I am very unhappy with our current property managers and am thinking of looking after our properties without using professional agents. Anybody got experience or advice with this?
I am very unhappy with our current property managers and am thinking of looking after our properties without using professional agents. Anybody got experience or advice with this?
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7 Replies
If you have picky tenants you are the one that has to field 100 phone calls from them whinging about every little thing.
Personally I wouldn’t do it. It’s good to have a buffer. Agents do far more than collect rent. They negotiate and mediate. They know the laws and rules and deal with the tenants if it turns out they are crap etc.
If you have a good tenant I think it would work well. I am a renter, pretty much all agents that I have had to deal with are horrible and never actually pass messages on to the owner. I will be looking for a private lease when this lease I’m in is up
Just make sure you keep up with inspections, I rented privately for 6 years and not one inspection. Didn't hear from them at all really.
Always managed our own. But we are close by so can drive-by regularly and easy to book inspections and repair visits. If you are not near your investments a good agent is worth their weight. We are also very handy people and do most of our own maintenance. I find when searching for tenants there are two types that are attracted to private rentals - the dodgy ones who can't get approvals thru real estates AND the great ones, who love to look after their home but are not allowed/enabled by real estates. We have always been lucky to find the latter. The worst tenant I have ever had in 30+ years was the relative of our property manager. Cured me of using agents. However, I have, and still do sometimes, use agents to screen tenants. Just pay them a letting fee and then manage myself.
We are a trade that services a few different real estates.
What we see tenants do to houses, it would break my heart to see done to my property.
Our invoices have to be split sometimes and then the tenant will dispute the invoice.
Then you have a grumpy trade breathing down your neck for money.
The property managers can be treated pretty poorly.
Personally I would pay someone who is a buffer.
Who know rights and legality. Who has time to deal with the hard ones.
If you’re in Brisbane, look at a company called Gabrielle Trickey Properties. They are in Toowong. I was referred to them by a friend and thought they would be the same as any other agent. But they’re not. They don’t manage a lot of properties from my understanding, but they are always available. I went and did some maintenance on my property and was lucky enough to chat to the tenant and she loves them also.
Not all agents are bad, you just have to find the right one
I’m a property manager
I see more horror stories from privately managed properties than going through a good agency. The reason is both parties are not fully aware of legislation.
Shop around for an agent and go with someone that’s been doing it for a long time and an agency that has the 1 property manager that does all the tasks associated to their portfolio with no more than 150 properties to manage.
There is more accountability and they know everything that is happening so you aren’t fobbed off and given the excuse that the other person did it.
Also don’t expect a good service for the cheapest fees paid.
Selection of your tenant is so important. We have access to databases to see if tenants have been “black listed”
And we can also do greater background searches. I’m very cautious of what tenants put down as references and “private” rentals on their applications and have found many times friends have been lying for them. We can do ownership checks on properties to ascertain whether or not the applicant is telling the truth. A lot of people rent privately as they are unable to obtain a rental property through an agency.
Tenants can be demanding, unreasonable, and call at all hours it can be very frustrating.
I’ve been doing it for 13 years and it is a very demanding, draining job, it would be harder dealing with it for yourself as it becomes personal.
With someone as the go to between both parties the emotions can be excluded and helps keep it as a business deal without emotions clouding judgement.
Good luck with your decision.
I think the most important factor over all is having good quality landlord insurance. But make sure you read the fine print.