Should you lease your property via an agent or by yourself?

Looking to rent my 4 bedroom home in Perth, target family market ... wondering if it's worth going through an agent or DIY through rent for owners type of websites?

 

Unless you know the tenancy rules/process/procedure like the back of your hand,

real estate agent by a mile

 

I agree with this. Self managing is easy until something goes wrong.

I don't recommend self managing unless you know how to efficiently handle the termination process if something was to go wrong, and also how to otherwise handle disputes arising in a tenancy generally.

If you do self manage (and I do for a few of mine), I also recommend getting an agency to help with the finding and vetting of tenants under a letting-only agreement. Totally worth the 2 or 3 week's worth of rent for this side of things imo.

 

The only time I self manage was after I bought the property the seller leased it back from me coz I know they still have sentimental attachments to the house and will look after it. Otherwise I'll always use an agent.

 

It's peace of mind in my opinion to let PM manage it and you can manage the PM.

 

That can be a big enough challenge

 

What would your local property manager charge to manage your property?

Now multiple that by 52 weeks in a year, what ever figure u land with, compare that to your earning cost I.e. if u had to take x days off annual leave to fix whatever problem the tenant cause be it a tribunal hearing or the like, is it worth it?
Sure the argument is not all tenants are negligent or a tribunal hearings is the extreme but say for repairs of a hot water system, running around getting a quote is also time consuming.
You might have a day off a week now to 'manage' possible scenarios but that is now, your circumstance may change in the future..
Factor all of that in.. I'd rather part with a portion of the weekly rent as a taxable expense and move on..

 

Not worth the effort, you'll need a decent one.

If I had to spend my time with the crap that my tenant emails/calls my REA I'll go nuts and lose 2 years of my life. My sister/bro in law though thinks the opposite, they self manage - neither are in the REA industry, advertise on gumtree/facebook, do their own screening/checks and have a ready handyman.

 

At times it has suited me to self manage - it isn't that hard to understand what is required.

However, when you consider the time saved in checking payments and getting a consolidated statement it is worth the cost to outsource. If I was retired I might do it myself but not when busy with other time consuming matters.

 

We have done both. Our experience with PMs wasn’t brilliant. Remember real estate agents make money by buying and selling properties. Managing rental properties is a hard business. I had one supposedly good PM but the person left. They recruited another one and it’s disastrous. We ended up terminating the lease and the management agreement. We also managed our own properties. It forced us to develop an eye for choosing reliable tenants. Talk to them and ask prompting questions. Touch wood our tenants are so far so good.

 

When things run smoothly, it is easy to think that PM's are not worth their money each month.
Having a PM manage your property puts a buffer between you and the Tenant - which is worth the money if an issue arises - and they eventually do.
If you are happy to resolve Tenant issues, attend Tribunal hearings, organise Tradespeople when the stove blows up (just had this happen, actually) send out eviction letters and enforce them (or do it face to face, etc), try and collect late or unpaid rents, property inspections; then go for it.
I have never done it, and it is a tax deductible expense.

 

That's the main reason I use PMs. That and not wanting to be up-to-date with tenancy laws and spend my time managing the mundane.

But the buffer between them and me easily makes it worth it.

 

You don't need a Property Manager........until you do.

 

So true ...

 

The only thing I can add based on my personal experience is that unless you think you can do half the job a PM can do, don't do it. I am licensed property agent and do everything on my own for 4 of my properties but for 5th one I don't like to do it myself given the area where property is far away, I dont know the local area too much(tenants sourcing, tradies) so I use a PM for it. But even if You are not a licensed agent, I would say do everything legally, read a lot about property management but only do if you are able to take sometime off from your time to do all this. These days many online PM companies are offering services as fraction of the cost but never tried them. Perhaps worth looking in to them as an option too.

Also to add, a bank is more comfortable with a property manager so if you are looking to buy another IP, they prefer you have a PM who can write things in writing and assure bank of the real income from the property. Banks create drama when you manage yourself or have a personal agreement and they doubt the level of income you say you are getting. Just be wary of that. Good luck. May the force be with you!

 

The thought that a tenant has my contact details and can ring 24/7 when they have a issue is not something I would want. PM's have a process and educate the tenant in their ways. eg : BPay for rent NOT EFT, processes for repairs and what requires approval, stupid requests etc. Then there is the lease itself. Applications and adverts. Possible access to a database of bad tenants - Or even the ability to sus out the applicants that walk in. Entry and exit condition reports and so on. How non-arms length is a owner in that process ? You may make a illegal request (eg you must shampoo the carpets) or a unreasonable request re property condition and then it ends in the tribunal.

I have a PM that charges 15% but they do more than most for 4 x short stay apartments. Their services are invaluable. Mind you its 15% of a high number.

 

I self manage a number of apartments in a complex, never had a problem.

I think the key to self managing is being highly selective on your tenants, use a 3rd party to list on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au, not gumtree.

I work close by so able to visit for repairs and maintenance.

 

You don't have to run around and get quotes it takes seconds to dial your plumber or electrician discuss options get a quote and say yay ot nay. It is quicker and more efficient and usually cheaper than going backwards and forwards with a PM than having to ring the serviceman and sort out and correct anomalies.

 

Too true. Last year in hospital, get called by agent to say pipe has burst and place is flooded. I explained the situation, she was brilliant: got onto Terri Scheer, organised the drying out and other works without me doing anything. Had I been self managing I haven't a clue how this would have panned out.