Choosing a property manager Perth owners can live with comes down to about six questions, and none of them is the one most people ask first. The management fee is the easiest thing to compare and the least useful. A percentage point of difference on a $600 a week rental is a few hundred dollars a year. Three weeks of unnecessary vacancy is more than double that, and a tenant who should never have been approved can cost a great deal more again.
Who will actually manage my property?
Ask for a name, not an office. Then ask how many properties that person manages.
The answer to the second question is the one that matters. A manager carrying a very large portfolio is not being careless, they are being triaged, and a property with no arrears and no complaints is the one that quietly gets no attention for a year.
Ask what happens when that person is on leave, because that is when things fall through.
How do you decide who gets approved?
Every agency will say they check references. Ask what they actually check, in what order, and who signs off.
The useful follow up is what would make them decline an application, and then whether they have declined one recently. An agency that cannot think of an example is either very lucky or not really deciding.
The tenant selection is the single decision with the largest effect on the return over the next three years. It is worth more scrutiny than the fee schedule.
What happens on day one of arrears?
Not day fourteen. Day one.
Arrears are managed by the speed of the first contact, not by the severity of the eventual notice. An agency with a defined process that starts immediately will rarely have a serious arrears problem. One that waits a week because it feels awkward will have several.
Ask what proportion of their portfolio is currently in arrears. An agency that does not know, or cannot find out while you are sitting there, is telling you something about its systems.
What will I actually receive, and when?
Monthly statements are a given. Ask what else.
Inspection reports with photographs, on a schedule you can see in advance. A written recommendation rather than a list of observations. An end of financial year package your accountant can work from without ringing anyone. Notice of lease expiries and rent review dates before they arrive rather than after.
Ask to see a real example of each, with the names taken out. A sample report tells you more about an agency than an hour of conversation.
How do you handle maintenance?
Ask who the tradespeople are and how long they have been used. A stable panel of trades who know the buildings is worth real money, because they price fairly, they turn up, and they do not need to be briefed from scratch every time.
Ask what they can spend without calling you, and confirm you are comfortable with that number. Then ask what happens at eleven o’clock on a Saturday night when a hot water system fails.
What are the fees, all of them?
Now ask. The management percentage is one line. The ones that matter are the letting fee, the lease renewal fee, the inspection fees if they are charged separately, statement and administration fees, marketing costs, and what is charged if you sell or transfer the property away.
Add them up over a year on your actual rent, not as percentages. Two agencies quoting a similar headline rate can be several hundred dollars apart once everything is counted, and it is not always the higher headline that ends up dearer.
The question nobody asks
What do you do when you disagree with me?
An owner and a manager will eventually disagree about a rent figure, an application, or whether something is worth repairing. A manager who agrees with everything is not managing the property, they are managing you, and the property is where the money is.
The short version
Ask who manages it and how many they carry. Ask how tenants are chosen and what gets declined. Ask what happens on day one of arrears. Ask to see a real report. Ask about trades and spending limits. Then ask about every fee, not the headline. And ask what they do when they think you are wrong.
If you would like to put those questions to us, that is a fair way to spend half an hour. Our residential property management service is built around one point of contact, so the person you put those questions to is the person who manages the property, not a call centre.
This article is general information and not advice.
