Are you planning to sell an investment property on your own?
If you’re the owner of an investment property and struggling to get a deal to the closing table, having a dedicated property manager on your side can make a big difference. For instance, our property managers at Silver Service have successfully been navigating one of the most common problem areas for our clients — balancing the tenant’s rights and obligations with that of the landlord/seller in case they don’t wish to or, cannot afford to sell their investment vacant.
Unlike brokers who exclusively focus on the sale while neglecting the tenant issues, we aim to reach a happy middle ground wherein our client can sell with the tenant in situ without upheaval or required rental deductions.
That said, let’s look at other reasons why the best agent to sell your investment property is the property manager.
Complete hands-on management
Property management has lots of moving parts — from finding and keeping tenants, regular maintenance, and ensuring the value of your property doesn’t drop to financial and legal aspects. Property managers efficiently handle these tasks freeing you up to pursue other interests or focus on your day job, especially if this isn’t your main source of income.
Overseeing in your absence
If you don’t live anywhere close to your rental property, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed while dealing with the many issues that property ownership brings with it. In such cases, a property manager proves to be invaluable, if not indispensable.
A higher level of expertise
No matter how familiar you are with ups and downs of the market, working with a property manager who has knowledge and experience of the property market in the area can be a game changer. Managers often know the suburb of your property like the back of their hand while also having a keen understanding of the buyer’s mentality and what they are looking for.
Great advice
Whether to hold or sell off your property is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make as a landlord. A property manager has a wealth of knowledge and resource to make sure you strike when the iron is hot. For example, currently, the property is in the “buyers” cycle, which means it is a time when you can buy at the lower end of the market. Data shows that properties are selling at a slower rate, and there’s a longer period of negotiation before a sale. Essentially, this isn’t a great time to sell, and you’d be better off to postpone your plans till we’re back to a “sellers” market.
Knowledge of what makes successful sales
Property managers know what it takes to make a property more attractive than the competition, and hence more saleable. Here are three tips from our top-performing property managers:
- Ensure the property is in tip-top condition and make it “show ready” even if it means shelling out some extra money. (Case in point: We achieved $1,012,000 on a house sale by spending $30k on a mini makeover whereas we’d have got $830,000 maximum if we had left the tenant in and had done nothing.)
- Know when to sell the property vacant and when to keep tenants in. If you’re selling a rental property to a homeowner, you have more flexibility when a tenant is not in place. So it’s best to wait until the lease expires and the current tenant moves out. Financially, some landlords are not in a position to do so and we’re specialised to help in such cases.
However, if your target buyer is a real estate investor, then keeping the tenant makes more financial sense for all three parties — you, the potential buyer, and the tenant.
- Get the styling right. An empty property doesn’t show off your asset to its great potential while a tenant’s furniture is not always designed to showcase it either. (Case in point: We spent $8000 including styling furniture on an apartment and sold it for $635,000, while most apartments similar were selling for $585,000.)
Whether you are requiring to sell with the tenant in place, planning to take your property to a new level before hitting today’s “buyer market,” or simply looking for a more efficient day-to-day management of your properties, working with a qualified property manager can help you meet those goals with greater success.
Everything we do here at Silver Service is underpinned by our no-compromise attitude to set the highest standards in service. We are Silver Service and we are setting new standards in real estate excellence, every client and every professional, every time.
We look forward to being of service,
Mariam, Noune, Carolyn, Shelley, Argine, Margaret, Mark, Joanne, Alister and Adam
email us [email protected].
or call our office +61 3 9855 1197
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