nothing wrong with the other 2 though...

Have you checked them on TICA (http://www.tenantblacklist.com.au/), asked why they are moving (although any answer can be given) and asked for referrals etc etc.

I would give to a local PM just for the peace of mind that you won't need to answer and organise repairs at all times of the day and night! (as well as the PM doing all the pre-tenant checks)

 

[wylie]

Nothing yuck about it, ultimately maybe the dates don't work out for the 2 parties, no big deal

We will just have to agree to disagree. I had a "yuck" tenant who decided that they wanted to rent our place, but they wanted to rent it three weeks after it was available. The PM we were using for this thought that was fine. I didn't think it was fine at all.

I'm not prepared to wait for a tenant for three weeks. If they want my house, I'm happy to allow a week and they allow a week. If not, they can find something else and I'll find a tenant who is happy to take it now.

 

[Salvatore1]

Don't understand why No. 3 is fishy? Have you done any reference checks and employment checks? Yes you need to get a local agent to manage the property unless you plan to fly up to do periodic inspections?

 

[Eli1]

Thanks Guys for your views. Much appreciate.

Also can you recommend some local agents for Woodridge area?

And I don't have any LL insurance. If you recommend LL insurance keeping in mind logan area, I will really appreciate this.

Thanks

 

[ChrisA1]

LL insurance

And I don't have any LL insurance. If you recommend LL insurance keeping in mind logan area, I will really appreciate this.

Can't comment on PMs for Woodridge area but definitely LL insurance (regardless of where IP is). I had a dryer fire in an IP. LL insurance meant that I didn't have to eat bread and butter trying to pay for the damage done.

EBM or terri scheer are the 2 main insurers. Do a search for insurance on SS and you'll find plenty of posts about insurers in general.

 

[Jacaranda]

Managing a property from interstate is too hard to do - especially with new tenants, property inspections or if you need to go to court etc.

I can highly recommend Lu Bracher at Property Management HQ.

Mobile: 0425 22 5678
Office: 07 3135 9080
Email: [email protected]

I also highly recommend Ken at Hire A Hubby, Beenleigh 0422 849 635 if any maintenance is required - his prices are fair, he is honest with information on repairing or replacing.

You haven't listed what checks you have done on the tenants, agree with needing to check tenants on TICA but Lu can do that for you.

And questions need to be asked about why they need to move, also if you can drive past their current rental. Also all references need to be checked.

Nothing wrong with a single lady wanting to move in - I am a single lady and live in a three bedroom home, and was previously in a four bedroom home.

I will always rent to dog owners - especially if they have German Shepherds!!!! Dogs do less damage than kids and most pet owners are grateful.

Had a tenant with a good reference but previous agent didn't check properly - turns out the tenant had sold the property and was renting from the new owners - of course they are going to give them a good reference. Once Lu got my property she checked on the addresses to work this out - if I had known would have looked into it closer.

I use Terri Scheer for LL insurance.

I have also taken out Barclays MIS Protect N Collect costs $55 per annum (through your agent) but covers all costs if any debts need to be collected from a tenant. The normal cost would be approx $120 to set up a file and 20% commission on any debt collected.

Good luck