CPG

Whether it’s an investment property or a property you have lived in and vacated, you’ll want to ensure that you protect both yourself and your property, whilst getting the best possible return.

We often get asked ‘should we use a property manager or just rent it ourselves?’ and our response to that is always ‘use a reputable property manager’.

Here’s Our 3 Step Strategy To Renting Your Investment Property Successfully:

1. Higher Quality Tenants

An experienced property manager will likely have seen thousands of applications and knows how to identify the good from the bad. This kind of experience takes time and you can rest assured that they will analyse information for any warning signs or red flags.

A thorough screening process results in reliable tenants that:

Pay on time
Rent longer
Put less wear and tear on your property
Generally cause less problems

Good tenants are a precious commodity – they will treat your property as if it were their own, they pay their rent on time and they stay for a longer period of time.

2. Shorter Vacancy Cycles

A property manager will help you determine critical things which will affect how long it takes to rent your property:

Determine the best rent rate: Each week your property is not rented it costs you a chunk of money so take your property manager’s advice. If the weekly rent is too high, in the long run it will cost you more than if you had just dropped the rent by $5 or $10 per week and had it rented straight away. Determining the optimal price requires access to rental rate tools, knowledge of the local area and data on recently rented properties.
Effectively market your property: With years of experience in writing ads your property manager will understand how to formulate a good add. They will also know where to advertise in order to attract a larger pool of candidates. Additionally, because of their volume they will be able to negotiate cheaper advertising rates both online and offline.

When you go to rent your property its success will heavily rely on your rental strategy.

Remember, choose your property manager wisely as they will be part of what we like to call you’re A-team. Knowing that you will probably be an owner of more than one investment property, it’s a good idea to spend the time in the early stages finding a property manager who has your best interests at heart and is experienced in the industry.

Choosing an agency based purely on the lowest fees could end up costing you in the long run.

3. Managing Paperwork And Responsibility

There’s a remarkable amount of paperwork that can be involved with managing an investment property including lease agreements and contracts for repairs and maintenance, property rules and regulations.

Your property manager will ensure the tenant completes and signs their contract which is very important as it protects the investor. Some investors overlook this key part of renting a property which can result in problems down the track between the tenant and the owner.

Experienced property managers will also be up-to-date on the latest zoning regulations, property values, landlord rights and federal and state laws.

What Are The Personal Benefits For Owners?

Less stress – Its no fun taking phone calls in the middle of the night from your tenants or needing to chase unpaid rent. Do you know the process to evict a tenant from your property or what the process would be if tenants did some damage to your property? Possibly not…
More freedom – By using a property manager you are not restricted by needing to buy locally – you can diversify your portfolio and invest in another town or even interstate. Additionally, you will not need to always be available in the event your tenants need you.
Free up more of your personal time – You know the saying ‘time is money’… well for many investors time can be profitably spent better elsewhere and not servicing their properties. Be free to enjoy time with your family or friends, or doing the things you actually enjoy.

For more articles about being a successful property investor, see:

If you have any questions regarding this blog that you would like to discuss with one of the team at CPG, then please feel free to contact our office.