Pouncing on problems

I take it all back! Last week I made a distinction between landlords and property investors. It seems from a couple of comments to that Blog that differentiation wasn’t liked.

Fair enough. The point was to try and make a distinction between those who prefer the DIY approach and those that are happy to outsource management.

I think the key point to remember is that all investors are landlords and, while they invest to make money, they are also providing a service to other Kiwis.

One of the reasons I chose to talk about property management again this week (besides taking my previous comments back) was a story on Landlords.co.nz about a significant increase in the number of applications being made to the Tenancy Tribunal. Many of these applications relate to unpaid rent.

It is clear that things are tough out there and the one thing we are yet to see is rising unemployment. For the past few years New Zealand has done extraordinarily well to have a very low unemployment rate, both historically and compared to other countries.

That will change. There is little doubt about it. Next year thousands of people are likely to lose their jobs and many of these people will be tenants.

There is a huge need for investors to make sure they are managing their investments well and taking action quickly if the need arises.

In this piece the president of the NZ Property Investors Federation, Martin Evans, gives some good tips to help investors get through this difficult time.

The other thing which was interesting about last week’s Blog is that I thought some people may bag property managers. It seems there are plenty of people happy with the service they provide – but make sure you find a good one.