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Letting Agents Just Don't Get It · The Property Unleashed Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Most letting agents don't understand rent-to-rent, and here's why.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Mark Fitzgerald.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's great to have you joining me here today.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: So, as we said at the beginning of this, most letting agents do not understand rent-to-rent.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, so if you're going in there saying, oh, do you do corporate lets, do you do this, do you do that, most of the time they're just going to put their wall up and say, nope, that sounds dodgy.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: It sounds like your arrival to what we're doing.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Why would we want to work with you?
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: And even if they do say yes, a lot of times they're never going to call you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: They're never going to get back to you.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: See, they're never going to call you.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: They're never going to get back to you.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: See people all the time saying, oh, it's great, I was chatting to an agent the other day.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: They get it.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: They're going to give me a call, they're going to show me some deals.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Now, if they are wicked, great stuff.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: But the majority of the time they're not.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: They're just saying yes to get you off the phone or to get you out of their offices.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: So the reasons letting agents do not understand rent-to-rent is because it sounds too good to be true in a lot of cases, or maybe they have done a deal with a rent-to-renter before and they've been burnt by people just not doing it properly.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: So what you really want to be doing is going in and speaking to them like a customer would, like a landlord would.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Now you could say well, I haven't got any properties, mark, so how can I go in there and speak to like a landlord would.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Now you could say, well, I haven't got any properties, mark, so how can I go in there and speak to them like a landlord would?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Well, what you've got to make sure and remember is they think that they are property professionals.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: They think they know everything in most cases and I'm not saying that in a bad way, I'm just saying that they've been educated and taught how to manage properties the way of that business.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Now, if you go in there and say you're going to mix it up, you're going to change it and you're going to do everything that's so much better, they don't grasp that and they think to themselves well, why, why would you do that, why would you offer this, why would you do all of those things?
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: And what's going to happen to us?
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: So it's like anything with properties, all about relationships.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: You have to build up a know like and trust, and this can take time.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So when you're speaking to agents, some and this will probably be more than others won't want to do business with you.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: But you can keep talking to them and keep seeing if they will do business with you, but nine times out of 10, they're probably never going to do business with you.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: You might get the odd one that gets it and does see the benefit in doing business with you.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Now, they don't always get it either.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: And what do I mean by that?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Well, you'll have some that'll turn your flat down.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: You'll have some that'll say yes, yes, yes.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And then they'll hand you an AST when you found a deal, as if you are a tenant.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Now you can take that on if they're thinking about students, where you have a lead tenant and then that tenant is given permission to bring their friends in and stay there.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: You can do it like that, but you want to be doing it as a business.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: So you want to be using management agreements or lease agreements, using business contracts?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, because you are going to be, or you should be, a business.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: This is where sometimes it all falls over, because they give you an AST which doesn't really tell you who's responsible for what.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Who's responsible for the white goods, the boilers, the electrics, you know as a landlord and everything, who's responsible for what.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: You need all of those things sort of in a contract so everybody knows what they're responsible for and what they're doing.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: You give them a management agreement.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: If you've got one, and all of a sudden they're looking at that saying, well, we don't use contracts like this.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Now you can do a management agreement and have a three-way split on it, so you can have the management company sign it, you sign it and the landlord signs it as well.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Or you could just do the management agreement with the agency and they are acting on the landlord's behalf, but what you've got to do is get them over the line.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So you've got to build up that know like and trust that I'm always on about.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: And again, like I say, it happens over time.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: You're not just going to go in there, speak to a couple of agents, get them on board unless they've got really bad properties that they want to offload to you and see you spend thousands and thousands of pounds putting these properties right because they're just not fit for purpose.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: You're not going to find the greatest deals.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: So you need to make sure that you factor in that it's going to take time to get to know the agents, ok, and you need to just go in there and speak to them.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: So one of the great ways of doing that is going in there and saying I've got clients that we want to house in this specific area, so we're looking at properties.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Now you can adjust this service accommodation or to rent to HMOs OK, when doing rent to rent.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But we've got clients that are looking to stay in the properties in this area and we're looking for properties that are five beds or more.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Do you have anything like that on your books?
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Now they might say that sounds like an HMO.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: We don't deal with HMOs.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: If that is the case, your eyes should light up and you should be really excited and say that it is and we are looking for HMOs.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: So what do you do, mr Agent or Mrs Agent, if somebody comes in with an HMO and you don't want to take it on because you don't do HMOs?
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: If I give you my details, could you pass my details on to them to give them a shout, and if I take them on as a client, I'll pay you a referral fee very much like a tenant finder's fee.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's quite good to point out, when you say referral fee, that it's like a tenant finder's fee, so to speak, because they get that, whereas if you just say a referral for you, I think, well, why are you going to pay me money to give a lead?
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: That sounds dodgy.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: So point things out.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Make it stupid simple for them, okay.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: So make sure that you're building up that trust.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Make sure you're asking them what they specialize in.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Make sure you're just talking to them as if you've got people.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: You might not have people yet, but you will have.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: If you're building up an HMO business or an SA business, you will have people, you will have demand.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: You might just not have it right now.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Now the other thing I like to say on that caveat is when I have the property and I put people in it, we like to look after our customers.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: We treat everybody as customers.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: So what we tend to do is look after the property and, of course, looking after the clients that are in the property as well, and of course, then you would basically be dealing with me and my business, so we will be working together.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Now what we also like to do is because we've got the privilege and we're able to do this.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: We like to make sure that, whether we've got our clients in there or not, the landlords are getting a guaranteed rent.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: They're getting paid each and every month, which also means that you're getting paid each and every month with your percentage for whatever you charge the landlord, so it's a win-win for everybody.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: We get to house our clients, you get paid each and every month, and we look after the properties and maintain them to the highest standard, because that's what our clients expect.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Have you got any properties that would suit that criteria?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: And then you just go quiet and you see what they say and majority will say no, we don't do.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: That Sounds like corporate let's, you can call it whatever you like and that's fine, no problem.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Is it okay if I check in with you maybe in the future just to see if anything changes?
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Most of the time they'll say yes, I haven't actually had anybody say no, never come back.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: So you've got permission to go back.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: If they do say yes, start looking at the property, start talking to them about them.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Only tell them so much.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: You don't want to tell them every last thing that you can do, but you want to tell them enough to give them peace of mind to know that you're going to be looking after the property.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: So we take the properties on, we put our clients in there.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: We make sure that we only put the highest caliber of clients in the property so that they maintain, look after the place, they're all vetted properly.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: We also make sure that they pay deposits and things like that.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: And the other thing is we also make sure that there's regular cleaning going on in that property as well.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: So we will be maintaining it, as I say, to a really, really high standard and making sure that the landlord's investment is staying at peak condition and, of course, it works very, very well.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: So if you go in and you speak to agents in that sort of manner, I think you'll find that you get a lot more traction than if you're just going in there saying, listen, I'm looking for any corporate leads that you're going to corporate lets.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: So my students who are on the Rent to Rent Business, builder and things, and they say I say to them sometimes on the group coaching sessions what are you saying to the agents?
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: And they'll tell me and I'm just like who's told you to say corporate lets.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I know it is corporate lets, but who's told you to say that?
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Because it's not me, because they hear it all the time.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Everybody's saying it, so don't be the person that keeps saying it.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: If people are going out, they're saying corporate let's and it is a corporate let.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Let's not get it wrong.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: If they say, oh, that sounds like a corporate, let just say, well, yes, it is, but this is how we operate.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Let them tell you it, rather than you saying corporate let to them.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Because if you keep hearing the same thing, be able to get it.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Otherwise they'll never get it and some people won't ever get it.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: So small agencies, family run agencies, are very, very good to get in there and speak to those.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: The big franchises can be a lot more difficult to actually get any traction on.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I would practice on those because they're going to be a firm.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: No, if you can get one of those over the line, fair play to you.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: But I have students and I have done it myself.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I have got deals through letting agencies.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: But it takes a bit of time to build up that trust, to build up that sort of relationship with them where they're happy to pass you on their precious clients in return for you to be able to help them do a job.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: And I always say I'm looking to work with a sister or a partner sort of company where we do a good job for you and, of course, we do a good job for you and you have any other landlords that were interested in this service.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: We can make it a win-win for everybody, can't we?
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I always say I'm not looking at being the biggest and, trust me, I'm not looking at being the biggest, I just want to be the best at what I do.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: So if you need any help or support with that, then do check out thepropertyunleashedcom.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: We have free tools and resources there for rent-to-rent service accommodation, HMO.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: We also have masterclass trainings that are 100% free and, of course, we have the rent-to-rent business builder and the ultimate service accommodation business builder, which are training packages which involve coaching, which involve all the contracts, all of the guides, everything that you need, plus the help and support and coaching from my good self and our other head coaches and experts in these sectors.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: So if that's of interest to you, check out thepropertyunleashedcom or reach out to me on social media and, in the meantime, keep watching these videos or listening to these podcasts and I'll see you in the next episode.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Bye for now.