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!
How to cope with stress and out tips
My positive ways of coping with stress and burnout. Now I am no expert, but I would like to share what I have learn (through some bloody awful stressful times!)
I try to meditate in the morning – now this is not something grand like sitting on a mat in a grand pose, it is more lying in bed and trying to concentrate on my breathing
Taking deep breaths to regulate blood flow
Listening to my body, it usually tells me when something is going wrong
Long hot baths – away from devices and media
Rituals and the need for change
I have always been a keen follower of the monarchy
The pomp, the regalia, the out-of-worldliness (very much reminds me of my South Asian and Islamic heritage, where there is a lot of place for formality)
But there is also space to grow within these rituals, which is what I see happening within the monarchy, always evolving and adapting old with the new.
As individuals, communities, and businesses, if we don’t change, we soon wither away. Many people hate change, but if you accept it and work with it, it can be a major power for good. Sure, it is choppy and tumultuous at the beginning, but you will find calmer shores.
How rich can you get through property? The TRUTH
How much profit can you make from being a landlord (again a novice guide)
Looking for passive income ideas in 2022? Landed on this page via Google searches?
Now we get asked this a lot, and again, this is for novices, so we want to keep it very simple. The quick answer is not very rich and not very fast!
Property price £100k
Upfront cost £38k (save, beg, borrow but please don’t steal J )
(see our article on how much I need to get started in property to understand this breakdown better)
Cost of utilising the service of a bespoke property agency to help you with securing this = £4k. This is from initially finding you the right property to helping you secure this. If you fancy doing this yourself, please do minimise this, but a wrong property can cost you a lot more than this. Please do work with approved organisations like My Landlord Cares, who are trusted professionals and have close contacts with local councils and social housing organisations. Want to find out more then check out our contact us page.
A mortgage at generally 5% will be about £350 on mortgage repayment per month (this is if you want to repay the debt and own the house as a pension pot)
If you just want to service the debt and are not interested in owning the property, then the repayment will be roughly £200 per month.
Letting agent = £75 per month (again, My Landlord Cares will find you the right tenants for your property). Also,o please do factor in tenant find fees – in our organisation, we only take our fees from rent payments, and break up tenant find across the year to help with your monthly cashflow management. This generally costs about £200 and includes sourcing, vetting, advertising,and creating tenancy packs.
Rent per month £550 – 650 per month (depending on area/ property etc)
So let’s do the maths
£650 per month rent
Minus mortgage = £350 – we always advocate paying off the loan to invest for your own future (so you own the property after 25 years)
Letting agency fee = £75 (we won’t put the tenant find for the moment because this can be taken flexibly)
= £225 per month (this is without factoring in maintenance budgets, insurance, tax, etc)
As you can see, this is no quick money scheme, and you may be thinking, is it even worth it???
If you grow your portfolio (own more houses), then you can build this number up. But the up-front costs are the big boohoo, hence why you see many property people looking for investments.
Also, in the long term, if you overpay your mortgage or just complete your mortgage term after 25 years, then all of a sudden your monthly cash flow is £575 per month. So this is a nice tidy sum from one property. It can feed into your pension.
So the question to, can you be rich through property, not very quickly if you do it sensibly. Now there are a lot of deals, projects, and conversions out there that promise a lot more. But as a novice, we would always advise sticking to a safer strategy, don’t borrow beyond your means, and think long term.
If you fancy a chat then book on to one with us.
How much do you need to invest in property and how do you do it
Have you been Googling passive income ideas for 2022 and landed on this page. Sick of all the broad info but hungry for in depth info with stats? Well no more
We get asked how much do I need to invest in property in 2022 very often! so we thought we would break this down for all property novices
Now we will keep this really simple for property novices. Apologies if you are a more seasoned investor (but hopefully you won’t mind a refresher)
Average investment property in South Yorkshire = £100k (usually 2/3 beds)
Deposit needed for this = £25k
Fees (conveyancing, mortgage broker, surveyor etc) = £5k
Refurbishment (cosmetic changes) = £5-8k
Now this whole process is pretty time-consuming, and many people get frustrated with the many parts of the process. Especially if you are new to this. Like, where do I look for properties, which areas, which lender is best, what do I look for in a property? This is where My Landlord Cares comes in. We provide a hand-holding service to help you understand how this entire system works. Our fee covers finding a property, getting you mortgage-ready, securing the property, and refurbishment. We provide an all-round service by managing your property (this means finding you the right tenant for your home and managing them). So you deal with one person only; you are not being handed over to someone else.
If you would like to know more about this, book a free 45-minute chat with us.
What does increased Right to Buy for social housing mean for the
In June, PM Boris Johnson (soon to be ex) announced that he would make it possible for more social housing tenants to buy their properties. Now, on paper, this sounds amazing, doesn’t it? More affordable housing, longer-term tenants, and it feeds into the fairer private rented sector white paper. But scratch behind the surface, and there are a lot of problems with this proposal.
Within social housing (think Council, housing associations), there is a massive demand for housing. When more people buy their houses, this leads to a decrease in the stock that they have that is available for tenants. So this creates a massive demand for properties. More and more people require social housing, and these organisations are unable to cope with this demand. They clearly can’t buy at the rate needed. And with the Government not providing increased financial support for this, then social housing associations have limited options.
They then turn to private landlords to help support them. They subcontract out. This is all good and well for landlords (I am sure this is what you are thinking!), but when landlords are struggling with demand from tenants, then this is a vicious cycle.
So, simply put, more houses sold to tenants, no increase in social housing stock, increased waiting times for tenants, and more pressure on landlords.
This is a wholly linked chain; one part plays into the other, and unfortunately, there are no quick fixes.
What every small business owner knows and new ones should know?
As a business owner you are everything to your business, if you do not do then nothing will happen. It is completely different from working in a job, where you walk in and do your job and walk away (I do reminisce these days!). You are the life blood of your business, and so if you are looking to setting up your own business make sure it is something you really enjoy and it is a subject you are passionate about. My key strengths are
#multitasking
#helpingothers
#property
So you can see why I naturally gravitated around a property based ethical business. Find something that stimulates you. Running a business is one of the most challenging and rewarding things you will ever do.
Is this something that you are thinking of?
Will you defeat the odds of business failure rates?
Many business owners have to balance a lot more when first starting off, for example, like holding a job and managing their side hustle (unless you have rich parents who will bankroll you – something I didn’t have). So you have to be super determined to push through, especially when the odds are against you.
Did you know 1 in 5 businesses fail in year 1, and half of all businesses fail in year 5! But did you know most of these businesses fail because of burnout? People work so hard and expect instant results, and guess what, life doesn’t work that way. If you get instant results, then kudos to you. But play the long game, then you are more likely to succeed.
#longgame #buisness #hustle #workhard #worksmart
People overestimate what they can achieve in year 1 and underestimate what they can achieve in year 5.
Have you heard this? It cuts across all fields. In a culture of instant fixes, we struggle to undertake any long-term planning. For example, when you are planning, most people only plan for the year ahead – holidays I will go to, job I will apply for. But long-term planning is super helpful. Don’t get me wrong, I am yet to be convinced on visualisation (where if you see it you can manifest it!), but by putting your thoughts to paper, you are more likely to achieve them or more than likely find a roundabout way to get there.
Life is not linear, so expect some ups and downs, but if you are patient and you persevere, you definitely will get there. We all want to avoid the fifty-something burnout!
Go on, give it a try, scribble a few notes down (make these realistic by the way.
3 Top tips for better mental health for busy people
I am a busy person, and it has taken me ages to find the right balance. Trust me, it is still not perfect, but it definitely is better. I would like to share this with all my like-minded friends.
1. Create a to-do list not just for the day but for the week – categorise the most important (chunk out time to do this), the stuff that is fluff (like emails, admin, etc.), put them in together for one day. Trust me, you can’t avoid this,s so you might as well call this a ‘have to do day’ and reward yourself with cake afterwards!
2. Put in some time for self-care - in your busyness, do you forget about you – I know I did! I know what you're thinkin',g I am so busy, how can I find time to do this. I felt the same, but I dedicate a small chunk of my time to you every day. This could be anything, reading a book, going in the garden, having a bat,h but just consciously tell yourself this is my 5/10/…minutes to myself.
3. Mix it up – you know when you focus so much on one thing that you forget about what is around it, don’t be that person. I know what you're thinking, I am so busy already, how can I do something else! Trust me on this, by switching things up, you get a more rounded picture, and it somehow creates different neurons (brain cells – don’t ask me about the science) this stimulates you to work better. For example, if you normally do Zumba, mix it up with line dancing; if you read a certain type of book, then try another genre, instead of walking around your usual path, take a side path. By pushing yourself out of your comfort zones, you get a totally different perspective, and you can bring this different frame of mind to your busy schedule.
Do let me know how you get on