Suzana Wade: why picking the wrong property manager could cost you thousands

In ep 08 of Raising the Bar, we sit down with Suzana Wade from Locate Property, a seasoned property manager who knows the ins and outs of the rental market. 

Suzana shares practical advice for tenants on what landlords really look for in applications and why being genuine and transparent can set you apart.

We also get candid about the real challenges property managers face every day - from managing burnout and tough tenant situations to juggling long days across town. Suzana reveals how caring for people and staying consistent has helped her maintain a rare five-star Google rating in a tough industry.

Whether you’re a landlord searching for a specialist property manager or a tenant wanting to make your application stand out, this episode offers honest, down-to-earth insights that cut through the noise.

Transcript

Welcome to the Raising the Bar podcast, where we story tell excellence in Queensland Property. I'm your host, George Sourris from Empire Legal.

All right, we're back for another episode of Raising the Bar podcast, where we storytell excellence in Queensland Property. Today we have a special guest, Suzana Wade from Locate Property. Welcome to the show. 

Thank you, George. I'm pretty excited. 

We're keen to have you, I reckon there's going to be a few little nuggets we're going to pull out of today.

All about property management. We're going to be talking about landlords and tenants from both sides of the fence. You've been in real estate for about a decade, right? 

Yeah. Coming onto 10 years now. Yes. 

Not only in the sales space, but also obviously in the property management space, you do both? 

Yes.

Property management sales, and I was a BDM as well, so yeah. 

You've done it all. 

I've done it all. 

Give me 30 seconds on Locate Property. Like what do you guys do? Where are you located? Who do you service? 

Okay, so we are a boutique agency. We only specialise in property management. 

Yep. 

We are located on Wynnum Road, Tingalpa. 

Nice. The reason why we chose that is because we go from Broadbeach right up until Burpengary and then north south east and west. So we wanted to be central for everybody. 

That's what you guys do. Yeah. And we do sales as well, obviously.

So we do sales.

We're filtering now into sales because of the demand. A lot of people are requesting myself to sell again, because I used to sell a lot. Yep. And I just can't do it all anymore, George. 

But you've got a team. We now, you're growing a team. 

We've got about. Seven or eight staff now. 

Amazing. 

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty excited. I think when I first met you, it was just you and Ben from, it was Ben and I and maybe a third person. 

Yeah. And I was sitting on a, yeah, milk crate, because I had nothing else. Literally, I remember the upstairs of your office. There was nothing there.

There was nothing. And you are like, there's going to be a desk here and a desk here. Yeah. I started off with a milk crate, and then I got upgraded to a stepladder and $150 IKEA desk. There you go. Yes. 

That's all I had. Yeah. We, we started on two Kmart desks. Yes. In a spare bedroom in Wynnum West, so, yep. Hard work.

Hard work and dedication and passion for your work. 

Yeah. You have to really care about what you do. Yeah. So look, let's just jump right into it. I've got a little cheat sheet here. 

Okay. So my first question for you is, how have you grown Locate Property to have such a large rent roll in such a short amount of time?

Okay. The answer is honesty, dedication, passion, and actually enjoying what you do. Mm-hmm. And looking at every property as it's your own, and being transparent with my landlords. 

Yep. 

Yeah. 

Well, I can speak from a personal experience, when I moved out of my house and I needed it rented. I didn't call anyone else, and that's hand on heart the truth. I just rung you and said, hey, 

thank you. I want you to do it. 

Yeah. 

And that's because I trust you. Right. Thank you. I think that it's trust that "T" word trust is just so important in our industry. It's a small industry as well, right? Everyone knows everyone, from your conveyancers, to your brokers, to your agents, we're all pretty intertwined. And yeah, I just knew for me, I trusted that you would be able to get me the most amount from my house. Yeah. And look after my property, because it's not just about how much money you can get the landlord. Correct. It's about looking after that property.

Yeah. 

Which we'll, we'll unpack that a little bit more. Yeah. But would you say it's word of mouth? Word of mouth? Because you've exploded. I remember you were in magazines a couple years ago. Correct. Fastest growing.

So I started off with only the two of us. I did my leasing, I did the applications, I did the BDM work. I did everything basically. Yeah, because you can't afford staff at the beginning. Of course. Staff are expensive, right? Correct. You think about Australia and wages a hundred percent, that's a very expensive piece of the puzzle. Definitely. Same with us, we've got lawyers and legal team.

It's not cheap for good talent. 

Yeah. So I did everything from the start at the beginning, and I still to this day as the principal and owner, do my open homes. I want to know, I want to pre-qualify my tenants. I want to get to know them. I want to see who I'm putting in this property. Yes. Those days are gone where you just look at an application and think, yep, this is perfect. Yep. If that's how you're running a business, well then you're in trouble. 

Yeah. You actually are boots on the ground, eyes on the person.

Correct. Like even, I remember when we were re-leasing my place out, we had a few different people through and you, you'd give me a call after the inspection and say, hey, this person's offering this much, but nah, they're a bit iffy. I like the other guy better and here's why. Yeah. Yeah. That's, they're coming from the principal. 

Yeah. I think that's a pretty unique proposition. 

Yeah. 

In the rental space, right? Yeah. You see sellers agents that are sort of front and center all the time. Yeah. But in the, in the rental space, looking after landlords, I don't really see it as, as prevalent. Yeah, I know the burnout rate for property management is insane.

Yeah, it's insane, isn't it really? It is. It is. There's a lot of burnout because a lot of principals, a lot of owners are expecting property managers to look after an excess of 150 to 200 properties per property manager. There's no way you can do that. You can't, can't service it. 200 properties per rental manager? Can't.

Yeah. They've got, sometimes they've got an assistant. Yeah, but they don't, there's no way you can, you can service. That's an insane amount of volume. 

Oh, it's crazy. Crazy. So it's unrealistic. You can, it's unrealistic. You can't do your routines. No. And can't. You can't, yeah. You can't even keep on top of if there's maintenance stuff.

Right. It's, and this is why a lot of the problems that landlords are getting is there's no communication. Yes. Okay. So we have got a rule in the office, no matter if you can't talk to them or return their email, just send them a text or something. Yep. Just that you've acknowledged that you have made communication with them.

Well, I'm heard, yeah. Yeah. You're heard. Just open a line of communication somehow is what all landlords want, is they want to be heard. Yep. They don't want someone to just take their management fee every week. 

Yeah. And go, what am I, what am I even paying for? That's, I'm getting every, if you talking as a landlord is, what am I even paying for and don't hear from anyone?

Honestly, George, I'd have to say the last six months, most of my business is takeovers from other agencies. 

Yes. Yes. Okay, cool. I know we're going to talk a little bit more about that in particular hundred percent because that, I see that as huge opportunity for good property managers out there. Yeah.

Because there's so many that are just not doing it well and no genuine care, correct, yeah, for the people that they're representing. 

Yep. 

Yeah, like I've heard stories, you know, we've been chatting about you go to properties that have been bloody trashed, you've done takeovers, and you are in disbelief as to what you're seeing.

I send you photos sometimes, because obviously you're our conveyancer as well, and I just cannot believe that a lot of my owners don't even know what's happening in their properties. I've just had one $40,000, $50,000 in damages, that was with another agency. How does that happen? And this is where I, and that's what you're paying for, is that peace of mind.

That's right. That the company representing you, there was no pool compliance certificate. Like seriously. 

Yeah. Huge risk. Imagine if something happened in that pool. That's big problems. 

Huge. Yeah. 

So, yeah, there's a lot. Yeah, I, I can go on with all the stories I can tell you. 

Do you find, I'm just trying to add value for whoever may be listening to this right now.

Right? We're talking about your growth. For me as an outsider, I just see it as a word of mouth thing. Like I know I've sent people to you, family, friends of mine because I genuinely believe you'll do the best job for them. 

Thank you. 

Is that how you'd say most of your business has grown? Is it just organic word of mouth? 

It's organic word of mouth, Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting a lot of work. Like you're not doing crazy marketing or anything like that. We've done nothing. 

We don't even have social media. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, you're pretty like almost off the grid. Hey, we're off the grid. It's all just, but it's all word of mouth.

You've got to call Suzana. It's cool because they talk to you and you and your team sort them out. And I think another thing as well, when I get to know my landlords, when they call me, I actually give them my private number, so if there's any problems at all, they can call me directly.

Yeah. And I will be in communication with them as the owner. 

Yes. Okay. That's pretty, that's much 

I back my staff. 

Mm-hmm. 

That we've got everything running, basically like a drive-through McDonald's thru. There's a system, you know, everyone's got their, there's a system. Yeah. And if that there's cracks in that system, that's when the landlord will call me.

And that's, I I, I'm really grateful that they give that opportunity to call me. Yes. And that's why I give out my personal number. Yeah. Because I back them and we've got a system.

Okay. The word of mouth is the, the way that the business is growing. Mm-hmm. Let's dig a bit deeper.

Mm-hmm. 

Why word of mouth? What do you think you are doing when you look at, say, the rest of the industry, where property management may be even struggling or they're losing business and you are gaining business? Why word of mouth - is it the service? Is it something special you're doing?

Why are they saying call Suzana? I think I know, because I'm a real client of yours, but I'm just curious as to your take on it. 

Okay. Honestly, I'm all over the business. I'm actually on the ground working. I'm not sitting in my office, not saying that everyone is. However, I'm hardly in my office.

Yeah, out. 

I'm on the ground. You're out. Yeah, I'm out. I'm talking to them. I'm having a look at their properties. I'm telling what they need to, what they need to fix, and even if they're with other agencies, which I get, I'm getting a lot of calls now, to fix the problem with the other agency before they come onto me.

What they've got to fix, adding value. Value. You're not even getting money at this point. You're like genuine. I'm not even getting value. You need to sort this out. Correct. And I'm doing that because I want you to succeed. Yeah, yeah, 

yeah. And I want them to be happy because so many landlords, they're lost. And it saddens me that there's no transparency there. 

Do you think it's because, I think your unique pitch is the fact that you are a principal that's boots on the ground. Yeah. I know that a lot of property managers, they might be trying to get into real estate. Mm-hmm.

They may be want to be a sales agent down the track. Mm-hmm. And the pathway is you're going to go and do rentals for a while. And you know, traditionally they might be like, you know, younger people just finish school, whatever. Obviously they're still green and they're learning, and I know a lot of them burn out and don't stay in the industry.

Mm. 

Is that part of the secret sauce? It's the fact that they're getting you right, and you've been doing it for a long time, and you're all over it, and it's your business. No one's going to care more than you to get a good result for these people. 

And, and the thing is, they say if you love what you do, you're not actually working.

Yeah. I love it, and I love the chase. I love getting top dollar for my landlords, I love getting the property. It's a recipe. Mm. Okay. It's like baking a cake. You've got to have all the right ingredients for it to rise.

And I've always said that in business. 

How'd you get the recipe? Did you just evolve it over time, when there was a mistake, because obviously you've got this, this well-oiled machine now. 

Yeah. Experienced knowledge and yes, you do, you do make mistakes, of course, but you learn, you learn from that mistake and you think, okay, how can I do this better?

Mm-hmm. And we're still learning every day we're learning like we do. Okay. There's one thing that it's imperative in my business, personal development. 

Yep. 

Okay. We have a meeting every Wednesday and we have personal development. Yep. Okay. With the team. With the team. Yep. Without fail, we want to know what the wins up skill.

Yes. Yes. We want to know our morning meetings on Monday, what your wins are for the week, everything like that. We are a team. There's no "I", yeah. I don't look at myself. Okay. I'm the business owner, or I'm better than anyone. It's not like that. I run around with runners on jeans and in the rain.

Well, we've got a duty as well, right? If you've got a junior that you brought in, it's your duty, it's their career. It is like you, you want to be there to mentor them and coach them. Yeah. And bring them up. And to have the confidence that when they're helping your landlords mm-hmm, that they're delivering the same experience that it would be as if they got Suzana. Correct.

Yeah. 

And I want them to be happy. If the staff are happy, then everyone's happy. Yep. And we treat our tenants just like we treat the landlords, because at the end of the day, your tenant is your business. 

Hmm. 

Okay. Your tenant, 

they're not the enemy. 

You have a good tenant. Your business is running like clockwork.

Fair. Fair. And do you think that maybe other property management companies out there are missing that like, they're not treating the tenant, they're not like they're, it's like, well, it's them against us, as opposed to, same team here. We're just all involved with this property. Let's 

Exactly. 

Yeah.

You know, like, look, I've been, I've worked for other agencies. I see it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. But I do see that tenants aren't respected, and that really saddens me. Just because you're renting doesn't mean you're not as good as the person that owns the property next door. Everyone's in. Yeah, a hundred percent.

Everyone is equal. That's crazy that people think that way. They do. Yeah, they do. You're a tenant. You'll listen to me. No, it's wrong. I'm the mighty landlord. And you? Yeah. 

Yeah. Not the landlord so much. The property manager. 

Oh, okay, okay. The property. Property manager. 

Yeah. 

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

If you have that bond, that, that great friendship with your property manager and the tenant, you won't have problem.

Yeah. And that's what you want, right? You want your tenant to hang around, you do, and to stay on indefinitely, for your landlord. You do, because it's, it's a win-win situation. Yeah. Yeah. 

Alright, I like that. Let's move on. Thank you. I've got a little, a comment here that you don't know about. So this is off, off script.

Wow. Okay. I know you've got a Croatian background. Yeah. 

Is it the Eastern European Balkan blood that has allowed you to build such a great property management business? 

A hundred percent. A hundred percent, yep. Yeah, I'm bit of a control freak. I'm a bit of a control freak and I'm, yes, I'm a little bit, not hotheaded, but I'm passionate is the word.

I think you're on it. I think you're on it. Yeah. And I can share a real example. I remember with my place down the Gold Coast when you were renting it. Yeah. We were having, not trouble renting it, but the market was an interesting time, and there wasn't as much  prospects as we'd like.

Yeah. 

And you're like, George, I'm going to open that house up every second day for you and get the thing rented. And I, I'm like, oh yeah, whatever, Suzana. And you did. 

I did. I did. Remember 

Wednesday, Friday, bloody, I was there on a Sunday, Sunday afternoon. I thought, okay, how can I make this happen? You've got to open the doors, to get tenants in.

And that's what I do. If, if. I haven't leased a property in a strong market within a certain period, I put that much pressure on myself, George, that it's actually crazy. 

And you know what, that was a real eye opener for me. Yeah. And that makes it so easy to refer your business. Yeah. Because yep, Suzana will get the job done.

Yeah. Yeah. It was really cool. Like gone are the days, it really frustrates me where I see, okay, you put on realestate.com. Okay. And you just wait for tenants to come through. Yeah. Okay. There goes one week. There goes another week. You know that's two weeks a landlord has lost money. And why?

Because. It's not proactive. You can't wait. Yeah. You have to be proactive. Yeah. Why is it not renting? Is it the photos? Is it too expensive? That is the job of the BDM or the property manager, or whoever you've got in your business. And that's my job in my business. 

Alright, let's jump onto the next point. What tips do you have for landlords to help them out? So let's identify bad property management from a good one. Okay. The first, you see this every day of the week, right? 

Okay. The first thing if you're a landlord, would be when you're ringing around trying to find who's going to manage your property, do not ask, what are your management fees? That's what they tend to do. Straight off the bat. First thing. Yes. What? Okay. Because you pay for what you get. Yep. All right. The lesser management, the less service you're going to get. Yep. Okay. It's, it's a no brainer. Alright, so first thing, cut that question out.

As a landlord, do you find people ask that all the time? As a time? First question, I guess it's straight away. It's, no, it's no different to in our space. Mm-hmm. Not how many Google reviews do you have? How long have you been in business? What experience do have, it's what do it cost? 

Yep. Yep. 

Yeah, same thing.

There's people that are price driven and then there's people that are results driven. 

Correct. Yeah. 

And yeah, they're very different. If you want cheap and nasty, then you can't really expect much more than a cheaper, nasty service. Yeah, a hundred percent. So the next question the landlord should be asking is how many properties a property manager is managing in their portfolio?

Yep. That is the second question. And then what are their arrears at? Are tenants paying on time? Is your arrears at 6%? Is it at 1%? You know, if it's at 6% you're in trouble. That means your property managers. Oh, so oh, that's a 

stat that is like looked at, is it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. A hundred percent.

Yep, yep, yep. What is your arrears at? That's, that will determine where your business is situated, and is it running tight. 

Can I just ask a question because I don't have much experience in this. Are we talking arrears as in like, Locate Property's portfolio? How many tenants are behind in rent? In rent, as, as a group. So you have a stat going we're X percent behind? Correct. Yep. Okay, cool. So that is a question that a landlord should ask. I, yes, a hundred percent. See I didn't know this. So if you've got 5%, 6% within the portfolio in the business Yep. That, that's a lot of tenants in arrears.

Yep. 

That's not good. 

So what's a good number? Well, well obviously none, but that's not realistic. Or like anything under 1%. You're laughing. Okay, great. Like, I personally think that's fantastic. Yep. 

Alright. That means you've got, you know, you're on point. 

Yep. Yeah. But you're saying if it's like say 5%, that's pretty guarded.You're in. Yep. Yeah. Okay. You're in trouble. 

So. Alright. I'm a landlord and I've come across this podcast and I'm listening. So we've got that arrears amount, obviously not leading with price, what else? Is there anything else that springs to mind, or are they the main points you reckon? 

How many Yeah.And how many properties? Each property manager Yeah. Is, okay. Let's talk about that a bit more. Is there a standard or is there like a, everyone's different. 

Everyone's different. Because you might have a property manager and then she might have an assistant. Yeah. Okay. Or you might just have a property manager that's looking after 150, 180 properties.

They're burnt out. Do you have a sweet spot or not? Like I do, yeah. We do have a certain number that each property manager looks after. Cool. 

So you've got actual KPI, so hundred percent. And that's obviously part of your secret sauce with scaling your business, right? Yeah. Going, all right, one property manager to X amount of people. Correct. But nothing crazy, like 150? 

No, because that's impossible. It'd be like, you know, in our conveyancing here, we do anywhere between 20 to 30 is pretty normal per conveyancer. Per month. 

Yep. Yeah. So they're handling 20 to 30 settlements a month.

Mm-hmm. When you consider, we've got 20 business days in a month. 

Yeah. We're talking one and a bit per day. 

Yeah. Yeah. There's firms out there, I'm not joking, they're doing anywhere between 60 and 80 deals per person, per month. Yeah. That's crazy. So you think about that, that's like up to 4x the volume.

If you are engaging these people, good luck getting them on the phone. Good luck getting a response fast. You probably could even miss deadlines. Mm-hmm. So it's the same thing, right? The more time your property managers have, the more genuine care and value they can add to the landlord and the tenant. The whole experience is better because they're available.

Another thing I noticed as well is when I was working with other companies, you get the receptionist. Okay? The receptionist then gives the property manager the message or sends them an email. As a landlord, if you're frustrated, if you want to talk to someone, of course you do.

Like you want to talk to your property manager. We've actually got mobiles. 

Yeah, well shout out to Tammy. This is real. This is real. This isn't made up. So Tammy works with Suzana. Mobiles. 

Okay. Every one of us. And I text her if I need something. You can call them directly. Yep, yep. There's nothing worse.

How frustrating that you can't get ahold of your property manager? 

Look, it's one of those things, for me, the property, not, not much goes wrong, but there's been instances with like, something went wrong with the pool. And I remember the pool company had called me and then I just got Tammy involved and it was sorted.

It was great. It was nice and easy, but again. I got CC'd in. Yeah, of course. You know, so I know again, yes. My portfolio's, you know, it, it's a good portfolio. Yeah. Okay. But I still know if there's, there's situations that, you know, I get CC'd in. 

Okay. So they're, they're the main questions you're asking as a landlord.

Yeah. That's the main tip. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. Cool. Let's move on.

You represent a lot of landlords with multiple properties. Is it easier or harder to manage them than say just a mum and dad investor? And I know you haven't prepped for this, so you've got your guys with heaps of properties and you've got your mums and dads.

 Do you have a preference?

I've got a lot of people in my portfolio that have got whole buildings. Yeah. Wow. Okay. I think it's a much of a muchness. Yep. There's a lot of first time investors Yep. That I need to hold their hand to get to the finishing line.

Yes. That they don't, you know, it's, it's daunting, but that's not a bad thing, right? No, it's great if they get a good experience. Yeah. Like say they get managed to get to your company. Yeah. They're going to have a good experience with that handhold. Yeah. Whereas if they're in, say another place, maybe one of these bargain bin mobs that are charging a cheap percentage.

Mm-hmm. I don't think that experience could be compared. It wouldn't be a good experience for these people. 

No, and they're actually, and a lot of them don't even know, George, that I'm the owner. I never tell them. 

There you go. How crazy is that. Ever. Yeah. Yeah. You like I never tell them a, Hey, I'm jundercover.

Yeah. They just think you, I'm undercover. Suzana. I don't know. It's your business. Open homes. Come on guys, come on through. Yeah. This is the open home. They've got no idea. 

Yeah, that's cool. But I still speak to every one of them. What do you do for work? Where are you looking? When do you want to move? Okay.

And then I get to know them and then I put them in my notes. And if they put the application in, then I speak to my staff, I go, okay, this one's really good. I really like their energy. You know, everything like that. 

But I think it's actually what you've just explained there. I think that's your secret sauce.I'm under cover. I'm undercover. Like 

that is your secret source, undercover. You're not just someone, take the mask off. No. You're not just someone that's like, yeah, the house is open. Put your applications in. You actually genuinely care those questions you are asking. Yeah, like you just move for the area, you know, how long you been looking, all those questions you're building real relationships with these people. 

Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. And I've had a lot of clients follow me, you know, from seven, eight years ago. They're all following me. Yep. A lot of them are just hearing now, hey, Suzana's opened up Locate.

Yeah. Yeah. 

Well there you go. If you went crazy on socials, I reckon you wouldn't even know how to keep up with the business when they find out where you are. Yes. Yes.

Alright. My last question for you is focused on tenants. How can you stand out from the crowd and have a better chance to win a rental property as a tenant?

Okay. First thing is, put your whole application in, don't miss bits and pieces. So if there's one of you applying, make sure everything's in. Everything that the app's asking you, put it all in. Yeah. Don't wait. Or we've got to chase, you know, we've, so what you, are we talking about like say the form where you're filling in all your details?

Right? You, you're telling me that there's people that don't fill the whole form out? 

They don't fill, yeah, they don't fill it out. Okay. The next thing is if you're moving from another agency 

Yep. 

Call them and say, look, I found a place. They obviously know that you're moving. 

Yep. Please can you get the ledger to them?

They'll be calling you soon. Because we spend probably two to three days sometimes, and we like to get things done very quickly. 

Yes. 

Okay. And we are constantly calling other agencies. Please can we have the the ledger? Can we have a look? Slows the whole process down, hey. Completely. Yeah. Yeah. So if the tenant rings themselves and say, look, it's quite important. It's urgent. Yep. Yeah. 

So just for people that are listening that maybe don't have much exposure as a tenant, this ledger we're talking about, are we talking their existing tenancy? 

If they've got an existing Yeah. Yeah. And this is if they're paid up to date, if they're like a delinquent tenant.

Correct. So it's like a, almost like a little bit of a CV history on their rental, right? Is that that's what we're talking about. Yes. Okay. Cool. Alright, so making sure you've got that ready. Filling out the whole application. Mm. What else sets tenants apart when you meet them and see them that gives them the edge over another person to win the property?

When they say to me, okay, I am doing an open home, and they say, look, when I start speaking to them and they say, look, I would treat this like my own property. Nice. 

Okay. Yep. 

I love that. I love that. I get to know as well if they've moved. I like to help a lot of people that have moved from interstate. Yep.

A lot of single mothers as well. Yeah. Wow. 

Give them a chance. Yep. Give them a chance. Just because they're single mums doesn't mean they can't afford a property. 

Yeah. It really, I mean, I'm a single mother. 

Yep. 

You know, and I, I can afford a property. 

Yep. 

You know, don't judge. 

Yeah. It's a whole, it breaks my heart a whole nother conversation, isn't it?

Let's not even go there. 

Don't even get me started. Yes. I like to look at everybody as equal. 

Yeah. And then you obviously feed that back to your landlords. Correct. Uhhuh, because it's not always. You know, things aren't always as they seem, right? Correct. Someone may look like on paper an amazing candidate.

Mm-hmm. But then if you meet them at the open home, there may be some red flags that pop up. You can copy and paste now, someone's bank statements with AI. Seriously, some of the things we see in the applications just blows your mind. 

Well, like dodgy stuff or like written by like all sorts of crazy stuff and a lot of things they don't realise, a lot of property managers now are checking social media. 

Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Cool. So if you've got an open social media page mm-hmm. And you are up to no good, then it might be found, and that could stop you from having your best foot forward as a tenant. Mm. 

Mm-hmm. Okay. 

Okay. Anything else spring to mind or you reckon as a tenant they're your main things to look out for?

They're the main things. To set them apart. 

They're the main things. Okay, cool. Well, fill out your applications guys properly. Yeah, 

fill them out properly because we are constantly chasing - okay you've left this bit out or this or, yeah. 

And look, I'm just going to go out in a whim here.

Surely the ones that say, come through your property, you meet them, if they're a bit more personable and they take the time to talk to you, and you are sort of scoping them out there, they've got a better chance, right? Like, I don't know if that's true, but I'm thinking if it was me, I'd want to make friends with you, so that you remember George when you're presenting to your landlord going, oh, that George guy was good. 

It's, they, they don't know, they think I'm the leasing girl, which is great. Yeah. Okay. And I want them to know that. Yeah. You know and they're just so open and transparent with me. Nice. Like, you know, if someone's going through a horrible divorce, you know, some people just want some help. With you know, the economy, the way it is, the cost of living, there's a lot of people that, George, that need help. Oh. 

You'd see the, and it just breaks, saddest stories, breaks my heart. Because your boots on the ground, you're seeing it like, and I see it, I split from my partner. I'm going through a divorce. I need somewhere to live. No one is giving me a chance. 

I've got nowhere to live. I've got to be close to my kids' school. Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So just be a human being, right? I think that comes a long way, is build a relationship and they could be the undercover director of the business, that is one of the decision makers', in white runners jeans and opening all the houses and talking to everyone.

I love it. Yeah. When you love what you do, you know, you, you're passionate and it comes from within. 

Yeah. That, that's just so true. You care about the people that you're interacting with. I do. And I think like we've established here, not only the landlords, you are also there for the tenants too.

Yeah. Because everyone can actually achieve a great result. You know, like I had a, something happened to me last year as a lot of people know, I lost both parents, and a lot of my landlords sent me flowers. A lot of my landlords sent me, you know, messages and it, it was just so warm, George. Yeah. It was warm.

Yep. You know what I mean? Yep. That they do actually care because they become a part of your life. That's right. And you care about them. 

Yeah. Well, we've become mates off the back of a business relationship, haven't we? Yeah, we have a hundred percent. Yep, 

yep, yep. Alright. My last thing for you is how have you maintained a five star Google rating in the property management space?

Understanding how difficult that is with burnout, disgruntled tenants, possibly disgruntled landlords. It almost feels like a unicorn. How do you have a five star review, knock on wood, for your property management business? Honestly, that's, that's amazing in that space. Because it's a tricky area to, to practice in. Hard. 

Hard, yeah. Hard. We just, every day we get up, you know, some days you're exhausted and you're mentally drained, but you go, okay, how can I be the best version of myself? How can I have this business the best there is? And then when you give from within and you give everything you have, hopefully that result will filter over to my landlords, to my tenants, to everybody I'm working with. Yep. Hopefully will get reciprocated. It's a, it, it's a 50 50, isn't it, with Google reviews? Oh, look, it's one of those things where you, you know, I shit myself sometimes.

One came in this morning, I go, oh my God, please let it be a good one. 

But look, I think, you know, deep down you're doing a good job and it's going to be good. And if not, there's got to be a crazy reason for it. We've left one on there. You, you're out there doing good work. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Like you should be getting good reviews.

Thank you. But the proof's in the pudding because you do, you've got only five star reviews. You've got a great business. Thank you. So thank you. 

Yeah. I just find that an amazing feat to that you've achieved that. Yeah. But yeah, I know we often share, call them war stories, call them conversations, or whatever.

You know, where you're running around like crazy, like I know you're going where you're going after Ripley or something, going out to Ripley after this? Yeah, I'm doing appraisals and then I've got Ripley as well this afternoon. Then I've got to go from Ripley to Shailer Park. 

Yeah. See, so that's one end of town to the other.

Yeah. And it's crazy rain and you know that's the reality of the property management space, right? Yeah. It may not be as sexy as what you see on Instagram. It's what you got to do. Actually from one side of town to the other. 

Yeah. I've got to a run sheet. So I start at 8.30am. Then at nine o'clock I do this. Then I pick up keys from this agency because it's a takeover. If I don't have a run sheet, I don't even know where I am half the day. 

Yeah. Well, you've got to be, be efficient off. Right. And then off, off, you 

have to be efficient. Yeah. 

I don't know how these 200 property manager people survive.

That's why they burn out and leave. That's got to be why they burn out and leave. That's what it is. 

They're exhausted. Yeah. And no one's hearing them. Yeah. Property managers have got such a hard job. 

I totally agree. It's so hard not, I think they should get paid more money for what they do, and they're not being heard.

And that's what upsets me. They're not being hurt. Mm. Okay. I've got goosebumps. Because it is stressful, it's hard, it's draining, it's emotional. It, you know, your head space some days is, is challenging, you know? Oh, it would be, yeah. Upset, abuse, sore, sometimes upset for no good reason. Yeah. And if they're crying or if they're upset, it's not, wipe your tears and just move on, listen.

Mm-hmm. They want to be heard. 

Yeah. Maybe the culture needs a bit of a, a reform. Mm-hmm. Even like I, I heard recently a property manager getting bloody chased by a dog. You know, got like, surely there's got to be a better process for that so that managers aren't getting mauled by animals when they're trying to go do their job.

Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've got one very last thing for you and then we'll wrap it up. Okay. So again, another, another thing we're flying blind, but I'll give you a few seconds to think about it. So this question is a unique question that we ask everybody at the end. Mm-hmm.

We're here to raise the bar, and I want to get one golden nugget from you, and you can have a few seconds to think, just for whoever may be listening to this podcast about landlords, property managers, tenants. It doesn't have to be related to that. Just generally, what's just one golden nugget piece of advice that you would love to share to whoever may be listening, that could help them out.

And you can have a few seconds to think. I don't expect you to pull this answer out straight away. 

So, in what way? Like. It can be professionally, it can be personally, it can be property management related. Like what's popping up in your head as something that's just such a, a good piece of advice you'd like to give out to whoever might be listening.

Okay. And I'll leave it totally at your discretion as to how you answer. 

Okay. Obviously I'm in investment because  I look after a lot of investors property. Yes. Investments. The first thing is, if you're a landlord, surround yourself or find yourself a property manager that specialises in property management.

Okay. I just feel there's a lot of boutique agencies that just specialise in it. 

Yeah. Not a sales agency that has a property management arm. You're saying go for someone that's a specialist. 

We are going into sales as well, but our main focus is property management. 

Yeah. Yeah.

So that's, that's how you identify the business, right? Yes. You're a property management business. And 

there's a lot of new investors coming through the market. Mm-hmm. Okay. Find someone that's passionate, that knows, that's experienced, yes, that's experienced, and is not going to bring on your property, and then you don't hear from them.

Mm. Because a lot of them don't know the compliance or what they've got to do. They bought this property and then they don't know what to do with it. No. 

Yeah, that's it. It's sad. 

That's, yeah, I would say scary, but it's also sad. And it's very scary. Yeah. It's both, you know, you're giving your, your investment, your baby to someone to look after.

And you want to know it's in good hands. 

And guys back, back that up, up with Google reviews. Right? That's another thing that I'm so passionate about, is like say they do look up a property management specific agency and then there's Locate with however many Google reviews you got with a five star average, that's more attractive than someone with a low amount. And that's social proof. That proof's in the pudding from real life people that have left you that review. 

Like I know people that have got 500, 600, 700 reviews. 

Mm-hmm. 

You know what I mean? And I know people that are paying, you know, giving them a gift voucher, per review or whatever? Yeah. Per review to get another review.Yeah. You know, people that do reviews do it because they want to do them. Yep. 

You don't have to chase them. They want to do it.

They just happen. Yeah. I look, I challenge that, that comment you said about the people that are paying for the reviews.

Yeah. I bet you, I bet you anything, they don't have a five star average, because if you're paying for reviews, actually don't, they don't. There's bad reviews in there and they're paying to try and get it up. Yeah. 

Touch wood, we've got a five star average and we've got thousands of reviews, but that's seven and a half years of asking every client every time, and we don't pay for them, and they're all real.

Yeah, but it took years to achieve that. 

Oh, it takes, I mean, I'm only up to what, a hundred and something, but they're legit. Yeah. That's it. They're actually people that, not saying that the others aren't. Okay. But yeah, Google reviews. I hope I'm not going to get any bad now. 

No, no, no. Don't worry. We're sending good energy out there.

Oh God. You do good work and you'll get good reviews. And that's it. 

Thank you. Thank you, George. 

Well, I reckon we wrap it up there, guys. Obviously, if you're a landlord out there and you're looking for a change, chat to Suzana. Give me a call. If you're a tenant and you're maybe looking for a place, maybe Suzana can help. I don't know. Yes, I 

help a lot of tenants. Yeah, a lot. My private, yeah, Messenger has got a lot. Yes. Yes. 

Slide into her DM's.

Yes. Yes. 

But thanks guys. Obviously if you've got any questions off the back of this, you can reach out to me. All the info will be in the bio and we will go from there. Thanks very much. 

Thank you. Thanks for your time, Suzana. Thanks. Thank you.