Chichester Property News: business

Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

Thursday, 7 September 2017

FREE property management…but read the small print!

I was recently celebrating my Sister’s birthday and what would have been my Dad’s 65^th Birthday. Whilst doing so my brother-in-law pointed out the promotion on the pack of a popular crisp snack; “Collect 3 packs and get a free Bluetooth speaker**”

Except the ** referred to a host of terms and conditions including the fact you need to pay £3 towards postage. Why not just say “Collect 3 packs and get a Bluetooth speaker for £3”.

And it reminded me of some letting agents’ promotions. 0% management fees to landlords, free management and free this and free that. All with the caveat that it’s only for a certain time frame or that other fees apply, making the saving completely redundant.

The simple answer as to why companies do this is it is attention-grabbing marketing, designed to get people to contact the promoter, who then has one foot in the door.

I feel there is a lack of transparency amongst some letting agents in regards to the fees they are charging (to both landlords and tenants), which was one of the reasons I started CRJ Lettings in 2013.

Even though it is now a legal requirement for letting agents to publish all their fees to both landlords and tenants on their website and in their offices, many don’t comply and the authorities seem to do nothing about it. Price on application or fees negotiable by property type is not permissible and contracts should be free of hidden nasties tucked away in the small print.

It was sad to hear recently from two sets of prospective tenants who were shocked to find their previous letting agent was withholding a reference unless they paid them a fee. I believe in the notion of charging a fair and transparent price for a great service and not trying to make a few extra quid in the short-term just because I could.

One London agent is in bother because of this; charging landlords a percentage on top of a commission for organising basic maintenance (isn’t that the point of already paying for a ‘full’ management service?).

You can find a full list of my services and fees on my website. It amounts to this: a full management service is just £99 per month. There’s no VAT, no renewal fees and no hidden extras. £1,188 per year to manage your property, whatever its rental value.

And that's my business model - simple and transparent; take on nice properties (there's lots of these around Chichester), choose good tenants (lots of them around Chichester too), keep my overheads low and my service levels high.

If you’re a landlord and wish to work with a letting agent who is passionate about providing a good service to everyone at a fair price, without the hidden complexities you sometimes find in the industry, please give me a call.

(This article was featured in the Chichester Observer's property section on 7th September 2017)

Clive Janes, CRJ Lettings.

www.crjlettings.co.uk

*** Just saw this article from the RLA that says after two years of letting agents needing to publish their fees, only THREE penalty notices have been served to offending agents across the whole of England!

______________________________

If you are looking for an agent that is well-established, professional and communicative in Chichester, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Chichester

Chichester Property Market LinkedIn Page for Clive Janes

CRJ Letting Agents Chichester Facebook Page

CRJ Letting Agents Chichester Twitter Page

Chichester Investment Property Management Specialist CRJ Letting Agents Website

c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP

__________________________________

Thursday, 13 July 2017

Landlords: How to move tenants in

As a landlord and letting agent it’s crucial to have processes in place to ensure you provide a consistently excellent service. I’ve just got back from my third move-in within a week, so I thought I’d give an overview of CRJ Lettings’ move-in process.

It’s actually a pretty mundane hour or so of paperwork checking, contract signing and multiple page initialling! But, it’s crucially important that all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed to ensure the tenancy gets off to the right start. Done properly, it will also mean a tenant is fully-equipped to enjoy their new home, whilst keeping it in good order for the landlord.

I go through a check-list to ensure nothing is missed; starting with the paperwork. That means the tenants signing the tenancy agreement and initialling each page (it would have been sent to them in advance so they’ll have already had a chance to read it). Then it’s the same process with the security deposit certificate and prescribed information forms.

I’ll then show the tenants where the water stop tap, gas safety valve, fuse box and mains isolator switches are and what to do in case of any emergencies. Showing them these could be crucial for the tenants’ safety as well as minimising any damage to the property (for instance in the case of a water leak). We’ll also take meter readings together at this point, as well as showing the tenants any communal areas of the property and how the heating system and kitchen appliances work.

Just in case the tenants might forget any of this important information, they’ll then be shown the house manual I prepare for all my fully managed properties. This lists the location and operation of all the above, as well as setting out other general tips about good home management, along with all the contact details they’ll need throughout the tenancy. It will also contain the property’s safety certificates and EPC, as well as the governments ‘How to Rent’ guide, as legally required.

The ‘move-in checklist’ can then be used as proof that all the legal requirements have been completed (including showing the tenants a working smoke alarm on each floor of the property and a carbon monoxide alarm where required).

The last bit of paperwork to go through is the inventory. This is a substantial (50 page+) document created by an independent company, who go into very fine detail. The tenants should ensure they’re happy the condition of the property is correctly noted, as it forms the basis of how it should be returned at the end of their tenancy.

Finally the keys are distributed to the tenants and any other questions can be answered. It’s also a good opportunity to explain when I’ll next be in contact regards to the receipt of rent and future inspections.

This thorough move-in process ensures the landlord is legally compliant, the tenants are aware of everything they’ll need to know and it creates a good start to our professional relationship. I think it beats many letting agents’ approach; which is to simply hand over the keys and let the tenants sort themselves out.

If you’d like a free copy of my ‘move-in checklist’ please contact me and I’ll be happy to send it to you.

____________________________

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP

__________________________________

Thursday, 6 July 2017

The value of local independent businesses

Last week I had a venetian blind in a rental property which had broken. On closer inspection it was just a small mechanism that holds the cord up which had failed. It seemed a shame to throw away a set of perfectly good (and reasonably expensive) blinds for the sake of this tiny part.

At this point I thought to myself - what would a high street letting agent do? I suspect they would get a handyman round to replace the blind, which is perfectly reasonable. It would cost the landlord money but as the letting agent isn’t paying (and may actually be adding on a ‘commission’ for organising the works), would they care?

As an independent letting agent who likes to be a little more pro-active, I approached the situation differently; spending a little of my time to try and save the landlord some money.

I took the offending blind to Falcon Fabrics on the Portfield Trading Estate in Chichester (right next to the Bognor Road roundabout). I showed one of the two Nigel’s (the owners of this independent business) the blind and was told that unfortunately the rather innocuous looking part, which had broken, isn’t sold separately.

Undeterred though, Nigel went out the back and found the required spare part for me to pass on to my handyman…free of charge! Can you imagine one of the big chain stores going to such lengths?

Many independent companies are started by passionate individuals who continue to take an active and personal interest in all activities within the business. There is normally a strong belief that they can better serve their chosen industry than the often bigger and less hands-on competition.

As an independent letting agent, I’m proud not only to have helped my own landlords and tenants, but to have assisted many more who aren’t even customers of mine.

I’ve guided first-time landlords towards properties that offer them a better return. I’ve saved landlords time and money by giving them the details of my trusted tradesmen when they needed to refurbish a property. I’ve even helped landlords who are stuck in a contract with another letting agent who choose to ask me for lettings advice!

I’m happy to do all of the above because I believe people deserve great service. It’s something many independent businesses strive for and I think it would be a shame if we didn’t support them more.

(This article was featured in the Chichester Observer's property section on 6th July 2017)

Clive Janes, CRJ Lettings.

www.crjlettings.co.uk

_______________________________

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP

__________________________________

Thursday, 30 March 2017

How should you invest the new £1 coin?

Have you seen any of the new twelve-sided £1 coins yet? They were entered into circulation earlier this week and are already selling for many times their value on eBay.

£1 won’t get you very close to buying a house (or even 100 ‘penny’ sweets anymore), but I thought it would be interesting to look back to 1983 as to how those first getting their hands on the, now discontinued, ‘round pound’ coin could have fared.

Those ‘saving’ their newly minted 1983 £1 coins in their piggy banks would now be breaking open their innocent animal friend to find inflation since 1983 had corroded its buying power to the equivalent of 32p!

Let’s see how investing those £1 coins could have made a difference to someone’s wealth…

Of course you’d have to go back several centuries to be able to buy the average house in the UK for £1. Today the UK average home costs £205,937, which is a 683% increase from the average cost in 1983 (£26,307).

That is a very similar return that you would have received had you invested your shiny new currency in the stock market in 1983. The FTSE 100 was benchmarked at 1000 in 1984, but is up 632% since, to stand at 7320 as I type.

Some might even have exchanged 226 of their newly minted pound coins in 1983 for a one ounce coin of pure gold. If they had, that gold coin would now have a value of £1,004; equating to a return of 344%.

None of these investments consider that you could have re-invested your returns to compound your growth. Nor do they factor in potential rental income from property, or dividends from shares.

And whilst property comes out on top (further beating the returns a savings account or government bonds would have provided), these figures also don’t factor in that whilst investments in most asset classes require all of your own money to be used, property is one of the only ones whereby you can leverage your returns by borrowing money from the bank. Those that had done that would have turbo charged their already top performing investment many times over.

What seems obvious to me though is that (unless you can get someone to pay you more than £1 for it now) keeping hold of the new £1 coins in your piggy bank won’t prove to be a smart investment by the time they next reinvent the coin.

If you’re considering investing in property (hopefully with more than one pound!) and would like to learn a little about how you could do so in residential buy-to-let, please contact me for a free consultation.

(This article was featured in the Chichester Observer's property section on 30th March 2017)

Clive Janes, CRJ Lettings.

www.crjlettings.co.uk

___________________________________

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP

__________________________________

Thursday, 19 March 2015

CRJ Lettings featured in two new local magazines

I'm pleased to be a part of two new West Sussex magazines this month, having written all-new articles about the local housing market for The Business Magazine and QFT Magazine.

The Business Magazine is now into its second issue, produced by the same team that bring you the Chichester, Midhurst & Petworth and Bognor Observer.

The Business Magazine is an exciting new publication aimed at local businesses. It is packed with news and information about West Sussex, including the opportunity for businesses to tell their story and learn about others successes. This issue's cover story is about the upcoming Observer and Gazette Business awards.

My particular article discusses how property in West Sussex has outperformed the UK average over the past 12 months and delves down into particular West Sussex areas and how their performance compares against one another.

The Business magazine is available at networking groups, city centre pick-up points and the Chichester Observer offices at City Gates. You can also view the 'e-mag' on the Chichester Observer website.

The QFT (Quite Fancy That) magazine is a brand new publication being delivered to 13,000 homes locally; so watch out for it landing on your door mat!

It's full of the latest community stories and events, alongside competitions, offers and discount vouchers for local businesses.

My article takes a look at Chichester's property market as a whole and how that may influence future house prices in the area.

Whilst the QFT Magazine might well have already popped through your letterbox, there is also plenty more content on their website (www.quitefancythat.co.uk) alongside a digital version of the magazine (here) and a list of places you can collect a copy from in town.

___________________________________

If you are looking for an agent that is well-established, professional and communicative in Chichester, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP

__________________________________