Out of area PMs

[TMNT]

cant seem to find the out of area PM thread, but here it goes

ive got a property in collingwood park, the agent who I bought it from is way to expensive @ 9.3% with expensive everything else,

havent quite shopped around just yet,

spoke to another agent who was advertising a rental in the area, band I made enquires, spoke to the PM , got a good feeling, only realised after talking with them, is that they are on the goldcoast,

got the usual sales spiel of why they are just as good if not better blah blah blah, reckons the tenants dont need to come into the office anyway, the only time they would have to come into the GC office is to sign the lease,

what would you guys do? they have a few rentals in the area, so its definitely not a once off,

I am very anti out of town agents

 

[D.T.]

I don't think it's an issue. Rents are all electronic transferred and visits are only a few times a year.

PM needs to know the area well, state of the rental market there, going rents, etc

Where they're physically located doesn't say much about the above. They could be next door to the property and still be clueless.

 

[NPB]

cant seem to find the out of area PM thread, but here it goes

ive got a property in collingwood park, the agent who I bought it from is way to expensive @ 9.3% with expensive everything else,

havent quite shopped around just yet,

spoke to another agent who was advertising a rental in the area, band I made enquires, spoke to the PM , got a good feeling, only realised after talking with them, is that they are on the goldcoast,

got the usual sales spiel of why they are just as good if not better blah blah blah, reckons the tenants dont need to come into the office anyway, the only time they would have to come into the GC office is to sign the lease,

what would you guys do? they have a few rentals in the area, so its definitely not a once off,

I am very anti out of town agents

Hello TMNT,

There is out of town and then there is out of town!!

We manage quite a few properties in the area from our Brisbane office, we took most of them over from one agent who was also out of town ( and never went to town) and they were a disaster, mainly because no inspections were being done and the properties were a mess and tenants out of control.

So there were a classic example of out of town agents doing the wrong thing.

We don't take on properties if we can't do them properly, that includes an inspection every 13 weeks, full photos on each inspection and on entry and
exit reports etc, be prepared to go there for maintence, meet tradies, chase rent, deliver notices etc.

Given the GC agent has properties in the area , if they are doing all the right things ( why not ask for a couple of landlords with properties in area for reference) then there is no reason they can't do a good job for you.

Good luck

 

[Lil Skater]

Personally I manage properties pretty much anywhere in the Melbourne Metro area - some up to an hour away. I've done this for a number of years now (with previous work as well) and didn't have an issue with the travel.

As always, it depends on the agent who is handling the property. Some are very good at time management and will manage a number of properties in the same area. This way inspections can be done on the same days, so it's not like they're going to one property one day and another the next.

I do all my own open for inspections and private inspections - yes, even for the properties far away. I also have tradespeople that are centrally located and will do work anywhere within a 40km radius or so - but I also have local tradespeople that I use. The local ones I've either had contact with at previous companies or have come highly recommended.

The only two issues I can see are if the agent is out of area, and managing a full portfolio. 200 odd properties is hard to manage as is, and having a few here and there out of area means you cannot service your clients as well as you should even with brilliant time management. But if the agent is managing <150 properties it's doable. Another issue is not doing their own inspections, both routines and open for inspections. I like meeting tenants before presenting their application to clients, gives me a first impression to work with as well, but some agencies may choose to outsource this to save time.

 

[TMNT]

what do everyone pay for advetising rentals via their agent?

I normally pay none,
howver this agent wants $250

their excuse of needing to advterise every2here to get the best exposure

me thinks that re and domain is well sufficient

 

[Ed Barton]

me thinks that re and domain is well sufficient

+1, unless you're renting by the room or something.

I wouldn't use an out of town agent unless there was no good local option. Why complicate things? There must be plenty of good, reasonably priced PMs in Ipswich. Ask for a recommendation here?

If I was a tenant and you asked me to drive 1hr+ to sign a lease I wouldn't. I would just move onto the next property. You're likely to attract the desperate and dateless.

 

[Macca]

what do everyone pay for advetising rentals via their agent?

I normally pay none,
howver this agent wants $250

their excuse of needing to advterise every2here to get the best exposure

me thinks that re and domain is well sufficient

I would be moving on ...............

 

[Lil Skater]

If I was a tenant and you asked me to drive 1hr+ to sign a lease I wouldn't. I would just move onto the next property.

I agree. Which is why I would expect an out of area agent to come to the property/local cafe to do the sign up - they've taken on the property, they've got to expect to need to do the drive.