API Blog :: Have your say!

July 2, 2010

If you could receive rent on time, would you pay for it?


It’s one of the largest and ugliest jobs in a property management business. It’s the reason property managers can win managements and lose them, and it’s the reason some investors sell their investment property and never enter this wealth race again. It’s the difference between good tenants and bad – late rent.

BY EMILY SIM

The legislation says we have to give the tenant time to pay their rent but the landlord must make their mortgage payment or they’re charged interest and permanently scarred right down to the line item in the eyes of their lender.

In an attempt to make business more profitable, retain landlords and staff, property management businesses have been looking for a way to collect the rent that meets their clients’ requirements. Enter the rent payment system.

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June 23, 2010

Tribunal – the purpose, the process and the bottom line


The tribunal is one of the scariest places I have ever been. For as little as $35, you make a claim of up to $10,000. That’s scary if you’re on the receiving end, as many landlords would know.

BY EMILY SIM

The purpose of the tenancy tribunal, known as something different in every state but effectively the same, is to resolve disputes of a residential tenancy nature for landlords and tenants. What’s interesting about dispute resolution is that it takes many forms at the tribunal. It starts with mediation but can end in an order which actually contravenes the residential tenancy legislation.

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June 2, 2010

Taking the pain out of property maintenance


Hands up if you’ve ever just rented a property to a new tenant and the hot water system blows up? How about this one, new tenant moves in and no one can find the mailbox key?

BY EMILY SIM

It’s true, maintenance is a reality of being a landlord… but it doesn’t have to equal pain. I think the key to this is understanding what shape your property is actually in safety and building wise.

I’ve seen many older investment properties in better shape than brand new ones. Brand new means exactly that. Imagine a block of luxury apartments operate perfectly until every apartment has a new occupant actually move in. The lifts get a workout, the size of the waste pipes is tested as every occupant has their washing machine running for days and the security roller door on the under ground carpark is literally going up and down every three minutes to accommodate removalist vans. This is often the reason new buildings require so much warranty work in the beginning and that’s bad news for tenanted property.

How do you find out what shape your property is in?

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May 22, 2010

What does a good property manager really do?


Let’s start with the bottom line: is your investment growing more because of the expertise of your property management company?

BY EMILY SIM

We all know it’s a good idea to have an investment property, just as we know we should spread our investment risk by diversifying, but it’s fair to say there’s more to managing property than collecting rent and organising maintenance.

The basic expectation for a landlord paying management fees should be a relationship with their property manager or the principal of the business and a business plan for how their investment property can grow in capital value for them.

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