Today I became a criminal

[steveadl]

Right then, I'm getting the pms in our office to fill the white boards with "we LOVE tenants, we LOVE tenants, we LOVE tenants....

Seriously though, I agree more respect needs to be shown and especially when tenants have as much a chance as becoming landlords as everyone else.

Yup - or when they are already. One of your PM's is included in my above comments - wasn't interested in telling me anything about the property or answering questions "come to the open on xxx and fill out an application."

You may think 'oh well' but I certainly wouldn't ever entertain the idea of using that agent for any of my properties in the future, so not a great reflection or advert for your business - I don't remember their name, but I remember the agency, and that's bad for business.

 

[kathryn d]

I agree with most of your points, but not this one. $300 is often a week's rent, or more. On top of letting fees, etc, I, for one, wouldn't be paying this one.

I doubt it would take a week to make up a floorplan.
We have one on our website of our 11 unit apt building. It took my husband a couple of hours to measure everything, and then about an hour to submit this information into a program to make the floorplan.

If they had someone you did this quite regularly..it would even be faster.
Doesn't mean they aren't going to charge the $300 anyways.
After a floorplan is drawn, the owner should be able to keep that for any agency they wish to deal with, afterall they bought it.

If the owner doesn't get to keep it, they shouldn't be charged for it.

 

[Peter Parker]

I agree with most of your points, but not this one. $300 is often a week's rent, or more. On top of letting fees, etc, I, for one, wouldn't be paying this one.

I agree, unless the property was a prestige rental.

But how much does it cost to write a couple of lines in the ad blurb - eg 'two bedrooms at front, central kitchen, lounge and bathroom/laundry at rear. Paved courtyard accessible from lounge.' would suffice and give a reasonable picture.

 

[wobbycarly]

I doubt it would take a week to make up a floorplan.
We have one on our website of our 11 unit apt building. It took my husband a couple of hours to measure everything, and then about an hour to submit this information into a program to make the floorplan.

If they had someone you did this quite regularly..it would even be faster.
Doesn't mean they aren't going to charge the $300 anyways.
After a floorplan is drawn, the owner should be able to keep that for any agency they wish to deal with, afterall they bought it.

If the owner doesn't get to keep it, they shouldn't be charged for it.

It was the paying $300 (as a LL) that I would object to. The money is probably a week's rent, not that it will be empty for a week while it's getting drawn.

 

[BuildingBlocks]

We now appear to be a front runner for a place that we saw yesterday, especially as we have offered over the asking rental amount (still a pretty fair price for the area though). I think that the overgrown garden turned a lot of the people away, I have no worries looking well beyond that though, it would be only a few hours work ...if not resolved before moving in with the current tenants bond money.

Fingers crossed that our numbers come up tomorrow!

 

[BuildingBlocks]

According to the agent this morning the LL was given the rundown on all of the applications and is still yet to make a decision.

Maybe I am different, or a cowboy, but if I am given a few applications to review then I will usually make the decision within 5mins.

I'm not very good at playing this waiting game. Ducks in a row and bang!

 

[BuildingBlocks]

After several missed promises that I would be called back over the last 2 days I have been rejected by SMS.

Double incomes with long tenure, no dependents, strong bank statements and investment properties doesn't cancel out not having a rental history. Awesome.

Back to Domain and RealEstate.com.au.

Happy days

 

[mary&mat]

Hang in there BuildingBlocks,

For each rejection, just tell yourself, the universe is looking after you & perhaps you didn't get that place for a reason eg landlord crap at handling maintenance, drug dealers live next door, screaming kid that goes all night.....

....and that your perfect place is coming

Good luck, someone will see your financial position as a positive & give you a go

 

[steveadl]

Sheesh, sucks doesn't it BB.

You said you don't have any properties and therefore PM's in the are you want to rent in. Do any of you PM's have contacts in your area though? May make it a bit easier if they can make a quick call or two for you and secure a place?

PS Count yourself lucky perhaps that you didn't get some like the one mentioned above - if the LL is going to be precious about it because the property is their 'baby', you're better off not being in that sort of situation.

 

[BuildingBlocks]

haha yeah it sucks for sure! Unfortunately my reliable PM contacts are on the central coast.

Never fear, the tables have turned yet again and I have found an agent who is giving me a private inspection tomorrow of a bigger and better place. She seemed surprisingly eager to help me out, so maybe this one has had no interest. Time to have the ducks lined up once again tonight, with all the documentation ready to pull the trigger tomorrow. This next one is a gamble as there is only a low quality photo of the outside, but it looks to be relatively new, so kitchen/bathroom etc must be less than 15yrs old. I am sure the single photo has turned a lot of people away though (my previous note about several photos should be taken to attract desirable tenants comes to mind).

Let's look on the positive side though, this has just reinforced my desire to not be trapped in the rental market permanently. I have only been searching for a couple of weeks now but can honestly say that I have found this process a lot more frustrating than purchasing property, despite the need to deal with brokers, banks and agents in the sale process. At least that process is relatively standard, where you know that $ talk in the end.

I really don't know how people can rent for years on end, especially if they needed to go through this application process every year or two. It is still very interesting to have seen this side though.

And anyone who thinks that I am just a whinger, I don't care This is my only opportunity to vent about the process. I hope that readers at least gain an insight into how the process works and some ideas on how things could potentially be streamlined for the future.

 

[jaycee]

haha yeah it sucks for sure! Unfortunately my reliable PM contacts are on the central coast.

Never fear, the tables have turned yet again and I have found an agent who is giving me a private inspection tomorrow of a bigger and better place. She seemed surprisingly eager to help me out, so maybe this one has had no interest. Time to have the ducks lined up once again tonight, with all the documentation ready to pull the trigger tomorrow. This next one is a gamble as there is only a low quality photo of the outside, but it looks to be relatively new, so kitchen/bathroom etc must be less than 15yrs old. I am sure the single photo has turned a lot of people away though (my previous note about several photos should be taken to attract desirable tenants comes to mind).

Let's look on the positive side though, this has just reinforced my desire to not be trapped in the rental market permanently. I have only been searching for a couple of weeks now but can honestly say that I have found this process a lot more frustrating than purchasing property, despite the need to deal with brokers, banks and agents in the sale process. At least that process is relatively standard, where you know that $ talk in the end.

I really don't know how people can rent for years on end, especially if they needed to go through this application process every year or two. It is still very interesting to have seen this side though.

And anyone who thinks that I am just a whinger, I don't care This is my only opportunity to vent about the process. I hope that readers at least gain an insight into how the process works and some ideas on how things could potentially be streamlined for the future.

You're in Perth right ?

Whereabouts are you looking ?

 

[Amadio]

Double incomes with long tenure, no dependents, strong bank statements and investment properties doesn't cancel out not having a rental history. Awesome.

Strong bank statements can be your undoing.

We learned the hard way that any statements showing more than $50K causes instant suspicion. One LL rejected us saying telling the PM "why would they want to rent when they can just buy?" - the second guessing and jumping to conclusions by tinpot LL's is quite an eyeopener.

So don't show all your hand. Create a profile that most LL expect from tenants. Kind of povo.

 

[BuildingBlocks]

You're in Perth right ?

Whereabouts are you looking ?

In Sydney and looking around the Epping area.

Feeling much more positive tonight as some more stock hits the market!

 

[BuildingBlocks]

Create a profile that most LL expect from tenants. Kind of povo.

Then tomorrow I shall just not turn up to the appointment so that I blend in!

 

[jaycee]

Strong bank statements can be your undoing.

We learned the hard way that any statements showing more than $50K causes instant suspicion. One LL rejected us saying telling the PM "why would they want to rent when they can just buy?" - the second guessing and jumping to conclusions by tinpot LL's is quite an eyeopener.

So don't show all your hand. Create a profile that most LL expect from tenants. Kind of povo.

Probably best not to mention you have $1m of investment loans either than LOL

Building blocks I don't know where I got the impression you were from Perth from.. good luck in the hunt...

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

Photos. Listings should require more than 1 photo.

Great idea! Why don't you just give burglars a set of keys while you're at it!

 

[BuildingBlocks]

Great idea! Why don't you just give burglars a set of keys while you're at it!

Would you sell a sculpture of an animal on eBay but in the single photo just show the foot?

"I want to know what it looks like on the inside" should be a pretty reasonable request and not require a physical visit to the property in this day and age.

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

When I was renting, it wasn't unusual for PM's to hand out keys. Looking to case a place? 50 bucks deposit and some I.D. and that was that. Weren't no thing for someone to go get copies cut if they were so inclined. Rentals are a lot easier to hit than owner occupied places. Now with the internet, it's even easier. Minimal photo's discourages would be thieves (at least in theory).

 

[jaycee]

When I was renting, it wasn't unusual for PM's to hand out keys. Looking to case a place? 50 bucks deposit and some I.D. and that was that. Weren't no thing for someone to go get copies cut if they were so inclined. Rentals are a lot easier to hit than owner occupied places. Now with the internet, it's even easier. Minimal photo's discourages would be thieves (at least in theory).

Every place I rented except one gave me the keys to have a look.

Minimal photo's could also be due to an unprepared landlord stating to place his ad on gumtree then realises he hasn't got photos and only finds 2 photos from the original for sale ad to use Still worked but...

 

[wylie]

Over the years when we have had an agent do a "let only" for us, we have always chosen one that will not hand out keys. I don't know if any agents still do hand out keys anymore, or have done so for years now?

I certainly wouldn't use them.