2. Know everything about the property on their books, down to broadband speed, mobile phone signal, upload signal, satellite capability ….
3. Because of No. 2 (above), they will not waste time showing properties that do not fit the prospective tenant’s criteria.
4. They will understand that transparency of information brings them a better qualified prospective tenant and reduces time on wasted viewings. They will embrace transparency, not fear it.
5. They will used digital products, tech, and social web tools to better serve and communicate with their landlords and tenants. Some suggestions:
Walkscore – free site that allows you to identify amenities within walking distance of a property.
CFP Software – the market leading lettings and property management software.
6. They will understand and embrace the power of video.
7. They will be a member of a regulatory body such as NALS or ARLA.
8. They will understand the importance of client money protection and become a SAFEagent.
9. They will attend events, learn, and grow as business people. They will network on-line for the same reason, and to reach out to more prospective tenants and landlords.
10. They will understand that people demand instant gratuity, and will answer their phones within three rings, reply to emails within 2 hours, reply to tweets within 1 hour. They will employ a Digital Marketing & Web Assets Manager to take them to the next level.
11. They will understand that tenants work during the day, and will therefore facilitate viewings in the evenings and at weekends.
12. They will get to know their landlords and tenants with a view to a long term relationship.
13. They will use systems to manage their properties, viewings, maintenance etc to ensure efficiency.
14. They will collect data at every interaction with a prospective tenant and build a mailing list.
15. They will have a social cause, showing that they care and want to give back … perhaps supporting a charity like Shelter or a community project in their local area.
16. They will have a Complaints Procedure in place and deal with complaints in an amicable and professional manner, listening and learning from any negative feedback, not ignoring it in the hope that it will go away.
17. They will develop an on-line brand, reputation, and following that will add value to the business, should they decide to sell in the future.
18. They will support novice landlords in making good choices, giving free advice.
Through the discussions on the Property Tribes forum, I get a feel of what Landlords are interested in and it gives me a great insight into the way they think!
Some discussions gain a lot of traction … others are left languishing in the doldrums.
So, I have put together a list of the 5 things that I believe are most under-valued by Landlords:
1. The inventory.
To my mind, the outcome of the tenancy is decided at the beginning, not the end. This means setting up a tenancy correctly in the first place, ensuring the use of the correct documentation.
A detailed inventory and Schedule of Condition is absolutely vital to ensure that the contents and condition of the property are documented and agreed by the tenant from the start. This creates a “benchmark” from Day 1 and can be used on Check out of the tenant to assess any damages.
A robust and detailed property inspection will reduce the amount of deposit disputes that go to adjudication and protects both the Landlord and the tenant.
You would not hand over the keys to your Aston Martin without documenting its condition, yet many Landlords happily hand over the keys to their most important asset without performing an inventory.
Letting agent, Sally Lawson, spoke to the digital inventory app Imfuna about why she believes inventories are vital.
2. A reputable & experienced Lettings Agent
It is a personal and commercial choice whether to self-manage or employ the services of a lettings agent on a fully managed basis. My personal belief is that a knowledgeable and experienced lettings agent is worth their weight in gold. They are an indispensible part of my team.
Their local knowledge is invaluable and they take away a lot of the day to day “hassle” of being a Landlord, leaving me free to get on with other more important stuff.
I do have a caveat though. I think it is vital to work with a lettings agent that is registered with a professional membership and regulatory body such as ARLA or NALS, and who also has client money protection in place. SAFEagent is a simple signpost to these agents.
3. Social media and the social web
Being a landlord used to be somewhat of a lonely business, often working in isolation from our peers. Not any more thanks to the social web and sites like Twitter, FaceBook, and Property Tribes!
As Landlords, we can learn and grow our businesses through these sites, make new connections, find tenants, market our holiday lets, share deals, discuss strategies … the list goes on.
I hear many Landlords saying that they don’t have time to read forums … when answers that they may need to progress their business are just a click away.
The social web is one massive hive mind of information and contacts. It’s a “serendipity generator”. It delivers what you need, when you need it.
Having a group of like-minded people around you is vital to success in my opinion.
If you have friends; if you have trusted contacts; if you have people who like you, then you will survive thanks to their support.
The people who will find it toughest in the coming few years – as the words “cuts”, “difficulties” and “mess” ring in their ears – will be the ones who have shunned networking, social networks and cultivating friendships within their business circles.
The people who want to remain “business-like”, who are rather aloof and distant, will be the ones hardest hit in the next few years, simply because their behaviour patterns do not generate the level of support they will need.
The Landlord of the future will need to be a digital Landlord!
4. Proximity to your properties.
There’s simply nothing that beats “knowing your patch” and being able visit your properties within a relatively short drive.
Many property clubs and portfolio builders will tell you “You don’t need to see your properties, they are just grey boxes that make you money”. Nonsense!
Local knowledge, walking the streets, speaking to people in the area, being on hand for problems, being invested in the local community are all vital for success Landlord-ism to my mind.
Properties hundreds of miles away leave a major disconnect and can cause significant hassle and heartache, especially if you do not have a good lettings agent to support you. (See point 2).
5. Tenants.
Yes tenants! I hear too many people getting into property to make use of “other people’s money” to build their personal wealth. But too often, the other person who is supplying this money via the rental payment – the tenant – is forgotten when dreams of get rich quick are being offered.
As a Landlord, you are a service provider and responsible for your tenant. Without tenants, you don’t actually even have a business!
Tenants are not a pay-check for you to pay your mortgage and keep the difference. They are complex human beings with needs and problems that you will get involved with somewhere down the line.
To de-humanise your tenant into a rental payment is one of the worst things a landlord can do.
Vanessa Warwick is a former TV presenter, turned professional Landlord, consultant, and speaker. Along with her husband Nick Tadd, she founded Property Tribes, which is now the U.K.’s busiest on-line Landlord and investor community. Nick and Vanessa have just launched their new tech product, Yulpa, an on-line “property office/filo-fax” that helps you organise and manage your entire property life in one place. It comes with an iPhone app that does auto due diligence on any property being considered for purchase.
Vanessa and Nick advocate the use of technology and digital and social communications in property, and speak at events all over the U.K. as well as consulting for the BBC on property. They invest mainly in flats London and family houses in the South East and are also big advocates of holiday lets, having two upmarket holiday lets on the South Coast that achieve above-average occupancy thanks to the couple’s web efforts and vertical marketing strategies.
1st August 2012 marks the official first birthday of SAFEagent.
SAFEagent was an industry initiative to create a signpost to lettings agents with client money protection.
There are several schemes in the sector operated by ARLA/NFOPP, the Law Society, NALS and RICS to which agents voluntarily belong.
The message is simple: Landlords and tenants should ensure that their lettings agent has client money protection and SAFEagent indicates this, making it easy for the consumer to identify “safe” agents.
Property Tribes is a supporter of SAFEagent because we recognise that without tenants, none of us have a business. SAFEagent is consumer facing and seeks to educate tenants & Landlords about the importance of client money protection. It is independent and rises above industry politics. It has an uncomplicated and transparent agenda.
These are very turbulent times in the lettings arena, and we believe that SAFEagent is needed now, more than ever.
So, Happy Birthday SAFEagent!
This video, which I was delighted to be asked to host, celebrates the first birthday, agents renewing their commitment to the scheme, and expresses SAFEagents aims for the future:
SAFEagent has been recognised by Housing Minister Grant Shapps who commented:
“The private rented sector provides a valuable source of accommodation for over three million people in England, and the vast majority of them are happy with the service they receive. That’s why I have promised not to wrap the sector in red tape, but to instead work with the industry to help them develop their own plans to tackle those bad landlords, and with councils to throw the book at those who don’t live up to their responsibilities“.
One of the highlights of SAFEagent’s first year was a Reception at the House of Commons on 15th May 2012 to celebrate SAFEagent Awareness Week. Guests included Lord Best, Charles Walker M.P., and other notable property people.
Please join us in wishing SAFEagent a Happy 1st Birthday! Without government regulation, it is up to the industry to regulate from within and support initiatives that help consumers make informed choices.
Vanessa Warwick is a former TV presenter, turned professional Landlord, consultant, and speaker. Along with her husband Nick Tadd, she founded Property Tribes, which is now the U.K.’s busiest on-line Landlord and investor community. Nick and Vanessa have just launched their new tech product, Yulpa, an on-line “property office/filo-fax” that helps you organise and manage your entire property life in one place. It comes with an iPhone app that does auto due diligence on any property being considered for purchase.
Vanessa and Nick advocate the use of technology and digital and social communications in property, and speak at events all over the U.K. as well as consulting for the BBC on property. They invest mainly in flats London and family houses in the South East and are also big advocates of holiday lets, having two upmarket holiday lets on the South Coast that achieve above-average occupancy thanks to the couple’s web efforts and vertical marketing strategies.
It’s always interesting to discuss how estate and lettings agents use & optimise the social web.
People talk of twitter and FaceBook as if they are some kind of Holy Grail … to collect as many followers and “likes” as you can.
Personally, I cannot see a great deal of value in that and certainly not any kind of tangible ROI (return on investment).
A twitter follow or a FaceBook “like” is akin to someone passing a restaurant and saying “that food smells nice” but not actually going in and buying something! It might work in a marketing context, but not in a social proof or commercial context.
When people are looking to rent or buy a property, they are looking for information about the area … the best schools, the crime rate, local facilities and amenities, transport facilities, commute times to cities etc.
They are looking for information on the area, not which estate agent has the best properties, because, at this stage, they almost certainly have not decided where exactly they are going to live.
At the moment, prospective buyers and renters have to visit a multitude of different sites around the web to get this information.
Therefore, I am of the view, that the agent who curates all this information in one place will be more find-able on the web, and prospectives customers will find them through all this curated information, and this will attract them to the agent by default.
I would love to see an agent listing everything from broadband speed in the area to mobile phone service in the area, along with WalkScore , commute times, leisure amenities, schools, crime rates, etc etc etc. For instance, I recently heard from a lettings agent that people will turn down their dream home if the mobile phone signal is poor. If they knew this in advance from the property listing … (This would have the added benefit of not wasting time on viewings, as the client would already know that the property had poor mobile phone signal).
Once the prospective buyer or renter has this information at their fingertips, in one place, they will then drill down to specific properties that meet their needs.
I believe that the agent who curates all this information in their listings will be a winner for both sales and lettings as they capture the client at an earlier stage in the process of searching for property.
The agent who supplies and curates that kind of information will be found by buyers via google, rather than using the web to go and look for buyers, which is much more time consuming.
It all boils down to your information being relevant on the social web. Where what you have merges with what a buyer needs, at the exact moment in time they are seeking it, you ignite the power of relevance. You have solved the buyer’s problem and captured their attention.
Agents can demonstrate their knowledge of the area through blogs, build social proof through networks, and build relationships by answering questions about their locale. They can show that they are part of the fabric of the community, plugged in to the pulse of the area. Web contributions can all be signed off with a “call to action”, which will drive traffic to their website, a particular property that is relevant to the conversation, or encourage the reader to pick up the phone or connect to start a dialogue.
Have a look at the blog I produce for Phillips and Stubbs in Rye to get a flavour of how I think a blog can drive sales & lettings.
From a sellers & Landlords perspective, an estate agent with a strong social web presence will be an attractive proposition, as they will potentially have more marketing reach. Due to the transparency of the web, buyers and sellers will be looking at who has a “following” on the web as well.
I have also advocated the use of video to many lettings and estate agents, but have yet to see any agency truly embracing video.
A video tour of the property adds google juice, ignites interest, and, if you are a lettings agent, keeps the Landlord tied in with you as you created a video as a marketing tool for their property.
Our new Property Tribes forum is sponsored by Belvoir Lettings. One of the things we are doing as part of that sponsorship is to create video ”Location Guides” with Belvoir franchisees, giving information to Landlords about where to invest. This gives Belvoir visibility in the Landlord community by providing information and value.
With so many free tools out there on the web, I wonder why lettings and sales agents are so slow to embrace “social power”. Any ideas anyone? I suspect it is because they are jaded with talks of twitter followers and FaceBook likes … and I don’t blame them as it is hard to see the value in that and the commerical ROI.
Vanessa Warwick is a former TV presenter, turned professional Landlord, consultant, and speaker. Along with her husband Nick Tadd, she founded Property Tribes, which is now the U.K.’s busiest on-line Landlord and investor community. Nick and Vanessa have just launched their new tech product, Yulpa, an on-line “property office/filo-fax” that helps you organise and manage your entire property life in one place. It comes with an iPhone app that does auto due diligence on any property being considered for purchase.
Vanessa and Nick advocate the use of technology and digital and social communications in property, and speak at events all over the U.K. as well as consulting for the BBC on property. They invest mainly in flats London and family houses in the South East and are also big advocates of holiday lets, having two upmarket holiday lets on the South Coast that achieve above-average occupancy thanks to the couple’s web efforts and vertical marketing strategies.
The property industry definitely has a murky under-belly.
Prior to the credit crunch, a whole industry of “get rich quick” and “wealth creation through property” companies and “gurus” preyed on unwary and gullible novice investors with promises of easy riches.
The financial crisis killed many of them off, but there are still a few out there who have jumped on new band-wagons such as lease options, JV’s, expensive seminars and portfolio building programmes, and other “creative financing” gimmicks.
In the lettings industry, a significant number of companies have gone bust, taking Landlords and tenants monies with them. Hardly a week goes by without news of another agency that has closed its doors …
The need for transparency in the property industry was one of the many reasons myself and Nick started our forum, Property Tribes.
Transparency implies openness, communication, & accountability . Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed.
Transparency in our industry is healthy and should not be feared. Products and services that reveal instead of conceal will gain traction while those that hide and control will fail. The web rewards transparency too, but that’s for another blog.
I therefore thought I would share a few of my favourite products & services in my “Top 6 in the property transparency league”:
Property Tribes - My husband Nick and I wanted to create a professional and respectful environment that promotes transparency and where people could share and learn, without hidden agendas. Impartial and independent, Property Tribes, continues to lead the way in discussing method and sharing insights, supporting novice investors and Landlords in building and managing sustainable portfolios. Our “non commercial” stance ensures that discussions are always authentic.
Imfuna* – this digital property inspections app provides transparency and protects all parties involved in the tenancy agreement – the Landlord, the tenant, and the property. With date, time, and geo-tagged photographs, and reports share-able via the cloud, there can be no doubt about the contents and condition of the property when the tenant moved in. This can be compared to the contents and condition of the property when the tenant moves out. Good landlords and good tenants will welcome a transparent inventory, bad landlords and delinquent tenants will fear it and may even shy away from it.
Meet My Agent – is an independent platform which helps homeowners research and request valuations with the best local estate agents based on customer feedback from previous sellers and landlords. All agents list voluntarily on the site, demonstrating a commitment to customer service and transparency. People looking for an estate agent can search for reviews from previous clients.
Bearing in mind that, statistically, only 14% of people trust advertisements, but 78% of people trust peer, friend, or community review, this site is all about building trust for agents who provide excellent customer service and satisfaction. Again, good agents have nothing to fear and will be rewarded through the building of trust & social proof.
SAFEagent * – is government-backed scheme and a mark denoting firms that protect landlords and tenants money through client money protection schemes. There are several schemes in the sector operated by ARLA/NFOPP, the Law Society, NALS and RICS to which agents voluntarily belong. Tenants and Landlords should check that their agent is a paid up member and has current SAFEagent membership. SAFEagent protects the Landlord and the tenant and is consumer-facing and seeks to educate.
Landlord Referencing - is a nationwide community made up of thousands of proactive landlords and letting agents who have joined forces to stop undeserving tenants ruining their property, defaulting on their rent and making their lives and the lives of their good tenants hell. It is the ultimateneighbourhood watch for competent and honest landlords and letting agents who want dependable and decent tenants who, in turn, want quiet enjoyment and a comfortable and stable home.
The great thing about Landlord Referencing is that it also provides references for good tenants, as well as bad … as there are some tenants who may struggle to get good references through no fault of their own, such as being new to the U.K.
Gumtree – I recently advertised a room to rent on Gumtree and was pleased to find that they showed me how many people had clicked on my advertisement. I valued that transparency as I was able to review my stats every day and see if my advertisement was getting views and this helped me determine whether to drop the price, or not.
* In the interests of transparency, I would like to make it known that I have some form of commercial relationship with these companies. However, I only ever advocate products/services/people I trust & believe in and only work with ethical and transparent companies.
Transparency starts with the individual. If you are lying to yourself, that is arguably worse than lying to other people. The same can be said for companies, products, and services. Embrace transparency and your business with thrive.
“There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy.”
― Joseph Pulitzer
Thank you for reading my blog and please share other good property companies, products, and services who embrace transparency in their business model.
Vanessa Warwick is a former TV presenter, turned professional Landlord, consultant, and speaker. Along with her husband Nick Tadd, she founded Property Tribes, which is now the U.K.’s busiest on-line Landlord and investor community. Nick and Vanessa have just launched their new tech product, Yulpa, an on-line “property office/filo-fax” that helps you organise and manage your entire property life in one place. It comes with an iPhone app that does auto due diligence on any property being considered for purchase.
Vanessa and Nick advocate the use of technology and digital and social communications in property, and speak at events all over the U.K. as well as consulting for the BBC on property. They invest mainly in flats London and family houses in the South East and are also big advocates of holiday lets, having two upmarket holiday lets on the South Coast that achieve above-average occupancy thanks to the couple’s web efforts and vertical marketing strategies.
