How to decrease your energy bill in a shared house

Have you ever wondered how to decrease your energy bill whilst living in a shared house? It can be a touchy subject, especially when a rogue bill arrives with a significant spike. Thankfully, Fresh Property Management has some useful yet simple tips on how you and housemates can cut down that next bill.

Cook Together

If all occupants cooked their own dinners over a week period, that’s 21 meals being fried, baked and barbecued each week. When you really think about it, each housemate using each appliance for the same meal really adds up, and ramps up your energy costs quicker.

Try cooking one or two “house meals” each week, not only will this save you money on energy bills, but cooking in bulk will cut checkout costs and time with ready meals.

Launder Together

Instead of running a small load of washing, there’s nothing wrong with teaming up with your housemate to make a full load. Waiting for that full load of washing before running a wash is essential in reducing your energy bills.

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Australian Rent is on the decline, but Melbourne is on the incline

As the cost of rent throughout Australia continues to drop at record rates, rent across the capital cities fell by 0.3% according to the latest Core Logic Rental Index. The year-to-year drop is the steepest on record since the survey first began in 1996.

Nationally, the average rent is at $483 per week, back to where they were in December last year. In terms of dwelling, the median rental rate for houses is now at $485 per week, a decrease of 0.9% in comparison to last year’s figures. Unit rents have fared slightly better, with an increase of 1.0% to $467 per week over the same period. Yes, Units tend to get the most attention, however there are currently more houses to let, explaining the overall decline in median rental rates.

However, not all cities have recorded declines, some indicating positive figures for homeowners. Melbourne investors have the luxury of increasing or keeping the same rates for their properties, where the Core Logic Rental Index highlights an increase of 2.0% in change in rent over a year period. The table below shows the change in rents across Australian capital cities, along with gross yields for investors.

The following two charts looks at the annual change in rents for both houses and units, overlaid against rental yields.

From a combined capital perspective, gross rental yields for houses currently stand at 3.2%, lower than the 4.1% level for units. The decline in yields over the past year has been exacerbated by the twin effect of higher houses prices and declining rental costs.

Looking into the future, Core Logic expects that the weakness in rental growth will likely persist for some time yet.

“Housing supply, and subsequently rental supply is continuing to rise and set to increase significantly over the coming years given the level of stock under construction,” says Core Logic. “As growth in wages and the population continues to slow, it is unlikely we will see a turnaround in rental markets in the short-term.”While not great news for housing investors, that, says Core Logic, is a boon for those willing to rent.

“Renters will continue to have more choice and will likely be able to move into superior rental accommodation for similar or even lower costs,” it says, noting investors looking to increase rents could face difficulties given “soft rental conditions and substantial ramp-up in housing supply”.

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How The Renting Game Varies from State and Territory.

We may call ourselves the lucky country, but if you’re renter, it really depends on which state or territory you live in. That’s because here in Australia we have eight sets of rules for tenants and landlords, governed by eight different states and territories. Yes there are similarities, but all distinct in their own way, so being aware of these different tenancy legislations is crucial if you’re planning to invest or move interstate.

With the number of Australian households whom rent increasing to 31.4 percent, due to the big property boom, we now see more than 1.5 million households now own properties they don’t even live in.

Founder of Fresh Property Management Group, and real estate expert Braeden Tournier, explains that even with a federal government, each state retains the power to have its own constitution and legislature, resulting in eight sets of legislation for residential tenancies. Tournier elaborates tenant holding deposits as an example, where in Victoria the holding deposit must be returned, in ACT a holding fee cannot be accepted, and in Northern Territory anything goes. This goes to show how each state and territory vary, and the following categories should be explored. 

Stamp Duty

It’s understandable that each state has different financial requirements and expenses. So how it collects taxes, such as stamp duty and land tax will vary, and it does. Using the March 2016 figures from ABS, the mean value of dwellings in Australia is $613,900. Buying a residential investment property at this price, the stamp duty ranges from $19,155.00 if you bought a property in the ACT to $31,904.00 in VIC (This is based on buying an established property as an investment. ACT=$19,155.00, NSW=$23,115.50, NT=$30,388.05, QLD=$20,650.50, SA=$27,930.00, TAS=$23,088.25, VIC=$31,904.00, WA=$23,175.25).

Utilities

In NSW, Vic, WA and QLD there is no requirement to have telephone, television or internet cabling installed (however if any of these services are already installed, it is the landlord’s responsibility to make sure they remain in working condition). In the ACT the landlord must provide a telephone line and in SA the landlord needs to provide the installation of all three services. In Tasmania and the Northern Territory there is no mention of any requirements.

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Falling Property Prices is Bad News

There is no questioning that housing affordability is a serious issues in Australia, when comparing home prices to disposable income we rank at + 9%. However, there are a number of solutions that can assist in addressing this issue.

The protectionists argue that restricting migration would lead to less demand for housing and prices trending downwards. This sounds fine until you take into account the economic benefit that migration provides. Take Japan for an example, an economy that has virtually blocked migration, where the population has declined by more than one million people resulting in more than 350,000 houses that are no longer needed.

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How does the Australian housing market rank against the rest of the World?

The famous real estate saying, it’s all about location, location, location, not only applies to our Australian market, but also at a global level. Where the global housing markets are in no way synchronized, making some countries rank better than others.

With this in mind, it is the perfect opportunity to review how the housing market in Australia stacks up to the world. So where do we stand?

Housing Prices

Australia is tied third with Sweden at 11%, where our arch rivals and neighbours New Zealand rank as the hottest market in world at 13% for home price growth.

Housing Affordability

Our housing prices are extremely appealing, but how do we compare with the affordability in comparison to the world? Australia sits on third most expensive country at 9%, and New Zealand as the most expensive.

So, what country is the best value for money?

Interestingly, New Zealand is the hottest real estate market in the world, with housing prices reaching a growth of 13%, and the weakest being Italy at 3% decline. However, the best value for money be Denmark, where affordability is at -5% disposable income, with housing price growth at 6%.

Source: http://www.freshpropertymanagementgroup.com.au/how-does-the-australian-housing-market-rank-against-the-rest-of-the-world/

WHY USE A REAL ESTATE AGENT TO MANAGE YOUR RENTAL PROPERTY 

It is not easy being a landlord, especially in regions like Geelong. It is a very competitive real estate market, and people are willing to pay top dollar for the best properties. So if you have a property for rent in Geelong, you can surely expect it to earn you a good deal of revenue. However, managing your property well enough to attract tenants and promoting it so that prospective tenants are aware of its existence is essential to the task. Incidentally, those are also the tasks that most landlords fail at miserably, leading to lost opportunities and lost revenue. This is why you should definitely consider enlisting the services of a real estate agent or a property management company in Geelong to help you manage the property effectively.

You should choose wisely on going for the right property management services in Geelong. There is no dearth of real estate management services on the market today. However, not all of it might be to your best interest. Consider the simple fact that many property management services, working on commission, push you to accept a lower price or offer on a particular piece of property instead of advising you to hold out for better offers even though they are perfectly aware of the market situation and how much can be reasonably expected from the property in question.

ARE PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES WORTH IT

Property management in Geelong is no joke. As a landlord, you do have certain legal and ethical responsibilities towards your tenants; just as you expect them to provide you with rent regularly, they expect you to take care of any of the issues that crop up or complaints that they might have. You also need to adhere to all rules, laws and regulations that govern such interactions between landlords and tenants and real estate management in general. Even managing one piece of property can easily become a full time responsibility that requires spending time and resources.

Professional property management companies become the middleman between you and the tenant. Your tenants never directly engage with you unless absolutely necessary. The management company professionals take care of any issues and complaints that the tenants arise without any involvement from you. They efficiently process any routine or procedural jobs such as collecting rent payments, filing the proper taxes, attending to regular maintenance, ensure that the property is being taken care of the present occupants, etc. Most management companies even handle evictions by themselves and also get a new tenant before you even get the news of such an occurrence. These companies are very efficient and very good at what they do.

Your property is first and foremost an investment that you intend to generate revenue from. Hiring professional management services to look into the best decisions for your investment can definitely be the right choice if you are inexperienced in dealing with real estate or simply cannot afford to spend the amount of time that you need to spend in dealing with projects like these. Getting things done professionally can indeed cost you far less in the long run than what you would have spent in case you tried to do it yourself and could not to the optimum level. Factor in the opportunity costs that incurred from missed opportunities, and the case seems even stronger in favor of going for professional management services in Geelong.

If you can afford to go for one, then it is definitely recommended that you subscribe to professional property management services in Geelong. In addition to sparing you a lot of wasted time and headaches, they really do take care of many time consuming processes, especially legal ones that are usually associated with real estate. These companies do charge a flat rate for their services, which is usually 10% of the revenue you earn from the concerned property but it can be well worth it over time.

There are many reasons why you might not be able to promptly respond to your tenants’ complaints; maybe you do not live near enough to make personal visits every time a new issue crops up or personally supervise maintenance personnel. You also need to remit the actual amounts for electricity, water and other utilities on behalf of your tenants. And if you have multiple properties on rent, each of those responsibilities gets multiplied. It becomes clearly obvious now that if this describes your particular scenario, you are a lot better off having your property managed by the professionals.

RESEARCH

Choosing the right property management company in Geelong is going to take some time. You should definitely do your prior research before committing to a company. Delve in to the data for the company in question. Compare their listed quotations to average market values at the time and see what they advised their clients. What do they charge for their services and how does it compare to their competition? How many similar properties have they successfully managed and for how long? Verify the number of insurance or legal disputes they have solved without unduly involving the landlord. Companies love to make grandiose claims but you want a service provider who can back up those claims with evidence and performance. Also go for a service provider that might offer dedicated personnel to managing and looking after your particular property; many management companies have a few agents responsible for more than a hundred properties. Do not let that become the situation.

CONCLUSION

Property management is serious work and you should only undertake it yourself if you are up for it. If you are not prepared to invest the time and resources that you need to execute your responsibilities adequately, hiring professional property management services is a viable and definitely recommended alternative. You avoid the petty hassles and disruptions to your work while your tenants get their issues attended to regularly and efficiently. Complaints are resolved sooner and legal hassles sorted out with minimal intervention. All parties stand to benefit from professional management services.

Source: http://articles.org/how-to-choose-the-right-property-management-service-in-geelong/

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICE IN GEELONG

It is not easy being a landlord, especially in regions like Geelong. It is a very competitive real estate market, and people are willing to pay top dollar for the best properties. So if you have a property for rent in Geelong, you can surely expect it to earn you a good deal of revenue. However, managing your property well enough to attract tenants and promoting it so that prospective tenants are aware of its existence is essential to the task. Incidentally, those are also the tasks that most landlords fail at miserably, leading to lost opportunities and lost revenue. This is why you should definitely consider enlisting the services of a real estate agent or a property management company in Geelong to help you manage the property effectively.

You should choose wisely on going for the right property management services in Geelong. There is no dearth of real estate management services on the market today. However, not all of it might be to your best interest. Consider the simple fact that many property management services, working on commission, push you to accept a lower price or offer on a particular piece of property instead of advising you to hold out for better offers even though they are perfectly aware of the market situation and how much can be reasonably expected from the property in question.

ARE PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES WORTH IT

Property management in Geelong is no joke. As a landlord, you do have certain legal and ethical responsibilities towards your tenants; just as you expect them to provide you with rent regularly, they expect you to take care of any of the issues that crop up or complaints that they might have. You also need to adhere to all rules, laws and regulations that govern such interactions between landlords and tenants and real estate management in general. Even managing one piece of property can easily become a full time responsibility that requires spending time and resources.

Professional property management companies become the middleman between you and the tenant. Your tenants never directly engage with you unless absolutely necessary. The management company professionals take care of any issues and complaints that the tenants arise without any involvement from you. They efficiently process any routine or procedural jobs such as collecting rent payments, filing the proper taxes, attending to regular maintenance, ensure that the property is being taken care of the present occupants, etc. Most management companies even handle evictions by themselves and also get a new tenant before you even get the news of such an occurrence. These companies are very efficient and very good at what they do.

Your property is first and foremost an investment that you intend to generate revenue from. Hiring professional management services to look into the best decisions for your investment can definitely be the right choice if you are inexperienced in dealing with real estate or simply cannot afford to spend the amount of time that you need to spend in dealing with projects like these. Getting things done professionally can indeed cost you far less in the long run than what you would have spent in case you tried to do it yourself and could not to the optimum level. Factor in the opportunity costs that incurred from missed opportunities, and the case seems even stronger in favor of going for professional management services in Geelong.

If you can afford to go for one, then it is definitely recommended that you subscribe to professional property management services in Geelong. In addition to sparing you a lot of wasted time and headaches, they really do take care of many time consuming processes, especially legal ones that are usually associated with real estate. These companies do charge a flat rate for their services, which is usually 10% of the revenue you earn from the concerned property but it can be well worth it over time.

There are many reasons why you might not be able to promptly respond to your tenants’ complaints; maybe you do not live near enough to make personal visits every time a new issue crops up or personally supervise maintenance personnel. You also need to remit the actual amounts for electricity, water and other utilities on behalf of your tenants. And if you have multiple properties on rent, each of those responsibilities gets multiplied. It becomes clearly obvious now that if this describes your particular scenario, you are a lot better off having your property managed by the professionals.

RESEARCH

Choosing the right property management company in Geelong is going to take some time. You should definitely do your prior research before committing to a company. Delve in to the data for the company in question. Compare their listed quotations to average market values at the time and see what they advised their clients. What do they charge for their services and how does it compare to their competition? How many similar properties have they successfully managed and for how long? Verify the number of insurance or legal disputes they have solved without unduly involving the landlord. Companies love to make grandiose claims but you want a service provider who can back up those claims with evidence and performance. Also go for a service provider that might offer dedicated personnel to managing and looking after your particular property; many management companies have a few agents responsible for more than a hundred properties. Do not let that become the situation.

CONCLUSION

Property management is serious work and you should only undertake it yourself if you are up for it. If you are not prepared to invest the time and resources that you need to execute your responsibilities adequately, hiring professional property management services is a viable and definitely recommended alternative. You avoid the petty hassles and disruptions to your work while your tenants get their issues attended to regularly and efficiently. Complaints are resolved sooner and legal hassles sorted out with minimal intervention. All parties stand to benefit from professional management services.

Source: http://articles.org/how-to-choose-the-right-property-management-service-in-geelong/