Should I get investment for my buisness
Is investment really what it is made out to be? The pros and cons of external investment in a business
I went into business so I can call my own shots. I am pretty sure I am not very far off from other business owners. Once you start selling shares through investment, then you are answering to others. This is natural – they have borrowed your money, and they naturally want to know how you will repay them.
I got caught up in the investment-seeking fiasco. It sounds great, doesn’t it uses someone else’s money. But once I realised what I was risking, I soon backed off. Slow and steady will see me through (it will definitely help me sleep better at night!)
3 things to think about before getting external investment
1- Are you sure you need this? Are there other ways you can get this (asking family?)
2- Are you willing to delegate some of your power to somebody else?
3- If you get it very early stage, you will be losing a lot. Can you get it at a later point?
Tenant in situ the good and the bad
What you need to know before purchasing a tenant in situ property - our experience
When things go surprisingly great
We took instructions from a client to manage their property with a ‘tenant in situ’ – someone who stays in the house upon completion. Now this was in one of the worst neighbourhoods in Sheffield, and we were worried. The neighbourhood was a state, but the house was great and the tenant was responsive.
Moral Never judge a book by its cover
When things don’t go so well
We took instructions from another client with a great property which was in a great part of Sheffield, again another ‘tenant in situ’. Now we were chuffed, great property with no problems – this would be a walk in the park! We were so wrong
The tenants did not engage, they refused to pay rent, and at one point slammed the door on us – we found out later the previous landlords had struggled with them, so they had sold the property off with them in.
Get to know both landlords and tenants before you purchase
Top 3 tips before purchasing a property with ‘tenant in situ’
1 – Get to know both the landlord and the tenant when you go to the viewing
2 - Ask to see a rent payment schedule
3 – Talk to us – we can view properties on your behalf and manage these properties so you get an all-round service
Be warned about ‘tenants in situ’
What is 'tenant in situ' it is a house that is sold with a tenant inside it.
What you need to know before purchasing a house with 'tenant in situ.
It sounds great, doesn’t it? By a hous,e and you don’t have to do a thing, you can close your eyes and the rents will come in. Don’t be fooled!
Never ever purchase a property with a ‘tenant in situ’ without getting to know the tenants and landlord first. Recently we have had a mixture of experiences thanks to more and more landlords purchasing in this manner.
In a poorer area of Sheffield, we were instructed to take over the property after completion, and this experience was great, even though we were a bit worried about this. The neighbourhood was a state, but the house was great inside, and the tenants were very responsive.
In a more affluent neighborhood we were instructed by another client to manage their property and things could not be any worse – the tenant refused to engage, she refused to continue to pay rent and at one point slammed the door on us (we found out later these were problematic tenants and the landlord struggled to evict them so just sold the property with ‘tenants in situ’). The landlords have made this mega expensive purchase and have not had any rent come in. They have had to serve eviction orders.
So, as I said earlier, when viewing these types of properties, get to know both the landlord and tenant. You will get a good sense of what they are like at initial meetings and even on viewings. Whenever we look at packages for our landlord, these are the types of checks we do – needless to say, with both properties, we were not involved with the purchase.
We provide a complete package and can advise on purchase and property management, so you deal with just one company. You are not a piece of luggage being passed around.
Are you thinking of getting into property, and are not sure what the ideal property is? Then talk to us – we are happy to always take your call
My worries around Airbnb
Now this may be controversial, especially with the hype around serviced accommodations in South Yorkshire. Google property networks and chances are that many of these have serviced accommodations on the agenda. A serviced accommodation is a private landlord who has put up their property on these types of portals – this may be direct or through an agent. This is quite a lucrative side hustle. Usually these properties are let to visitors or contractors, this will depend on the location and setup.
Now this is all above board (unfortunately ,to the dismay of local B&Bs) but what this means for tenants is that there are less houses available to rent. The crazy demand for properties is being reported by all, and now add this to the mix. This means long term tenants struggle to compete for higher profit making holiday lets. They struggle to get a bigger house for growing households, and the problems just escalate.
And don’t be fooled, the local Councils have this on their radar as well. Yes, they are slow to respond, but when they do it will be harsh. They are being lobbied by the local B&B’s and neighbors to these properties for more regulation.
Don’t say I did not warn you!
The rise in Airbnb
This issue is very topical. There has been a massive growth in private landlords listing their properties on these platforms. In the landlord industry, this is called serviced accommodation. Google any property event, and chances are this is on the agenda. It is also quite lucrative.
But what does this mean for tenants? In a climate where housing is scarce and with more landlords registering their properties on these types of portals - this can only make the crisis even worse. The demand for rental properties is unprecedented at the moment - this is not just our reflection, but shared by many service specialists.
Many bed and breakfast-type set-ups which have been set up for this type of clientele are sharing their concerns with local authorities. But with Local authorities still not being able to get a handle on the situation, the crisis continues to escalate. We understand that many people like a home away from home, but there should be a quota on this, and it should be regulated more.
But we do feel this boom has reached its ceiling
Taking on Page Hall
If you have not heard of Page Hall, then where have you been! It is arguably one of the worst areas in Sheffield, if not England, but we won't dwell on the negatives because this blog would turn into a essay! But just in case you don't know, Page Hall is a deprived area of Sheffield, with high-density housing with most of them being owned by private landlords - now many of these landlords give dodgy landlords a bad name!
We were approached by landlords to manage their properties in this area. We were initially a bit reluctant, but when we met with the tenants, they were very engaging and responsive. The house was well kept (even though is does need some work). Page Hall has a high percentage of rental properties and it is a area which we are very interested in. With the right type of support the housing stock can be improved in this area. Our ethical approach has been taken up really well, and we have started getting more inquiries from other tenants who need homes in this area. We spent extra time getting to know the tenants, and this built up a relationship of trust and support. This was vital for positive impressions and a good foundation.
In these types of areas, billboards are hardly use,d and most referrals are done through word of mouth. That is why it is hard to find comparable data online. But there is high tenant demand, and unfortunately many of these tenants fall victim to really awful landlords. We want to change this and will do this one property at a time.
Moral of the story - never judge a book by its cover!
Do you need a letting agency?
The answer is no – you may think this is strange coming from the founder of a letting agency. You can definitely do it yourself, and I advise many people to do this initially to learn the ropes if they are able to. By doing it yourself, you know what is entailed. Sur,e there is a lot of learning to be done – last I read, there were 168 pieces of legislation around property lettings.
It is like when I set up my website – it was such a hard process (I am the most anti-tech person I know – just ask the kids!) But I did it, am I proud of it – yep! Does it look beautiful – most definitely –NO! But now I know what the process entails when I contract a web developer to do the next page, I definitely will know what to ask for.
If you are working full-time, have a family, and other life commitments, then offload. If you use a letting agency, avoid the big dogs – you know the ones I am talking about, where one agent is looking after hundreds of properties.
Look for an agent who is local and knows the area. And make sure you like and trust them because this is a long-term process.
Would you manage yourself or use a management agency?
Top 3 things to look for in a letting agent
1- How well do they know the area
2- What vibes do you get when you speak to them – remember gut instinct is hidden intuition!
3- How many properties do they currently manage
Our Not For Profit letting agency is born
Care 4 Renters CIC is born
We have always been guided by our ethics and moral principles. We were told by many that we don't need a not for profit structure to demonstrate ethics but somehow this felt a bit contradictory to us.
A CIC is a community interest company, where all profits are re-invested back into the community. As we set up this organisation our vision is to focus solely on our letting agency support through this.
Our aim is to support all our tenants so they can access a service which is responsive and puts care in the heart of everything. This is something we were looking for when we were searching for letting agents to manage our properties while we were working full time. So we decided to trial our approach with our personal properties, this approach was so successful that our reputation proceeds us and now our tenants have become our biggest advocates.
By creating a not for profit we are able to bring in more socially minded landlords and create more bigger lasting impact in the private rented sector.
How reliable is a previous landlord reference?
Imagine if you had the worlds worst tenant but you just wanted to get rid of them. Now these awful tenants have found another property but want your reference. Now be honest as a landlord that wants your property back would you be honest to the new landlord? Will you tell their new landlord how awful these tenants have been and risk them not moving out of your property?
Most landlords will provide a good reference just to offload the tenant. That’s why at My Landlord Cares we run more extensive background checks to put the right tenants in your house. Never take anything at face value and run the right due diligence checks on all tenants. Even if this take a little more time, because the time invested here will save you thousands of pounds later on in rent arrears and voids!
65% of our tenants would fail conventional tenant checks
But at My Landlord Cares, we give them that second chance. We work with tenants who are the most deprived within our communities because let’s face it, most bargain properties are in the most undesirable areas of the city. We run extensive background checks, and this can be very informal, like speaking to their current neighbours (who have nothing to gain/ lose from this). This informal method takes a bit more time but makes sure we put the right tenants in the property, and this can save on costly voids and minimise rent arrears. So if you have a property in these types of areas, then get in touch and let's speak about how we can support your tenants.
#care #support # tenants of our tenants would fail conventional tenant checks
But at My Landlord Cares, we give them that second chance. We work with tenants who are the most deprived within our communities because let’s face it, most bargain properties are in the most undesirable areas of the city.
We run extensive background checks, and this can be very informative. l like speaking to their current neighbours (who have nothing to gain/ lose from this). This informal method takes a bit more time but makes sure we put the right tenants in the property, and this can save on costly voids and minimise rent arrears.
So if you have a property in these types of areas, then get in touch and let's speak about how we can support your tenants.