Renting out apartments

[kristy_w]

I know there's always lots of posts on here about trying to rent an apartment, but is there anyone with some experience of the other side? I bought my lovely little apartment not so long ago and may now need to rent it out. I'm interested in hearing about

Comments

[mischa_fiasco]

What area is it in? That'll make a difference to a fair few things....

[lilmissnorti]

in all honesty if you want to keep the fees you pay an agent - do it yourself.

all the forms are there for you on the RTA website and means you actually get a bit more money in your pocket over the agents. dealing direct with the owner means that the tenants are met and interviewed by you, hand picked by you and you build a sense of trust and rapport with them.

Most people will look after a place that isn't their's and for the most part be model tenants. agents in my experience don't seem to actually DO their job properly either by not reporting to the owners or the tenants vital information.

i might point out at this stage that I am not a home/unit owner and have only been a tenant but have preferred to deal direct with the owners instead of agents who do nothing but screw you (the tenant) and the owner around.

[rhitarted]

I completely agree with this. I have just finished a 2-1/2 year lease dealing directly with the owner. I think when you know the person who actually owns the house, you tend to look after it so much better.

Before that house, I dealt with a few real estate agents with various rentals. Most never bothered to do inspections, and trying to get things organised was a huge pain. More often than not you had to serve them with a "remedy breach" before they got their finger out.

[talluleh]

Check out Stella Property Group, they are a lovely boutique real estate firm and you'll never get the level of service they'll give you from any of the bigger places! Sarah sold our place for us and she goes above and beyond to get good results, and not sleazy or smarmy the way so many agents are. Their prices are excellent too, they'll pretty much match or beat anything anyone else offers you.

www.stellaproperty.com.au

The first pic that comes up on their website is my old kitchen :)

[nerddette]

Three comments:

1. It's worthwhile getting tenant's insurance to cover you if they completely trash the place or leave with massive rent debts. Only thing is, you have to take it out before a lease is signed so maybe see how much it is and consider taking out the insurance before you place the ad?

2. Some building insurance doesn't apply when the property is vacant. My parents just had to pay a $25,000 damage bill for their three bedroom townhouse when the water pipes burst and wrecked everything. Insurance wouldn't pay because the fine print said they had to inform the insurer if the property was empty.

3. I personally think agency fees are worth it. It's well known that if you can't get a property thru an agent due to a bad rental history then you go privately because if you smile enough and say all the right things then you can usually get it. (PS this doesn't apply to me - my own my house).

t.

[kristy_w]

Appreciate it. I was thinking along the same lines but wasn't aware of the order everything had to be done in. I'll definitely be looking into insurance options.

[triffid_hunter]

arthur conias in toowong were really lovely to me when I was a tenant. I've had numerous experiences with major asshole agents and owners so they really stand out in my experience.

For some reason, many agents treat tenants like the enemy, like they must extract rent and cleanliness despite us, whereas arthur conias treated me more like a business partner- all smiles when we stick to our deal, and on the odd occasion where we weren't able to, same smiles and genuine attempts to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

Not sure what they're like from the other side, but I suspect they'd be similar.

They advertise that they use the jenman system- might be worth your while researching what that is and how it works.