Alan Rolston Managing Director Residential Rentals Limited

Alan's introduction to business started at the age of 14 and by the age of 16 he had five employees. That year his business net income exceeded that of his College Headmaster who had informed him  "unless he concentrated on obtaining good examination results he would never be successful in life". How wrong he was!

Secondary school was not what Alan wanted. It hindered him from making money and being successful, so he left to begin an apprenticeship, working 7.30am to 5pm. This did not stop Alan from continuing to work his business outside these hours. He put many hours in before and after work as well as working weekends. Alan believed that the only time success came before work was in the dictionary.

Through many long hours of work Alan saved enough to purchase his first house at the age of 18. He spent a number of weeks bringing the house up to a high quality rental property and rented it for $20.00 per week, while paying board of $5.00 per week still living at home. Within a short period of time, Alan received an offer of purchase at double the price he had paid.

He soon realised he could borrow from the equity in this property to use as a deposit on another property. This was at a time when the maximum mortgage you could borrow was 66%. Borrowing was certainly a lot harder compared to today. Alan redecorated and landscaped this property and rented it for $35.00 per week. Alan continued to do this over the years.  Alan learned, through experience and mistakes, the fundamentals of arranging finance, developing good quality homes and dealing with the daily issues of tenants. All the things they do not teach you at school.

In 1986 Alan was approached to conduct seminars for property investors and became sought after in this field. Very soon he found that the advice he was giving to the attendees was not being fully comprehended.  People were purchasing investment property which would not be a good investment long term. Furthermore they were personally managing the property themselves without any experience creating all sorts of problems for themselves, all of which Alan had already experienced through his previous years trial and error. In 1989 Alan formed Auckland Business Services with the intention of advising and helping people with their future property purchase and tenant selection charging a consultancy fee for this service.

As the years went on Alan's success grew and Alan branched out into other industry related businesses and eventually forming the Rolston Group of Companies. One being a construction company and the first house was completed in 1992.  His investment client paid a total of $280,000.00 for a 4 bedroom brick and tile house. This same property is now worth in excess of $500,000.00 even after being through the recession. The first year saw the company construct 35 homes and had up until 2009 constructed in excess of 500 properties.

In the first year the owners had their investment managed by either themselves or their local real estate company. The results for the owner were not what Alan believed were to a high standard so he decided to start managing them himself. The business grew and Alan soon realised there were not enough hours in the day and decided to take on his first employee and in 2001 Resdidential Rentals was incorporated. Today Residential Rentals has been a success with a large number of managed properties throughout the North Island.

In October 2010 Alan attended a seminar in Australia which was run by three of Australia's most experienced property management companies. The knowledge that Alan gained made him realise that New Zealand was so far behind Australia in expertise, systems and overall professionalism.  Alan attended another Australian conference in April 2011 which again allowed him to focus on changing how the rental company will operate.

Residential Rentals has now implemented new procedures within the company. We have upgraded to the latest technology. Soon all our property managers will have ipads.  This will enable them to complete property inspections via a template which is connected live to our property management software. We will be able to take photos and have these for you to access online within a short period of time. We are in the middle of becoming a paperless office and our investors/landlords now have access to their accounts, rental payment, maintenance invoices and statements live 24/7.

It is Alan's intention and goal to grow the company making sure that Residential Rentals will be the number ONE choice for property management in New Zealand while maintaining the integrity and values that our current landlords respect.

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