Property Investment Tips to Assist Your Landlords

There is a common perception that in order to own an investment property, you must be a wealthy investor with money to burn. The reality is that the opposite is more likely to be true, with many landlords overwhelmed by the actual cost of owning an investment property, which leaves many property managers wondering why the landlord was un-obliging over agreeing to a $100 repair.

As a property manager, it is essential to fully understand how much it costs an owner to own an investment property, and the type of investor they are in order to meet their needs, expectations and build the relationship (and of course provide better understanding and advice when convincing them to agree to the $100 repair).

There is fantastic 60 minute webinar within the Real+ membership called “Walking in the shoes of your investor” (presented by Fiona Blayney) to assist in training yourself and your property management teams on this important subject.

In this Real+ training webinar Fiona Blayney refers to the property management concept of Intentional landlords vs Accidental landlords.

• An intentional landlord made a decision to invest in property and has likely worked hard to own property, therefore has purpose and a plan.
• An accidental landlord may be one that has inherited property, has influence from parents, was unable to sell, someone who may be combining a household, or couldn’t afford mortgage.

Can you see that not only the needs of that landlord, but the financial motivations and challenges of the two will be very different? One group will understand the costs of investment much better, whereas the latter will not like or understand a lot of expenses.

We get amazing feedback from property managers on this training webinar – helping them to finally understand what it costs a landlord and see things from their perspective, making their lives easier not only in day to day dealings but also boosting their long term relationships with the client.

As a property manager it is important to understand what it actually costs the landlord to maintain an investment property, and the type of investor you are dealing with in order to build the relationship and have them trust in your service. But don’t try to figure it out on your own, next week, Real+ presents another property management live webinar on the topic. 

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real+TV where you can watch our webinar with special guest expert Chris Gray: Wealth Creation for Your Landlords.

The 7 Don'ts of Creating Strong Client Relationships with your Landlords

Working in property management means we have to wear many hats and play many different roles for our clients. It can be a demanding yet rewarding job. There are several minor mistakes than can happen on a daily basis but generally these mistakes can be rectified without damaging the client relationship.

Sadly there are a few more significant relationship mistakes that we can all easily make that will potentially damage a bond with a client. Once a relationship with a client is damaged or doubted it can make even the simplest tasks moving forward, difficult to deal with, let alone keeping that client on board for life.

To ensure you keep your client relationships strong from the start (and not to mention make your life easier,) here are 7 tips from the experts of what not to do.

1.       Don’t think it’s just a job – Passion is palpable, if you don’t care about your job it shows. Not feeling passionate? Take a moment to make a connection between what you do and the bigger picture. Constantly seek out ways to grow, learn and develop. Would you prefer to have an agent who is passionate about what they do? Or doesn’t care? What breeds more trust?

2.       Don’t be too sure of yourself – Keep a healthy perspective of yourself, remember it’s not about you and stay client focused. Clients do not like someone who comes across as patronising, knows it all, or constantly sings their own praises. Show me how good you are, don’t tell me.

3.       Don’t tell ‘white lies’ – This includes exaggerating. We can usually tell when others are doing this so why wouldn’t clients be able to pick up on it?  “When you create a reputation for honesty, for laying out all your cards even when it doesn’t benefit you, for telling the whole truth – you’ll gain customer loyalty that money can’t buy. Clients will trust, respect and refer you and your own life will become easier” - Joseph Callaway

4.       Don’t be too professional – Remember to stay human and be real to your clients, being too robotic and professional will give off the impression to the client that they are just another number. Don’t be afraid to make a personal connection - give a little something about yourself, find out more about your client and see them as more than an ATM machine.

5.       Don’t think you’re always right – Being the expert in the relationship it’s easy to automatically think you are right, but that doesn’t mean their opinion doesn’t matter. Try to put yourself in the clients shoes and see things from their perspective, you might find a new way of looking at things or at least a better viewpoint and attitude to exhibit in those tough conversations.

6.       Don’t be tight with your time – We all know our time is valuable and so do your clients. Wrapping up that conversation to get to the next one is noticeable and will not show that their relationship is important to you. Sharing your time, taking that extra minute to explain, educate, re-clarify or seek input, can become the most valuable relationship maker. “Imagine everyone you meet is wearing a sign around their neck which says - make me feel important” – Mary Kay.

7.       Don’t fail to express gratitude –We all want to feel valued, there are many ways to say thank you other than the usual verbal way.  It’s easy to take clients for granted or make them feel as though they aren’t valued. “Find ways in your everyday discussions to make them feel valued through getting to know them personally, forgiving occasional bad behaviour, and staying up-to-date in your field so you can give them the highest level of service," Joseph Callaway says.

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real+TV where you can watch our webinar with special guest expert Kirsty Spraggon: How to Create a Client for Life.

What is the Key to Appraisal Success?

Preparation is KEY!

Preparation in any area of property management is the key to success, none more important than the appraisal of new business. Many a time, an appraisal is rushed from a precious appointment without allocating the proper time required for research and preparation - people aren't well trained to deal with and adapt to varying clients needs.

You can only get so far flying by the seat of your pants but you will be far better prepared to win a new client over if you've put in the time and effort to prepare personalised and relevant data and knowledge, and undergo regular training to prepare yourself to respond to their personal situation.

Pre-appraisal this may mean spending some more time on the initial call finding out a little bit more about the property, what their expectations are and perhaps their intentions, so that you can be best prepared to sell the information and service that they need, not necessarily what you assume they want.

Ongoing preparation means undergoing training on a regular basis, this will ensure your new business success and essentially, that you remain prepared for any situation that crops up.
 

The most successful new business people in the industry are both well prepared before the actual meeting and well trained, so they are adaptable to different clients needs and expectations.

Why not attend our webinar next week on Wednesday 12.30 where Fiona will guide you through essential preparation for the listing appraisal itself. As part of our New Business Bootcamp training series, we'll cover how you can be ready and prepared leading up to and the day of appraisal. 

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real+TV where you can watch our webinar: New Business Bootcamp - Preparing to List.

How Would You Rate Your Rent Review Process?

We all know an essential part of our property management process is the rent review. At this stage we are generally finding out what the tenants plans are and if they want to stay on, then letting the landlord know the current rental value. But what if we took this simple rent review s step further and conducted a complete tenancy review with the landlord?

What if next time the rent review comes up we conduct the tenancy review as if we were sitting at a new listing presentation with them to discuss their needs by asking questions such as:

• “Paul, before we review the rental value on your property I just wanted to have a chat about you. What are your plans for the next 12-24 months?
• How have you found the tenancy so far? What do you think of the tenants?
• What is going to be most important to you in reviewing this tenancy? Increased rental value? Or tenant security?
• When would you like us to next review the rent?
• Do you have any plans to move back in or sell in the foreseeable future? As we can work on a plan towards that together.

Perhaps the landlords wants, needs and expectations have changed since you appraised their property 12 or more months ago. Things change so quickly in all of our lives, we need to remember that our landlords are people like us and things change in their lives too, therefore we need to consider their needs which are constantly changing just as our own are.

Originally your landlord wanted a family in their property, but are quickly realising that perhaps that professional group would have been better. Perhaps they were planning to stay away for 3 or more years but now plan to return home in six months time. Perhaps they are thinking of selling in a year but may not realise increasing the rent now risks the tenants vacating closer to the sale time.

This new process of reviewing not just the rent, but the tenancy itself will enable you to best recommend options to the landlords based on their needs (and not what we assume their needs are based on our process). Most importantly, just by opening up this whole new world of communication you are improving the relationship between yourself and the landlord by showing you actually care about their wants and needs. Imagine the possibilities.

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real+TV where you can watch our webinar: Systemise for Success - Rent Reviews.

New Condition Report for Residential Tenancies in NSW

In a bid to reduce the incidence of falls from windows and balconies, the NSW government has made changes to the condition report for rental premises. Effective from 1^st March, the new version of the condition report includes ‘window safety devices’ wherever ‘windows/screens’ feature.

Whichever method of condition reports you use, whether that be paper, online or a third party application, ensure that your reports are updated to reflect this change. You can see an example of the new version of report by downloading a copy from Fair Trading’s website here.

For more information surrounding window safety and the safety measures being implemented in NSW, visit the Fair Trading window and balcony safety page.