Letting Agents and Estate Agents Can Be a Pain Outside the Big Cities

I have just bought a property in East Kent, an area that is set to do very well once the fast new train lines are built in three years and the area becomes more commutable. Plus, I expect this area will be increasingly “found” by second home owners over the next 5 to 10 years.
I will admit though, that whilst I wait for the capital growth to come through, in the interim I will have to put up with some pretty low rental yields. (The gap between net (after cost) rental yield and true full financing costs is about 1 to 2 per cent in this area even if one bargains really hard and buys really cheaply!)
But I’m confident capital growth will more than make up for this low rent in the long term.
I mention all this because one thing that always astounds me is how utterly unbusiness like estate agents can be outside big cities like London and Manchester.

Agents in London Do Return Calls Eventually
OK, I know many in London are not too good but at least most do return phone calls - eventually.
I actually signed up with 4 estate agents in this particular town to buy a property (sorry, can’t say exactly where it is) and only one bothered to get back in touch with me or ever sent me any property details. It is just incredible.
And as I am finding out, they are not too keen to make money the letting side too. For example, I contacted and left messages with two letting agents to put the house on with them on Saturday morning. It is now Monday night and they have still not got back in touch with me.
So, if you want to make some money head down the M2, turn right down the A2 and become an estate or letting agent locally. You’ll make a fortune.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON

LettingFocus.com are the buy to let experts and I’m David Lawrenson, the author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work and which are of minimal risk.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years.

At LettingFocus we offer independent unbiased advice for landlords and property investors on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.

You should know that property clubs and property advice in the UK is still mainly unregulated and advice is often poor.
With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we at LettingFocus can give unbiased independent advice on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.

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Buying Agent and Estate Agent - A Potentially Incestuous Relationship?

Good buying (or property finding) agents should know their patch well and they will have bought quite a lot of property in the area for their own account and / or for other buyers.
The property finders work for their clients to find properties for them.
They take the hassle out of the search process and should get good prices from agents and other sellers by using their buying power and knowledge of the market.
The fees they charge to their clients will involve an up front registration fee and a final finders fee.
The finders’ fee may be based upon say doing a detailed report on 15 properties for which a fee of upwards of £2,000 will be charged.
Alternatively, the fee will be based on the price of the property purchased - 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent is normal. All these charges will generally have VAT on top and the registration fee will be at least £500 plus VAT, which is normally deducted from the final fee.
And for the estate agent, the existence of buying agents makes their job that much easier.
A property comes up where the estate agent knows he has a buying agent waiting for exactly that kind of property for a client.
The estate agent knows the property can be sold easily with a minimum of aggravation.
Indeed, to make sure he gets the business from other estate agents, the estate agent will make it known to the vendor that he has a buyer just waiting to snap up the property.

Reduced Commission
In these circumstances, if the estate agent is up against other estate agents, he may well be confident enough to reduce his commission to get the business, because after all, he won’t have the usual marketing expenses to incur on this sale.
The buying agent will insist that the property is taken off the market - and the vendor will normally agree to this.
The danger is that the relationship between the two sets of agent becomes too incestuous and the vendor loses out or, in the worst case, both the buyer and seller get "ringed" with the agents pocketing commission for doing a duff job.
I don't think that happens often.
All estate agents I have ever dealt with a pretty straight, but the damger does exist.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Hello, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.
Our main business is at a corporate level for organisations - both public and private companies.
We provide consultancy for banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

OTHER WORK
We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media. In addition, we have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

MENTORING
For private landlords, we also find some occasional spare time to help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event
We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

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Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

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