DYI Property Rentals

Hi, we are relatively new to this, so don't really know where to start.
What is the best platform to advertise a rental property (house)? Local paper? Gumtree? Realestate and Domain.com.au? Has anyone used third party sites such as Landlords Choice?
Is there a publicly available checklist of all the essential forms/insurance policies?

Many thanks

 

Finding out where to advertise is going to be the least of your concerns. How are you going to do credit checks or inspect bad tenancy databases to make sure you have a good tenant? Most bad tenants try to rent privately because they know you won't be able to check on them.

Once you sign a lease, do you know how to comply with the RTA and the regulations? How to prepare for Tribunal and give the correct notices?

If you want to self-manage (I hope you never want to go on holidays and leave tenants to their own devices ), you might consider letting an agent vet tenants for you, sign leases etc and then hand over to you to manage.

 

To answer the original question, I use gumtree and rent.com.au to advertise when self managing. But I actually use a mix of the above, full service property managers, and occasionally a PM on a let-only agreement depending on the type of property and my capacity.

But yeah I also have concerns about self managing unless you are very knowledgeable on the applicable residential tenancy legislation and processes - especially the parts on what to do if things are going wrong and you need to terminate a tenancy and/or claim bond and money.

 

If you are relatively new to property management, your first stop should be the Dept of Fair Trading and help yourself to a handful of brochures containing information about rights (landlords, tenants), forms, notices, disputes, bonds, tribunals, etc. Then do some research about landlord insurances. And if you're still interested to self-manage after all that, then be prepared to hand over your personal number and your freedom just in case they need to ring you at 11:30pm to report about leaking tap in the kitchen.

In Sydney you should be able to negotiate 5.5%-6.6% property management fee in most areas. For $600/week rent that means $33-$40/wk in fees - SO worth it in my opinion. A good PM will look after you and your property professionally, providing you with a peace of mind. They screen potential candidates, send you all the reports, conduct inspections, help you with emergency situations, arrange for tradies & repairs, represent you in tribunals, give notice, etc. This pm fee is part of the expenses of an IP so they are tax deductible.

If you tell us where your IP is, I'm sure someone here will be able to recommend you a good PM for your area.

 

Thanks, our IP is in Bradbury, NSW, the PM we are using is asking for 7%, but we had to drop the original rental price by $30 in the past three weeks and still no luck. If we drop it further, then after the 7% fee, we are left with more negative gearing then expected, hence why we are looking at other options.

However, getting the PM to do the initial letting process and then moving on to self-manage is a good idea.
thanks you

 

If you are new to all this, then I would like to suggest allowing the PM to manage for the first year so you can find out what she does and you will have someone who is experienced to take control if anything bad happens. Then you can reconsider if you are up to the task.