Managers in Adelaide

Hi Everyone I have joined a month ago and have been reading and reading and getting ready to buy my first house for investment. I am hoping to be able to buy something around $350,000 and get a good rent for it.

I am starting to get the right people to help me, I have found a really good loan broker and he gave me a conveyancer, so next I need a manager. I have seen there are two here, D.T. and Xenia, are they the best to speak to or does anyone have another that they can recommend?

How much do managers in Adelaide cost? My father in law said he pays about 8.8% which seems like a lot of the rent?


Thanks heaps and sorry for the newbie questions


Andy

 

Andy - below is a summary of fees from one of the presentations I do on property management (these are not my fees). These are some common fees you sometimes see on management agreements and different property managers charge different combinations of these.

Look beyond just the management fee and total up the amount of fees you may be expected to pay as that is the real cost of having your property managed by an agent. Some even charge photocopy fees.

I would caution you away from 4.4% - 5.5% agents - I have been running rent rolls for years, it is not a profitable business model and unsustainable and it may cost you more due to mismanagement.

Here is a list of fees you may be expected to pay:

Expect Some or All Of These Fees- (Approximates Only)

•Management Fee-5.5% to 11% of the Gross Rent Collected
•Letting Fee-1.1 to 2.2 weeks rent
•Lease Renewal-Up 1.1 weeks rent
•Periodic Inspection Fees-Up to $60 per inspection
•Statement/Admin Fee-$6-$10 per month
•Yearly Statement Fee-$100 per annual statement
•Tribunal Attendance-Up to $110 per hr Tribunal Hearing
•‘Outside of Duties’ Fee
•Out of Pocket Expenses
•Other Minor Fees
Cheap Fees Does Not Necessarily Equal Good Service!

 

Yes they would be the best to speak to. Even best to do so before buying to ensure you have a second opinion on potential rental return. I say this because sometimes the selling agent will provide an inflated rental expectation to make it look more desirable to investors.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone

 

Andy, you asked for a recommendation of property managers aside from the 2 very vocal ones. You may also want to consider @Ricky Adelaide he also offers property management services in Adelaide and I think is the one who started the Adelaide meetups from what I can tell.

@Richard Taylor also told me he may be expanding his property management services to Adelaide this year. I'm not sure if this is still on the cards or done, Richard may want to clarify this point.

Richard runs a big enterprise interstate, around 450 properties under management from what I'm told so will have the systems and infrastructure to expand big in Adelaide when that occurs. Will probably blow us all out of the water.

 

I don't know a great deal about the fees in SA, I thought the average was around the 8% mark though.

In terms of DT/Xenia, both are great to chat to. I am probably a little bias towards Dave though as I've known him for years.

But if you want some other options, Knott Just Rentals is another good one if you're looking at purchasing around the Vic Harbour area or Muirhead Property Management.

 

Xenia and DT are accessed by many happy investors on this Forum. Chat to each of them and explore who 'fits' in with your values and working style as your relationship with your PM is critical and a long term business partnership.

Focus on quality service ...very low fees translates to overloaded PMs with too many properties to manage.

 

Why not get in contact with some pm's and ask some questions.

As well as rate id be asking about any other additional costs over and above that rate. Some have low fees but charge a lot of extras.