A good accountant who knows about property, has a good understanding of the IRD’s views on property and also happens to be chartered, is a must have for property investors. You have to be able to put all of your faith in your accountant’s ability to do his job well and trust in his understanding of the structures (such as LAQC’s and Trusts, etc), and his in-depth familiarity of how it all relates to the IRD and your tax situation .
The accountant we use is Ben Duflou (www.allaccountedfor.co.nz). He is a chartered accountant and as well as having a extremely indepth knowledge of property matters, he is also a passionate property investor. He has a deceptive laid back way of drilling you for the information he needs for your tax returns and is really rather good at getting all of your information together in a way that works for the IRD and for you.
On Friday, Ben came in and sat down with me for three hours. Despite my well known short attention span for anything related to my tax position, he managed to keep smiling – even throughout my numerous attempts to change the subject to anything I considered to be even slightly more fun. By the end of the three hours, he had what he needed and I felt (as I always do when he manages to nail me down and get what he needs) relieved and relaxed. It’s a very nice feeling. What’s more, he also managed to stealthily get me to sign bits of paper (by saying “I suggest you sign these” – crafty fellowJ) which now means that he just gets what he needs from everywhere that my money goes through and hopefully I won’t need to put him through another three hour marathon again in a couple of months.
What can I say? The man has the patience of a saint AND a phenomenal grasp of property, personal tax law and procedures. I consider him a good catch J
Later that night as I sat at home, I found myself smiling, because in a few days I will have a completed set of accounts for the last few months AND I will be able to understand them J Cheers Ben!
Shayne Thurston
Lambton Property Management
Professionals, Shayne's blog
So now we know tenants are moving out, we need to contact them to arrange to show prospective tenants through the property and start advertising. It is really important to keep your current tenants informed throughout this process, as even though they are moving out soon, you don’t want them to leave feeling disgruntled and unhappy.
Once there are applicants for the property we always conduct credit checks and reference checks. This eliminates some bad eggs from the beginning. Those with negative backgrounds may not even bother applying once they are handed an application form to complete. Others with payment defaults and/or past tenancy tribunal cases are easily eliminated. We always get identification too! You never know when someone will try and use a false name to avoid the credit checks.
Demand this summer is not as heavy as in previous years and there is still a lot for tenants to look at and choose from. So don’t forget to tell your new tenant as soon as possible that their application has been successful – before they find something else!
On a different topic, yesterday morning’s two hour power cut was cause for some amusement. We had more than one tenant phone to say that there was something wrong with their flat as they had no power…
Pam
Pamela Wilson
Lambton Property Management
Pam's blog
Thanks to my most fantastic friend – Sam Newble at Merge – I have been playing around with this simply awesome piece of software.
(check it out here: www.realestateinvestar.co.nz)
It scrapes together information on properties for sale from all over the country and compiles it in one place. Then it compiles it with information from a horde of other sources (such as the Department of Statistics) and with some technical “voodoo” combines it all together.
When you are using the software, you search (using an ever expanding group of queries) and find properties you are looking for. Then, using the earlier “voodoo” I mentioned – you ‘drill’ down through the information and see a fantastic array of information - everything from recent sales and population density to average incomes in the area, and simply so much more. It displays it all in a very readable manner and is all just useful.
For example: House A is for sale and I know how much for. With a little click of a button I see that actually there’s four million other houses for sale in that area and four million and ten people live in the suburb…. So it gets crossed off my list straight away.
It is quite simply a fantastic tool and yes I simply adore it.
If you would like a slightly less emotive opinion about it, Sam will be able to give you one – however, I suspect that mine will continue to be emotive and smiley, as I think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
Shayne Thurston
Lambton Property Management
Shayne's blog, Software
I decided to start to compile a list of the type of places and business and software that I will be blogging about. It is by no means complete and I welcome and encourage suggestions J
· Accountants
· Lawyers
· Property Finders
· Property Mentors
· Mortgage Brokers
· Insurance Companies and Brokers
· Valuers
· Tradesmen
· Real Estate Agents
· Software and the Providers
I am sure the list will grow J
Shayne Thurston
Lambton Property Management
Shayne's blog
So, after much hassling of Pam to write a blog, I have decided to as well. With luck, Pam and I may just be able to communicate so we do not both write about the same things within one day or so of each other J My thought initially is to blog about business’s and the like that we interact with and how we feel they add value to what we do as a property management company or as property investors. Feel free to comment anytime or simply to tell me about experiences you have had with similar companies or places.
I will do my utmost to blog regularly and try to keep it interesting J
Shayne Thurston
Lambton Property Management
Shayne's blog
About six weeks from the end of a tenancy we contact our tenants to find out whether they wish to renew their leases. Some will move out (for a myriad of reasons) and some will want to stay on. For the latter, there will be a decision as to whether changes are to be made to the conditions of the new lease, mainly: will there be an increase in rent?
When deciding this, don’t automatically assume that the rent will increase. The market, especially at the moment, is tenuous. If the rent is increased too much, tenants will simply leave to find cheaper accommodation. There are some ideal tenants who look after the property and therefore the maintenance cost is lower – keeping them happy with stable rent is a good long term plan.
Today (Sunday) I’m taking a break, and taking the chance to reflect on the past week’s fortunes and mishaps and plan for the coming week. Not that property management is a job that you can easily plan for!
Pam
Pamela Wilson
Lambton Property Management
Pam's blog
We’re in a busy time of year now – re-letting properties at the end of their fixed term leases.
There are three things I’d like to talk (or rant!) about on this:
1) When to end fixed term leases
2) Tenants who wish to stay on
3) Finding new tenants
I’m not going to try and do it all in one go, so will spread it out a bit – hopefully having you all hanging on my every word until I finish!
We always try to end our fixed term tenancies in January to February of each year. Why? Because this is the single best time of year to find new tenants so minimizing vacancy times. Winter is terrible – no one wants to move homes in the wet, cold, windy season. September to December isn’t great – people start to think about holidays and Christmas and not about moving. March to April is okay, but is just the run on from February’s rush.
It is also very nice to know that your chances of spending your Saturday afternoons standing outside flats in the cold rain, for prospects who don’t bother to turn up, are greatly reduced. So, if you have properties to rent out now get out there and enjoy the sunshine!
Pam
Pamela Wilson
Lambton Property Management
Pam's blog
A recent conversation with a mediator of the DBH confirmed my view that the economic downturn is hitting tenants hard. The number of tenants not being able to keep up with rent payments looks to be on the increase.
So, how do we, as landlords, cope with this? Talk to your tenants regularly. Stay on good terms with them and let them know that they can talk to you about any problems they may face. If they are finding that they can’t quite make the next rent payment you want them to be able to discuss it with you and work out a resolution. It may be that they can pay it off, or they may need to find cheaper accommodation. Even if they are in a fixed term lease, this isn’t a big dilemma – you can work with them to find replacement tenants.
If tenants feel they can’t communicate with their landlord about financial problems, they may decide to just leave without notice leaving you with an abandoned property and no rental income.
Happy tenants pay rent. Look after them and they’ll look after your investment.
Pam
Pamela Wilson
Lambton Property Management
Pam's blog
Happy New Year! You are hopefully all recovering from last nights frivolities.
As any landlord will know, Christmas and New Year is a difficult time to follow up with tenant’s rent payments. The banks are closed from 25th December to 28th December, open again on 29th December, but of course you won’t get any online banking updates until Tuesday 30th December. Things don’t return to normal until Tuesday 6th January.
During this time all sorts of things can go wrong. Automatic Payments from tenants can fail to go through, tenants away on holiday can forget to pay and tenants spend too much on presents and food so their payments don’t clear.
So we’ll be working a few extra hours to bring tenants rent back on track before the summer renting rush begins. Hopefully the weather stays great for the open homes!
Pam's blog
