Thinking of D.I.Y Property Management?

Absence Make the Heart Grow Anxious

The time is just shy of midnight on a cold winter Thursday in Christchurch. It’s been a long day. The conference was a full on 10-hour day of back-to-back sessions. Your keynote speech went down well, and the buffet dinner was pleasant enough but you’re dog-tired and busting to get some sleep in your warm king-size hotel bed before an early start for the flight back to Hamilton. Suddenly your mobile rings. Your heart lurches, then sinks when you see who it is. It’s your Auckland tenants. “Oh God” you groan, “what NOW?” Has the hot water cylinder sprung a leak? Has the TV aerial blown off the roof into the neighbour’s garden? Has the stove started making a weird crackling noise? Is the alarm going off and no numerical code known to the western world will stop it? You’re 763 kilometres away and, since you are managing your own rental property, somehow you must be the person responsible for sorting it out.

It’s the Kiwi Way – and False Economy

Kiwis are proud of their Number 8 Wire traditions. We love to DIY just about everything in our lives. That “stand-back-I-got-this” attitude is practically hard-wired into our DNA. The above self-property-management scenario is based on a medley of actual events. We think it’s time for a reality check when it comes to managing your own rental property or properties. The perceived savings in costs are, apart from being tenuous at best, far outstripped by the heightened stress levels, increased time commitment and real financial consequences when tackling the legal pitfalls and traps if something goes off the rails. A DIY approach to property management is like all risk management – it all goes like clockwork until the fertiliser hits the fan.

A Changing Industry

With recent changes to the Residential Tenancies Act , compliance requirements and the consequent penalties for failing to meet them (some up to $50,000) are all a minefield unless you are very well-versed in the law and understand the intricacies of managing property. The extent of the rules around regular inspections, property access, tenancy notice, repairs, and maintenance are an ordeal if you are not well-versed and/or have limited time to devote to them. With the best will in the world, you cannot physically and effortlessly deal with a burst water pipe at your rented St Heliers townhouse, from your hotel room in Christchurch at 12.15am without an increase in blood pressure. And why should you?

How and Why Best Property Management Works

One of the things that we do “best” is to employ highly trained staff to be at the cutting edge of every component of the property management industry. Skilled professionals with an uncompromising standard of service excellence, we ensure that not only your property is managed with the utmost care and attention, we recognize that this is an investment that you may need advice and consultation on. With the benefits of the latest technology at our fingertips, rental income and maintenance can be monitored daily – sometimes hourly. We arrange contracts with trusted tradespeople who have a proven track record with us and give us the best possible rates because we deal with them so often. And when an emergency occurs, we are the ones who take ownership and call out the experts to deal with the tenant’s turmoil, so you don’t have to. We have preferential advertising rates in marketing for the ideal tenants across a range of forums and social media platforms – do you? We have a selection of iron-clad strategies we adopt in our quest to vet tenants exceedingly thoroughly to avoid heartache further down the track – do you? We make it our business 24/7 to keep on top of industry trends, legislation and market forces relating to the management of residential property. Do you have time for that? We do!

DIY Doesn’t Always DYF (Do You Favours)

We love to see the frown lines disappear from a landlord’s forehead when we’ve taken over a management that has been causing so many headaches. So, do yourself a favour and take DIY out of your property investment management and hand it over to us – you won’t regret it. If you are struggling with a DIY rental situation and would like to have a chat with experts who can help you resolve it, reach out to us at Best Property Management, we are here to take away your pain.