Your Gripes About Landlords

To round things out for the year, lets talk about landlords, complaints about landlords that is.

So being a landlord, it's good to know what people don't like about us. That way we can either fix it, downplay it a bit, or ignore it and hope it goes away.

What do you think are common gripes tenants have about landlords?

Repairs and Maintenance:

More to the point, a lack of interest in the property once tenants are in. Calls to have things repaired fall on deaf ears and regular maintenance is a pipe-dream. As I've said time and time again, nail this one and you will not only have happier tenants, but you are protecting the asset and also maximizing the possibility of increase revenues out of it.

‘Twas the Night before Christmas…

On Friday 21 December True’s ‘physical office’ closed down for the Christmas break and all business operations were transferred to our ‘cloud office.’  This meant that while the rest of the team were having a well-earned break, Anne and I would be handling all inquiries from prospective tenants; queries from landlords; maintenance requests from tenants; conducting inspections of properties available for lease (well, Anne actually as she says I scare the children); and generally, running the show remotely from our home in Melbourne’s Eastern Suburbs.

On the Sunday evening we were sharing a bottle of ice-cold wine (it had been a stinker of a day with temperatures into the high-thirties) with some friends on our decking at home when at about 7.30pm the business phone rang which Anne answered.  All we could hear was one side of the conversation with comments such as “Are you OK?” and “Is there any damage?”

How We Look After Your Property With Inspections

You have an investment property and you are considering using True Property Management as your property management company - great. Let me tell you one of the ways we look after your property.

Inspections

Inspecting your rental property is important part of property security and peace of mind. If your property is vacant then we endeavor to visit the property each week to ensure all is secure and in tip top condition. Once there are tenants in the property for 3 months, then we start regular house inspections every 6 months.

During the inspection we are looking at everything and will advise you on any of the following:

Finding High Growth Suburbs - Checklist

So are you hoping for a high growth property for Christmas? If you are, then have a look at this checklist from yourmortgage.com.au this will help in tracking down a few beauties.

Checklist for finding high growth suburbs

Looking for Property Between $200k- $400k?

When you are looking to invest in property you are looking for the sweet spot, a great price with a great location, and capital cities are the locations that a lot of investors have property.

The Property Observer recently published an article - based on RP Data - discussing which capital cities had properties under $400k.

Hobart and Adelaide were the winners with close to 3/4 of houses coming in under that figure and Adelaide had just over half of sales under $400k.

Some Properties Gain Value, Some Don't - Why?

When you buy an investment property the idea is for it to be a money maker, both month after month with rents, and in the long term with capital value.

But why do some properties take off and others don't? 

Not all properties act the same way, even if they are similar property types, such as a brand new 4-bed 2-bath single dwelling.  

Keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list of reasons for the lack of capital growth, but to illustrate just a couple of areas as to why not all properties act in same way.

Population growth

• Just because there is massive population growth in a certain area doesn't guarantee a low vacancy rate. If that population growth also coincides with an oversupply of property, it doesn't matter how many people are there, if there are too many properties they will not be filled.
• If you have town planners that are holding back on releasing more land for development and the area is a desirable place to live there will be an under supply of property, which of course will drive up the prices. 

Don't be fooled: population (doesn't always) = profit!

Shortcuts 

For developers to maximize their profits - due to rising labour and material costs - they often take a few shortcuts. These can include squeezing multiple houses onto a relatively small piece of land, which means each property only has a small slice or land. Or, to try and get that lucrative 4th bedroom sacrifices need to be made, such as the kitchen. Rather than the kitchen having it's own defined space, it's tagged onto the living area.

So if you have a new development with 4-bed dwellings, next to an older established neighborhood (with comparable properties), it is likely the older properties will have more land and more kitchen space (even if it's dated) and hence more value, perceived or otherwise.

How are the neighbours?

What's been happening to the neighbourhood recently?  Has the once thriving area started a downward slide? It can be just a matter of a few streets and it could make the difference in values increasing, stagnating or heading in reverse. 

Lets talk about schools

Do you think a property placed within the zone of a top ranking high school would generate more capital when compared to a property that is in the catchment area of a lower ranked school?  Schools are big business, and parents will go to great lengths to get their kids into certain schools, hence driving rents up in those areas.

So what have I missed? What are other areas that impact values of comparable dwellings?

Don't Pay Too Much

One of the keys of being a successful property investor is getting to the property before the competition and getting the property under market value. But how do you do that - how do you avoid being fleeced?

Well it comes down to planning.

Numbers

You need to do lots and lots of research! The numbers don't lie and you need to have accurate historical data to make informed decisions. Some (but not all) of the areas you need to cover in your research are:

• Median price in the suburb that you are investigating - past 12 months, 5 years and 10 years
• Track property sales in the targeted suburb. Which ones are going to auction, which are being passed in. Ask for price guides from agents. (Keep a closer eye on comparable properties)
• When you are looking at a particular property, find out what it last sold for, when and how long it stayed on the market.

Property Investment Traps

A few weeks ago news.com.au wrote a great article about how to avoid investment property traps. I couldn't have written it better myself, so here it is again. You can find the original article HERE

Property investing need not be depressing if you follow some simple rules. Picture: Getty Images

PROPERTY investment has been the backbone of many multi-million-dollar empires.

You only have to scan the list of the world's wealthiest people to see how bricks and mortar, commercial property, development and residential rentals can offer rich pickings.

Australia continues to have one of the highest property ownership rates in the world.

However, there are traps for the unwary. Financial mistakes can turn a perfectly-positioned investment property into a nightmare. We asked four experts for their top five financial traps for property investors.

Great Tenants for your Rental Property are Determined by YOUR attitude! PART 2

Last Time, we discussed how your personal attitude impacts on the quality of tenants that you attract. Now lets discuss the attitude of your property.

How well dressed is your property?

You turn up to your property viewings, smartly dressed, with organized paperwork and an air of confidence about you. Does your property present the same attitude?

What type of tenant would be attracted to this property?

Without fail, all good tenants want to rent a place that looks good. They want to show their friends and family a place they are proud of. They want to live in nice surroundings.  Bad tenants don't care. Bad tenants just want a place to crash. They will bypass the fantastically presented property, because they know more will be expected from them.

Great Tenants for your Rental Property are determined by YOUR attitude! PART 1

What attitude does this person present?

You have a great property and now you need to fill it with a great tenant.  We have talked about how to raise rents, so now we need to get the good tenants in the property that will allow you to do just that,

Good tenants  - those who take care of your property and stay there for some time - are attracted to properties with specific qualities. 

The idea is you need to give off the aura that you will only accept great tenants! You do this by letting potential tenants know that you will not tolerate tenants who disrespect the property, disrespect you by not paying their rent and you will in no uncertain terms, tolerate those who undertake illegal activities.

How do you present this information without being heavy handed and negative?  In a manner that is respectful and professional. The following points, work no matter what neighborhood, no matter what town, no matter what income level or the value of the property or rent they are paying.

What is your attitude?

If you ran a shop and a potential customer was in your store looking at buying a $15,000 item, how would you treat them? Once you figured out that they weren't just tyre kicking, you would treat them very well!