what is your longest vacancy period?

Out of interest - what has been your longest rental vacancy ever on a mainstream property in a main stream area (ie not a mining town or an unusual property)? Were there circumstances around that?

New investors seem to fear rental vacancies more than anything else, which surprises me because in reality I have not had prolonged vacancy for any mainstream property I have owned and until this year I have only ever seen 2-4 week vacancies at most.

This winter has been the worst I have seen for people in the west and southeast of Melbourne with rental vacancies of 4-6 weeks in a few instances. Yet north of Melbourne everything has leased within a few days.

 

I've been pretty lucky with most of my properties.
2-3 weeks most and that's for regional NSW
All others have either had tenant or tenanted within 1-2weeks of purchase/completion.

 

A couple of mine have taken some time - it's not uncommon in WA at the moment though. One was empty for close to 3 months - I was being picky with tenants though, also.

 

4 weeks - sydney based.
Had applicants, but i wasn't impressed with them so i waited for a better one.
They've been in the place for 2 years now and take really good care of the place

 

Wow - 3 months! That would be tough without a contingency!

 

I always have a contingency

 

I've had a few, but given the size of the portfolio and the two decades of investment, I'd say my track record is quite good overall.

First time was in 2002, lots of competition and in the dead of winter. We threw in a weeks free rent and had a great tenant that weekend.

Second time was another property about 18 months ago. The bottom line was the property manager advertised the property incorrectly, didn't organise some basic repairs and didn't make it a priority. We switch property managers and had a tenant a week later who's been there since.

Outside of that, I did once settle a property in Brisbane a fortnight before Christmas - arguably the worst time of year to try find a tenant. The first two weeks had two terrible applications which I turned down. We then took the property off the market and brought it back to the market mid January. Those tenants have been there for 3 years now and we've never had a problem.

Everything else has always been leased within a fortnight which I consider quite acceptable.

The most important thing is to have a great property manager. Secondly it helps a lot to try lease the property at the right time of the year. Late Jan to early Feb is ideal everywhere I've got property. I've even adjusted lease periods to accommodate this.

 

My Highbury SA properties finished end of December - finding tenants then wasn't idea. Only had 4 applicants for the 2 properties.
Luckily enough they were both from very long leases (7 and 9 years) and only looking for properties due to a relationship split and property sale.

I did the same as you and adjusted the lease period to ensure don't have late December again

 

12 weeks in City of Belmont, Perth. Well presented, well located, well priced but trying to lease out in the middle of winter in the area is very difficult, plus a huge oversupply of that product in the locality. To give you some idea, the next time it was on the market 3 days before finding a tenant in summer.

 

2-3 weeks each time for Adelaide house in a very crap area, Usually takes a little longer to find the better tenant and well worth it. First time I rented it took 5 weeks but after the first month I changed agency's and had it rented the next week.
Werribee within 0-2 weeks always.
What area in the west are you seeing 4-6weeks?

 

12 months once.

 

That's a good idea.
What dates would you pick for a lease to end? Between Jan23 and Feb7 ?

 

About mid Jan to late Feb I think.

Several of my properties are within easy distance of a TAFE or University. Students get their letter of offer in January, they start classes in late February. Even if you're not trying to attract students, other university staff are also moving into the area and rental property becomes very scarce during this period. I'm happy for a lease to end any time in this period as well.

I've had a few tenants move in on Australia day weekend, or the weekend before.

It also appears to be a general period when people like to move house. Back from holidays, people often feel the need to relocate. The weather is good in most places.

 

Two and a half years
Had about three like that
Including the two months to the agent , a vacancy period , a rent free period , a bit of fitout , a change of tenancy I commonly lose a year's rent.
In saying that it must be noted I have many tenants that have been in the property for several decades without any of loss of rents (very common)
(In some cases several centuries without any vacancies can happen too!)

 

Wow - why so?

 

St Albans

 

W

That is a massive contrast - does perth suffer rental wise in winter like Melbourne?

 

I knew you would

 

I'm not sure about all of Perth but I do know that City of Belmont LGA is definitely very slow in winter.

 

new build in tasmania!