Too often, potential home buyers make the decision of choosing a rental property from it's curb appeal. Yet, outdoor areas and landscaping is always underdone or overlooked. Impressive and attractive landscapes can add more value to your home. The best time to start cleaning your outdoor areas is a month before you plan to list your home for rent. Doing this will give you enough time to get everything looking perfect and will also remove the impression that you have made last minute changes.

While you're busy working on your craft, you still need to have consistent work and the ability to run your business successfully. Sure, you might have your own systems in place, but there's an easier and more effective solution to help you manage your teams, customers and jobs so you can start seeing results and growth in your business. Here's 4 reasons why the Bricks + Agent onboarding experience for service providers is the best in driving success.

Mandatory maintenance is something that defines the property management industry today. However, things like whether the property’s portfolio is well-maintained or not is something that is questionable. The reason why most real estate agencies are planning to, or already have streamlined their maintenance processes, is ultimately to imrprove their clients' overall satisfaction with their business. Although maintenance is quite beneficial and important for rental properties, it can keep your staff bogged down and start to affect your business, if managed ineffectively. How will you deal with property maintenance tasks? Thanks to the simplified property maintenance system developed by our team at Bricks+Agent, maintenance and repairs at rental properties are a breeze to complete. Here’s how it will help:

Being a self-managed property manager is more often than not a very profitable and rewarding experience. However, for someone who is new to the rental industry, managing a rental property can be quite difficult. If you find yourself in this situation, take the time to learn the ropes.

Does your job revolve around customer satisfaction? Working in customer-centric industries like real estate, you will come across a lot of people and making a connection with the customer is vital to the longevity of your business. Establishing healthy customer connections is a fool proof formula for generating repeat business. Customers will come to you not just because they love your products and services, but because you offered them a smooth and convenient experience. The experts at Bricks + Agent have compiled a list of tips and tricks for improving customer connections.

If you're on the lookout for a new career path, becoming a property manager might just be the perfect job for you. Now more than ever, people of all ages are renting instead of buying, so the need for good and professional property managers is out there. A career in property management can bring a decent salary, job security, and steady employment, and if you like to work with people, then your success is almost guaranteed.

Cloud-based property management software is considered one of the most popular and powerful tools for many real estate agencies. But while it is quite popular among many businesses, the software can still be quite overwhelming and mysterious to many, which fuels many myths about it.

A fresh start to 2020 means new goals and enhancements at Bricks + Agent. This month we are excited to announce improved insights for property managers, the introduction of ‘business rules’ to automate actions or filter jobs and a Smart Dashboard that let’s you control the information that actually requires your attention to proceed with jobs.

Australians love everything Balinese, and you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that this beautiful island is a very popular travel destination. Aussies go to Bali for many different reasons and when they come back they wish to bring it home with them. In Bali, all the resorts and guesthouses, even the cheaper ones, have verdant and luxurious tropical gardens where you can enjoy moments of peace and tranquillity.

In Australia, the average costs of a qualified roof painter’s services are around $40/hr. The costs of materials and paint are not included in this sum. Depending on different aspects of the project, a roof painting professional can charge anywhere between $30/hr and $55/hr. While any roof painter will be able to offer you an estimate quote, the actual costs of your project will be determined after the specialist makes a thorough inspection. After the inspection, the painter will take different aspects into account in order to offer you an accurate price.

During my many years as a property investor, I’ve learnt that a few key upgrades and good maintenance of your property can be key to not only keeping good tenants happy but can also increase the value of your rental a lot. It doesn’t take a tonne of money and a complete overhaul to make your property the most desirable rental around - you just have to know where to focus your efforts.

Do you have safe swimming pool fencing? With summer on the way it’s every pool owner’s responsibility to make sure your pool is safe for children, whether your own, a visitors or a neighbours. Young children like to go exploring and you never know when one will end up in your backyard, and in the worst case scenario, your pool. If you’re unclear about the rules around pool fencing and think you need to get yours checked, keep reading for more information.

We don’t know about you, but we have more gizmos and gadgets that use USB cords with each passing week. As technology advances and as our homes are becoming ‘smarter’, the number of smartphones and tablets increases. Go-Pros, digital cameras, video cameras, GPS, game consoles, laptops, fitness trackers, etc. Not only do gadgets and their cables become tangled and get on our nerves but often they overload our power points. The good news is, universal power points have become increasingly popular, and electricians are being asked to install them in many homes. Having USB sockets installed in our power points will solve overloading problems, but this upgrade should only be done by a licenced electrician. Hiring a licenced and insured tradie is essential to get job to get done quickly, safely, and legally. Some benefits associated with having a USB dedicated power point are: ability to charge several electronics and devices simultaneously and quickly, less tangled cables, freeing up power point sockets for other uses. Using extension cords and power boards can be quite unsafe and can lead to socket overload, especially if there are too many devices plugged in at the same time.

Aren’t you glad it’s almost Christmas? But as a property manager, you probably have a lot to do before you can start thinking about the holidays. So we’ve created a pre-holiday checklist to help you find calm in the chaos.

If you are a property owner or a property manager you've probably heard the line "I can do that for half the price." more than once. However, hiring someone who does not have a licence in order to save money is usually an extremely disappointing experience. If you are new to property management you might ask yourself "Why hire a licenced contractor when an unlicenced ‘tradie’ can do the same job for less?" In this article, we will provide the answer to this question and we hope that you will understand the importance of always hiring licenced tradies. A tradesman who undergoes certified training in order to get a licence is usually committed to their trade. By investing their time in learning and developing the necessary skills to get a trade licence, the tradesman guarantees that he can provide quality work. When hiring someone for a job, you should always look at their trade licence and qualifications first. Are they licenced to do the kind of work that you need them to? In some cases, a contractor might have a licence that restricts them to only do certain jobs. For instance, a licenced residential builder will usually have the necessary skills to do all sorts of tasks, but he might be restricted to doing a specific job such as decking. By checking their licence and registration you should be able to tell exactly what the contractors can do. Did you know that for certain jobs you are required by law to hire a licenced tradesman? For example, electrical work can only be carried out by someone who has an electrical worker’s licence in Australia.

How do you feel about interacting with your home the way you would with a website? In the future your home will know who’s in what room, make your coffee and turn on your lights. It might even choose your clothes for you based on the temperature outside.

Mark Haigh is a Property Manager at Little Real Estate. We recently sat down with him to discuss improving team efficiencies, adopting new technology and finding your grove using the new Bricks + Agent property maintenance solution.

Being a self-managed property manager is more often than not a very profitable and rewarding experience. However, for someone who is new to the rental industry, managing a rental property can be quite difficult. If you find yourself in this situation, take the time to learn the ropes.

Whether you hire professional contractors, do it yourself, or combine the two, managing the regular maintenance of a rental property is an important part of being a landlord. Additionally, if you are a property owner you must also make sure that the rental property is up to code and in great shape for tenants.

Are you planning on remodelling or renovating your house? If you are, you might be considering wallpaper, which has re-entered the style space this year. Available in a wide range of colors, textures, and prints, replacing old wallpaper or installing it in order to improve the property’s overall appearance could add value, attract more buyers and boost your home’s appeal.

Does your job revolve around customer satisfaction? Working in customer-centric industries like real estate, you will come across a lot of people and making a connection with the customer is vital to the longevity of your business. Establishing healthy customer connections is a fool proof formula for generating repeat business. Customers will come to you not just because they love your products and services, but because you offered them a smooth and convenient experience. The experts at Bricks + Agent have compiled a list of tips and tricks for improving customer connections.

If you're on the lookout for a new career path, becoming a property manager might just be the perfect job for you. Now more than ever, people of all ages are renting instead of buying, so the need for good and professional property managers is out there. A career in property management can bring a decent salary, job security, and steady employment, and if you like to work with people, then your success is almost guaranteed.

Do you need a garden pond in your home? It is possible to build one with any budget depending on the design of your choice. There are many garden pond designs that you can choose from to suit all types of budgets. The cheapest way to building it is using the DIY method. However, the DIY approach is for small ponds. You might need the services of a landscaper if you plan to make a big garden pond.

A tidy garden improves the beauty of your home and keeps you safe. As much as you can keep it clean using the DIY method, it might not be possible if you are busy. You might need to hire a garden cleaner. Garden cleanup cost can be around $45/hr. It depends with the requirements of the job. Sometimes cleaning a garden can be as low as $40/hr or as high as $50/hr. If you need services of a professional garden cleaner, it can cost you on average in Australia $164.84 to complete the whole project. However, this being an average estimation, rates can vary depending on the number of tasks involved.

A property manager must be a skilled juggler of numerous tasks, keeping both landlords and tenants happy. In addition to keeping properties maintained and in good shape, they are responsible for preserving a rental property's value. Although this job only requires a high school diploma, many customers will opt to work with a specialist who has a degree in real estate, finance, or business. We've put together a list of professional qualities a property manager needs hold to make the most out of a successful career.

Do you know who the average Australian property investor really is? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the super wealthy property speculator buying up rentals left right and centre. In fact it could be your next door neighbour, the one who’s drinking XXXX and firing up the barbie. Don’t believe us? Let’s take a look at some stats to see if we can put together a clearer profile of this person….

Whether you’re a seasoned property manager with an impressive portfolio or a beginner, you want to grow your rent roll and increase your monthly rental income. Right? The good news! Fortunately, there are countless rent roll growth strategies scattered over the web. But the question is what actually works? Which strategies help deliver real results effectively in a hassle-free manner? This article shares several time-tested rent roll growth strategies that really work.

How do you feel about interacting with your home the way you would with a website? In the future your home will know who’s in what room, make your coffee and turn on your lights. It might even choose your clothes for you based on the temperature outside.

Are you planning on remodelling or renovating your house? If you are, you might be considering wallpaper, which has re-entered the style space this year. Available in a wide range of colors, textures, and prints, replacing old wallpaper or installing it in order to improve the property’s overall appearance could add value, attract more buyers and boost your home’s appeal.

Does your job revolve around customer satisfaction? Working in customer-centric industries like real estate, you will come across a lot of people and making a connection with the customer is vital to the longevity of your business. Establishing healthy customer connections is a fool proof formula for generating repeat business. Customers will come to you not just because they love your products and services, but because you offered them a smooth and convenient experience. The experts at Bricks + Agent have compiled a list of tips and tricks for improving customer connections.

If you're on the lookout for a new career path, becoming a property manager might just be the perfect job for you. Now more than ever, people of all ages are renting instead of buying, so the need for good and professional property managers is out there. A career in property management can bring a decent salary, job security, and steady employment, and if you like to work with people, then your success is almost guaranteed.

Cloud-based property management software is considered one of the most popular and powerful tools for many real estate agencies. But while it is quite popular among many businesses, the software can still be quite overwhelming and mysterious to many, which fuels many myths about it.