How To Know If a Property Will Be Easily Rented

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ntr0rcFfHs One of the biggest fears people have when investing in property is whether or not their property will be rented or lie vacant. How do you make sure your property gets rented. Rental Results Rented Book 0:00 - Introduction1:26 - How to make sure a property is able to be rented before you buy it3:57 - Understanding the type of tenant6:09 - Marketing your property properly7:25 - Have you ever had an unrentable property?9:08 - How to rent your property faster10:53 - How long does it take to re-rent a property13:00 - Should you get a rental appraisal before renting a property? Vacancy Rate Checker Transcription Ryan 0:00One of the biggest fears people have when looking at investing in property is how do I know if my property is going to get rented? Or if you already own a property? How do I make sure that the property doesn't stay vacant? So today, I have with me, Lauren Robertson, who is a rental manager from rental results. And we're going to talk through this and she's going to give us some insight. So you can work out whether a property is likely to be rented or if you got a property, how to get it rented. So hey, Lauren, thanks for coming on today. Yeah, thanks, Lauren 0:30Ryan. Thanks for having me. Ryan 0:31No way. So do you want to just give us a quick rundown of I guess, who you are and what you guys do? And then we'll jump into you know, how we can assess this? Lauren 0:40Yeah. Great. So yeah, I own rental results. So we're a property management specialist company. We've been around now for over seven years, and we manage over 600 properties within the inner city suburb of Brisbane. So 15, Kay's from the CBD, also been doing property management for 18 years now. And we've won quite a few national awards. So yeah, it's a long time to be in property management. But love it still love the the industry. Ryan 1:07Yeah, so let's just say you've rented a lot of properties, you've seen a lot of properties in your time, you know a lot about this space, and what makes a property likely to get rented or what makes the property more likely to stay vacant? So let's start with the investors looking to purchase a property and then we'll go on to people who already own it. But let's say people are looking at a property. They're like, okay, I might want to invest in this property, but they hadn't they don't know about the market or the area, how do they know that property is likely to be able to be rented or not? Lauren 1:40Yes, I have also written a book on this, which is rented. And it's got a website rented.com. Today, you but basically, it comes back to understanding the market. So knowing what the vacancy rates in that particular area are understanding your property. So knowing the type of tenant that that property is likely to attract and whether there's a market for that. And then also making sure the property is priced right and presenting well. So there's a number of different factors. Ryan 2:10Yeah, so vacancy rates, that's quite easy to find sq m, have a tool that outline vacancy rates, and people go to onproperty. com. au forward slash vacancy, it'll redirect there, you can put in your suburb or postcode. It'll tell you what the vacancy rates are, what sort of vacancy rates? Will you assume a good versus bad? What should be avoided? Lauren 2:31Yes, I think something to bear in mind is vacancy rates, anything typically under 3% is good. So over 3% is deemed an oversupply in that market. Other things to consider is whether you're going to furnish the property or unfurnished so when you're furnishing it's, it's there's benefits, because obviously depreciation and there is definitely benefits around furnishing a property. But you do need to consider that only a smaller percentage of the market is looking for furnished as opposed to unfurnished. And also, it's it typically is only works in certain areas that you're going to have a high demand for furnished property. Those tenants tend to stay shorter term. So they tend to be a bit more transient than a tenant who's looking for a longer term, unfurnished property. Ryan 3:18So there's specific suburbs that furnish work and suburbs that don't like is it in a city that furnish works, because you've got, you know, people traveling for work and things like that? Whereas, you know, out of suburbs, not many people will want furnished? Is that exactly Lauren 3:33right. And also the current market with everything that's happened with COVID. So we don't have as many people coming to the city at the moment, we've also got less International, obviously, international troubles not happening. Yeah, so there are things to consider when you're furnishing and finishing, we've seen a lot of furnished properties lately come off the market, and they aren't finishing them. So there's a number of factors. Okay, Ryan 3:59so people are kind of moving towards that. So you mentioned the type of tenant in an area and understanding the type of tenant can we expand upon that? And what you mean by that? And how to find out that sort of information? Lauren 4:12Yeah, honestly, I think the best advice would be to speak to your local property manager, they're going to be able to give you advice on the type of tenant that property is going to attract, who's been looking for those properties, those features that that property, those tenants are looking for in a property. So for example, if you've got a house, typically that will appeal to a family with children or pets, and those people tend to want things like fence yard so that the pets or the children is safe. You know, they tend to want things like dishwashers, air conditioning for comfort, and they tend to be prepared to pay more for those types of things. So that's just a general idea. Ryan 4:52Do you have any examples of a property that maybe wasn't suited to the market and was difficult to rent as a result? Just So we can get an idea. Lauren 5:02Yeah. So I mean, obviously we've got, like we've we've like, yeah, I can think of one at the moment. So it was in a suburb near the university. And the owners in particular, were wanting a family. So as their ideal tenant, but that property had one bathroom, four bedrooms, the layout of the property was that the master was on one level. So downstairs and the remaining bedrooms are upstairs. So that which is someone with young kids, I know, when they were really little, especially It was like, Okay, I want to be on the same level Ryan 5:33as them because I don't want to be going up and down during the night. Yeah, for sure. Lauren 5:38And I think that's the sort of thing like, especially with one bathroom, too. So, you know, a family that, you know, they may want two bathrooms, or they would want all the bedrooms on one level, unless the children are older, then that may suit so I think it also comes back to how the property presents. So typically, external, like that is a big part of it as well. So tenants, you know, when you you turn up to a property, if it's well cared for well maintained, it's appealing to walk through, then that's likely to attract more tenants. It also needs to be marketed properly online. So I always recommend professional photography, 2d 3d floor plans, we do a virtual 360 degree walkthrough to is also advertising it on like the top real estate search websites. And also at the top of those searches, not just a standard listing, having an online booking system, so tenants can book times that suit them being able to show it at times that are actually suitable to your prospective tenants, as opposed to just you know, two o'clock on a Tuesday. Ryan 6:42So how do you how you market the property plays a large role in how likely that property is to be rented? How quickly for how much money etc? Lauren 6:51Yeah, so yeah, typically price presentation and promotions and knowing where the property sits in the market and making sure it's at fair market rent. Also knowing the tenant that you're likely to attract because of the property that you've got. And then marketing gearing that advertising towards that type of market. And then also making sure it presents really well online. Because I think sometimes properties are really there's they don't do it justice, because the photos that just Ryan 7:17tell them don't even have photos. It's like one photo the outside of the building. And that's it. And you're like, Yeah, I got no idea what this is like, yeah, have you ever because I know a lot of people investing the first time they're getting in, they're like, Oh, my God, like, what if my property is never rented and remains empty, I won't be able to afford this mortgage, have you ever had a property that was just impossible to rent, Lauren 7:41their properties will always rent. So it really does come down to your price presentation and promotion. So if it was $10 a week, you'd have a lot of people $100, you know what I mean? So at some point, there's going to be a price point where there's going to be interest, we find it really interest in some markets, we've got we've had our $10 reduction, all of a sudden, we've got three or four applications. So it's just can be set super price sensitive. And other times, you know, we've got people, you know, 15 groups handing up an inspection offering, you know, 50 $60 more awake because they want the property. So, yeah, Ryan 8:16yeah. So I think the big thing for people who are looking at getting into the market who are worried about this is a look at those vacancy rates, and see what they are in an area. Because if you are looking, you know, outside of metropolitan areas, potentially, you could have large swings in vacancy rates. And if you're in an area that's got, you know, a huge vacancy rate, then maybe you can't rent your property, or you're not willing to drop the price enough,