Renovations
Do any renovations on your investment property if necessary. When you’re making these improvements remember that you aren’t the one living there so the improvements don’t need to be to your taste, but rather they should be what tenants find desirable.
Be sure to use durable, yet appealing surfaces, especially if you are considering tenants with pets as the wear and tear will increase.
Find tenants
You have several options for advertising your property, depending on how much time and money you are comfortable investing.
- Using myRent
myRent is the most cost-effective option for finding tenants. For $50, you can create a listing on realestate.co.nz, OneRoof, myRent, Facebook, Trovit by creating one advert on myRent. Gain maximum exposure by including a Trade Me and Homes.co.nz adverts for an additional $140 (still a fraction of the standard Trade Me fee and with extra Premium listing upgrade normally only available to agents). You get more enquires, more views and applications. Some of these additional sites give you a leg up in your tenant find as realestate.co.nz (NZ’s second-biggest property site), OneRoof, and Trovit are normally not accessible to private landlords.
- Advertising yourself
You can list your rental yourself on Trade Me and Facebook. This has a low cost associated of around $199 for Trade Me advertising, and it involves a small investment of your time.
Other large NZ property portals like realestate.co.nz, Trovit and OneRoof are not available for private landlords.
- Traditional agent
You can use a traditional agent that manages properties and finds tenants for you. If you take this route, after finding your tenants the agent will also serve as the property manager. This is the most hands-off approach for a landlord, but it is also the most expensive.
Cost varies a lot depending on agent but generally around one weeks rent. This could be a great approach for those landlord based overseas or in another city. But you do get less control over a tenant selection.
Using a letting agent
A letting agent’s role and the main focus is to help find tenants. If you choose a letting agent they will not be managing the property once a tenancy is in place. Some traditional agents offer the services of a letting agent as well, but the tenant find process wouldn’t be their sole focus. Normally charge landlords a fee (often 1 weeks rent)
You can read more in-depth about advertising your property here.
Managing your property
Once you’ve figured out how you’re going to find your tenants, you’ll need to line up how to manage them once they’ve signed the tenancy agreement. Choosing how to manage your property is similar to the process of choosing how to find tenants. You can use a digital property management service like myRent, self-manage, or use a traditional property manager.
Finding the right property management solution for you is key to having a successful investment property. Consider what you value most - Minimal time investment? Lower fees? You should read up on how to choose the best property manager for your situation.
