Tips for Rental Property Owners

If you own a rental property on the Sunshine Coast you will have been no stranger to the high and lows that the industry has experienced in the past few years. From massive supply and demand issues with rentals.  We specialise in Sales only and work with some great partners who manage Rental Properties.

Our main focus here at Team JP Real Estate is to assist sellers in getting the absolute most for their properties come sale time but we also offer services and resources for all your real estate needs. Have a read of our tips below on how to manage your rental properties to ensure you are increasing the value of your asset while still offering a fair rate for renters.

Managing Your Rental Property

If you’re new to rental properties or you need a new Property Manager then contact us here and we can recommend a local agent with a fantastic track record to look after your property. Remember - when buying a rental property, you don’t need to keep the current Property Manager, you have the option to select your own upon settlement.

Something we see often is well-meaning landlords keeping rent below market value as they like their tenants and want to do right by them. This strategy will hurt you in the long-run though as future buyers will look at the rental returns and their offers will reflect this lower rate. If you want to make sure your asset is ready to sell, ensure the rent is being increased periodically to match market value.

If you are considering selling soon, another management tip to consider is keeping your tenants on Periodic Rent i.e. offers 3 month extensions rather than 6 or 12 months. Having tenants locked in for long periods of time may limit the options of potential buyers who may wish to occupy the property on settlement.

The last but often overlooked piece of advice is to keep up with property maintenance. An obvious tip, we know, but too often Owners will save up a long list of improvements and fixes until they sell which leads to a large payout and headache come sale time. Try to update something every year (it’s tax deductible remember!) and consider these costs in your rent amount.

Selling Your Rental Property

When you go to sell, do your research for the best Agent, not just the one that manage your property, as it’s not in their best interest to sell your property as they will lose that ongoing income. You can get in touch with us here for a free, no obligation market appraisal of your property to get the ball rolling. 

Team JP are also happy to assist in vacating tenants and do the exit inspection on your behalf if you are not local and ensure the departing Rental Manager does all the things they need to do to protect you. We can also assist with a bond clean or garden tidy to keep tenants onside.

Doing Right by the Tenants

While we want the absolute best outcome for rental property owners, we acknowledge the right of tenants to affordable, stable and well-maintained housing. Here are our tips to make sure you are doing right by your tenants:

• Work with an Agent who actually cares about the tenants and works with them to be kind and considerate of the disruption that maintenance and/or selling can create.
• Offer to pay tenants a couple of weeks rent to move if you get an offer from a Buyer who wants to move in.
• If you have lovely tenants, rather than reduce the rent which impacts your re-sale value, send them a gift card at Christmas to show your appreciation.