Hi all,
My parents are looking at changing their property management with a different real estate as they're not happy with the service. they left me to try to find another agent as their English isn't too good. Any ideas on how to find a new one?
Beside fees is it better to go with a bigger franchised company or a smaller one?
Agreed, and it could easily be the opposite experience.
I would ask a couple of agencies to nominate a specific property manager, who would be allocated to manage my property, and actually interview them. Get a list of key questions for each to answer. As well as the costs, factor in how comfortable you feel in working with them.
Find one that speaks your parents language.
go with recommendations (not by company but actual person )
ask friends , if no friends then make more friends
is it normal for property agent/manager to charge like a week rent when existing tenant signs new lease agreement?
they are old existing tenant so in theory there is no marketing fees involved? just few calls and maybe a postage to send out forms. why a week rent need to be gone….
AFAIK, half week is the norm.
We cant assume it's an easy task. We have had Tenants who took weeks and weeks to decide whether they'd rent, changing dates, changing amounts, changing occupants……
Suggest to look at the whole package, not just focusing on one item….
There are many credentials to look for, the above would help.
I'd say what NOT to look for: percentage of commission and fees.
Time and again I see people focusing on one to a couple of %. Translate this into dollars, minus the tax, it is not really worth it. You are much better to look at quality, than quantity. Business is business, they lower the %, they would need to earn in back thru other means somehow…..
Every office has different managers and you cant just rely on brand names.
What you should do is actually to email multiple enquiries on the same day and go with the ones that respond within 1-2 days.
That way you get more offers so you can negotiate and see which local office around you is efficient.
i founded this to be quite helpful. but i got me wondering if the emails were promptly replied in hopes of signing up. most companies with cold enquires replied back with 12hr-24hrs. only one branch never replied.
Try to have conversation with them. You are pretty much testing the service that way as the way of how they handle you is how they will handle things later on. Go with the most reasonable branch with common sense is what you want.
When researching property managers, ask about their history of property manager change-over. Not having a continuous property manager creates all sort of problems for both the owner and tenants. You want a stable and reliable service, not getting a new property manager every 6-9 months
thanks for this, but i spoke to one and the current company that looking after the lease. They mentioned they have about 150 properties under their care. not sure if they're overloaded with work or they don't look after the property promptly.
If it's a retail or commercial property, send them to me!
Residential I can't help with, I agree with most of the above comments - it's more about the people than the agency. Recommendations go a long way. When I've moved agencies a lot of my clients followed me.
Find a property manager who is also the business owner - they will value the management more than an employee.
I am a property manager and owner of my own business in Sydney so cant help you in Vic.
Have a look at some of the reports they produce. Fees are the one thing you can control. Definitely 2nd recommendations
sorry just saw thing, reports what do you mean by reports condition reports? not asure if they're going to show other peoples house though.
Yea, condition reports mostly unless that do anything else you find extra. Well, if they are proud of their work, I'm sure they will show you in the office but of course, you won't be able to take it with you. Else they could always just put a post it note over the address.
Likely, they won't show you the worse looking property so as not to put you off
it comes down to the actual property manager.
you could go for either a large franchise or a small RE and get a totally crap property manager.
e.g. my parents had a rental property that was managed by a large franchise and they were crap. - refunded the bond to the tenant who left the house uninhabitable (plaster off walls, smashed back door, internal doors taken off the hinges, crap mashed into the carpets, bathroom filthy, kitchen filthy, etc etc) my parents had only renovated the place 6 years previously and it wasn't worth renovating again - it was a 80 year weatherboard in inner city melb on a quarter acre block. they sold the property for land development.
where as the property manager (of a small RE agaent) who managed the my rental property was awesome and on the ball. did everything they could to minimise my hassle as a landlord.