As a landlord, it might seem obvious that your biggest financial asset is your investment property. However some landlords lose sight of the basics when it comes to taking care of that asset, or simply don't know what is really involved in the day to day running of a rental property.

With rising interest rates, landlords are concerned about how they will manage to contend with increasing loan repayments on their investment properties. Many are crunching the numbers, stretching their budgets and reigning in spending in an attempt to make ends meet, but there is another solution.

Although rental income will not cover your entire mortgage on a well placed negatively geared property, it can go a long way.

Now more than ever, it is crucial for landlords to revisit the going rent on their properties and conduct regular, timely reviews in order to bridge the ever-widening gap between yields and mounting monthly mortgage obligations…

The latest interest rate increase will not only cause hardship to home owners- but also to tenants. Rents for many properties are likely to increase substantially over the next year...find out why in this insightful piece by Pamela Yardney.

Over the years, our State Governments have set up residential tenancy authorities to protect the rights of both the landlord and the tenant.

While in the past, many tenants thought the landlords had unreasonable rights, now the pendulum has swung in favour of the tenants and many landlords feel their rights have diminished and their responsibilities have been increased.

So what are your rights and responsibilities as a landlord?

Good news for property investors – rents are going to increase significantly over the next 3 years.

A review of recently released data from the REIA shows that rents have increased by around 25% in the last 3 years. But can they keep increasing? Will renters be able to afford more? In this article, Pamela Yardney explains what's to come for rental prices...

With lagging property values many investors are keen to raise the rentals on their investment properties to help keep up their returns.

It is important for landlords to understand that they can't just put up the rent when they 'feel like it'. When negotiating a rent increase it is important to note that there are legislated notice periods that we must adhere to.

Here are some things we consider when carrying out a rent increase...

Most property investors go through some sort of “due diligence” process when they buy their investments. The most common include obtaining a valuation, investigating the long term growth of the area, a building inspection and of course they undertake some sort of financial evaluation, based on their investment criteria (possibly using a program like PIA.)

There are 3 other factors worth considering when making a buying decision...

One of the realities of Property Management is that people move house and tenants move on. Wouldn’t life be easier for all of us if once settled in a property, tenants were happy to stay for longer periods? Unfortunately life just doesn't work like this...so how can you minimise vacancies between tenants?

Director of Metropole Property Management Pamela Yardney provides some handy hints to keep your rental property lived in longer...

Every landlord wants the best tenant for their rental property. Someone who will treat your treasured investment with as much care and respect as if it were their own. So who are these ideal tenants and, more importantly, how do we attract them? How do we tempt the tenant who will look after the house, the landlord and the property manager?

In this eye-opening article Pamela Yardney reveals the secret to finding and keeping the perfect tenant for your property... 

Put some furniture into your investment property and get higher rents and some extra depreciation allowances. On the surface it sounds like a simple and a smart thing to do, but in general I don’t recommend that investors furnish their rental properties. 

We have found furnished investment properties more trouble than they are worth.

Please click the full story button to read on and let me explain why.