 We absolutely cannot wait to see you at the property show brought to you by privateproperty.co.za. The show is happening from the 27th to the 28th of August 2022. It's happening at the Stanton Convention Center, but remember, you can also join virtually from anywhere that you are in the world. Tickets are available at thepropertyshow.co.za. Thank you so much for joining us for the Private Property Podcast tonight. My name is Dumie and tonight we are talking the truth about how landlords can increase the value of their properties. Before I introduce tonight's guests, do remember that you can engage with us. You can send us your questions, your comments, as well as tag your friends. Make sure that you do this and 500 grand is up for grabs. And remember, those people who are winning, those winners will stand in line to get tickets to the property show happening in Stanton. Five viewers will get to get one ticket each and this competition is valid from the 20th of July. So make sure that you never get to miss an episode. Thank you so much for always engaging with us and we absolutely love it. So coming to tonight's topic, I'm sitting with David Beattie who is the founder of Corus Property and he is also the author of the book, The Expert Landlord. David, thank you so much for joining us. Fantastic. So good to be with you, Jimmy. Really, really appreciate it. Tonight we are talking something that's close to a lot of people's hearts because a lot of people have gone into property as a side hustle or whatever the case is really just wanting to grow their investment now. They are landlords and they want to know how do I keep this property investment profitable? Okay, so property investment profitability really comes down to money and it really talks to income and expenses. So what are the two best ways of building income in your property investment? It's through occupancy, making sure your property is always occupied and number two is on rent collection. So how do you make your property as profitable as possible? You want to maximize your income by making sure your property is rented out throughout the year. A good market-related price, not necessarily about highest price, it's no point having a higher price and only occupied for six months of the year. And then secondly, make sure you're placing a good tenant which means that the good tenant is going to perform for you, you're going to be able to collect lots of rent or consistent rent from the tenant. What's the cycle you would say is great in terms of landlords increasing rental income? Is it, can they increase their rent every month and you spoke about market-related, how do they know if it's market-related? Market-related, so rent value is always about what they call comparative market analysis. So let's say I've got a two bedroom apartment with one bathroom in Stanton in four ways. What other properties in that area, also two bedrooms, one bathroom are also been rented out in four ways at this moment. So if I've got a two bedroom, one bathroom and comparing with other two bedrooms, one bathroom, my price is going to have to be the same as what else has been marketed at the moment. So I may feel that I want 20,000 round a month for my property, but if all the other two bedrooms, one bathrooms are going for 10,000 round, that's what you're going to get. And how often should you increase your rent? And typically on a contractual basis every 12 months, on a long-term rental basis. But in this market, you wouldn't automatically push in an increase. The challenge about this market is, there again, is the average rent, like it was three or four years ago, was that market increase, the rent increasing? And then every year, then you could increase it. At the moment, the rent is quite flat. And so therefore, when you look at your contractual basis, where it says eight or ten percent increase, you would then say, what is the, at that time where you should be doing the increase, what is the other rents in that area doing? And then can you get away with doing the increase or not? Sure. And in your expert advice and experience even, what do you think that tenants look for when they're looking for a property? First and foremost in this market, tenants are looking for value for money. When I say value for money, they're obviously looking for the best possible rent price. But the number one question I get when I go to properties is, what are the utility costs? What are utilities charged? Is it sewage, refuge, water, electricity, how does that build and what is the average monthly and what previous tenants are paid? So that's a big deal for tenants at the moment. It's first and foremost, what value am I paying? What's the total rent I'm going to be paying out every month? The second thing I'm looking for is security. Sure. And what would you say equivalent to what the tenants are looking for? With landlords, what would you say is the differentiator? How can they spot a good tenant and of course a potentially horrible one? Okay. So let's define what a good tenant is. Yes. A good tenant has three main characteristics. The first is that they pay rent well. And I'm going to go through the details of that now. The second thing is that they look after your property properly. And the third thing is that they behave well. So those are the three main factors that you're looking for in a good tenant. A horrible tenant isn't necessarily someone who's unpleasant to you or a bad tenant. A good tenant is purely or a good tenant is not necessarily one who greets you nicely. A good tenant is one that pays a rent well, which means that the pay rent every month on time and in full. Yeah. You spoke a little bit about utilities, especially these being what tenants look out for. How can landlords educate their tenants? Because sometimes people go into these agreements or into these leases without actually knowing that they've got lease they need to pay, not leases, utilities that they need to pay, they've got affluence that they need to pay. And there's so many of these services, especially that come with living in a complex. How can landlords start educating people about this? Well, I mean, that should. And what happens is that they very quickly get educated back when they get the bill in the next month and the tenant saying, I never knew I agreed to this. Sure. What the best thing is to do is to be very clear with the tenants and this end. So it doesn't end in tears like it always does if you don't, if you don't communicate up front, you say Mr. Mr. Tenant or Mr. Mr. Tenant, your rent is five thousand and your basic utility, your basic refuge is this amount or sometimes it's included, but you can end if it's not included, make sure you're communicating an upfront when you're doing the application process with the tenant. It's not fair to the tenant and anywhere from a landlord's perspective, it comes back to buy them. Sure. No, definitely. Please do remember to engage with us and you will stand in line to with that five hundred grand cash price. I will be announcing the winner for yesterday's show. So make sure that you stay tuned. Maybe that winner might just be you coming back to our conversation. David, let's talk a little bit more about property inspections and making sure you said one of traits of a good tenant is making sure that the property is well kept. Yes. So when we're talking inspection on both sides of the stick here, let's talk inspection from the side of the landlord who needs to make sure that the property is well kept and from the side of the tenant who needs to also make sure that as they receive the property will occupy the property. They're going to a property that's well kept as well. Yeah, look at the end of the day, both landlords and tenants need to be quite detailed on the property inspection because things are so expensive nowadays. The basic, the starting point is really the in-going inspection. As per the Rent-A-Housing Act, there needs to be a joint move in inspection between the landlord and the tenant and that is done in writing. So you, the landlord goes to the property and makes notes of all the snags or the maintenance issues that are there or not necessarily maintenance issues that need to be sorted, but issues with the property, like in Marx and the Wall, which is that the tenant is not responsible, held responsible for that on the tenant move out. So the starting point is a good move in inspection with the landlord and the tenant both agree on and they sign off so that on the move out inspection, the tenant is not held responsible for damage. He did not do and equally so, the landlord can then hold the tenant liable for excessive damage, which the tenant did do. And what's the norm or the consensus when it comes to stuff like wear and tear because if someone is living in a property, then it is subject to wear and tear, you know, there are things that will happen. So if I'm living in this property and I experience wear and tear, what happens in the case? Well, from a landlord, from a tenant liability perspective, the tenant is not liable for wear and tear. Any property deteriorates, whether someone's living in there or not. Yeah, it's going to deteriorate. So the tenant is not responsible for that. The tenant is only responsible for damage over and above wear and tear. That's as per legislation. From a landlord perspective, you know, landlord must keep their property maintained. Sure. And in keeping the property maintained, how often would we say they need to do it? Is it something they need to look out for every six months or when something goes wrong or even yearly? I think it's just a question of number one is having an awareness that maintenance is required. Yeah, I would suggest maintenance in a few areas. When you buy your new property, when you buy a property, make sure, especially you're buying a secondhand property or an older property, make sure that it's set up to a particular standard. So I've got some professional landlords that will go in and say, change all the light fittings, make sure that they're modern, give the walls a coat of paint, etc. So upfront, make sure that the property is starting at a good level. Then on an ongoing basis, make sure you're proactive in reacting to any required maintenance that happens. And then thirdly, a property then deteriorates. We've been managing some properties now for 10, 15 years. And the landlords can't understand why they need to redo things. The bottom line, every five or 10 years, you're going to have to redo the countertops or make sure the property is painted. So the landlord, what I'm highly proposing to the landlord is that they put some money aside every month, just a little bit, so that on certain items, whether it's new carpets or new flooring or new kitchens, every five or 10 years, they can redo that. Sure. No, thank you so much for that. Let's talk also a little bit about the current state of the economy. Things are going up every other day. You know, just the other day, we had an interest hike. Inflation is also going up. And all of these things are impacting the landlord, but also the tenant. Yes. You know, so what do we, how do we form a consensus in terms of ensuring that the relationship between the landlord and the tenant is kept and is still profitable for both of them? And one is not drowning and one is not really just merely surviving. Well, I mean, I think that both are drowning at the moment. So look, look, it's very tough times. I just want to say to landlords, I really sympathize. I really empathize with you guys at the moment. It's really, it's really tough. The challenges costs are going up with its lebis or rates or utilities and so forth. And yet your rents are not going up in the same equivalent. And it's really tough. Now interest rates are going up. So the bond amount is going up. So it's really tough. The other point of view that you can't get away with doing much of a rent increase at the moment, because tenants somebody can't afford it. So it is a happy balance. I would rather have a property filled with a quality tenant with adequate rent, not my deal rent, but adequate rent than having my property empty or otherwise having my rent too high and then I don't have a quality tenant. Sure. No, definitely. Thank you so much for that. As we round out our conversation, you've authored a book called The Expert Landlord. Yes. And I'm definitely not going to let you go before you give us some of those tips that you put in that in that publication or in that book to say what exactly is the aim of the book? And what do you want a landlord who's reading the book to to gain from reading this book? Look, one of the main reasons why landlords once they bought their properties want to sell the properties is because of the frustration, cost and effort of managing the property. And what my book basically does is gives you the HZs of managing your property. It's very simple, very practical and gives you the beginning to end of property management. It's done in a whole lot of different chapters, which are topics specific. So you can let you go if you want to learn how to screen a tenant or do your property inspection. There's a particular chapter for each of these points. And what I like to do is demystify the skill set that's needed or the perception that this is difficult. It's not rocket science, but having a few building your skills in this level really makes a big difference. I've got plenty of feedback from new landlords to say, yes, it was so helpful just to give them the basics. Of course, you learn a lot by doing, but it enables you to give you the confidence to actually get into the game. Sure. Now, thank you so much for that. As we round up, are you coming to the property show? Absolutely. And what are some of the things you're looking forward to seeing and maybe even hearing at the property? Look, I mean, this is a wonderfully exciting industry. What are the new developments happening? What are there's a lot on prop tech, for example, to see what properties are available, what the latest trends are, especially with technology. I'm looking forward to that. And also just reporting and just discussing with my colleagues in the industry. Sure. No, the show does promise to be absolutely amazing. I spoke to one of the ladies from Marketing who's at privateproperty.co.z and she can tell us that she was telling us, rather, that it's going to be absolutely amazing. There's going to be so many things that are filled. So make sure that you get your tickets. Thank you so much, David, for joining us. And we really, really appreciate the conversation tonight. My pleasure. Thank you. So as I round up the show tonight, I'm definitely not going to leave before I tell you who is the winner of that $500 grand cash prize. Can I have the drum roll, please? Gool, gool, gool, gool, gool. And ladies and gentlemen, Ronewa Hope is the one who won the $500 grand cash prize from yesterday's show. And you can be like her if you did the things I told you to do. Tag your friends, share with the people in your world, as well as engage with us in the comment section. Until the next time we see you, which is definitely very soon, please do ensure that you co-ease in tag with us and follow us on all social media platforms. And until then, good night. This year, we're back. In real life and virtual, with content generated in our Metaverse studio, we've designed the exhibition space to replicate the world's most popular property game and added in activities for the whole family, including an indoor park and play area. The game board is divided into four journeys, namely first time home buyers Boulevard, investment avenue, Sellers Street, and Renters Road. Visit thepropertyshow.co.za for more information and to get your tickets today. The property show 2022, 27th to the 28th of August at the Santan Convention Center. No matter where you are on your property journey, we've gathered the experts.