Melbourne Update: Lockdown Continues :(

I'm a Property Manager in Melbourne and it's not great that prospective tenants can't inspect. We are working with what we've got right now and that's being able to produce a video of the home at the final inspection and showing this to tenants who are interested in the home.

I honestly didn't think people would want to rent homes without viewing in person but the reality is that they are and we are performing phone interviews with the tenant rather than in person at the property. It isn't ideal but it is getting vacancies filled for our clients.

 

Totally agree @Kym Ryan .

I have a SIL whose business is the training of swimming instructors, both in Australia, in HK and China.

When travel restrictions were first introduced, she panicked and became very negative.

I told her “it is what it is”; she could either remain in a negative mindset or switch to being positive and look for opportunities.

She pivoted and started to realise she could run training courses via Zoom. Not the same as being there in person and in the water.

Six months later, with Zoom, the whole world is now her territory and she can do this without leaving her office.

Just goes to show that some people will always whinge about “the glass being half empty” while others are grateful that “the glass is half full”.

The world is in a tough spot at the moment. It is far tougher place when one continuously has a negative mindset.

I am not saying it is easy to gain a positive mindset. I have experienced many tough spots in my life, some I have shared on PC.

One technique I use when confronted with a “disaster” outside my control is to welcome it, get to the bottom of the “Valley of Despair” as quick as one can (as the only way now is up), summon all of one’s strength, emotions, spirit, ... and make one’s way “out of the darkness towards the sunshine/light”.

I have found that even small upward steps causes one’s mindset to change, one starts to be positive, positivity becomes infectious and it is amazing what can happen (like my SIL).

 

Anyone who is in a property right now and their lease is up - what do they do if they don't like the place? They can renew the lease and be stuck living in it for another year or alternatively, take a chance the new place will be an improvement on the old. You may have to move for family reasons, work, etc. Sometimes you need to roll the dice Not sure i'd buy unseen but that's a different question.

 

So true, the beauty of leasing a home is it gives greater flexibility and lifestyle options

 

I would never buy sight unseen, or not use someone who could view the property on my behalf

What about building inspections?? Wonder how this works or does not work

 

Glad you are having some luck, but clearly not working for @Lil Skater, so I can only assume its hit and miss and will impact on many in this industry

REIV have major concerns

Very Frustrating to think this is totally unnecessary and we would save jobs, business and heartache if Vic government had a rational approach to this

 

Can the landlord force the tenant to sign a new lease? The tenant could simply opt to go to a month to month arrangement. This does carry the risk of a rental increase (I don't think rents can currently be increased in VIC and I think there's limits on how often regardless, please confirm @Kym Ryan). Then the tenant can simply leave when they're ready with the appropriate notice period.

 

Landlords can't force tenants to sign a fixed term lease. If a new lease is not agreed upon the lease will become month to month automatically.

Rents can't be increased until after March 2021 due to COVID and even then, rents can only be increased every 12 months. Tenants can provide 28 days notice and leave under a month to month tenancy.

 

I'm about to list a property for sale in regional Vic. Was hoping that Melbourne buyers would be let out to view it, but Sunday's announcement has ruled that out.

It's a lifestyle property that would mainly attract owner occupiers, so Melbourne buyers unlikely to buy sight unseen.

But I do wonder whether the different restrictions in regional areas will help make the property more attractive. Also, low stock for sale could help. Am I mad?

 

To clarify... We have had luck doing it unseen with 360 tours - I was only pointing out that legally we can’t allow people to inspect even in a round about way such as leaving keys.

It has been a slower process and most of my vacates came last week which meant we didn’t advertise because it was a short delay of a week and chose to instead advertise later this week and start inspections next. This is because the first week is prime for advertising.

I do have two CBD apartments which are not moving. One is furnished and typically attracts international students, the other is unfurnished but same part of the CBD and still attracts a lot of students.

Since the announcement on Sunday we have listed the 4 properties that had been waiting. I’ve got one with a semi decent application (but long vacancy) and have been speaking with another potential tenant today for one of the others who needs to move next week, but wants to negotiate the rent down. The other two have had no enquiry at all yet.

The thing I do disagree with is part of the REIV recommendation for a strike. Despite this not being ideal, doing a strike isn’t in the best interest of our clients.

So perfectly doable, just not ideal and it’s about adapting as already pointed out.

 

I know a few agents in regional areas. Apparently a lot of people in metro purchasing at the moment in regional - probably worth a call to a local agent and ask their opinion.

 

You might be pleasantly surprised. I've been looking at lifestyle properties myself lately. Say a nice house on 10 acres. No chance I'm going to do it at this stage of my life, but it's nice to dream a little. I wouldn't be surprised if there are people seriously looking to make a lifestyle change as a result of the pandemic.

 

Not surprising

There are some threads already on this topic.

 

Are you seeing any recent sales in this area??

I am also wondering whether property building inspections can be conducted??? Without this I cant imagine anyone buying, it would be very risky

 

I disagree with this realestate article: Agent’s loophole for selling homes during lockdown.

If you sign a contract to buy a property in Melbourne during stage 4 restrictions, without having inspected the property first, you can include a special condition that the contract is subject to you inspecting the property ASAP once stage 4 restrictions are lifted.

The contract was not on foot prior to stage 4 restrictions coming into force. The agent in the article is, in my view, wrong to rely on the exception allowing final inspections for contracts entered into prior to stage 4. And the agent’s proposed inspection is not for the purpose of a final inspection.

This is disingenuous, deliberately misleading and dangerous: the date of the contract would bring it undone - will the agent pay any fines issued to the vendor and purchaser?

 

I've cited Barry Plant Docklands window before. Pre-Covid the to-let listing totalled around 20-24 and was updated twice a week. It quickly grew to 72, and was last updated July 17th, from which I infer that this market is as good as dead.

 

Yes, the inner city apartment market is showing higher vacancies of late. The trend seems to be people moving further out to have a backyard or outdoor space. COVID has seen a real shift in housing where people want more space around them and they don't want to share lifts and common spaces with other people.

 

If Melbourne inner city property prices fall, it may be a good time to buy.

When I moved to Melbourne in 1977, inner city living was “on the nose” and everyone was moving out to the outer suburbs (eg Glen Waverley) as land was cheap, petrol was cheap, ...

I bought a two bedroom unit in East St Kilda as I wanted to live close to all “the inner city action” .

Then the 1979 Oil Crisis hit. Petrol prices went through the roof, people wanted to live in the inner suburbs, ...

I waited for property prices to recover and sold my unit in 1981 - 62% gain in 2 years .

When the post-COVID golden era gets underway, people will (again) want to move back to living in the inner city IMHO.

As the old saying goes:

“If people did a better job of listening, history wouldn’t have to repeat itself”​

 

My daughter was renting in trendy Richmond, moved out about 3 months ago, the property has still not been leased
I expect rents to nose dive, oversupply

 

Yes, oversupply. It will come down to how low the rents will go