I was contacted this week by an owner seeking advice as her property had been on the market for a few weeks with little interest. She was starting to have some concerns about whether her agent was doing all they could to secure new tenants.

Said Landlord explained that her property was worth $600 per week any day of the week and had never had any issues finding tenants before.

So, I did a little digging………….

Firstly, I did a quick search of comparable properties currently for lease in the same suburb. I found 3 very similar townhouses for lease between $30 – $50 per week cheaper than this one.

If you are looking for a 3 x 2 townhouse and three are for lease for $550 per week and one is $600, then it stands to reason that most people will look at the cheaper ones first.

I find it common for landlords to form an opinion of what their property is worth and stick to that regardless of market conditions.

While the West is blessed with a stable rental market, supply, demand and other external factors will cause small price fluctuations in rental prices in both directions.

It is very important to assess your property in the current market and make any price adjustments before each rental campaign to ensure you don’t price yourself out of the market. Tenants spend a lot of time researching for the perfect property and are well educated on rental prices.

Secondly, I noticed that the rental listing for this property had old photos that had obviously been taken from a phone, and by the look of it, it was an old phone also.

Presentation matters! A property that is marketed properly with professional photography will get more people through the door and lease quicker.  Scrolling through rental websites it is painfully obvious when this very important corner has been cut.

I think that taking the time to present your property in its best possible condition tells tenants that you care about the property, and it also sets a standard that is to be maintained throughout the tenancy.

The last thing I did was to have this landlord forward me any correspondence from her current agent so I could take a peek at how the rental campaign was being run. I saw a long email chain with a lot of generic inspection reports (number of attendees at each open for inspection etc) but very little feedback regarding anything else.

So here’s the thing, if your property has been sitting vacant for an extended period of time then there is something wrong. In this instance, I am certain that a simple price adjustment and some improved marketing would have easily done the trick.

As far as I can tell, this feedback was never given to this owner. I understand it’s not always easy giving honest feedback especially when it comes to price reductions.

But like I always say, “agents don’t set the market in the same way the weatherman doesn’t make the rain”. It is the job of an agent to educate our clients on market conditions and offer guidance and solutions.  Every week a property sits vacant, you lose 2% of your yearly income.

Leasing a property takes more than just putting a lease sign in the front yard it takes an experienced agent to get you the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

If you would like to know how our team leased this property is only five days for above the asking price, then give me a call.

 

 

 

By Ben Broadley