Settlement and Tenanting of Your Investment Property [The Activate Way, Part 6]

Tuesday, May 17, 2016 / Services

Settlement can be one of the most exciting parts of the property investment journey. You have calculated your

strategy, made your decision, waited out the construction period, and the place is finally being handed over!

Depending on the size of the development that you have bought into, there may be varying levels of ceremony attached to the completion of the build.

What we would like to talk to you about today though, is an ever present threat that is lurking in the background of every new development.

Regardless of the size of the development, there will always be some new investors, sometimes even more experienced investors, who start the property management process after they settle.

This means that suddenly, the rental market is flooded with almost identical apartments or houses within the same complex.

Whilst this will not cause major issues long term, as new property is typically easier to rent out than an established property, it does not need to be your problem.

Having Your Property Manager Advertise The Property Before Settlement

For some this may feel like jumping the gun a little bit.

However, this is certainly not an uncommon practice. Most well organised property investors will have their tenants ready to move in the moment settlement day comes crawling in.

It always pays to make sure that you organise your property manager well before you are handed the keys to your new place.

If you are in the scenario of a large development just being built, and there are numerous investors who did not arrange ahead of time to make sure there are tenants; then you may find yourself facing off against two equally bad scenarios:

• Having to drop the weekly rent expected, just to get a tenant
• Having to pay the mortgage without a tenant for longer whilst you advertise

Neither of these are particularly great scenarios, and they will both have a pretty strong negative effect on your bottom line.

 

The Benefits of a Smooth Transition between Settlement and Property Management

Here at Activate Property, we have a systematized process that we follow as each investment property is settled.

Our investment strategists are always paying very close attention to the construction processes, and are the first to know when a settlement date has been declared.

The next people to know, are the investors themselves, closely followed (sometimes preceding) are our property managers.

If you decide that you will use Activate Property’s in-house property management team, we can assure you that your property manager will have the inside scoop on:

• when the settlement date is
• all features of the property
• expected rental returns, and how much they should be advertising for

Of course, when you arrange your investment property with Activate, we understand that you may already have a property manager overseeing your portfolio. In this scenario, our strategists will always ensure that your property manager is kept up to date on all aspects of the build, settlement and day that it is ready for tenanting.