Age: 50’s
Status: Married Couple

How many investment properties do you have?
1

When did you buy your first investment property?
2017

Why did you decide to invest in property?
Distrust of superannuation – we thought that property would be safer so we rolled our super into a SMSF and purchased an apartment in St Kilda.

How would you describe your experience so far?
Different to what we expected. We have only been in the apartment three times since we purchased it. It has been rented out for all but 10 days. The ongoing costs are also higher than we expected, not the property management fees and mortgage, but everything else.

What is the strangest thing you have had to deal with? Or the story people find hardest to believe?
Our first tenants were on higher incomes than us but cried poor all the time. They also sub-let one of the rooms without our knowledge.
The profile of the other members of the owners committee is also a surprise, a number of those renting their apartments out intend to move in themselves at some point in the future.

What is the biggest change you have seen?
It has not been that long – but the Victorian Governments pro-tenant legislation changes and COVID.

What do you find most challenging about being a landlord?
Two things:
Lack of access to the property makes it difficult to do proactive maintenance and get a genuine feel for what small improvements would make it better to live in, particularly at different times of year.
Keeping up with legislation changes – increases in land tax and erosion of property owner rights have made it much tougher on landlords and as an individual landlord I don’t feel we have any say in it.

What is your best tip for other property investors?
Buy something you could see yourself, or others living in – if it is appealing it is likely to be easier to rent.  Also don’t expect it to be set and forget – its an active role.

Would you recommend being a landlord to others?
Yes – but do your homework so you know what you are getting into.

Why did you join the ALA?
Because I wanted to support an organisation that accurately represents landlords and keeps landlords informed about issues that are going to impact them. The legislative creep in Victoria over the last few years has been frightening, land tax has more than doubled and tenants are being given the rights of ownership without the responsibility of ownership. Being part of the ALA will not only ensure we stay informed, but also ensure our interests are well represented across government and media.

Age: 50’s

How many investment properties do you have?
Two:
a suburban residential unit in Melbourne
a commercial retail shop in a large regional border-town owned by our Self-Managed Superannuation Fund

When did you buy your first investment property?
12 years ago

Why did you decide to invest in property?
Investment for retirement and to spread risk across different investment classes.

How would you describe your experience so far?
We run a small business in Landscape Gardening and truly appreciate the risks and independence involved in going it alone. That is why we decided to invest in and personally control real physical assets, not depend on the financial industry run by people we don’t know. The day-to-day management works well because we charge fair rent and respond flexibly to our tenants’ needs.

What is the strangest thing you have had to deal with? Or the story people find hardest to believe?
When re-negotiating our commercial property lease, we lost money and time because neither our Melbourne lawyers nor inter-State Property Manager realised we could have used a simple Real Estate industry pro-forma.

What is the biggest change you have seen?
Over time the economy and real estate market has fallen substantially, so when a lease expires it can be a nervous time.

What do you find most challenging about being a landlord?
Like all property ownership, ongoing maintenance and unexpected repairs demand attention and money.

What is your best tip for other property investors?
Know the market and identify which properties attract ongoing tenants – continuity of tenants is the key.

Would you recommend being a landlord to others?
Definitely

Age: 40’s

How many investment properties do you have?
1

When did you buy your first investment property?
2012

Why did you decide to invest in property?
The investment property was our home, we bought another house so I decided to keep the original house as an investment.

How would you describe your experience so far?
The last few years has been terrible

What is the strangest thing you have had to deal with? Or the story people find hardest to believe?
I did a property inspection – the house looked amazing, best of I have ever seen from tenants. They were a couple.

Two days later – the man is on the run from police and the female is in protective care – massive fight with the woman bashed up and hurt. Police removed her from the property that day, she had come back to the house with police escort to pack and moved out all her things. His items were left in the house. This all happened before I was even made aware. The agent was informed by the police that day as they went to the agent’s office.

The contract between us was now null and void due to domestic violence. Police had authority to end the contract apparently – with no loss in rent or any costs to the woman as it wasn’t her fault.

The boyfriend came back that night broke into the house and damaged the house. Holes in the wall, rubbish tipped all over the garage. The heater and all lights switched on and left on. Oven was broken. Broken glass smashed throughout the whole house. French doors smashed and broken. Holes in the carpet made. It was horrible.

Even though he did all that damage, I had to keep his personal items for 30 days and if he didn’t come back to get them in that time then I had to throw them out – he never came back. I also had to change all the keys to the house as he had a set of keys.

It cost a lot to repair all the damage plus no rent for three months- as it took that long to have everything repaired! I also needed to clean the house. Even so, I had to fight to get the bond back through VCAT.

Insurance helped a little with costs etc. but it was still heart breaking to see what was our family home treated that way.

What is the biggest change you have seen?
The real estate agent – sometimes I wonder whose side they are really on. It feels they always protect the tenant and the landlord doesn’t get the support.

What do you find most challenging about being a landlord?
Making decisions based on what the agent tells you. So it could be rubbish but you don’t know what they are saying is truthful.

What is your best tip for other property investors?
Get a good strong and supportive agent and know your rights. Stick to your guns with the agent.

Would you recommend being a landlord to others?
Yes, most days – other times I would rather buy the property and leave it unoccupied!

Why did you join the ALA?
Because being a landlord is not what I thought it would be, and I wanted to have someone on my side.

Age: 40’s

Status: married

How many investment properties do you have?
1

When did you buy your first investment property?
I had inherited it through circumstance. 

Why did you decide to invest in property?
Future financial security and to eventually purchase another investment once more financial.

How would you describe your experience so far?
it’s been stable. I have a good agent now and the tenants have been good. But only once I changed property manager. You get good and bad managers and the tenants can reflect that.

What is the strangest thing you have had to deal with? Or the story people find hardest to believe?
nothing really bad. I do go through patches where the tenants, 3 young singles, tend to move on and they find someone else to fill the gap. Can be like a revolving door at times.

What is the biggest change you have seen?
The amount of property managers that move around. I think for each inspection I’ve had a new property manager, I can’t keep up with the intro emails.

What do you find most challenging about being a landlord?
bills, bills, bills. There’s no gain in having a property. you break even if you’re lucky

What is your best tip for other property investors?
it’s not a get rich quick investment. Buy well and what you can afford. Keep in touch with your agent, they have so many houses on their books, they just go about ticking the boxes sometimes.

Would you recommend being a landlord to others?
yes – but know your rights. Seems to be a lot of confusion out there between other landlords as to what they know.

Why did you join the ALA?
It was a no brainer. I have limited experience as a landlord so I feel more at ease knowing I have somewhere and someone I can turn to for industry knowledge and guidance.