The following ideas are in no way meant to be a definitive list. They are, however, some of the ideas and activities we have found over the years to help maintain the value of the property, keep it rented and virtually eliminate any stress involved in managing an investment property.

• Use a professional property manager

The small fee property managers charge to manage you property is money well-spent. The fee is a tax deductable expense and saves you hours of work and stress. As well as collecting the rent, your property manager will appraise prospective tenants, check references and rental history, collect rental bonds, carry out routine inspections, organise repairs and maintenance, follow up rental arrears, attend dispute resolution tribunals on your behalf and organise payment of all expenses if you wish and most importantly, ensure you are meeting all obligations under the Rental Tenancy and other acts.

• Seek a reasonable market rent

Your property manager should be able to give you a good idea of a reasonable rent to charge in your area. You can carry out your own research on property web sites. At times, it may well be better to accept $10 or $20 less per week to avoid long vacancies and also to achieve longer term tenancy agreements with good tenants. Insisting on the maximum available rent could mean accepting shorter term tenancies of three months or less and losing good tenants.

• Take out Landlords' Insurance

This insurance takes away the worry of repairing any damage caused by tenants and also insures for unexpected vacancies.

• Attend inspections with the property manager at least once a year

Your property manager will invite you to attend routine inspections with them from time to time. It is worth taking them up on this offer at least once a year. You will see personally how the property is being looked after, how the property manager is performing, what small concerns the tenant may have and what routine maintenance items might need attention.

• Monitor external presentation occasionally

You shouldn't need to drive past your property every week, but an occasional drive by can be helpful. If the state of the lawn, garden or house is slipping, a quick call to the property manager can rectify the situation quickly. At times, it may even be useful to have the property manager organise a gardener to get the gardens up to scratch at your expense to encourage a little more 'house pride' from the tenant and to help them keep on top of the presentation. The expense is also tax deductable.

• Attend to any repairs promptly

It really pays to have the property manager organise repairs to even minor matters promptly. This keeps the property looking and feeling brand new and stops small problems growing into large ones. It also shows the tenant that you care about the house and hopefully encourages them to look after it. Issues like minor electrical faults, leaking taps and toilets, appliances not working properly, loose door handles, paint touch ups and the like, really should be attended to rather than be allowed to get worse.

• Annual pest inspection

An annual termite inspection is a small price to pay when you consider the many thousands of dollars of damage that termites can cause.

• Consider starting a 'sinking fund' for major repairs and upgrades

Even with the best tenants, all houses will eventually need major repairs like internal and external re-painting and perhaps, carpets replaced. It therefore makes sense to budget for this expense well in advance.