Why Self Manage?

Information on How to Self Manage Rental Property

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1. Why self manage?
A home owner will generally look after their property better than a renter – so it stands to reason that an owner will manage their property better than a property manager – PROVIDED they know the rules and regulations.

Furthermore, redirect the money you will save from property management fee’s to your mortgage! An extra $100 a month put towards the mortgage could save you about $60000 on a $1 million loan over 30 years. During the cost of living crisis – anything helps.

We know that management fees are tax deductable – but if you are negatively gearing then that means you are losing money on the property. This means that you will need to fork out the difference from your own pocket. Fork out less by self managing!

We understanding that some will find it daunting at first – but that is where we come in! If there are any questions you can give us a ring or drop us an e-mail! We are here to help you be successful.
2. What kind of help will the association provide?
We will provide you with a ‘landlords kit’ that will be your one stop shop for the majority of your routine tasks you will need to perform.
This kit will include info on
1. How to prepare your property for rent
2. Finding a tenant
a. Contains a checklist to ensure you do not forget anything
b. Contains an application form
c. Info regarding dealing with Pets
3. Process to be followed during a tenancy
a. Dealing with routine inspections
b. Increasing of the rent
4. How to terminate a lease
a. Grounds for terminating
b. Evidence to provide tenant on certain grounds of termination
5. Tips on what to expect at SACAT – i.e. when you have a dispute with a tenant
There will be circumstances that will arise that will be unique to your situation. This is where we will come in. Talking to landlords about landlord issues will get you a lot further than a bureaucrat at Consumer and business services!
The additional benefits we provide include:
1. Keep members informed of any changes to legislative requirements
2. Discounts to advertise properties on realestate.com and other online platforms
3. Discounted legal fees for debt recovery or if issues need to be taken to the magistrate’s court.
4. Valuation reports from RP-Data including:
a. Sale comparative marketing analysis
b. Rental comparative market analysis
c. Property Profile Reports
d. Property Valuation Estimate
e. Rental Valuation Estimates
f. Suburb profile report
g. Suburb statistic report
5. Tenant history background check done by TICA
3. What’s the hardest part of being a landlord?
Making a judgement on who will most likely be a good tenant. Nobody will ever get this right 100% of the time. If you get it right, then you should have an easy task in managing the property. If not – you could be up for some headaches. That is why the vetting process is the most important part of being a landlord. We will give you guidance on what to look out for. Rushing this most vital step could potentially cost you thousands of dollars in the long run. Remember you learn from your mistakes but its far better to learn from other people’s mistakes!
4. What’s involved in self-managing?
1. Preparing your property for rent to minimise the chance of being slapped with a Housing Improvement order.
2. Opening your house up for inspection
3. Vetting prospective tenants
4. Preparing leasing documents
5. Pre-lease inspections
6. Lodging the bond with CBS
7. Conducting routine inspections
8. Dealing with breaches
9. Dealing with lease terminations
10. Final Inspections
11. Dealing with SACAT
These at first may seem daunting, but the landlords kit goes through all of these issues. The kits contains all the forms found on the CBS website as well as an application form and tips and tricks on what to do at certain stages of a tenancy.
5. Why join the Landlords Association?
Many of our members have self managed in the past, then handed over their property portfolio to a manager. After a few bad experience they reverted to self managing again. So what was their experience?
1. A revolving door of property manager within the firm. This becomes problematic when disputes arise with tenants – who said what and when? The diligent managers keep good records – the sloppy ones don’t.
2. Not following up on breaches. This has implications when you make a claim on the bond or if you need to make an insurance claim.
3. Not following instructions from the landlord
4. Not keeping the landlord in the loop.
Property managers generally charge a weekly fee and on top of that charge other fees like inspection and re-letting fees. With a little bit of work you can save yourself thousands of dollars over the year.

What we do is provide you with all the basic elements of property management via the landlords’ kit. We supplement this by acting as a source of guidance when you are at a loss.

Yes you could call CBS, but in the majority of cases the bureaucrats who answers the phone will not have the real life experience backing the answer they give you. The landlords’ Association is run by Landlords for Landlords.

The additional benefits we provide include:
1. Keep members informed of any changes to legislative requirements
2. Discounts to advertise properties on realestate.com and other online platforms
3. Discounted legal fees for debt recovery or if issues need to be taken to the magistrate’s court.
4. Valuation reports from RP-Data including:
a. Sale comparative marketing analysis
b.    Rental comparative market analysis
   c. Property Profile Reports
d. Property Valuation Estimate
e. Rental Valuation Estimates
f. Suburb profile report
  g. Suburb statistic report
5. Tenant history background check done by TICA
6. What the Association will NOT DO for you.
1. We will not fill out any paperwork on your behalf
2. We will not attend a SACAT hearing with you
3. We will not provide any onsite advice – i.e. house inspections