Just updating regarding my experience so far:
aiming to lease a property SOR (current PPOR) expected rate ~500/week.
So far have had contact with:
Investors Edge
deFreitas and Ryan
Thane Property management (yet to meet)
Momentum Wealth (yet to meet)
Pulse Realty (not going to meet)
Investors edge as mentioned has several service level guarantees for piece of mind. Their effective rate is 17%, not including any court charges, including petties/letting fees/advertising/property condition report/inspections/etc. They allocate the advertising, showing tenants through and leasing to 'leasing specialists' who are flexible as required to show tenants through after hours at request. I would then be allocated a property manager (and property assistant - training wheels) to deal with on an ongoing basis. Assured me the property condition report pre-lease would be
very thorough, up to 50 pages with hundreds of photos. Routine inspections are done aided by an iPad, with a checklist that is checked off during the inspection. Managers undergo 'video training' (read: watched a video?) on inspection. No contract as advertised. Arrears dealt with breach and then termination. About 100 properties per manager.
meeting with actual manager pending.
as mentioned in several posts, deFreitas and Ryan charge a 10% fee.
Advertising, showing tenants through and the leasing process is actually shared by all property managers as they have too many listings to allocate individually. Property management falls under a team of 3 it seems: a senior and 2 assistants. Property condition reports 10-15 pages, some photos. Written checklist that is checked off during inspection. 28d contract. Arrears dealt with termination straight up after 2 days. 220 properties for the managing team of 3.
Pulse Realty have a 9.5% fee or 11% furnished fee. They charge lots of fees that to me seemed overlapping/double dipping. Effective rate 19%.
Thane property management have a 10%+GST policy and 2wk+GST letting fee. Meeting with them soon(ish)
Momentum wealth don't have a schedule of fees online and haven't sent one to me. Meeting with them soon(ish) too.
Should I aim to advertise as furnished or unfurnished? I don't really have a need for the furniture there (will be moving back to parents') but have been warned it may become troublesome (eg if supplied TV stops working, what to do)
Is there any significant info missing from the summaries of the services provided? Also if you have any feedback see
http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1251080#post1251080 list of things I try to ask PMs on meeting them.
Cheers