With less than 2 weeks to go until the end of the financial year for 2011 – 2012, you need to ensure you have all your paperwork up to date and that you are ready to get your tax returns done.
Your property manager should provide you with an annual statement as to collection of rent and any expenditure they have incurred on your behalf.. This should come out to you just after June 30..
Get together all your receipts if you have not already done so, to make sure you are claiming everything you legally can. Print all your bank statements as your accountant will also require all these.
Your depreciation schedule should also go to your accountant, so he / she can claim as much depreciation as possible in this financial year.
Don’t forget to make sure you are adequately covered for Landlord insurance, and make sure you understand what your landlord insurance covers you for.
Many companies have different coverage’s, and different levels of cover.
Some companies make it easier and just cover the lot, and it is one price.. If you own a unit / apartment you need to understand what the owner’s corp insurance covers to make sure if you have a incident you understand what you are responsible for, and what your landlord insurance will cover.
Current market conditions for rentals,
We are finding there are more prospective tenants for each property, which is great for our landlords as they have a greater choice of applicants, however it is upsetting some weeks when you get large numbers applying for properties who are all excellent prospective tenants, but you only have the one property of its kind to lease for them, it is hard out there for some people.
We are noticing good clean & fresh properties are leasing out after the first open, and as mentioned early this is with multiple applicants..
We leased 4 in 4 days all with multiple prospective tenants. We could have done double this obviously if we had more properties vacant.
I feel setting your rent at the right price to start with is as important as presenting your property in good order.
Many landlords need to understand to meet the market you must follow the market & any good property manager will be able to advise you as to where the current market is at the time, this constantly changes with supply vs demand. Certain times of the year make a difference as close to Christmas & just after Christmas prospective tenants are competing with all the students looking for accommodation. Therefore this makes apartments a popular choice at that time of the year.
Northern suburbs lack stock of good quality rentals. And those that are available are very popular; open for inspections are well visited, inner city will always have a huge turn over due to the number of properties available and the style available, South East is another area that is in high demand at the moment; we cannot get enough properties to meet demand. A good family home in the south east which is clean fresh with a low maintenance garden is sought after for the families, wanting a sea change or to live close to the beach with easy freeway access.
Landlords looking to increase your property portfolio don’t hesitate to give us a call to get an appraisal of your property, and we would be happy to take on your management for your current properties.
Sam James
