With so many Letting Agents to choose from, it’s become exceptionally hard for both new and experienced Landlords to choose the right agent when it comes to managing their property or portfolio.
We cannot stress enough the importance of researching your local lettings agents first before sitting down with them face-to-face. From our experience, we understand that many landlords may be working full time, and consequently could be ‘time poor’ and will only have a limited window of time in the week to sit down with potential agents so it’s important to select the right agents to pitch for their business.
Client reviews are now key in helping to assess the true reputation of an agent even before a Landlord enquiry via phone, email or live chat. Unfortunately for some agents, there is no hiding place from criticism these days (Hoorah I hear you cry), as the general public are very aware of the online review platforms then can use to voice their negative feedback. Fortunately, this is also allows the more reputable agents (yes we are out there and we do work for charity!) a similar platform to promote their service through positive reviews on platforms such as Google and Facebook.
That’s not to say good letting agents don’t get negative reviews, but the silver lining for the local economy (at least in our instance) is that my wine bill goes through the roof at Cheers Wine Merchants! It’s a win win…
Once the choice of who to meet has been made, and you have the agent in front of you and in the crosshairs (metaphorically not literally), you need to know what service they are going to provide you with, from the quality of the marketing and the platforms they use to showcase your property, right the way through to the quality of tenants, frequency of property inspections and how these are reported, and also the quality of contractors on the books etc etc.
Are you still with me? You may notice that I’ve used the word “quality” several times, but this is no accident. Landlords should expect quality from their letting agent because buying a rental property is a big investment and a huge asset to many people. So, why should they accept poor service or shoddy work?
But quality comes from a quality level of service, and service generally costs a little more.
If you pay peanuts and all that! Landlord’s must ask themselves why? Why is this agent cheaper or more expensive?
What am I getting for my 8, 10, or 12%?
Who’s earning what, where and how and is it all transparent?
But the biggest question is, do I trust the person sitting in front of me, because after all, this is not a property business, it’s a people one, which is why we believe Property is Personal.
Ben Davies
Managing Director
Belvoir Swansea and Mumbles
