Dee Why / Collaroy Blog

Why choose an agent, when you can collect the rent yourself and save some money?

As a Property Investor myself, I can tell you that what appeals to me is a property investment professional that can look after the property for me, without the stress and interruption into my family and leisure time. However, I would like to share an experience that I have been told about by an investor that I have recently met who had decided to self-manage their investment properties.

Whilst I don’t want to alarm you, what happened in this instance is that the investor ended up with the “worst tenants” imaginable, as well as a large bill for cleaning, property damage and rental arrears. The owner had entrusted a family friend to rent their property and through failure on his own behalf to carry out regular routine inspections, as well as a softer approach to enforcing the tenancy agreement, the final cost to fix and clean up the property amounted to more than $15,000 not including the unpaid labour dedicated to restoring the property.

The experience has certainly shaped what they now do, however at the time, they believed the agent to be a rent collection service only and hadn’t seen the other points that they could offer in addition to this. Of course, this is just one example of how things can go wrong which isn’t always the case. It does certainly pose an important question to consider… “was the $25 per week saving worth the risk and the anguish and would you make that decision same again?"

Regrettably, this isn’t the only pitfall when choosing to self-manage or when electing an agent, some agents who do not take responsibility for managing properties properly on behalf of their clients also can cost their clients serious money. We have recently come across this issue when taking over the management of some properties in our local area where we discovered that property inspections hadn’t been carried out, or the property lease did not reflect the lease at the property and that the tenants were beyond 14 days in arrears with no action taken. Suffice to say that the situation has now been resolved, however the risk to the owner was not warranted or excusable. 

When meeting an agent for the first time, it is important to ask questions to qualify if your property needs and expectations can be satisfied by the company can. After all they are working for you to maximise the property yield and minimise the risk when it comes to leasing your property.

The four key questions when interviewing your new Property Manager are as follows:

1. How can you ensure that I am receiving the best price for my property?
2. What is your current level of rental arrears and what is the office policy around this?
3. What are rents doing in the current market, and how often do you review the market conditions and rental potential for properties in the portfolio?
4. How long has the team worked for the company?
5. What value can you offer over any other company?

Here at Raine&Horne Dee Why/Collaroy, we aim to protect and minimise both stress and risk toyour most valuable asset. Our points of difference above all other agencies are as follows: -

Premium Marketing

Our skilled team showcase your property to a vast internal and external audience and maximize the property appeal by utilising quality professional photography, premium sign boards and dominant online digital advertising and social media campaigns

Superior Leasing

There are two dedicated Leasing Executives, showing property and making appointments six days per week accommodating prospective tenant afterhours requests. More inspections, leads to more opportunity and tenants to select from and less vacancy. The current average vacant turnaround time is eight days from the time the property is vacated.

Senior Property Managers

Our incredible team have been with the company for several years and are accomplished Property Management professionals.

Latest Technology

Combining 24/7 accessibility for our clients and our enhanced communication systems, we will ensure that you can be kept up to date always. The prospective tenant management systems are state of the art and alert a vast network of clients of new properties for lease.

For any property related needs or questions that you may have, please do not hesitate to contact Jamie Saksida, Head of Department at Raine&Horne Dee Why / Collaroy on (02) 9971 9000 or [email protected]