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NELSON PROPERTY INVESTORS ASSOCIATION
OCTOBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
PO Box 198 Nelson
[email protected]
OCTOBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
PO Box 198 Nelson
[email protected]
Our sixth meeting of the year is being held at the Nelson Suburban Club, Tahunanui Drive on Tuesday 14 October. The meeting proper commences at 7.30 pm with the ever popular meal at 6pm when you will have the opportunity to chat to other investors. We are flying in John Bolton from Squirrel Mortgages to speak to us. John writes each month in NZ Property Investor Magazine. He will be speaking on the economy and interest rates, property developments he is involved with, and a general view of the property market. If you are coming to the meal please email Glenn by return email. The Suburban Club reserves seats on the basis of my bookings.
THE MARKET
A WET SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Well here I am putting together this newsletter when the phone rings. Hi Glenn I have a problem in Wellington. I have just let my executive apartment in Central Wellington and last night the tenants had loud booze fuelled house warming party. What should I do?We went over all the checks he should have done. Well he did pretty much the lot from TINZ checks to referees, previous landlords to job references. Why choose three young men for such an apartment? Well he does have the property on the market and two of the men have highly respectable jobs. About the only thing he did not do was check them out on Facebook. Who knows if that would have made any difference. As the saying goes …. You know the rest! So what to do? The Body Corporate Secretary had been on the phone and supplied explicit video clips of the goings on. The secretary sounded as if he had experience with tenants like this. Lucky for my friend the tenants were on a periodic tenancy. All three of us came to the same conclusion. Issue the tenants with a 14 day notice to remedy and a 90 day notice to terminate. Sometimes landlords get the choice of tenants wrong and no amount of smooth or rough talking will put it right.
THREE TALES FROM THREE LANDLORDS
In my email box comes this message. Hi GlennMay I ask to be removed from your mailing list please with the poor level of care taken by tenants in both of our properties Yxx and I have sold them. Very disappointing when you consider they were built by us and no less than two years old when rented but it would seem this makes no difference to even those tenants with the best references.
As many of you can imagine I was both horrified and sad to hear such a story and wondered what I could say or even if I could have helped them before they had this painful experience. So I wrote the following email and they popped their replies alongside the questions.
For the benefit of our industry would you mind being so kind to share a bit more with me.
I have so many tenancies and changes of tenants I at times forget how hard it is for new operators.
Firstly where were the properties and what rent / how many bedrooms. Toi Toi 4 Bedrooms $ 395.00 / Week
How did you advertise the vacancies and what selection process did you take.
Trade Me (Most Successful) Nelson Mail (Attracted Unwanted Attention Real Estate Agents)
Did you contact the previous landlord, carry out a credit check, look at the tribunal on line site, look at their facebook page. Followed Up References Invariably NOT Offered from Previous Landlords Met ALL Interested Tenants.
Re inspections. How often did you do them? 3 Monthly
Rent problems tell me a bit more. Mainly Taking In Further Tenants Without Our Being Given The Authority To Meet Them / Authorise Their Tenancy. These Later Individuals Caused Most Problems.
Did you consider using a property manager? All Enquiries Made About Property Managers Indicated They Are Grossly Overpaid For Services Rendered And Offer Numerous Excuses Why They Can’t Be Held Accountable For Damage etc Which In Our Opinion Made Their Engagement Not Worth The Commission They Were Asking. We Were Convinced They Could Be Compared With “Fair Weather” Friends…….
Well my goodness. What could one say to comments like this? For once I am speechless. Or well let’s say I am not saying anything.
I invite you all to write a short answer to these failed property investors. The best answers will go into the next newsletter and a prize of a good bottle of wine will be given to the writer of the best answer.
NUMBER TWO LANDLORD
Hi Glenn the lovely voice of my friend goes. We have a tenancy problem what should we do. Well this has to be a big one I thought. I answered you folks have been landlords for longer than me. What can it be? Well the story goes we checked out this applicant thoroughly but the first week came round and he did not pay his rent. What after 30+ years you have to be joking. Do we issue a 14 day notice immediately? How can this be I thought. You folks have a decent sized portfolio of good properties and yet this is the first time it has happened. Yes folks this is a true story. There are experienced old and wise investors who hardly ever have a problem.NUMBER THREE LANDLORD
Hi Glenn can you manage our properties. We are over these bad tenants. I visited and found the last tenant had done massive damage. It did not take us long to find two lovely good tenants at a higher rent in his two properties. Then I made an application to the tribunal against the previous tenant on his behalf. We got $8000 awarded and the tenancy adjudicator tore a strip off the silly young tenant. She told her in no uncertain terms that that there was no excuse for doing damage like this and it was unacceptable to claim she was too young to carry the rubbish away and leave it for the old landlord to remove. The young lady has accepted responsibility for her bad ways and an attachment order for $50 per week has started up. We are hopeful to get a similar amount from her man.THIS STORY CAME IN FROM MR LANDLORD USA.
I WONDER IF I SHOULD DO THIS MYSELF.
HOW TO STAY IN CONTROL DURING THE MOVE IN INSPECTION
I WONDER IF I SHOULD DO THIS MYSELF.
HOW TO STAY IN CONTROL DURING THE MOVE IN INSPECTION
A seasoned landlord and regular contributor to LandlordingAdvice.com shared how he personally handles Move-In Inspections and stays in control during the process.
"I don't know (laws of other states, and be sure to check YOUR state laws), but as for me this is why I am the one who writes stuff on the move-in inspection. I used to allow tenants to write on it and some would get crazy picky. One stain in the corner of the carpet would be noted as "carpet in terrible condition and filthy."
Um...no..... Ever notice how some car rental companies do it? THEY survey the car and note down the damages. Do what the big boys do! Copy good business practices.
So now I walk thru WITH the tenants immediately prior to lease signing. This is my FINAL STEP in the screening process. I tell them I will write down whatever they like, but to keep in mind this property has been lived in before and we are renting it "as is, where is" along with all it's charm and slight imperfections. I will write down whatever they notice from the scratch on the trim to the small ding in a closet door, but if they get to be ridiculous and argumentative saying everything is "filthy" and "destroyed" when in fact I just had my cleaners and maintenance guys go thru, I will quickly close the move-in documents folder, hand them back the 1st month's rent money order, tell them I cannot make them live in such a terribly disappointing home, and wish them good luck with their search.
Yes, I will do this while their truck full of stuff is sitting in my drive way. They will not be moving in. Sorry, act reasonable or go make arrangements elsewhere...
When you turn over control of this valuable document, it creates problems. Their interpretation may not match mine, and in my business my interpretation needs to win 100% of the time. I'm reasonable, and I expect them to be as well.
Glenn
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