Archer Canberra — Local services in District of Canberra Central

Please keep away from this agency if you can and be careful with them, we regret to have had a business with them for one year, which was the worst real estate management experience we had in the town. Even their director is a sly and unethical man. They always brag their service, but in fact we realized they were irresponsible, unprofessional, careless, dishonest, unethical and tricky etc through their management service. There were a lot of issues occurred when we tried to take the property back towards the end of tenancy, however, the agency did not do anything to help rectify the problems, instead they kept mucking us around and providing deceitful info. It was definitely a nightmare experience for us to have the business with them, we will definitely not recommend them to anyone!

Kim, your director threatened me to retract my review after I posted it, but I refused as our feedback was honest. Then here, you wrote something, trying to manipulate things to cover yourselves. Let’s clarify on your statements below:

You stated: " Seeking a rent increase a mere few weeks after tenancy commencement. Insisting on more frequent inspection than allowable quota. Regularly monitoring the property beyond reasonable parameters." Were you telling the truth??? Initially, you advised us of the leasing agreement you signed on behalf of us only with one guy who worked for a construction company working. On the first routine inspection day, I came to visit the property with my property manager, I found there were at least 1- 2 bunk beds for each of the bedrooms in the property. There are 4 bedrooms in the house and at least 6 bunk beds there, indicating there were at least 10 people residing in the property. The information given to us was absolutely deceived from your office, so the leasing agreement signed was obviously wrong. Based on the fact, we went back to you to report what we had seen on the inspection day, requested for the rent price to be reviewed as the property was rented out absolutely different from what we had been told. Then you refused, so we came back to request you if you could do the next routine inspection within the 6 month time frame. If you told us everything honestly and transparently with the true information, why did we have to come back to you for such discussion?

You stated: " Enlisting family members for repairs that necessitate licensed professionals." Who are the enlisting family members you referred to? My husband? Except for using the tradies you recommended for repairs in the house, my husband went to the property to inspect initial problems and fix things he could. Do the owners have no right to look after their property? Please do not distort to make up the thing!

You stated: "Rejecting updates to the switchboard, thereby impeding proper appliance usage." You gave us the quotation from your electrician for upgrading the switchboard and replacing the cooking unit, the price was over $6,000. After consulting with our regular electrician, he advised us the problem may be only caused by the cooking unit, so he suggested replacing the cooking unit first to test out the result. After we replaced the cooking unit, the problem stopped. So, why were you so eager for us to accept your unnecessary quote for upgrading the switch board? Was that because you can get commission from your quote?

You stated: "Delaying bond return for over a month without valid cause. " Were you telling the truth again? As discussed with your office many times, there were items missing in the house, the garden and windows were also not cleaned for return the same as when it was given. Your director advised us to get a quote of the things for him, he would dispute the matter with the ex-tenants and notify ACT Bonds Office to stop releasing the bonds. However, after we arranged the quote for him, he refused to do anything as we had been promised. A few weeks later, we found out from ACT Bonds Office, he has neither notified them to stop releasing the bonds nor gave us an instruction for revocation of...

Today, I came across a Google review of Archer Property that I found inappropriate and seemingly driven by personal bias. I felt genuinely sorry for Virginia and Alex, as the comments did not reflect the professionalism I experienced. This prompted me to share my own review based on facts and personal experience, allowing readers to decide for themselves which account is fair and representative of the actual situation.

I had a great experience with Archer Property Canberra, particularly with Virginia and Alex. They were highly professional, responsive, and handled everything efficiently.

The property I was interested in was already on the market at the time of my inspection. After viewing it, I contacted Virginia, who informed me that another buyer had already made an offer. Although I was disappointed, I asked her to keep me informed if anything changed or if the property became available again.

Two weeks later, Virginia called to inform me that the owner had decided to initiate a “race to exchange contract” process. I was told that the original buyer still had priority, but if I could quickly complete all the paperwork, obtain full loan approval, and pay the deposit, I would have a chance to secure the property. There was no guarantee, but I appreciated the transparency.

Initially, I felt that the agents might be favoring the first buyer, and that was fair enough, as they had submitted their offer a day before mine, so they had the first right. As I was told my chances were very low. However, I still thanked Virginia for her professionalism and asked her to consider me for similar properties in the future.

Then I decided to proceed and contacted my mortgage broker, Amit Nerurkar, who was extremely efficient. He completed all the necessary work and provided loan approval within eight working hours. Thanks to his prompt action, I was able to win the race to exchange contracts.

Blaming the real estate agents in such situations is, in my view, both unfair and unprofessional. Even before the final outcome, I told Virginia that I understood she was simply doing her job and that I held no hard feelings if I didn’t get the property.

There is no doubt about the professionalism of both Alex and Virginia. They were consistently responsive via phone and email. To suggest they favoured anyone is absolutely incorrect, they treated everyone with fairness and respect.

As a first home buyer with no prior experience, I made it a point to surround myself with experienced professionals, a reliable mortgage broker, a dedicated real estate agent, and a good solicitor. From the day first, my focus was on saving time, which I consider to be the most valuable resource.

The reason I’m writing this review is because the negative review I read felt personal and unjust. In my honest opinion, Alex and Virginia deserve a full 5-star rating for their service and professionalism. It’s important to remember that real estate agents must remain neutral and are there to serve all parties equally. Also, their first and foremost priority is to safeguard the seller's interests and act in the best interest of the matter at hand.

After inspecting multiple properties in Canberra, I can confidently say that Virginia and Alex are among the most professional agents I’ve met.

This is my honest experience. Hats off to Alex and Virginia, I’m more than satisfied with their...

Sadly there is no 0 or negative star option. This is NOT the team you want managing your property. I've been a landlord for more than twenty years and this is the worst of the worst property management service for an owner that I've ever seen. Incompetence at its best. It took me several weeks to be provided a copy of our management contract, despite asking several times. Then I had to keep asking when they were actually going to start marketing. Then... no advice of the first open. Lilly turns up there and rings me in a panic about where she can find a key. I didn't even know they had started advertising and were going to run an open. I had to leave work and dash over to open the place for her. Rather embarrassing when there were about 14 people milling about waiting to go in to inspect. Then I got no feedback from the open, then or for the next 3 opens, until I phoned or emailed and then finally got some information days and days later. Never any feedback on the property or the rental pricing, which would have been very helpful. On the Tuesday or Wednesday Lilly would say "oh there's three applications in our portal that came in over the weekend". I would wonder why she hadn't looked at them or provided anything to me. Surprisingly they found other options elsewhere by the time she got to them. Or, they'd never visited the property and were just applying online.

All I can say is Lilly's communication was woeful. She had no sense of urgency and seemed to have no understanding that, as a landlord, the property actually costs you money if there are no tenants in it. She didn't seem to see an issue in that going on for weeks and weeks and weeks with little to no effort. In this time, she went on holidays. That's fine in itself but no one was given responsibility for the property for that week. Just another week for it to stay empty with no effort and no care about the owner. After 6-7 weeks I said I was moving agent. Suddenly she was able to find a tenant. Then she did no inbound report or it certainly didn't seem like it because the one she provided had no detail on it. It was some photos and a blank form. She then sends me an email saying the tenants are moving in and have requested a clean. The property had been thoroughly cleaned several weeks beforehand and it also had new carpet, new blinds, fresh paint, new vanity, new toilet, resurfaced bathtub, new oven, new cooktop, new fans - nobody had been living there in the weeks since all the work was done so I found that request a bit perplexing. But, in indubitable Lilly style, she was happy to go off and arrange a cleaner at my expense. The place had been empty for ages and not once had she said it could do with a wipe over before new tenants moved in despite having been there regularly running opens. I'll say it again, little to no care. Having had great property managers elsewhere, I can't say enough how bad the property management services for owners are here at Archer. If you own property and are looking for someone to manage it all I can say is stay far, far away...