Shaking up property management

I’ve always been a bit of an advocate for property management – as long as it’s well done. However, sometimes I think my view isn’t shared by other property investors.

There is definitely a group of investors, the ones I would call landlords, who enjoy managing their properties, whether it is the repairs and maintenance or dealing with tenants.

However, for the other group, who I call investors, getting a manager to look after things makes sense.

There’s always been friction between the two groups of managers. With the licensed ones being highly critical of the other group.

However, this whole sector is about to get a bit of a shake-up; both from a regulatory angle and from competition.

As part of the real estate agents reform bill the Department of Justice is looking at how the sector operates and could well put a bigger set of rules on managers. Maybe it would even force the two groups together?

On the competition front www.landlords.co.nz, ran an interesting story this week on a new crowd who are offering flat fee management services.

Instead of charging a percentage of the rent (around 8%) they are offering to do the job for just under $900 a year.

No doubt people will compare this to the flat-rate real estate service, tried unsuccessfully by The Joneses. I’m not sure the two are directly comparable because of the way sales and property management operate.

I’m finding investors are showing a lot more interest in having their property managed and no doubt the flat rate option will be appealing.