The last 12 months has seen a huge rise in properties being managed by Local Agent.
A surge in holiday letting properties and permanent rental stock has defied the trends being experienced elsewhere, with both departments experiencing very strong growth.
While there are always a number of factors that cause one agency to attract large numbers of management properties when other agencies are struggling, in this case, there are two compelling reasons:
HOLIDAY LETTING GROWTH
There is no doubt that property owners see Local Agent’s holiday letting management as superior to other options. Feedback from new and prospective owners consistently identifies our professionalism, service and products as the key reasons they choose our agency over others. We introduced our Premium Holiday Letting service in 2019, which saw the introduction of a new and more dynamic website, improved owner’s online portal, new partnerships with Booking.com, AirBnB, Expedia and others, the introduction of linen and bedmaking services, beach equipment hire, social media campaigns and more.
As predicted, these enhancements led to immediate increases in bookings, opportunities to increase tariffs, improved guest satisfaction and more money in the pockets of owners.
Our Premium Holiday Letting initiatives coupled with lower costs to owners, are without doubt significant features that appeal to holiday property landlords, and secure loads of new guests and holiday properties for our rental pool.
Following the great Australia-wide property ‘sell off’ that followed COVID, our holiday letting pool has bounced back and never been in better shape. With new properties joining virtually every week and more on the horizon, our recent 30% growth in holiday property numbers are sure to continue.
PERMANENT RENT ROLL GROWTH
In many ways COVID-19 was a watershed moment in the history of property management. With so much going on and rules changing on a daily basis, it quickly identified agencies and property managers who were either inexperienced, out of their depth, or simply not prepared to do the hard work on behalf of property owners.
It is obviously easier to manage properties when everything is going smoothly, but when things turn sour (COVID, economic downturn, tenant issues, new regulations, legal disputes, changing investor circumstances, property disasters etc), landlords rightly turn to reliable and trustworthy professionals.
The recent raft of regulatory changes and government policies responding to the housing crisis are another good example. While many agencies have struggled to understand and communicate these changes effectively to landlords, Local Agent has received praise from owners, and other agencies have adopted our correspondence and our advice for their own purposes.
It is little wonder therefore, that landlords have turned to Local Agent to manage their properties through these turbulent times.
Through processes of referrals, acquisitions, landlord enquiry and ‘word of mouth’ recommendations, Local Agent is on target to bolster it’s permanent rent roll by approximately 50% by Christmas.
While managing properties will always present challenges, it is reassuring to see the level of confidence landlords have in both our holiday and permanent rental departments.
Let us know if you are aware of anybody who is seeking a steady, professional and reliable property managing service – we’d love to help.