Struggling to get a tenant

Discussion in 'Property Management' started by Kevvy7, 8th Apr, 2017.

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  1. Kevvy7

    Kevvy7 Well-Known Member

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    Hey guys I've just bought my first investment property. It's located in Petrie. It's an old house thats been updated a few years ago. It's in a good location near schools, shopping centre and train station.
    I've had it on the market for $365 for 2 weeks for only 1 dodgy applicant. There has been numerous groups of people through and most of them mentioned that the backyard was too much to look after so I decided to include yard maintenance.
    Week 3 I dropped the rent to $355 a week. Now into week 4 and a few more people have come through and a couple of them have mentioned that they're worried about thier kids/pets wandering off because the backyard is not fenced. So my next train of thought is to fence it.
    I have a PM.
    Any other thoughts to get tenants in place?
     
  2. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    What do they recommend? Or are they not that proactive
     
  3. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    What is the condition of the property - what is it being outcompeted by?
     
  4. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    May need to drop price, bump up the ad and improve property.
    There are very few people willing to put up with less features, even at cheaper prices.
     
  5. Kevvy7

    Kevvy7 Well-Known Member

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    They recommended the yard maintenance and to fence the backyard. She has said that the yard maintenance has been recieved well.
     
  6. Kevvy7

    Kevvy7 Well-Known Member

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    I think that because there are a lot of new townhouses popping up in the area that people are going for smaller but new.
     
  7. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    A fenced yard is top priority for young families, definitely do that. Look at the standards and inclusions of competing properties and ensure you are providin what the market wants
     
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  8. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I'd fence the back yard.
     
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  9. herenow

    herenow Well-Known Member

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    Seems like the absence of a secure backyard is putting off your target rental market given an older style renovated house with a big yard near schools is probably going to be best suited to families/those with pets.

    I'd be doing something about the fence.

    Once you have a family/someone with a pet move in, they're likely to be longer term tenants.
     
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  10. Kevvy7

    Kevvy7 Well-Known Member

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    As soon as she mentioned it i told her to go ahead and get some quotes. I can totally understand the importance of security and to stop the young ones going on adventures.
     
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  11. Kevvy7

    Kevvy7 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks. Wish I had've thought about this earlier. I guess its a learning process.
    Lucky for me the property only settled on Monday. The previous owner allowed me to advertise for renters prior to settlement.
     
  12. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    Agree. And when the fence is done, advertise it as being "pet friendly". One of our IPs is set up quite nicely for dogs (previous owners had them), but we neglected to put this in the ad, so potential tenants with dogs didn't come asking. As soon as we put "pet friendly" message on the ad, we got multiple takers.
     
  13. wombat777

    wombat777 Well-Known Member

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    How big is the house?

    I also have a house in Petrie and one in Deception Bay. My property in Deception Bay took 3-4 weeks on each occasion I was searching for a tenant. Both times in the last 2 years.

    My Petrie property is a large 4-bedder and was renting for $400 per week. For various reasons I am reducing the rent on this to $380/week. It was actually renting for above market rent in my opinion.

    You are competing with lots of new townhouses in Kallangur. There are also high vacancy rates in Kallangur and North Lakes and that will be affecting your ability to secure a tenant. You therefore need the right features for the right price.

    Also, make sure you allow pets. Initially a cat. Naturally to allow a dog you will need a good secure fence on the yard.

    PM me if you'd like details for my PM. They look after both of my properties and have done a great job.
     
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  14. Marg4000

    Marg4000 Well-Known Member

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    When there is a fair bit of competition for rentals it pays to make the property as attractive as possible.

    Fencing the back yard is a good start.

    But also have a look at the house. Check for security (screens or bars on windows or doors?), ceiling fans? Etc. sometimes it is the little things that add up.
    Marg
     
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  15. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    This is common tenant behaviour
     
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  16. WestOz

    WestOz Well-Known Member

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    Related topic,
    @Xenia (or other PM's)
    Shifting from SM to utilising a PM I'm curious how much communication you feel is appropriate, you have with your LL's when first starting out, do you advise whats happening every couple of days, with viewings/interest etc, or only when a decent application is submitted?

    Between initial contact to signing (~2wks, was finalising property) I was contacted by director/PM, if I had any questions etc etc, kind of sensed it being sales pitch etc, but thought, great communication.
    From date of signing I anticipated a few days to get pics/marketing etc organised/up, a week later nothing, I sent a simple text "Hi, how's things looking", within a couple of hours bang the marketing is up online, a week later I've still not had a reply to my text, heard nothing regarding whats happening, if anyone's inspected etc, no communication.

    I don't believe me being pushy is gunna help, but just wondering your thoughts on this?
     
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  17. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    A good PM would send a copy of the ad/listing web link as a courtesy, and then an update at least once a week on numbers/feedback/changes required/price adjustment
     
  18. +men

    +men Well-Known Member

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    A good PM is like a gold, so hard to find.
    Even I used a few PM recommended here in PC or somersoft, it could be disappointing.
    Don't trust anyone 100% here, and don't hesitate to change PM if you feel it's not the right one. I would rather cut loss earlier rather than leave it too late.
     
  19. Big Will

    Big Will Well-Known Member

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    The reason it is not renting is tenants are seeing better value elsewhere.

    This could be because of the newer townhouses and they might be $10-20 a week more (not sure on price), so if you want to get this price you will need to knockdown rebuild (not saying do this).

    Keep your rent the same but make improvements (e.g. fencing), this will increase your appeal and the value they see in your property.

    Lower your rent to make it more of value.

    For me I purchase a house in Brisbane (Southside) in March and in 2.5 weeks after settlement we got a tenant.. We did have an agreement to advertise prior to settlement that that PM was useless so technically it was about 6 weeks but I gave up trying to work the new PM after a couple of weeks.

    However we met the market very aggressively and it is hard, the bad PM said $480-500 and which we started at $460 (IIRC) and we dropped it to $450 after 2 weeks but with no feedback ever in the 4 weeks we signed up with a new PM and started at $430 (I was thinking $430-$450). After the first weekend we dropped the rent down to $400 and in just over a week (two further weekends) we hand a tenant apply/approved/pay deposit.

    The tenant also took up the offer of lawn maintenance we had on offer of additional $20 (was advertised all the way through), so technically we got $420 in rent but our costs are higher.

    We didn't want to spend any more money on the property as the previous vendor had spent about 100k doing it up and it was also fully fenced but we were determined to meet the market ASAP as the nearly 3 weeks was a cost of over $1,000 and the longer we waited for our price the less money we get p.a.

    From the suburb last time I checked there was 16 properties that were listed longer than us and 15 were listed after we started advertising so there is a lot of competition and I am now about 3-4 weeks since the tenant took up the lease and we are enjoying our $400/420 pw coming in compared to having it still sit there.

    If it took four weeks for us to get $430 instead of $400 the difference in the 12 months from the $400 start date would be $20,640 (430x48 weeks) vs $20,800 (400x52) but I would think during the experience getting $410-420 might of been where the market actually was.

    Best of luck!
     
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  20. Colin Rice

    Colin Rice Mortgage Broker Business Member

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    They may have a ton of properties to manage so give them a call and keep it brief and professional expressing your concerns and they are likely to react accordingly.
     

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