2022 Rental Applications: RAW with Ellie Milliken
By now I understand that most of you know how competitive the rental market is. Do you remember the days when we had the luxury to book private inspections and take our time looking through a home? In 2022, your private inspection is accompanied by 15 other groups of people, [who have taken all the parking which is why you are now 10 minutes late], where you all eventually gather around the property manager trying to “woo” them into accepting your application. Once you have inspected 9 other properties with no luck, it’s time to turn on the charm, right?
Well today I am going to explain -why- you are facing these issues and how to overcome them. Disclaimer alert! Not everyone wants to hear the brutal reality, however I assure you this raw information is helpful and will make a difference to you.
Here’s the tea…
We received 18 applications over night on a property listed for rent yesterday. Lockdowns in our neighbouring states such as NSW and Victoria especially, have been so suffocating that it is driving their residents into other states. The sunny Gold Coast is now the most expensive city to live in Australia as of 2022. Understandably, the weather, the beaches, the lifestyle variety; We all get it.
So if you are house hunting for rentals on the Gold Coast, repeat after me, “your application is everything”.
Documentation
Start off with completing your application. Make sure you have 3x items of income, 3x items of ID [at least 1x consisting of photo ID], and maybe a cover letter. That’s it! Do not submit anything further. This is going to make your application look as appealing as possible. If you walk into an office and see a desk with piles and piles of folders, files, draws half open with things bursting out of them – this does not look appealing and although there’s loads of information there, it is not helpful. A neat and tidy desk with just 4 papers neatly spread out, this is much more manageable.
Standing Out
Name: John Smith (Chef) ß Putting your job description in brackets located directly after your name, the property manager of this property is going to receive a notification: “John Smith [Chef] has just applied for X property”.
This looks fantastic and entices the property manager to look at your application.
Biography
Next, is biography. Although yoga, novel reading and your new label maker have you sounding like a better person than the rest of us, this is not necessarily the type of information a property manager or landlord are seeking. In your biography, relate your entire blurb around financial stability, work lifestyle, savings if you have them, and boy does a property managers love to hear the phrase “house proud”.
For example: I am 32 years old, a full time personal trainer earning $1000 per week and I have $8K in savings. I am extremely house proud, and my dog has more grey hairs than I do [phew!].
Keep it less than 3-4 sentences long. If you have a story to tell, for example why you do not have any rental history in the last 5 years, explain your situation in a cover letter and note in your bio “no rental history explained in cover letter attached”. Short, sweet, and 1x personal thing about you [gaming, fitness, pet enthusiast].
Introduce Yourself
Let’s get raw -> If a property manager receives 60 applications, and they find 5 fantastic prospective tenants on the first 10 applications processed, “sorry-but” the tribe has spoken. When it comes to rental applications on the Gold Coast in 2022, only around 40% of applications will be processed on each property. Although this is not what we want to hear, knowing and understanding this information gives you the opportunity to conquer the problem.
Here we talk about how to have your application reviewed. This may answer your question on why you have not secured a rental yet – they may have simply not reviewed it [however they won’t admit this to you].
When you are confident that your application is complete & submitted, give the property manager a call. Remember: This property manager has already received 100 phone calls about the same property from prospective tenants like yourself. Therefore, make sure to get straight to the point:
- Your Name,
- Address of the property you have applied for,
- The 1x best thing about your application,
- And that you will leave them to it.
Try not to take up more than 3 minutes of their time. You will be remembered, trust me! Property managers love straight to the point people.
Inspect the Property
In the real estate world of 2022, we no longer have the comfort of being able to inspect a property, and then decide whether to apply for it. Take my word - Apply for every property that is to your liking online, and then get in touch to inspect it.
If you are lucky enough to be contacted to inspect a property you have applied for –do what ever you can to make it to the inspection they have booked. 1x inspection is all it takes to lease a property on the Gold Coast market.
Now for the most RAW & brutal tip of them all.
Leave the Laundry at Home.
Great tenants, with great references and great rental history, have great chances of securing a rental. There is “a time and a place” to vent about the difficulty and stress you are enduring in securing a home. After all, you wouldn’t go into a job interview saying that no body wants to hire you, right?
That’s all for now. Thank you so much for taking the time today. I have loads more RAW tips for you that will make a REAL difference coming soon.
Whether you are looking for a rental, looking for a property manager to manage your property, looking for real estate advice; I will give you my best RAW advice that will have real results. My name is Ellie Milliken and I am your trusted Property Manager of the Gold Coast. For more, please contact me directly via email at [email protected].
2022 is ours!