Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I have been in OZ for over 8 years now and the majority of the time I have rented. There have been different standards of house and even more importantly different standards of Real Estate Agents. I would suggest going for the well established Agents out there. In the South regions of Perth around Rockingham and in particular Secret Harbour there is one estate agent that is a Pain. They did nothing to actually mange the property but were totally unprofessional in the way they addressed us as tenants. There were inspections which were passed but the owners of the property decided that they wanted the house back better than what they gave it and demanded all sorts of bizarre things. The Painful estate agent did nothing and washed their hands of the matter forcing me to go to court. The owners didn't even contest the Court request and an Order was made. The Real estate agent then told us it had nothing to do with them but was between us and the owners. I have been in many different addresses over the years with work with different estate agents. Please save yourself the Pain and choose your agent very very carefully and hopefully the cowboys can be put out of business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Potential tenants don't get to choose the real estate agent. The house owner appoints an agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I have left an open for a house I would have applied for without applying because the agent was terrible. She was barking at people who came to view the house and treating them like dirt. No way was I going to risk having to deal with her! So tenants do have some say. We have also had terrible agents which is why I'm so conscious of who I'm dealing with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifi69 Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Can be said here and in the UK. We are house owners here and in the UK, also rented in Perth. Wish our UK rental agents had been as meticulous as what our landlord here in Perth was.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yep. I had an agent in the UK who was like 'we just won't tell the owner you have a dog'. :-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Yep. I had an agent in the UK who was like 'we just won't tell the owner you have a dog'. :-/ So that was actually a bad agent not a good one. The agent works for the home owner, not the tenant. An agent should be courteous and fair, but an owner expects them to work for them. I guess if there are hundreds of tenants around they will not care as they know they will get a good candidate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 I often wish there was a rating system re: estate agents. I have rented 5 properties in Qld in 8 years and most were very poor, one average and one excellent. The excellent one was fair and courteous. Managed the property well with owners abroad, and communicated well. They said they treated tenants well because they realised that tenants may be future house buyers or landlords and it was important to respect people. If I get an investment property, I'll use them in a heartbeat. But there are ones in Brisbane that you wouldn't want to go near with a long pointy stick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainR Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Sorry to hear about your difficulties. I guess we've been lucky as our real estate agent owns the place we live in, which makes it a lot easier. So far had good experiences and been well looked after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 The concept of "picking an agent" never occurred to me. We looked at houses online and for those we liked we dealt with whoever the agent was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Of course you get to choose which Real Estate Agent you go for. When You look for a house you can either choose the actual real estate agent or the likes of reiwa. If the house is managed by really painful agents then think twice before choosing them. Your choice. I am only imparting what I consider to be very experienced advice on the merits of a good agent V a dismally poor one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 I agree with you and I believe there are some real cowboys out there. If anyone is looking in the Secret Harbour area, flick me a line and I will let you know the name of the really painful agents we used. They are scary bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Of course you get to choose which Real Estate Agent you go for. . Not if there is a particular house you are interested in, that uses a particular agent. People would be seriously limiting their options if they simply ruled out all houses marketed by a particular agent, just because they heard of one person that ad one bad experience with a different employee of the same agency. Emigrating and finding a new house is stressful enough without setting unnecessary and arbitrary hurdles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 listen I suppose if you are limited with choice of houses then you really dont have too many options. Believe me that despite the bull, there are houses out there. If you have a pet for some strange reason the owners are scared of taking $500 a week off someone who after a year may need the carpets cleaned a bit more. There are plenty of really PRECIOUS owners out there so beware if you get a flash house and a crappy agent. They will expect it better than when you entered. And don't expect the Department of Commerce to help you either. they just don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 As I said. I made major mistakes moving out and boy I wish I had listened to some of the hurdles I faced. I lost 10's of thousands and I am not alone by any means. Yes it is a lovely place, but there are sharks who want every bit of your pommy wedge as they can! Bearing in mind alot of houses are managed by more than one agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 They will expect it better than when you entered. In that case, they have the wrong expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 Our current rental is a private rental which is FAR easier and less invasive. As long as there is some mutual respect then it seems to be far easier this way. I would be hard pushed to even contemplate another estate agent. Some treat you like dirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Robertson Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 k you have it your way. I thought this was meant to impart advice to others not pretend it was all soft and fuzzy. Not going to bother anymore. thanks PIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Sounds like you haven't had it easy! If moving out of a rental costs you 10's of thousands then it sounds like there is more to that story; unless I'm reading into what you have said wrongly. Or was that several bonds from several properties? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzukiscottie Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 k you have it your way. I thought this was meant to impart advice to others not pretend it was all soft and fuzzy. Not going to bother anymore. thanks PIO Who's pretending it's all soft and fuzzy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 The problem is though that you are appointed a person within the company to deal with. So we rented the same house for 3 years and had some great ones and some appalling ones. Luckily at check-out time the person was very reasonable and sensible and we had no issues at all, others we dealt with during the 3 years were awful so were fortunate we didn't have to deal with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davlap Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 A couple of points from our experience renting for the past 7 years. When you move in, you have an inspection form. Go everywhere and list everything and take photos. If the photos don't work, write a description. The agent does one as well, check everything they list and query anything, especially if they don't state the size of the problem (eg carpet stain). Ignore what the agent says (no need to this/that or the other). When you move out you are allowed some normal wear and tear. The agent has to inspect at the time you move out. If you have proof of the state of the place when you moved in, you won't be fleeced or made to pay for improvements. I would go to court if they tried. You have an agent and a landlord. In our experience, the agent just passes on any request or complaint. If the individual agent won't do that, ring the office and ask for a manager. If the landlord won't do something, make sure you keep the paper trail, so they can't blame you for it later. A useless agent shouldn't stop you securing a place you want. We have not had any major drama and landlords generally have been accommodating - except for overseas (Chinese) owners who could never be contacted. We let the agents know about anything and everything that happens and cover our backs. So far we have only taken either new builds, or places where owners have just bought for investment, or moved out to rent for job relocation etc. Not by specifically choosing these, but just because the previously rented places are usually daggy. We really look after our rentals, probably more so than if we had bought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 The ball has been in their court in recent years. Different ball game coming into play in more recent times though with increased vacancies at least in the WA context. Whether Real Estate agents are ahead in a changing situation is somewhat debatable though. Must be one of the most over rewarded positions for so little input ,even less knowledge than most anything I can think off in the job line. I recall earlier times when few real estate agents were even up to the task of knowing the square metres of the property they were attempting to sell. At least they can usually tell you that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 So that was actually a bad agent not a good one. The agent works for the home owner, not the tenant. An agent should be courteous and fair, but an owner expects them to work for them. I guess if there are hundreds of tenants around they will not care as they know they will get a good candidate. Yes. I was agreeing that there were bad agents here and in the UK. Hence the :-/ face at the end. Alrhough I disagree about them just working for the home owner. They take a cut of my rent. I pay generally higher rebt than renting privatly. For that I expect them to have my best interests in mind as well as the owners. For example, I had an agent who kept sending work people over with no notice (once I didn't even know what for). The agent blamed the owner. As I pointed out, I was going through an agent and expected them to make sure all laws were stuck to. It turned out the owner had been letting the agent know, she was just so useless she never told me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Not if there is a particular house you are interested in, that uses a particular agent. People would be seriously limiting their options if they simply ruled out all houses marketed by a particular agent, just because they heard of one person that ad one bad experience with a different employee of the same agency. Emigrating and finding a new house is stressful enough without setting unnecessary and arbitrary hurdles. I don't care how good the house was, if it was being let out by my previous agent I wouldn't even consider taking it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpingjellybean Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 From 20 years experience here. Three groups of dodgy business / people you should ALWAYS be wary of in Australia are: 1) Real Estate Agents 2) Recruitment Agents 3) Used Car Salesmen Most of them would trade in their grandmothers to make a quick commission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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