There are many options available when choosing an agency to manage your investment property.

Some Property Managers will seek to acquire your business by offering you discounted fees. Whilst Property Management fees are always well scrutinised, those costs are not the bottom line in terms of true value.

Consider the value of your asset. Consider the prospect for capital growth. Consider the returns on your investment. Consider the potential financial loss should a tenancy be poorly managed. Consider the possible loss should a tenant injure themselves on your property. Now consider the impact that good or poor management may have on your investment return. The perceived importance of saving a few percent on management pales by comparison.

Good management of your asset begins with choosing a Property Manager who can be reliably trusted to look after your investment and minimise risks. TwentyToOne is precisely that . . a personalised service for those lessors who recognise the value proposition, and who don't want average agency service.

TwentyToOne is a Property Manager who:

• Is fully conversant with regulatory requirements in order to reduce unnecessary risks and costs.
• Understands that your property is an asset ultimately intended to make you money.
• Has worked in Property Management for many years.
• Provides accurate advice on achievable rental returns, with written evidence.
• Has a stringent criteria to ensure appropriate tenant selection.
• Provides tenants with convenient methods of paying rent to minimise arrears.
• Remits rent monies to you at a frequency you prefer.
• Regularly inspects your property and forwards you written reports.
• Expertly attends to maintenance, tenancy renewals, bond claims, and other aspects of tenancy management.
• Solves problems rather than sweeping them under the rug.
• Keeps you informed in writing.
• Doesn't cut service standards in order to cut costs.

~ Property Condition | ~ Rent | ~ Tenant Selection | ~ Commission/Fees |

The crucial issue here is preserving the condition of your property, given its value.

Starting off on the right foot is essential. Legally a property and its inclusions must be clean, safe and in good working order for the start of a tenancy. A detailed entry report will record that this is the case, and a tenant will be required to leave it as such when they move out.

Pool fences must be legally compliant. An electrical safety switch, and smoke alarms, are legally required. Additional concerns like glass safety, electrical safety, termite activity, and so on, are best checked by experts in those fields. This all helps to reduce your potential liability.

A tenant will be held responsible for any property damage they cause, however normal wear on the property as a result of normal use, must be allowed for. A lessor is obligated to keep the property and inclusions in a good state of repair during the tenancy, which of course serves the dual purpose of protecting your capital growth. It's a good idea to budget for ongoing maintenance given that some expenditure is inevitable as your property ages.

I will receive and respond to maintenance requests from tenants, and find appropriate solutions. Competitively priced and suitably qualified repairers will be sourced to ensure that maintenance is attended to in a timely manner to preserve the value of your asset. Quarterly inspection reports to you will also help ensure that your asset does not unnecessarily depreciate in condition or value.

All locks must be functional, and a key for every lock must be provided to tenant, as well as entry keys for any additional tenants. I also ask you to provide an additional spare set of keys to enable access when I complete inspections.

In consultation with you, clauses about tenant obligations will be added to tenancy agreements to help protect your property. A bond will be taken from your tenant and retained, in case a future need arises to claim the cost of tenant damage when they move out.

You are recommended to acquire building insurance, contents insurance, and lessor protection insurance, as a further safety net should property damage occur. Public liability insurance is a must have for your own peace of mind.

~ Property Manager Selection | ~ Rent | ~ Tenant Selection | ~ Commission/Fees |

My focus is on arrears prevention, which goes a long way towards negating the stress of unpaid rent.

Convenient methods of rent payment will be offered to your tenants, and rent due dates will be adjusted to fall in line with when your tenants get paid so as to reduce the likelihood of arrears. It is possible to put additional incentives in place to encourage on-time payment by your tenants.

Rent will be initially received into a Trust Account that will be subject to audit requirements imposed by the Office of Fair Trading.

Rent payments will be closely monitored online, and any late payments will be actioned promptly. You will be kept fully informed.

Rent collected can be paid directly into your bank account, less authorised expenses, commission and fees.

Most agents will offer to forward rent money to you once or twice a month. I will forward the rent money to your account as frequently as you require (subject to when rent is received), which will assist with saving you interest in a case where you are operating a mortgage offset account.

At the end of each calendar month you will receive a written statement showing money collected and disbursed on your behalf during the month.

Each July I can also provide you with a financial year summary of income and expenditure for your investment, to facilitate completion of your tax return.

~ Property Manager Selection | ~ Property Condition | ~ Tenant Selection | ~ Commission/Fees |

Essentially the aim is to secure a tenant who has the capacity to pay the rent, and adequately care for your property. Those are the details that effect your bottom line.

Whilst there are always some risks involved in renting property, these can be reduced with skilful tenant selection. My strategy in selecting your tenants will incorporate use of detailed application forms, careful verification of information provided by applicants, and comparison to pre-established benchmarks to assess suitability. Verification procedures will entail reference checking, sighting evidence of ability to pay rent, checking two commercial tenancy databases, and personal interviews.

There will always be both good and bad tenants amongst every demographic. Therefore, I won't put you at risk by operating on the basis of assumption, but instead each applicant will be assessed on their own merits, and a sound business decision will be made in consultation with you.

In order to protect yourself from penalties that apply, it is important to be aware that tenants cannot be chosen or declined on the basis of gender, age, race, marital status, religion, or parental status. In any case, assessing each applicant in their own right is a far more reliable method of choosing who to put in your property.

You can nominate a maximum number of tenants, 'no pets', and 'no smoking inside'.

~ Property Manager Selection | ~ Property Condition | ~ Rent | ~ Commission/Fees |

Many agents won't reveal their charges on their website, but I prefer an upfront approach to communication in every context. I can appreciate that you will want to know the cost, and I believe that if you are looking for the sort of specialised management service I can provide you, that the following information will be a pleasant surprise.

When engaging the services of an agent, you will be looking at three key areas of cost:

1. Letting commission, payable only when a new tenant is secured and placed in your property, and not payable again until that tenant vacates and the property is relet.
2. Rent collection commission, usually charged as a percentage of the rent as it is collected.
3. Management fees, for services like routine inspections, arranging maintenance, renewing tenancies, faciliating tenancy changes and finalisations, handling enquiries, disputes and legalities. This is also usually charged as a percentage of the rent as it is collected, and is often combined with the rent collection percentage and explained as a total percentage package.

When you are choosing between agents, essentially these will be your management options:

~ Property Manager Selection | ~ Property Condition | ~ Rent | ~ Tenant Selection |