Your Investment Property reader ‘Phil’ was so impassioned by other responses to a recent story on property managers that he submitted an opinion of his own, one that’s caught our editors’ attention
Last week Your Investment Property ran a story on how a Port Hedland property manager had tried to rip off investor Bronwyn Holmes. This sparked some interest from investors in WA, who voiced some of their own concerns about the standards of property management within WA mining towns.
One of these opinions, and one with a much different stance from the rest, was submitted by ‘Phil’. Our editors enjoyed his remarks so much that they’ve decided to award him this week’s coveted “Comment of the Week”. This nets Phil a bottle of wine.
Phil’s comment:
“It’s interesting to note that you people are having a whinge re the costs of maintenance. What you are forgetting is that these people [who] charge $100/hour also have to pay the ridiculous rents: $1,100 a week for a s**thole 1-bedroom unit that anywhere else in the country would be condemned. Why are they s**tholes? Because a lot of greedy investors won’t spend any money on the maintenance!”
Other comments on the article included:
“As a (reluctant) tenant in Port Hedland and I own 9 investment properties in other parts of Australia I have seen first hand the complete incompetence of property managers in Port Hedland - I could probably guess at which one you are talking about but they really are all as bad as each other” – Cheryl
“Property managers are supposed to act in your best interests when maintaining the property and it looks like yours certainly isn't. The fact that she tried to charge you for tenant damage shows she has no idea of the rules and regulations and this certainly needs to be addressed.” – Sarah
“Looks like the tradespeople up there are also cashing in on the mining boom. They probably think, if the miners are getting big bucks and the landlord is getting big rents than why shouldn’t they?” – Pascoe
“We don't call them property managers here in port Hedland, we call them thieves. Manage your own property up this way if you don't want to be robbed.” – Jason
“We pay good commission for these bastards to look after our investments and we got sweet nothing. Investors should notify such mis-management to their principal, the ombudsman and the BLA....then and only then will these things called 'management agents' take notice!” – Jenny
Disagree with Phil's assessment? Why not submit an opinion of your own in our comments section below...
