February 17th, 2025
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Property Management
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Zac Morgan, Head of Property Management at Double Bay’s JT Allen, has nearly two decades experience as a Property Manager.
He started his career in the regional town of Maitland in 2008, where he landed a part-time job in a local real estate agency doing leasing and administration roles.
“I worked my way up from here and never looked back,” Zac said.
After earning his stripes in regional NSW, Zac made the transition into the city of Sydney, which was daunting as he admits country people seemed suspicious of city agents at the time.
“When I said I was moving into the city, I remember my then boss, said ‘be careful of those city agents, they’re dodgy and they don’t do things the right way’,” he revealed.
“But I don’t think that’s true — it’s just that things happen at a much faster pace here and things need to happen in accordance with that kind of rampant process.
“You need to be working a lot faster and be making sure you’re crossing your T’s and dotting your I’s. The pace, the expectations and the average rent — all are big differences compared to regional areas.”
When he made the move to Bondi in 2010, he never looked back — he’s since been managing properties in affluent areas for most of his career in agencies across Double Bay, Surry Hills, Bondi and a short stint in the Inner West.
“I’ve been at JT Allen in Double Bay since December 2024 which has been the best move for me by far. Josh Allen, the Principal of JT Allen, and I have known each other for years and we’ve tried to find a way to work together for a long time.
Zac says the difference between managing properties in regional areas compared to Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs — like Double Bay, Point Piper, Rose Bay and Vaucluse – are vast.
“Having started in a country town, originally the management of properties is influenced by the financial situation of the owners and the expectations of the tenants in those properties,” he said.
“A property that is expensive for its area will tend to attract tenants feeling like they should always have a property that’s fully functional in pretty much every aspect.
“Whereas the more reasonable priced or under market value a property is, the tenants are usually more accepting of the imperfections.”
Zac said contrary to popular belief about managing “difficult tenants in the east”, sometimes servicing under-privileged areas can be more difficult.
“I tend to find that in disadvantaged areas, you end up experiencing more financial-related issues — you’d be in the tribunal in less privileged areas more for non-payment of rent or breaches concerning damage to a property,” he admitted.
“Whereas in the eastern suburbs and more privileged areas, you might be chasing someone for rent, but only because they forgot to pay. Things are little bit different when you’re dealing with people in more affluent areas.”
Zac started managing properties in Australia’s most affluent suburb — Point Piper — around 15 years ago.
Despite admitting tribunals being less common when dealing with high-net worth individuals, there are different risks and issues associated with wealthy properties.
“When you are dealing with affluent areas, such as Point Piper, the properties we leased were often $6,000 per week and above per week,” he said.
“Because of how valuable these properties are, you must go through the standard process vigorously to make sure it all lines up — from going through the application forms and making sure everything is done properly.”
According to Zac, tenants around Point Piper and the eastern suburbs tend to be more entrepreneurial or business-owners, which bring unique difficulties in approving applications.
“Because of their unique working situations, finding a direct line of steady income to support their rent might be a little bit harder,” he said.
“So, you need to really be digging and making sure that it all lines up. This means looking at bank balances and anything else to ensure this person can pay the rent and look after the property.”
“The tenant profiles are usually people who have done really well in their chosen field of expertise… it’s usually not about money, but more about the principle of everything and making sure everything is in order and as agreed, as you would expect for a property of such high value,” he said.
“When people are paying this kind of rent, you need to ensure the property is well looked and serviced.”
Other differences between managing properties in regional and affluent areas are the speed of things.
“Things happen in a slower pace in country towns. In my first year as a Property Manager in the city, I recall the change in people starting to connect their emails to their phones, this has meant that since then, response time expectations have increased significantly and more is able to be managed via mobile phones,” he said.
“I went from this slow-paced way of working, dealing with average $200 to $400 per week properties to working in a very instant environment — it was just a much faster way of working.”
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