Managing you own Investment Property – why would you?

What price a headache?

“Save money,” they say.  “It’s easy,” they say.  “Anyone can do it,” they say.  On the face of it, ‘they’ appear to have a point.  On the face of it!  Scratch the Investment Property surface however and there’s a whole untold story behind those glib statements.

Time is Money

At Stills Properties we get it – property investors want to make money, not spend it.  But how valuable is your time?  The old adage ‘time is money’ never rang more true than when it comes to managing your own investment property, because how much of your family time are you prepared to commit to:

* Dealing with late-paying tenants?
* Evicting a bad tenant?
* Finding a new tenant when the current one leaves?
* Performing regular property inspections?
* Organising necessary repairs?
* Keeping up-to-date with applicable legislation?

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Pet-friendly landlords can earn more in rent

Landlords – consider the pet-friendly route to a 10-15% rent premium!

If you have an investment property then you have an interest in the real estate market. If you have an interest in the real estate market then you’ll be fully aware of changes in recent months. The long-running seller’s market suddenly switched to a buyer’s market with prices sliding steadily over a few months.

A buyer’s market in sales translates to a tenant’s market in rentals. The pool of potential tenants decreases as more people opt to take advantage of falling prices and buy their own home. Add to this the enormous number of new apartments going up everywhere you look and supply is beginning to outstrip demand by some margin. Tenants have more to choose from and they’re becoming more selective and demanding.

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Is Your Tenant Illegally Subletting Your Investment?

The number of Australian’s renting is officially on the rise. While this is great news for residential property investors, it’s not the only thing heading north.

In recent years, tenants who are illegally subletting to strangers, especially tourists and holiday-makers has increased at an alarming rate, leaving the property owners exposed to a range of risks and costly consequences.

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Licensees Need a Real Estate Locum Too

Locum jobs are common-place in the medical and healthcare fields. Typically, a locum doctor will temporarily stand in for a permanent doctor when they are on leave. What about a real estate locum?

Recently, ‘locumming’ has become more common in other industry sectors, such as legal, pharmacy, business and namely real estate and property management.

Like many businesses, being the principal or licensee of a real estate agency can mean long hours and a lot of administration and paperwork.

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Should You Hire a Professional Property Manager?

Property management has been around since ancient Roman civilisation – where Grecian cities appointed men to manage properties and collect rents.

Fast forward to the modern day and the role of a property manager has without a doubt evolved to encompass far more than rent collection.

What has changed in recent years though, is the question of whether a landlord should self-manage or hire a professional property manager.

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