Planning Ahead

As a landlord, it is important that you understand what your rights and obligations are relating to your investment property. Now that it is rented, you need to plan your visits and give consideration to the terms of the lease if you wish to sell. Access will be more difficult with a tenant in place and time sensitive procedures need to be followed to carry out inspections, viewings and maintenance. We can help you formulate a plan for your property so that hese things are not overlooked. 

Maximising Returns

As an investor it is also important to maximise your returns and we work with you to ensure that you receive the highest rent the market will bare, from the best qualified tenants. We will bend over backwards to minimise vacancy periods and even conduct viewings on weekends and after hours, if need be, to secure the best tenant quickly.

Electronic payments will be made to your nominated account weekly to maximise your cashflow. We understand the financial pressures associated with negatively geared property and by paying out to you weekly, your holding costs will be reduced.

Maintaining and Protecting Your Asset

We work with you to maintain the integrity and value of your asset and can oversee cosmetic updates, such as painting, changing floor coverings etc. Inspections are carried out regularly to ensure the property is being well cared for and to identify any maintenance issues before they become problems. We are always accessible to answer your investment concerns or questions and a senior staff member is for on call 24/7 for emergencies.

Insuring Your Assets

Although every care is taken in selecting your tenants, no-one can guarantee that their circumstances won't change or that accidents won't happen, so it is vital for your own peace of mind, to protect yourself and your income against unlikely, but possible outcomes. Terri Scheer provides a very good Landlord Protection and building policy and we have provided a link to their website below. This site also has a newsletter function with access to previous issues with many interesting articles relating to insurance and property management.

Many other companies also offer Landlord insurance and we encourage you to make your own enquiries to gain the best product for your personal needs.

www.terrischeer.com.au

Maximising Your Valuations

In order to continue to grow your property portfolio you need to make available the equity gained in your existing properties for investment. The valuation that you obtain from the Lender on your property can be the difference between being able to make your next investment and having to sit tight. Since this valuation is so crucial we can assist by helping you control the whole valuation process in order to maximise the valuation that you receive.

We do this by preparing a Due Diligence Pack for the valuer and then if required we can meet the valuer at your property to reinforce the properties features and comparable sales data used to establish the highest market value. An example Due Diligence pack is included below.

Example Due Diligence Pack (pdf) 

Maximising Your Deductions

Regardless of the age of your property it can be worth taking full advantage of any depreciation benefits that Fixtures, Fittings and Plant can offer to your tax savings every year. Plus with properties built post 1985 and any renovations carried out after this year, it is possible to claim depreciation on the building component. Depreciation should be discussed with your accountant to see how it may or may not apply to your particular situation.

The following companies can be used to prepare a depreciation schedule-

DEPRO - http://www.deppro.com

Depreciator - http://www.depreciator.com.au

Australian Tax Depreciation Services - www.AustTaxOnline.com.au

DOCEP- Owners Guide to Renting out your property

A great guide outlining the rights and responsibilities of landlords.
www.docep.wa.gov.au/consumerprotection/PDF/Publications/renting_out_your_pro.pdf

Somersoft – Property Investors forum

This forum draws comments from property investors all round Australia and has some very interesting information on all sorts of property related topics including where to buy, property management issues, finance, tax, legal, adding value etc
www.somersoft.com