Please Help Very Confused Massive Letting Fees

[lizzie]

Can't believe what agents charge in WA.

i can't either - my pm charges 5.5%. othat than that she charges 1 week letting fee, $40 advertising for tenant, $39 if she has to go to tribunal.

that 5.5% covers everything else - and she is great at her job. normally she charges 6.6% but it's lower if you have mutiple properties.

 

[Dazz]

Yes - PMs in WA charge like the proverbial....because they have a cosy little REIWA club going over here and 3,000km worth of desert between them and some serious competition.

Our very first house in WA was put under management....we also had no idea what the hell we were doing / reading / signing, and that was for 9.5% management fee plus a truckload of other stuff amounting to a grand total take of 22.3% p.a. of the gross rent take. On top of that, we foolishly ticked for them to also pay our CR / WR / Ins / LT bills out of the rent takings.

Tenancy started in July.

July's rent was taken up with initial letting fee, PM fees and ICPR. We got nothing.
August's rent was taken up with council rates, deficit incurred. We got nothing.
Sept's rent paid the rest of the Council rates, the water rates and the PM fees for August. We got nothing.
Oct's rent paid for the insurance bill and some maintenance issues that the Tenant whinged about, along with the 3 monthly inspection report. We got nothing.
Nov's rent paid partly for the Land Tax bill.
Dec's rent paid the rest of the Land Tax bill, the PM fees for Sept / Oct / Nov / Dec and a swag of sundries and postage and petties going back 6 months. We got nothing.
Jan's rent paid everything up to date for the PM, including the 6 monthly inspection report and we were credited with our very first "rent proceeds".

FTFAJ. That ain't investing in property.....that's called paddling every swingin' cat's canoe except yer own.

We quickly decided to do something drastic about that situation.

 

[snivag]

On top of that, we foolishly ticked for them to also pay our CR / WR / Ins / LT bills out of the rent takings.

Dazz
What is wrong with letting them do this, I was wondering why they
(pm's) are all so keen to pay your bills for you. There must be something in it for them.

 

[Perp]

What is wrong with letting them do this, I was wondering why they (pm's) are all so keen to pay your bills for you. There must be something in it for them.

I don't think there's anything in it for them, other than that it's a service that costs them "sod all" to provide - they already have a bill-paying infrastructure in place - and landlords appreciate having the hassle transferred to somebody else.

I think Dazz's point, though, is that you can't control your cashflow, which if there are large bills like the dreaded land tax, can see you suddenly deprived of a large swag of rental income.

 

[lura]

Yep, the land tax bill and council rate kills...we had to reconsider one property we were holding due to the land tax bills. Have now sold that and our rental cashflow on the other properties got so much better...you have to expect it though if you invest in larger blocks with higher land content - expressly for future development. Oh the joys...

 

[Ausprop]

I don't think there's anything in it for them, other than that it's a service that costs them "sod all" to provide - they already have a bill-paying infrastructure in place - and landlords appreciate having the hassle transferred to somebody else

i imagine they would be collecting some huge frequ flyer points. same as conveyancers. helps cashflow too, they collect now, pay in 60 days

 

[Ausprop]

anyway, rich greedy landlords partaking in the multibillion $ tax rort in this country shouldn't be complaining. all these tenants slavishly paying off YOUR mortgage. it's a gravy train I tell ya, get on board.

 

[BayView]

Can anybody please help we just received our first bill from our estate agent and I almost fell off the chair, we are not even getting a third of what we need to pay to our morgues.
Here is the bill can anybody please help, holly molly
207 24/05/10 Title Search - New Property Murphy Boyden Real Estate 18.00
(Includes $1.64 GST)
413 24/05/10 Website Entry and Rent List Report Murphy Boyden Real Estate 66.00
(Includes $6.00 GST)
411 24/05/10 Lease Sign 31/03/10 Murphy Boyden Real Estate 44.00
(Includes $4.00 GST)
460 24/05/10 Letting Fee - New Lease Murphy Boyden Real Estate 1100.00
(Includes $100.00 GST)
464 24/05/10 Property Condition Report Murphy Boyden Real Estate 220.00
(Includes $20.00 GST)
204 28/05/10 Special Meter Reading Water charges 11/03/- 17/05/ Water Corporation 60.45
338 28/05/10 Mow & edge lawn & remove palm fronds Kalgoorlie Home & Lawn 99.00
(Includes $9.00 GST)
Total for all properties 1607.45 2166.66
481 *Management Fees 184.17
483 *Postage & Sundries 7.00

We own 2 IP's Kal, and I can tell you that this is all standard.
Is it right? No.

But, they have you over a barrel, so you have to cop it.

So, if you are investing in Kal, you'd wanna be getting a rent return of no less than 9% because of the management fees.

We were with Wades First National at first - terrible service. Always had repairs, they always put it back on us to repair even the very dubious ones.

Now, we are with Murphy Boyden, and while they are not cheap, they do a very good job. Margaret is no-nonsense and they have looked after our interests quite well so far.