Property Business
Executive Summary about Finding Houses For Your New Property Business by David C
Last time we looked at Market research and one of the topics to be researched was properties that are currently available to rent in your locality. Make a list of ALL the property available near you. Most property letting agencies list prices as PCM. You’ll need to double check to see how the agencies list properties in your country, in your area.
As each newspaper ad appears, enter the new prices on your list in the correct position, cheapest first, most expensive last. It’s all part of building your knowledge into becoming THE local expert in property rentals. 1. Do you or any of your friends or relatives have any property sitting empty? If so what has happened to the house? Do you know of any property that has been up for sale for months and hasn’t sold? If a property is standing empty it is costing money. If it is let, it is producing money, and that’s a big difference. When people inherit property why are they always in such a hurry to sell anyway? You can only sell a house once, you can rent it forever, and like everything else over time those rents will increase. If you know someone who is desperate to sell a house they have inherited, have a word with them. Why Sell? Why do people sell? Secondly, why not rent out the house you live in now? What! Yes, I’m serious, you want property to let don’t you? Value it highly and if it lets, you make money, if it doesn’t let, so what, you have lost nothing. It’s common to find properties listed there. Some landlords will not speak to agents under any circumstances. Some landlords would not do business with an agent even if you offered them £10,000 per month and free beer forever. All you were trying to do was help them let their property, and if they couldn’t see that, it’s their loss.
In the initial period price is secondary. Get the instruction first, and then worry about letting the property afterwards. You could solve all their property problems for them, and make some money for yourself. Suggest they might like to meet you at the property that is to be let.
Take your camera and ask if it is OK to photograph the house. Take your diary and note everything that needs noting. Remember, you will do anything within reason to land that property, and if it includes going out in the rain in ten minutes time, then do it. You can do exactly the same thing by ringing private small ads you see for property to let in the local paper. Offer them a small discount if need be. Not all landlords are rolling in cash, it’s very easy to get into buy-to-let property, but sometimes very difficult to get out of it. Believe me, there are many desperate landlords out there and they will instruct you if they think you might shift their empty houses and apartments.
All property advertising always produces less response than you optimistically imagined. If you rent just one property a week you’d be on target for more than fifty successful lets by the end of the year.
