If your property manager is struggling to rent your property, this blog is a must read. It provides clues that may explain what is going wrong and why your property is not getting rented. Yes, things are hard for the Sydney Rental Market in this weird Covid-19 environment we are in, but make no mistakes: TENANTS ARE STILL OUT THERE! It is just a matter of renting YOUR property as opposed to the one down the road! 

The rental market in Sydney is tough. The toughest it has ever been. Vacancy rates in parts of Sydney, are now above 15% and that’s despite rental prices dropping by 10 or 20%. The lack of international and domestic travel means that some agencies are now inundated with vacancies and it is not uncommon for properties to remain empty for weeks.

And yet, as I am writing this blog, NextGen has no vacancies. It is Saturday, which is usually the biggest day of open-for-inspections in a normal week, and we have none scheduled! It is not that we haven’t had our fair share of vacancies. In the last 4 weeks we had 5 vacancies to deal with – in various parts of Sydney – and all but one were rented out in less than 2 weeks – some on the 1st open against stiff competition! And “what about the last” I hear you ask… Well, let me first talk about the 5 P’s that get properties renting quicker in Sydney and I will come back to the last property in the end.

So what are those 5 P’s?… here they are in order of significance…

Property Manager: Yes, the biggest difference is always the property manager that looks after your property. Are they passionate, communicative, crafty, and do they have capacity to work hard for YOUR property? If the answer to these is yes, then everything else will fall into place. If the answer is… no, they are burned out, I haven’t heard much from them, all I can see is that they have just put an ad out there and they are waiting, and they have 15-20 vacancies to deal with…. Then, I am sorry to tell you but you are in trouble. It all starts and ends with the property manager in this industry. If your property manager falls into the latter category, expect your property to be vacant for weeks and your rent to drop significantly!

Presentation: The way the property looks makes a big difference. When competition is stiff, like it is right now, upgraded and new properties will always rent first. If the property needs it, now is the time to put in a new lick of paint, replace the carpet, change the blinds and – if possible – to do something about the kitchen (kitchens are one of the MOST important aspects of a property to a potential tenant).

Price: In the current market, properties need to be priced right. Tenants these days are very sophisticated and know exactly what is happening in the market. They have all the information they need at their fingertips so if no enquiries are coming through OR lots of enquiries are coming through but no applications, then the property is most likely not priced right. A property is priced right if it competes well with the properties that are advertised in the market RIGHT NOW – THIS WEEK… TODAY… not last month, last year, or even the rent you were receiving from the tenant that just vacated. These are all good indicators, but account for very little in the current environment.

Photos: This refers to the marketing of your property, and in my view, it always all comes down to the photos. Make no mistake: GREAT PHOTOS GET MORE PROSPECTIVE TENANTS TO THE PROPERTY! It is the single most important aspect of the Ad. Yes, a nice marketing spiel can’t hurt but when a tenant browses all the listings and decides which ones to visit this weekend, great photos, is what will separate your property from all others.

Pets: never has the significance of allowing pets been more important than right now. Pets, rent properties quicker. Pets have been traditionally frowned upon by landlords and owner’s corporations in strata complexes. This means that tenants with pets have limited options. In the current environment where tenants are scarce, those with pets are far more important. In our experience, tenants with pets generally make great tenants. They look after the property better as they know there is a stigma over their head. They also know how hard it is to find a property that allows pets. At NextGen, our policy is if a prospective tenant has a “house-appropriate” pet, that is house trained and has good references from the previous property manager then we are willing to support their application to the landlord.

So these are the 5 P’s that are helping us rent our properties out quickly and now you know too.

And what about the last property??? Well that particular vacancy was a broken lease. And whilst the Property Manager, Presentation and Pets were ticked, the Price and Photos were not. How do I know? Because on the week that we adjusted the price and took new photos, the property was rented out! Yes, the 5 Ps work and the more you have the better the chances are!