HCNZ Rental Appraisal

[Perry]

Disagree strongly. There is no one-size-fits-all
panacea for property management. Good PMs
most certainly are like gold - treat them as if
they were treasures. But they're few and far
between. And almost certainly not to be found
in REA offices.
.

[cube]

Isn't that like saying you should try pulling your own teeth with a pair of pliers so you know how bad it feels then use a dentist on the next one??

NEVER EVER EVER manage your own properties IMHO.

If property managers had to go through 7 years of tertiary education, were properly regulated and gave me ice cream, I would agree.

[BusyLizzy]

The problem with newby investors getting a PM straight off the bat is that they don't necessarily understand the qualities of a GOOD PM, and therefore don't know how to choose one. I would guess that 90% of newbies go straight to the REA's for their PM's. And then they have blind faith in that the PM knows what they are doing, and does a good job.

I have seen many posts on PT about people complaining about their PM's and finishing off with the 'What should I do?" question.

Yes, it's painful managing your own. But it's worth doing the hard yards. It's also a good way to get intimately familiar with your new investment property. When you get so many properties and have many other investment opps to chase (like Dean does, with all respect!) then yes, definitely get a PM. In the interim, consider yourself serving an apprenticeship!

[Dean@Massiveaction]

There are so many places to get good advice on PM's like here, that I think it nuts to try and manage your own. A bad PM will do a better job than most newbies. The laws are so convoluted these days, USE A PM. GET ONE RECOMMENDED FROM HERE.
We are talking about someone who is on PT, not every new investor in NZ :-)

[Tan]

www.tinz.net.nz

Well worth joining your local property investors association.

To clarify, you get to join TINZ for free when you use your PIA member number to join. Then it's just about $19 per check.

You also get heaps of other benefits, including recommendations for PM's and the knowledge to check their work.

[donna]

I think it depends on your personality type too - I for one cannot manage our properties cos I'm too weak. Dealing with people's issues, asking for leniency on paying rent etc - I'm not the right person on the front line as I cave in too easily and I'm relieved I know I don't possess the right qualities to successfully manage IPs.

Others however (Newbies and Experienced) are perfect candidates for it and this site is testament to lots of very Investors who are doing an outstanding job - putting a lot of career PMs to shame I'd argue.

So while the experience is good to have - you do need to weigh up the cost of giving it a go yourself - especially if you are anything like me.

Cheers,

Donna

[WGN ex-property manager]

I find I'm better at managing as a PM than I was as self managing investor.

Running PM business means I have to design processes that cope with people who lie to me. This means that, face to face with a sob story and rent arrears I don't have to make a personal judgement call about this person and the situation, I simply follow office policy, which takes the stress and the emotion out of the situation for me (even though I designed the office policy).

Roughly speaking the policy boils down to "at the slightest hint of trouble, sprint to eviction as fast as legally possible. If the situation totally fixes itself before then, abort eviction".

[Bluekiwi]

Gold = Pedersens Property Managers

Enough said.

Just remember that if you use them...

To send me a bucket load of money for putting you on to them.
I take all currencies.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

ROFL

policy boils down to "at the slightest hint of trouble, sprint to eviction as fast as legally possible.

[Vic]

thats seems easy enough to follow

[graemeh]

If property managers had to go through 7 years of tertiary education, were properly regulated and gave me ice cream, I would agree.

Your dentist gives you Ice Cream! I wish my dentist or my property manager would give me Ice Cream, all I get is a calendar from the PM each year.

[muppet]

You are lucky. I don't even get that.

[Perry]

A bad PM will do a better job than most newbies.

Maybe. Not as simple as it seems.

[Dean@Massiveaction]

As already explained Perry we aren't talking about uninformed people, only PTers who can get advice on who to use :-)

[Momo]

There are so many places to get good advice on PM's like here, that I think it nuts to try and manage your own. A bad PM will do a better job than most newbies. The laws are so convoluted these days, USE A PM. GET ONE RECOMMENDED FROM HERE.
We are talking about someone who is on PT, not every new investor in NZ :-)

Although it might be true that "A bad PM will do a better job than most newbies", but I think some PM can be so incompetent and ineffective when it comes to property management, you really better off managing yourself.

I have recently got rid of one property manager because of her poor management and communication skills. The property was left vacant for over 3 month after the previous tenant left the property and during the period I have asked her several times why no one was renting it and she always said the market was slow and never mentioned anything about the condition of the house.

I decided to go to the property myself and I was really shocked about the condition of the property. There were holes on the walls, torn wallpaper, rubbish everywhere and and house smelled like dead rat in it.

I was really upset not only she left the property in such a poor condition but she also failed to tell me the house was in such a poor condition. It cost me almost $4000 rent loss during the period which could be avoided if I was notified earlier.

I spent $1300 to repaint and tidy up the property and it was rented by other company a week later.She really failed every aspects of her job as a property manager.

It is good to use property manager to manage your properties but it is important that you have to manage and keep close eyes on your property manager(s) to make sure they are doing their job right. Otherwise, you probably better off managing your own properties.