We had PM issues at first. They were fully tenented when we bought them. As they emptied out, they were hard to tenant. PM fed us the line that there were no good tenants available. Eventually they were all vacant and things didn't look good, until I rang them looking for a rental property. I described our units and said that I wanted something like that. When I was told there were none available I was ropable and we changed agents. We found out there was some maintenance that needed doing that we hadn't been told about. After fixing that, the entire block was picked up by a local housing co-op on a head lease. We didn't have any vacancies at all since then. No damage ever, just normal wear and tear.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience. I've read a fair bit that a lot of success in Moree hinges on good PM's. Whilst that could be said of any area, it is especially more important in regional areas where the PM agent pool can be a little bit shallow.
The PM's were funny and all a bit 'clickky' if you know what I mean. There are 4 PM's in town. We've used them all. Right from the start we were told that one Agency were useless and attracted the 'wrong' kind of tenant. We started off with the first Agent who were great until something happened. Can't remember exactly what it was now. Then we went to the second & it was the third that couldn't get the tenants. We found out that the local landlords had no problems, but the out of area ones were the ones that had difficulties. Eventually we had to go to the 'bad' Agents, as we'd run out of places to go. Each one prior to this had at some stage made some adverse comments about the Agents we ended up with, and to be honest, they weren't fantastic, but they treated us well, leased our properties, attended to maintenance issues & transferred our funds at the end of each month. The tenants that we had were probably the 'wrong' kind of tenants in the view of the other Agents, as they came from the housing co-op, but we had no problems with them at all. They caused no damage to the units, and the rent was always paid, weather that was the tenants, or the co-op, I don't know & don't care, so long as it came in. We could have removed the tenants & renovated the properties & got more rent from them, because the rent was on the low side, but I don't think that would have helped in the sale price, and although the yield would have been better, being on the open market, we'd have to factor in a certain vacancy rate.
It's worth trying to get your IP signed over to Byamee Housing. Ask the property managers in town about this option. A great arrangement, in that they pay the rent, and organise repairs caused by tenant damage. Even if it's vacant, the rent gets paid. I had one on this arrangement for a couple of years. It's a local govt / NSW govt program.
Thanks Skater and Mr Damage for sharing your experiences. I don't think Moree will align with my personal risk profile right now, but the info has been very helpful with the other reaearch I was doing on the area.
I looked at this property last year .It is the worst area /spot in moree ! The front unit had been trashed the night prior to us getting there .At that stage it was listed for $130K.From memory it had been bought by a doctor or physio in sydney . I looked at the sold price recently and it was $50K -Flip.That would be trashed as soon as it was repaired .The one next door did have a long term government lease but was running out last year too. It was listed at $300k odd from memory but wouldnt be worth much without the lease ! Apparently if you can keep them rented they are ok -I wouldnt recomend anyone touch that area. I would buy a cheapy $30-$50 k in a better area of moree if i was keen set on buying in moree.
sorry i should have mentioned- I looked at one which did need a big reno i prob could have got for around $50K which had $250K+ houses around it so you need to allow for the reno costs too.
I was contemplating moree for a while. land is so cheap but houses are affordable. even with the yield, I could not force myself to go any further. agents in my area were selling the motels. seem to be exchanging hands a bit last year
I'd do numbers on half of them being tenanted. The rest would probably be defaults or vacant. One bedroom units in regional areas are never going to be hits on the market, especially with Morees demographics :/ @skater might be able to shed light on this particular property?
i don't know much about this particular property. You would be surprised. There are heaps of older people who go there for the hot springs. Remember that holiday rentals have high expenses though and might not be great for an out of area Landlord. They might be attractive to one of the commmunity housing co-ops in the area though. There is demand for 1 bedders.
Lots go for the hot pools but they don't spend much money in the town, they arrive with a car full of supplies for the week and rent the cheapest possible accommodation available...
Did you go ahead with the apartments AntW? I'm looking at Moree at the moment and just not sure if I'll go ahead or if too risky.
