Karen's Day

8.20am - arrive at the office
till 9.00am - review overnight e-mails and rental enquiries
9.00am - talk to team about any PM issues, including maintenance, problem arrears and vacates for the day.
9.30am - inspect a vacated property noting differences to the ingoing inspection report
10.15am - phone tenant to advise outcome including animated discussion about who is paying for what...!
10.30am - drive to and conduct 3 separate inspections on one of the vacant properties...noting feedback for the landlord...hand out two application forms with details about filling out the forms
11.30am - grab a quick cuppa while reading application forms and reference checks
12.00 noon - take a call from an irate landlord about safety repairs carried out by the office (he'd forgotten his agency agreement allowed us to do repairs up to a certain amount without reference to him)
12.40pm - make a sandwich for lunch and eat at the desk while reviewing lease documents for upcoming lease signing
1.00pm - lease signing in conference room - 4 occupants in the one property. never rented before and asked LOTS of questions - that means they listened!
2.15pm - inspection at Flinders - 45mins on the road - no interest
3.00pm - Landlord has lost two end of month statements and wants reprints - doing their tax.
3.15pm tenant phoned in cause they locked themselves out and want us to open the front door for them - grrrr - have advised them keys at our front desk
3.30pm - prepare documents for lease - including ingoing inspection report - lots of interuptions. job that normally takes 1/2 hour finishes at 4.45pm
4.45pm - need to recheck ingoing inspection report for lease tomorrow against property - property is just down the road
5.15pm - phone landlords to report inspections
6.00pm - pack up and go home - start again tomorrow

A Property Manager's Day

I am constantly in awe of the patience and negotiating skills of my Property Managers. Whether it be residential or commercial, their ability to manage the legal requirements of owners and tenants while keeping a wary eye out for risk management challenges is exceptional. For those that have had the unfortunate experience of fronting the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal will be well aware the Tribunal Member's tight adherance to tenancy law and intolerance of unprofessionalism on the part of Property Managers is legendary. Any lease signing is normally in front of tenants with limited direct experience with the law and so 45 mins to an hour is not uncommon. We have a check list of important clauses within the lease and knowing the likelyhood that the tenants will consign the completed (and legally binding lease) to the nearest overfilled deskdraw, our team spend time explaining the implications. Never-the-less we constantly have 'we didn't know that' comments from the tenants! I will post a 'Residential Property Managers day' in a diary at a later time.

its a start....

Real estate has the power to make or break you. As real estate agents we meet despondent property owners who, by no fault of their own making have to sell at a substantial loss. On the flip side are those basking in the reflected glory of low debt and high net worth. One thing is for certain...down through history, high net worth individuals have real estate as their common thread. It is relatively easy to liquidate, appreciates considerably in value (approx doubling every 10 years), is securable (sometimes to 100%) and of course you can live in/on it.
I have spent a little over 20 years involved in the grass roots of residential and commercial real estate including now managing a Real Estate office.
It has been good to me and this rant is a opportunity to impart some of that knowledge to those that might want to listen...