Beware of Property Manager in Minchinbury

If you are looking for a PM, then we would like to share the following experience with you and if you are experiencing the following, maybe its time to look for a new PM.
The property was managed by Remax (Real Estate One).

• Pick up your call 40% of time – Whenever you call the office, they will ask you for your name and property address. If Keri-Ann doesn’t want to talk to you, the reception will tell you she is too busy to talk to you and will return your call. The return of call will be mostly be 24 hours later.
  
  
• No cellphone – Kiri-Anne doesn’t provide you with her cellphone number, there's not way that you could reach out to her if she isn't in the office.
  
  
• Not working on property owners best interests – We weren’t aware that one of our property was rented below market rate for $20 per week. When we asked to increase for $10, she warned me the tenants are going to move out and that property owners always want more. I told her we have done some research that our property is below market rate.
  
  
• Open home at her terms – the tenants had given us 4 weeks notice and we had requested her to open home. The first two weeks have gone and with no feedback. Reached out to her by the 3rd week only to be told she had not opened home at all because “she couldn’t get a hold of the tenants”. At the end of the 3rd week, we requested again for her to open home on Sat, she said she is only going to open home on Friday. The reason she gave us was “potential tenants didnt want to come to open home on ANZAC weekend. On Monday we called only to be advised that KiriAnne has gone on 2 weeks holiday.
  
  
• Her large portfolio – I have complained to her that we would like better communication from her. Her response is that she manages 300 properties and she is very busy.
  
  
• The quality of the staff – the quality of the supporting staff is also very poor. We been advised that the tenants will move out on Wed, when we reached out to Amanda (another property manager) and other office members no one could tell us if the tenants are still there. We were worried about the open home over the weekend, so my husband drove 140km to Penrith and back to check only to find out that the tenants have already moved out.
  
• Communication within the company – On Friday, we finally served the termination notice that we no longer want to deal with them ever again and requested for the keys to return back to us. We drove 50km to the Minchinbury office at 4pm and waited for the tenants to drop off the key. We were told by Richard (another Property Manager) that the keys were still not returned by tenants. We refused to leave and insisted to wait for our keys. Around 5pm, we were then informed that the tenants have returned the key during lunch time.
  
  
• Handover – The handover process is very slow and painful. I am glad we don't need to deal with them every again.

After all the frustration, we have found a new PM Nick Valsamis from Vantedge.

• Pick up your call – Not a time Nick doesn't pick up our calls.
  
  
• Always there for you – During the change over, my husband sometimes calls Nick during the late evening to seek advice and he is always there and ready to provide professional advise .
  
  
• First Class Communication – Nick always updates us on every step, every open home and every issue.
  
  
• Rental appraisal – Due to our previous PM rented our property $20 - $30 below market rate, Nick has been able to increase $20 rental for us.
  
  
• Open home at potential tenants convenience – This is another plus point that Nick has impressed us a lot. If you worry that your investment property was not within Nick’s serving area, then you don’t need to worry because I had similar concern and turn up he is more committed than any other PM we know. Nick is based in Parramatta, and one of my property was at Penrith. To our surprise, he opens home more often than the total previous PM has done for us. He works around potential tenants schedule rather than his own convenience.