Getting tenants

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Waylah, 22nd Apr, 2017.

Join Australia's most dynamic and respected property investment community
  1. Waylah

    Waylah Member

    Joined:
    14th Mar, 2017
    Posts:
    12
    Location:
    VIC
    Hi!
    I'm doing a weekend student project thing, and as part of it, we need to research stuff relevant to our project. My group's project happens to relate to investment property (yay!) and I need to get feedback on people's experience in the rental market, from both tenants and landlords&agents. So we've got three questions for landlords and agents:

    1. What was your experience like seeking a tennant? (if multiple experiences, what was the best/worst)

    2. How did you decide on the best market rate for the property? (how much rent to ask for)

    3. What would you change or improve about the process?

    and for tenants:

    2. What was your experience like seeking and applying for a rental property? (best/worst experience)

    3. What would have improved this experience?

    Thanks! I'll let you know how it all goes after the weekend. :)
     
  2. Joynz

    Joynz Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    5th Apr, 2016
    Posts:
    5,751
    Location:
    Melbourne
    1. Agent did it, so no problem. Has rented really fast three times now and the last tenants just re-signed for another year.
    2. Took agent's advice to set rent.
    3. Nothing to suggest.

    PS
    I'm assuming this is not for uni, as this type of survey isn't rigorous research. You have no idea of a respondent's demographic data etc...
     
  3. Waylah

    Waylah Member

    Joined:
    14th Mar, 2017
    Posts:
    12
    Location:
    VIC
    Thanks!
    Yup, it's not meant to be rigorous demographic data, it's super preliminary feedback. Really just qualitative. We've already been asking people on the street. I thought this forum could be another way to connect.
     
    Joynz likes this.
  4. Colin Rice

    Colin Rice Mortgage Broker Business Member

    Joined:
    9th Jul, 2015
    Posts:
    3,183
    Location:
    Perth
    1. What was your experience like seeking a tennant? (if multiple experiences, what was the best/worst)

    Have self managed in the past with basically no issues and now use PMs with very little or no issues.

    2. How did you decide on the best market rate for the property? (how much rent to ask for)

    Checked what similar properties rented for (comparables) and seek guidance from the PMs as well.

    3. What would you change or improve about the process?

    More rent and less outgoings would be the goal.


    and for tenants:

    2. What was your experience like seeking and applying for a rental property? (best/worst experience)

    Straightforward but found a lot of maintenance issues that I promptly reported. Looked after the property like it was my own and landlord thanked me for being a great tenant.

    3. What would have improved this experience?

    The small things add up to make a big difference and didn't think this PM got it. Garage door remotes with flat batteries that I had to replace at my expense, only one set of keys provided and had to cut at my expense, noticed the woman that showed me through walked past a letterbox with junk mail falling out of it (I cleaned it up). Little things like that that gave a negative impression in my mind.
     
    Tanya1335 likes this.
  5. Waylah

    Waylah Member

    Joined:
    14th Mar, 2017
    Posts:
    12
    Location:
    VIC
    Thanks so much! Do you have any more insights specifically on the process of finding tennants, finding & applying for properties?
     
  6. Colin Rice

    Colin Rice Mortgage Broker Business Member

    Joined:
    9th Jul, 2015
    Posts:
    3,183
    Location:
    Perth
    I advertised in the paper when I self managed back in the early to mid 2000s and just made sure my spidey senses where in-tune when I was fielding tenants. Said no to a few :)

    To apply for a rental I just looked on real estate portals and called/emailed he agent, went and had a look and said "I will take it" and filled out the paperwork, picked up the keys and moved in.
     
  7. Zoolander

    Zoolander Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    15th Dec, 2016
    Posts:
    668
    Location:
    Sydney
    1. What was your experience like seeking a tennant? (if multiple experiences, what was the best/worst)
    Best: getting half dozen applications on the same day and getting a briefing from the agent on the key highlights of each. Job type/salary, how long they've been there, family/couple/single, general vibes from the agent, vague allusions to how much they have in their savings to show they can pay the rent if they stop working.

    Worst: regional town property that took 2 months to find a tenant. Ended up running Google ads personally to generate more leads and calls to the agent. That was a little nervous getting $0 income and paying thousands in loan repayments over that time.

    2. How did you decide on the best market rate for the property? (how much rent to ask for)
    Ask the agent. Look up similiar listings on Domain. If the lease is ending and increasing the rent a little doesnt seem overbearing, I'd go ahead with the increase notice letter.

    3. What would you change or improve about the process?
    Some agents do the whole tenant-search process a lot more effectively than others. That is, I know what applications have gone in, how inspections went, and what ideas my agent recommends to make tenants more likely to want to apply. They'll always be good and newbie agents, so asking for all agents to be all excellent would be nice but unrealistic.

    Thanks! I'll let you know how it all goes after the weekend.
    Good luck :)
     
  8. Anthony Brew

    Anthony Brew Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    18th Feb, 2017
    Posts:
    1,176
    Location:
    Australia
    1. What was your experience like seeking a tenant?

    Agent did it all, so the answer will mostly be how was the experience of my agent seeking a tenant.

    Mostly was ok, but they tend to start a little higher priced than the market and end up wasting a week or two coming down to a reasonable price (hopefully I learn from this in the future since it is costing me money).


    2. How did you decide on the best market rate for the property? (how much rent to ask for)

    Went by domain.com and realestate.com for similar properties in the same area and in the same condition.

    3. What would you change or improve about the process?
    • Monitor the agent very closely (until they have a proven record of competence that you have been witness to). Be willing to move to a new agent (probably after you found a tenant) if they show incompetence because they will end up costing you a lot of money the longer you stay with someone who can not do their job well.
    • Make absolute sure that the agent does checks on all prospective tenants (past landlord, employment, criminal history) to minimise chance that the tenant will cause serious problems for you.
    • When a lease is ending, contact my agent early (months ahead - check how far ahead depending on the state you are in and the law there) and direct them to send out a termination notice along with lease renewal (together) in plenty of time so that the tenant will know to sign the contract or they need to leave (no month-by-month unless the tenant has special circumstances that both owner and tenant can prepare for and minimise disadvantage of both sides). Allows us to start advertising and showing the property in plenty of time to minimise the vacancy period.
    • Don't start advertising too high the first week advertising unless you are 4 weeks out from current lease end.