Kitchen appliances - recommendations?

[Houses4Rent]

As I said it sounds good, but better safe than sorry. Why are you not looking at bank statements? If the applicant refuses them the alarm bells should go on.
Remember the worse paying tenants are in the above R12000 rent category....

I also find it odd that this applicant offered so much more rent. That in combination with the missing bank statements would make me nervous.

I doubt an employer would even remotely consider to co-sign to be honest. Even if they do good luck with trying to hold them to it being overseas.

And the fact that the tenant could be gone with the next plane is a risk not an advantage.

Anyway, let us know how it goes.

[Basment Dweller]

New data point just in, HR confirms his employment and salary.

Actually what I should've done is insisted from the start that 3 month bank statements is part of the original application, the problem now is going back and asking for more info might wobble the deal a bit and create more hoop jumping.

Pesky letting agent wants to close deal asap to get comm and might move tenant to another unit in the complex.

[Houses4Rent]

Wait a second. There is a letting agent involved? Why did this letting agent not ask for 3m statements from the word go then? More alarm bells go on. I thought you are sourcing your own tenant.

[Basment Dweller]

Nope letting agent sourced it, probably too lazy to ask and wants the shortest route to closing the deal therefore no 3 month statement. Given the tenants credentials and the positive reference of previous landlord I'm going with it, asking to cough up statements at this point might botch the deal.

[Houses4Rent]

Next time do it yourself or find yourself a decent agent and sign a mandate with same outlining exactly what you expect to get for the agreed commission. Let me guess, no written mandate was done here?

[Basment Dweller]

Situation is a little more complicated than that...yes there was mandate with this estate agency, we were development partners in this JV and our development partner hired them to sell the units which they did, of which we kept 5 for ourselves.

We are going through a 'hand over' phase now, units are being transfered out and our partnership is being dissolved (project was a success partners are moving on), technically I don't have full control yet, site is still a mess as we are doing finishes and we don't allow anyone on site yet. We get the keys to the units from the 1st of Oct and until then I have to work with these agents and until everythings handed over etc etc...at the moment I'm just hustling to get things movin but it's a little frustrating...all diffificult to explain if you're not exposed to the complexities.

Neverthless, keep the pragmatic input comin' Mr Houses4Rent I see you are a man of no compromises when it comes to tenant placement!

[Houses4Rent]

I see. However, 3m bank statements must be standard (and part of a mandate) for anybody who vets a potential tenant.

[Basment Dweller]

Latest update:

Agent wants 8% + VAT and same fee if tenant renews. Lease is signed by the tenant and ready to go. Agent's fee is a little high but the deal still works out to more than what I was expecting from this unit.

[Houses4Rent]

You seem surprised about the 8%. Once again, was there no agreement in place before?

Anyway, fee should be much lower on renewal, no marketing, no vetting etc.

[Basment Dweller]

Marketing of the properties started with the developer and then was handed to me once I signed the sales agreements so yeah I got shnide on the deal a bit (was expecting 5% but instead was charged 8%).

In the interest of closing the deal and moving things along I agreed anyway and signed the lease, deal is still sweet considering the rental and tenant.

I definitely DID NOT agree to renewal fees and never will. Agent renewal fees are outright extortion in my opinion. These bloody agents just want me to take all the risk and do all the work and ride me for comm all the way year after year, f*ck that.

This is why I HATE realtors!

Moving forward, I have drafted a service level agreement and will have it signed by the agents before doing anymore deals on the remaining units. Keys will be handed to me on the 1st of OCT, I'll be able to take people to the property myself, take pics/videos and do proper marketing.

[Houses4Rent]

We only charge a small lease renewal fee, an admin fee rather, to the tenant, not the owner.

But we do get monthly commission, so might be different. I usually decline if an owner who just wants us to find me a tenant and then walk away. I think it costs the owner too much and is not value for money. We are very niche and do rather well what we do. So I only offer stuff which I would happy to buy myself. I actually do buy it myself as I run my own properties the same way I run my clients properties. If owner is around s/he can easily place a tenant him/herself and save a whack.

And yes, almost all selling and letting agents are useless. I fully agree.

[reuphk]

@Basmemt dweller, I cannot agree with your sentiment more! I have one property in a similar deal (7% rental placememt fee and 5% renewal fee). They do NOTHING! The agreement was that the tenant will pay water as billed. So we send the bill to the agent. Nothing happens. A couple of months and my administrator calls them to find out whats going on (they already had their fee and the tenant pays directly into our account so they dont even have sight of payments), they tell us that they dont deal with that we have to speak to the tenants ourselves. 2 months before renewal they call to say we owe them the renewal fee. Now both the tenant and us were in agreement that 0 value add equals 0 payment. I refused to pay, the tenant "refused" to move and we simply did a new agreement with the tenant directly. I would normally not negate on a deal but with this one (my hubby signed originally thinking they would deliver a service and the fee is ok) my view was "sue me". Needless to say they did nothing. Just like they would have if the tenant messed up...

@houses4rent: you sound like a great agent. I have been looking for someone who understand the market and what landlords want. If you ever have a deal where the numbers make sense, let me know, and we'll do it. Monthly fees make sense - you're in the same as us, rental guarantee of 3 months and you deal with any evictions if needed, plus you run the property like your own is worth a 10% commission in my book. I hope you deliver, but I'm sure you'll have landlord references we can check out (we should list agencies on TPN). If you ever get a deal where you have units available to purchase and rent out, let me know

[Houses4Rent]

Hi reuphk

We charge more than 10%, because we do much more. And yes, I understand what is important to an investor, because I am one myself, which kicked of my career change in the first place.

Unfortunately or fortunately rather we never sell anything as we are not estate agents. So a typical client of us has a property and wants it managed by us and gives us a mandate.

Testimonials are here:

http://www.houses4rent.co.za/landlordtestimonials.php

[Basment Dweller]

Ended up buying three appliances from Game:

Defy dishwasher R3899
Hisense 359L fridge/freezer combo R3899
Washing machine dryer combo R6999
Negotiated discout with Makro quote -R660
Total inc delivery R14377