In my daily role of wearing dual hats of landlord and letting agent, I get to hear some really ugly stories of sheer incompetence of sub-standard agencies that even after 12 years of being a self let & manage landlord, it still makes me sick to the core of my stomach to hear of the heartache certain landlords have endured, at the mercy of these sub-standard buffoons.
You see what some of these agencies fail to remember, is their inefficient actions, their nonchalant attitude of “it can wait”, lack of passion and plainly just not understanding the basics of the law and how to apply it in their procedures, are some of the negative contributing factors that can put a landlord’s asset at risk. If you also have an agent that has a touch of the Green Eyed monster mentality of “They are doing better than me – so sod them!” God help you!!
For the sub-standard agent, he/she gets their salary regardless, but for the landlord it is not just the cost of missing a few months rent, for some it could be the cost of losing their investment. Most landlords, typically work full-time, and own one to three investment properties and decided to invest for a myriad of individual reasons; supplemented income, retirement plan, school fees, to name a few. We are not rich; we just saw an opportunity and went for it. In these austere times, most of us are juggling and need rents to be paid on time and management issues to be resolved swiftly and professionally without recourse to law.
I can never understand landlords who are so willing to hand over keys after meeting someone for 20 minutes to look after their property investment. Normally they come without any recommendation, or even some credentials. I mean, if you think of the price of that investment would you hand over that amount of money to someone you had just met 20 minutes ago? All those who say “yes” you need to sit on the “mad step”.
It is interesting to note, in 2010 The Property Ombudsman for Lettings received 6,727* initial enquiry complaints on behalf of their members (7,500). Their current membership of 9,000 (2011) who register voluntary only make up about 60% of the market share of letting agencies. Only heaven knows what the other 40% are really up to!
It is time landlords stop settling for sub-standard letting agents and think about the possibilities of doing all of some of the letting and management process themselves and keeping their profits positive.
I have been educating, empowering and inspiring landlords to do just that. I teach you how to manage your own property, but with an investor mentality. Remember this is a business and not hobby. I will show you tried, tested and proven procedures to implement, that will not impact on your time. My systems are simplified and you definitely do not need to be any whizz on a computer, but you must have one.
For a limited period only, I am offering the first 4 people who book on one of our seminars a specially discounted price of £215, instead of £295. For full details of our seminars, click here.