Finding a right tenant: how do you know your property manager has done his/her best

Recently I was told due to the flat rental market, it was very difficulty to find a tenant.

I have monitored the same area for the last two months. Found some property managers (PM) might not do their best to locate the tenant for the owner.

I found one owner might be fed up by the PM. She started to self manage her property by looking for the tenant. After she reduced her rental for 15%, she eventually found one after 6 wks hunting.

My question is how do you know your PM has done the best on your behalf.

Based conversation from the phone or email, you may only know what they will tell you but not what they have done and how they have done.

 

What's the area...?

 

Great topic! My first IP is being listed soon and will need to start assessing applications in the course of the next week or two.

What are the best questions to ask the PM when choosing among applications? What are the red flags?

 

There is not much you can do except review the ad and photos on the internet and stalk the home opens (park in the street, don't go inside). Don't laugh, it has been done according to old ss members. I'm stalking home opens in my area now to find out how dead the rental market is in my area. In two days across seven properties, I have only seen four people turn up for inspections. That is very dead.

 

I'm not laughing at all - it's a legitimate thing to do, imo.

For me, response time and detail is important. I'm of the opinion that if they are working hard for me, they'll do the following:

• Respond to my emails and phone calls in a detailed and timely manner
• Make recommendations to me that will benefit the rental opportunities
• Be willing to see me on short notice - My PM for my property in Sydney is happy for me to just pop in unannounced and see her if I need to do something (only had to do this twice, thankfully)
• Fast advertising when property becomes vacant - does your PM start advertising with a strong, detailed advertisement as soon as they receive notice from your tenant?

In saying that, I have had family contact my PM's also just to make sure that I've got the right one. For example, my cousin who lives in Melbourne, rang my property manager when my property became available for rent. My property manager took the phone call, answered all my cousins questions and tried to spruik the benefits of the house and area - so I knew that they were answering prospective tenants questions and phone calls. This isn't for everyone but I like to know that they are working for me when I'm paying them to.

 

That's a good strategy and a great PM!

 

Yup! I was really happy with her, my property agency poached her from another real estate agency in the area, just as I was about to change to another real estate agency. Haha. When she came across, I said I'd see how things went with her and she was excellent. She did so well, they promoted her to Head Property Manager now. Her replacement is pretty good, thank goodness!

 

When you can't see what they do, you can ask for them to contact you with progress updates every number of days. But they should at least provide you with a summary after the weekend open house detailing weekly enquiries, inspections and people interested.

With the applicants, they should email you with a detailed breakdown of the pros and cons of each one.
That way you can better understand the selection process and they can provide their recommendation for you to review.
Always take the information by email because it's harder to assess and understand the options on a phone call.

 

The agent should do all the filtering, you would be wise to ask things like, do they work, age, how many, if a young couple & getting a large house, why do they want 4 or 5 beds - will they sub lease, do they have pets etc etc

You should not have to ask, as this should be offered - that all references check out.

At the end of the day, your interests are in their hands, and if they are good liars or talkers, you won't really know till things are already going bad.

 

the agent also wants the best tenant because it makes their life easier! you dont deal with chasing rent or ridiculous requests... but if its flat there isnt much either of you can do. its just about how desperate you get to who you'll accept and when

 

Sounds like the owners saved themselves a bundle. Paid for the agent to use their resources then paid again to duplicate the effort only to confirm the low levels of activity in the market, lose an additional 6 weeks rent AND drop their pants out of desperation.

 

economics... would suggest it's in their best interest to fill the property with a tenant since the sooner they do that the sooner they get commission.

 

Id ask if they use a rental Database and which one.

Id ask how they verify the tenants previous rental history?

 

One can ask that question of every service provider.

How do you know your doctor has done their best?

How do you know your dentist has done their best?

How do you know your lawyer has done their best?

How do you know your tradie has done their best?

...

In the end, it comes down to TRUST.

My rule is simple:- if I don’t TRUST them, I “sack them” and find another that I can.

I have “sacked” a few service providers over the years .

 

Nice thread revival