RealSmarter will find the best tenant/s for your property.  Your property manager will personally take all prospective tenants through your home, making them aware of the features of the property and the surrounding suburb and generally building a rapport.  This same person will do the reference checking to ensure that the information provided by the prospective tenant can be verified by other, third party sources.  We also check that the applicant has the financial ability to make the rent repayments.  We check the applicants are not listed with the TICA database – which is Australia’s largest database of defaulting renters.

Once an applicant is approved, RealSmarter has policies and procedures in place to ensure the tenant is properly educated about their rights and obligations.  This includes things such as ensuring the tenant knows how to use the appliances in the property, how to clean the property properly (for example some surfaces require special care), how to understand their contribution to utilities and how to budget for these expenses, their responsibilities to maintain body corporate by-laws etc.

Where possible, we also walk the the tenant through the home with the Entry Condition Report prior to them actually commencing the lease so that a jointly agreed Report can be filed.

We find that by taking time early in the tenancy with tenants, there are less misunderstandings, tenants are happier and tend to stay longer.

RealSmarter will handle all the paperwork for you and we can arrange for your financial records to be sent to an accountant of your choice at tax time.

Tenant Paperwork

We conduct a thorough Entry Condition Report and will alert you to any maintenance issues that may need to be addressed.  We ensure there are photographic and video records of your home.

We ensure there is a valid lease on your property at all times.  We complete Bond lodgement and will handle any changes to bond (if the rent is changed or if a new tenant moves in our out during the lease period).

We also request photos of any pets to be approved, as when we inspect the property we can ensure that only the approved animal/s are present.

In the event of a tenant vacating or needing to be evicted, RealSmarter will handle all the exit matters and will retain bond and organise repairs if required.  We will also represent you at the RTA Tribunal if needed.

Property Paperwork

We will ensure your insurances, body corporate levies, rates, utilities, pest inspections, and other relevant paperwork is kept up to date and paid on time.

We will put together a maintenance schedule to ensure your property is kept in good condition and returning the best rent it can achieve.  There will be an auditable trail which will show that your property complies with smoke alarm testing, pool safety and any other legislative requirements.

We can arrange for depreciation schedules to be carried out – although new tax laws have limited what can be claimed on newly acquired properties.

Your property manager will carry out regular inspections on your property.  Usually the first inspection for a new tenant is done 3 months after they move in.  This gives us an opportunity to ensure that the tenant is caring for the property properly and that any people or animals are as described on the lease.

With our Gold Service inspections, we check the condition of the property against both the entry condition report (to ensure the property is being maintained by the tenant correctly) and your maintenance schedule.  Where access is possible, we check items against the maintenance schedule to see if they appear on track, or if they are deteriorating at a rate which is unexpected, or staying in better condition than was predicted.  Your maintenance schedule is a living document, we take video and photographic evidence of any issues we see and arrange quotes if the matter appears urgent.

We will send you regular reports on your property, and documentation will be available for you to download at your leisure.  Your property manager is available to chat via phone or skype if you would like more information or have any questions.

Rent will be collected on your behalf and provided to you in monthly installments minus any expenses.

You will receive itemized monthly statements and the records your require for the end of financial year.  We can arrange to forward your accounts to an accountant of your choice and will answer any queries your accountant may have.

We will  pay bills (e.g. rates, utilities, maintenance) associated with the property so that everything is in one place for you come tax time.  You have peace of mind knowing our accounts are audited annually.

Our system alerts us when a tenant is overdue with their rent.  We do follow up immediately, meaning that currently there are no rental arrears in our portfolio of properties. If you join us part way through the financial year, we can organise for all your records from your previous agent to be added into our system so that you do not have to deal with two sets of accounts.

We will also negotiate any bond claims with your tenants.

Our system has both an owner and tenant portal which is available 24 hours per day.  Using this portal you can see:

• current financial status of your properties including graphic representation of money in/money out.
• all historical statements along with copies of attached bills
• all scanned documents which have been attached to your portfolio
• activity summaries for jobs and inspections that have been lodged and/or completed, so you know we are looking after your property the way we promised
• photos and details of your property.

Your tenant can also use their portal at any time.  Using this portal they can see:

• when their lease expires, and a copy of their lease
• when rent and bills are due
• they can log and monitor maintenance requests, including adding images so we can quickly get quotes
• they can message their dedicated property manager
• download their rent receipts
• see upcoming events such as inspections

Our gold members can also opt in for additional services which are charged at an hourly rate of $75ph + GST.

• Attendance and voting at body corporate meetings
• Project managing renovations.  This includes sourcing products, tradespeople, getting quotations, scheduling the renovation so that your trades are employed effectively. Ensuring your insurances are compliant etc.
• Arranging pre-sale home styling, landscaping, minor repairs that will add value to your sale price
• Preparation for,  and appearance at, Residential Tenancy Authority tribunal.