Property management rates negotiation

Im negotiatiating terms with a new property agent for 2 properties (house and granny flat) and would like to know how much better I could get in metro sydney.

I have a tenant for the front house already which will swap over to them and they will need to find me a new rear tenant.

Here are the terms:
management fee 5.5% + $5.50 admin fee per month . I think I could get this down to 4.4% , but not sure about the admin fee.

Locating tenant fee: 1 week rent + GST +$33 lease prep fee (pretty standard i think)

Resign and negotiation $66 inc GST
FY statements: $33 incl GST pa. (most of my others have done it for 0)
Tribunal applicaiton fee (at cost)
Professional photos $120 (optional).

 

Just negotiated a 8.25% up here in Brisbane (down from 9.7%!)!

 

hi @menty 5.5% is normal /common in Sydney. some even charge higher. is the management good?

worth paying a good fee to get good services, less headache and hassle.

 

Those are pretty standard fees for Sydney. You might be able to do a little better, but you probably don't want to.

I'm obviously biased as a Property Manager, but I strongly believe you should be focusing on finding the best manager, not the best price.

At $500wk rent, the difference in fees between 5.5 and 4.4 is about $5wk, which is nothing in the scheme of an investment property- compared to what you can gain/lose with a good/bad Property Manager.

 

As per other comments, these are pretty standard for Sydney. Not uncommon for PMs to ask for leasing fee of 2 weeks' rent - which can be A LOT of money!). Mind you, depending on the property, it is about to become a lot harder to lease with this over supply.... so people will have their work cut out for then finding new tenants in next 2-3 years....

Keep in mind that these fees are inclusive of GST so not all of this goes to the agent.

I have seen an agency advertise online at 4% plus GST (I assume it is the one you are referring to) but I will re-iterate what Tom said, that it is more important to find someone that you will be happy with and will look after you and your property, as opposed to the cheapest - as all things considered the savings are negligible.

Final thought... you can always ask for a discount. It doesn't hurt to ask and you may be surprised. Best of luck.

 

Which area is the property in? And the weekly rental amount? That is the highest rate I have heard in Brisbane I think!

 

It’s how I justified it to myself... a bit hard to swallow still though. But days to lease of 9 days speaks to their quality!

 

definitely standard for Sydney, as everyone says pay peanuts.... As Tom said above i am probably being biased as well but cheaper is not always better. Never hurts to ask for a discount dont get me wrong, but you want an agent that believes in their worth