As you can imagine, there are many ‘pillars’ of effective property management, and our Jacob’s Ladder property team try to help our landlord clients understand the fundamentals.
Successful buy-to-let investing involves much more than choosing the right property, on the right street, or as the the old adage goes, ‘Location, Location, Location’, and there are several key principles involved in building a profitable property portfolio. These include calculating the yield, the monthly cash flow and future capital growth potential, effective selection, referencing and managing of suitable tenants, and knowing when it may be the right time to sell!
Selecting the right property management agency is also vital, as this can save you time, hassle and in the long run money, as a good letting agent will hopefully look to build a good, long-term rapport with your tenants, deal with any maintenance issues they report swiftly and ensure they are tied into robust tenancy agreements, and that you remain compliant.
Surveys show that agency managed tenancies are generally longer and considered more successful than ones managed directly by private landlords, as letting agents are usually more adept at dealing with tenants, the various issues of managing repair or tenancy related disputes that may come up, and managing that all important relationship as diplomatically and successfully as possible.
There is also the issue of dealing with the government deposit schemes (we’re members of the DPS) and issuing the pre-tenancy and in-tenancy paperwork effectively and correctly, as well as keeping abreast of the latest changes in tenancy law, which can be a potential minefield for an inexperienced or busy private landlord.
Renting out properties often involves the odd setback! Sometimes, tenants don’t pay the rent when they’re supposed to, unexpected repairs need doing and interest rates can rise. However, it is how you deal with these, or any other setbacks that matters most. We try to tackle each problem with a positive attitude and when you’re solution orientated, we find that logical solutions often follow closely behind.
At Jacob’s Ladder, we have built up a reliable and trusted group of experienced contractors over the past few years, who provide our landlords and tenants with fantastic service and peace of mind.
Our philosophy is a happy tenant, should be a long term tenant, which helps to keep our landlords void periods and their re-let costs down! In our professional opinion it’s a false economy to have new tenants every 6 months, not to look after them properly and try and delay or cut corners on maintenance and property repairs.
We believe our landlord’s property investments are in safe hands with our property team. We always have their best interests, and the protection of their property investment at heart!
We take detailed written and photographic inventories when all new tenancies begin and carry out regular periodic inspection visits, to ensure our tenants are looking after our landlord’s properties. We keep in regular contact with our tenants and always try and deal with repair matters, swiftly and professionally as and when they come up.
At Jacob’s Ladder, we’re always looking for new landlords to work with, and we are keen to expand our portfolio of managed properties in all areas across Greater Manchester and East Lancashire.
So, why not call us for an informal, no obligation chat to see if we can help you grow or manage your property portfolio? We’d be very happy to help!
