They're selling our house!

[Bandita]

SOLD!! 2 days before the auction, yay! $370k - I CAN"T believe it! The agent admitted to us serveral times that they were suprised by the lack of interest in the place, it was really slow, a couple offers around $300k, etc - I bet the new owners could have picked it up for much less. (To give an you idea, it's renting for $240/week - Small 2-bed 1970's ugly brown brick thing that takes up almost the entire small half-size block).

It's owner occupiers, so we'll be moving on when the lease is up. Interesting thing is - they don't have a copy of the lease! The RE agent (same company who are the PM's) has asked me for a copy - I said their office should have one, he admitted they couldn't find it.....

Interesting situation as our lease expires right around our wedding and I would like to have it extended by a couple weeks to give us a chance to find a place and move after the wedding chaos is over - the new owners aren't that keen on the idea - but I might be able to use this loss of lease to help us.......hmmm...

 

[ozi]

Hi JenD,

Thats a shame it sold (for you), but I guess you can now use the lost lease agreement to your advantage and stay a bit longer!

The sale price doesn't suprise me for your area. Stock levels have been very low the past couple of months and prices have been very strong. Buyers are getting desperate and paying that little bit extra.

Cheers,
Ozi

 

[tssk]

Interesting situation as our lease expires right around our wedding and I would like to have it extended by a couple weeks to give us a chance to find a place and move after the wedding chaos is over - the new owners aren't that keen on the idea - but I might be able to use this loss of lease to help us.......hmmm...

Just be careful Jen, you don't want to push the agent to much and end up on a TICA list.

On the other hand you could offer to move out early if the agent can find you comprable accomodation and the new owner put in a bit for your removalist costs.

 

[Bandita]

Just be careful Jen, you don't want to push the agent to much and end up on a TICA list.

On the other hand you could offer to move out early if the agent can find you comprable accomodation and the new owner put in a bit for your removalist costs.

Hi tssk,

No, I'm not worried about TICA. For one, our house has been immaculate for every inspection (they've chosen to use pics of our modern furniture to sell the house rather than pics of the ugly house itself), plus I have setup our account to directly deposit our rent into the PM's account a day before rent is due every month. We have been MORE than accomodating in getting the agents in for inspections (they have no key, so we've been leaving one in the mailbox the day they need it - risking our safety!) - I've documented all of this through CD's and bank statements- so there is no way they can turn this around on us. And I don't expect they will - the agent loves us

I'm sure the sale is subject to the rental agreement being viewed - any solicitor with half a brain would insist on this - so I know we're ahead in this situation. No one knows the date the lease ends but us......until we get our rent discount we've been assured, I'm not planning on doing anyone anymore favours

Cheers,
Jen

 

[tssk]

Had an interesting experience today. The place wasn't open however I stayed in just in case people dropped by. (I have some business cards and flyers from the agency.)

Got a knock on the door (one of the other tenants had left the security door open again, grrrr) and there was an old couple with their daughter in tow wanting to look at the unit.

Explained to them that the place wasn't open today. They insisted that it was. I told them to wait and I'd call the agency and try get an agent out.

They nodded.

You can guess what happened next. I turned to go inside and they rushed past and started looking through the unit

I rang the agency and they told me to ask them politely to leave and contact them to make an appointment.

Got off the phone only to have them asking me questions about strata, rent and what nationalilty the tenants were.

Gave them the details while politely moving them towards the front door. "And here's a card. Please ring the agent and I'm sure he'll give you access and more information."

(Sigh.) It could have been much much worse. They seemed to be genuine investors, however dressing up too professionally for these open houses might be a drawback. Time to have a word with strata about the security door though.

 

[sailor]

How rude! Fancy coming in without being asked! Where are people's manners these days?

 

[The Y-man]

Got a knock on the door (one of the other tenants had left the security door open again, grrrr) and there was an old couple with their daughter in tow wanting to look at the unit.
.

Could be time to open the door in your birthday suit or something.....

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[tssk]

Could do, but the place has been on the market for a year.

I just want the place to sell and don't want to present any barrier to that purpose.

A year of having to sacrifice our privacy on Saturdays. A year of keeping the place like a museum. A year of having half our possessions boxed (so as to make it easier for prospective owner occupiers.) A year of having to clean the for sale sign out the front whenever it's vandalised. A year of replacing and repairing fixtures that the land lord doesn't want to spend the money on. A year of having to leave work in the middle of the day to open up the place on request and working back late to make up for the lost time. (Not to mention the taxi fares to get there ASAP to open up.)

I'm starting to get the feeling it might be easier and cheaper for us to move out. (Or buy.)

 

[sailor]

Good grief! You have gone above and beyond in being an excellent tenant. This is too much. The owner obviously doesn't appreciate your efforts and the additional expense you have incurred. Time to buy your own place methinks...or move out.

 

[The Y-man]

I'm starting to get the feeling it might be easier and cheaper for us to move out. (Or buy.)

Seriously starting to think of buying a place specifically suited to your needs, so you can rent off us

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[George]

For such occasions there is nothing better than security screen in front of door to unit.

Next best thing is security chain, but will have to stay and might be counted as damage during post-rental inspection.

Even bell with 2-way speaker system, with indoor part operated from mains and external operated with rechargeable batteries.
External one can be glued on with removable double-sided adhesive tape.

But all of them carry some cost with it and might be of no use in new place.

 

[tssk]

Seriously starting to think of buying a place specifically suited to your needs, so you can rent off us

Cheers,

The Y-man

Thanks but I think we'll make our next rental very short and our last. I know that the agent makes very little out of property management but as a customer spending $15000 a year on a service I'm getting tired of the lack or respect I'm getting, especially since I give it in spades.

As a tenant all I want is privacy and security and in the past four years I've had anything but. Given some of our experiences (the worst of which was moving into a place where the owner was 'long term' and having to move out 8 months later due to a sale that turned out to be on the cards from the start) I'm starting to believe that somewhere out there in tenant blacklist land is an entry that reads "Mr XXXX-Excellent tenant to use when selling a house. Compliant, neat, polite and will move upon owners request at very short notice.)

Given the current market place I believe I just won't get that privacy as a tenant. I'm not even going to unpack at the other end this time.

 

[George]

Given the current market place I believe I just won't get that privacy as a tenant. I'm not even going to unpack at the other end this time.

If this is the case:

- short lease
- you are not going to unpack

you might consider storage and caravan park or some other place like room at mum's or frien's place

 

[Bandita]

Hi all,

Great news today - they are giving us one free months rent!! So, no need to pay rent this month - not too bad!

We were firm about the agents giving us notice for inspections, but very accomodating for when they needed opens, we chose to never be there at the time - and always cleaned the place up immaculately for inspections. It all paid off and the owner got an offer before Auction (on an ugly brown brick thing on little land) for well over his reserve price.

The agent loved us, and when the owner initially offered 2 weeks rent free, the agent went back to him and told him how our efforts help to sell the place for the great price he got - today we got the call for one months rent free - I am thrilled!!

Letting the agent know your boundaries, but then being accomodating when they do the right thing can certainly pay off!

Cheers,
Jen

 

[tssk]

Well we finally moved. The new place is nice, the new agent treats us like humans and valued clients and there's plenty of storage space. Just right for a cull and repack.

We did end up having to pay double rent for a fortnight and our new rent is a lot higher than the old rent.

But we have our privacy for now and the chance to get ourselves together and start looking for our new place.

So, a happy ending. We're only out of pocket a couple of K but we have at least six months of rest, the new owner gets to move in early (of course we left the place in better condition and cleaner than when we moved in), the old owner got to sell up before the end of financial year and the agent earned himself a nice fat commission.