Is an agent’s location important to their ability to manage my property?
One of the most common misconceptions about finding an agent to manage your property is that they need to be in the neighbourhood. Long gone are the days when prospective tenants went from real estate agency to real estate agency looking for homes to rent in any given area. They simply don't have the time.
Almost 100% of our entire tenant enquiry now comes from the internet. This means that we can quickly and easily lease properties in a very large geographic area. We can also very quickly assess rents in any given area to determine what the right amount of rent is for a property.
At Rental First we easily manage properties in over 100 different suburbs in Sydney metropolitan area and all from 1 office location.
What are your services?
As a full featured property management company, all we do is property professional management. We provide a complete range of services to our clients including effective marketing, careful tenant selection, expert lease negotiation, timely and proactive communication, regular and thorough property inspections, preventative and reactive property repairs and maintenance, 24 hours tenant helpdesk, 24 hours landlord helpdesk, zero tolerance rent arrears management, landlord cash flow management, and regular rent reviews.
Why use a professional property manager?
Lots of owners choose to manage their property themselves and many of them are very successful. However, with the time involved in collecting rents, arranging repairs and finding the best tenants, most owners have found that their time is more valuable spent elsewhere.
A good property manager will make you money on your investment, not cost you money.
Other important considerations are the legal aspects of property management. In the litigious society that we live in, a property owner can ill afford to handle a problem tenant in an incorrect manner. Professional property managers are well versed in landlord tenant law, and are abreast of the constantly changing legislation governing them.
How do I switch to Rental First if it is currently being managed by another agent?
Changing to Rental First is easy! Did you know you can change managing agents without affecting the tenancy in any way, even if your property is tenanted and on a current lease?
Currently managed by another agency and not satisfied?
All you have to do is make the decision and we will provide a seamless transition, taking care of everything.
We will send your current agent the Transfer Letter that you have signed and make arrangements for your tenant to be notified and for the keys to be collected from your managing agent. Everything else carries on as usual.
How long will it take to find a tenant for my property?
This is a common question and there is no guarantee on how long it takes to rent a property however the better your property is presented, the more realistic the rental amount that you are asking and the better the agent who is letting your property, the quicker it will be leased. At Rental First we 30% lower vacancy rates then industry standard.
Do you have tenants waiting to rent on your database?
We are always talking to tenants looking to rent property, we would have constantly over 200 tenants on our data base looking to rent a property at any one time.
What is your procedures on vetting potential tenants?
Potential tenants need to fill out an application form with all their personal details along with identification, work references, personal references, rental references and any other information like bank statements and pay slips. Once we have all this information we conduct all the reference checks against this information and verify employment. We also check for any blacklisting of the tenant on a tenant reference agency. Once we have performed all the checks then we can make a recommendation to the owner whether to approve or not approve the applicant. It is important that good tenants are put into each property as this is vital to the overall performance of the owner’s asset.
What happens if my tenant does not pay rent?
We monitor tenant arrears daily. When a tenant is 3+ days in arrears we will contact them via telephone, email and SMS. On the 5th & 10th day we will also post or either visit the tenant issuing an Arrears Breach Notice. If we still have not received rent after 14 days, we will issue a Termination Notice on the 15th day giving them 14 clear days to vacate.
We will communicate with you throughout this process and a Termination Notice will never be issued without discussing the situation with you first. It is our intention at all times to minimise any loss to the owner so these actions need to be carried out promptly. Because of our systematic rental arrears approach we have very few rental arrears problems.
Do I need landlord insurance?
As with any insurance policy, it is not compulsory to have landlord insurance on your property however we strongly recommend that every property investor has a specific landlord insurance policy in place for their property. Landlord Insurance protects you in the event of a tenant not paying rent, departing the property early or damaging the property. It also includes public liability and limited cover for contents (e.g. floor coverings, curtains). Please contact your property manager for further information.
What are you repairs and maintenance procedure?
We have a 24/7 helpdesk that tenants either can ring or email with any repair issues they may have, we also collate any maintenance works we consider important to the property when we conduct our inspections. Any repairs and maintenance unless deemed urgent are referred to the owner for approval before we perform the works.
Do you negotiate on fees?
Every situation is different however we always say that professional property management is very important as your investment property is a very significant asset that needs to be looked after by an expert. As a property owner, you need to be comfortable with the company and person who is looking after your property and that you have the confidence in them that they are going to do a first-class job. So yes, we would consider slightly negotiating our fees however we do not want this to be a major part of your decision criteria, I would rather you consider who is going to add the most value to my asset. If the property management fees are to cheap your property management firm cannot resource their business to give the attention to detail your property needs. You are not looking for a rent collector you are looking for a professional asset manager.
How many properties does each property manager manage?
We have one property manager looking after 120 properties, we find this is a great level to resource the business and can deliver the first-class service we pride ourselves on. Anymore then this we believe you cannot give the property the attention it deserves.
What are you repairs and maintenance procedure?
We have a 24/7 helpdesk that tenants either can ring or email with any repair issues they may have, we also collate any maintenance works we consider important to the property when we conduct our routine inspections. Any repairs and maintenance unless deemed urgent are referred to the owner for approval before we perform the works.
How often do you perform rental increases?
A rental review is performed each time we conduct a routine inspection of your property. With this review captured and also with the consultation of our owner rental increases are performed 60 days from the end of each lease. So, this could be formed every 6 or 12 months depending on the term of the tenancy.
How often do you transfer the rent money to owners?
We transfer rent monies to our owners nominated bank account on the 15th and last business day of every month. On the transferring of the rent monies a Statement will be emailed to you clearly spelling out all the income and expenditure for that period.
Download our checklist: Property Investor Checklist for Selecting a Professional Property Manager