Agencies in Woolloomooloo, NSW, 2011

If you own in the inner west and are wondering whether an agency better known in the Eastern Suburbs will give your property and attention they deserve, my experience says absolutely. I’ll admit I approached appointing a smaller property management agency with a healthy degree of caution. Grant and NU Management had been recommended by a trusted friend, and their independent reviews were exceptional—so exceptional that I spent quite a bit of time doing my own research and asking questions before making the change. Without a large corporate presence or flashy website, I initially wondered whether a growing team would be able to scale while maintaining the personal service its reviews described. A few months in, I now understand exactly why those reviews are so strong. Communication has been front and centre from the beginning. Grant answered my questions openly, personally guided us through a smooth transition and made sure the team understood our property properly before taking over. Since then, the communication has remained responsive, practical and refreshingly human. We feel known as clients rather than an account number, and our tenants are happy too—which matters enormously to us. The contrast with our previous manager, a large and well-known national agency, is significant. That agency repeatedly dropped the ball and fell below the standard we expected. NU inherited a transition involving documents, keys, inspections and several loose ends, and brought a level of care and attention to detail that had been missing for some time. The service feels genuinely designed around the property, owners and tenants—not around what is easiest for the agency. The team uses its judgement, keeps us informed and deals with the small details before they become larger problems. I am very happy I made the change; NU Management has shown that a smaller, highly engaged team can deliver something a much larger agency had lost: accountability, personal service and real care.

Our property is in Erskineville and we couldn’t be happier since moving across to NU Management. A real turning point for us with our previous agency was when our tenants were expected to travel 10–15 minutes to another suburb just to return keys, despite that agency having a head office right there in Erskineville. It might sound like a small thing, but it made us question who the service was actually being designed around. That’s been one of the biggest differences with NU. Everything revolves around the property, owner and tenant. They meet our tenants where they are — the tenant doesn’t need to travel to the Eastern Suburbs — and we even have someone from the team based locally around Mascot. The attention to detail we’d been missing is finally back. Grant, the CEO, personally handled our onboarding and once everything was up and running, we were handed over to our property manager for the day-to-day management. We live in the UK, and even calls are arranged around our time zone. That was a bit of a wow moment for us because it’s such a simple thing, but makes life so much easier. Then there are the really small things. One of the team recently offered to pick up a delivery in Mascot for us rather than us paying a ridiculous £30 postage fee. Again, completely unnecessary, but it says a lot about how they operate. So if you have a property in Erskineville or the surrounding area, don’t be put off by NU traditionally being an Eastern Suburbs agency. They come to you and your tenants, not the other way around. Really happy we made the change. It’s nice to have that attention to detail back.

Dealing with Grant was an absolute breath of fresh air. His professionalism and kind nature is something that is unfortunately hard to find these days. He always got back to me in a timely manner and also with resolutions to my problems!! A+++ Thanks Grant.