Quick Let or Smart Let?

How many times has a letting agent boasted that they will let your property on the first viewing?Now, that sounds good doesn’t it?  A quick let surely means minimal loss...

How many times has a letting agent boasted that they will let your property on the first viewing?

Now, that sounds good doesn’t it? A quick let surely means minimal loss of revenue and consequently more money in your pocket. But what happens if the first person that views your property turns out to be the wrong person? And I’m not just talking about the obviously wrong person like the one whose poor credit history only shows up three weeks after you’ve taken the property off the market or that person who causes so much damage that you wish you’d never got into this game. I’m talking about the person who signs up for 6 months when, actually, you would have preferred someone for 12 or 24 or 36 months. Or, maybe, the person who takes it is the one who viewed it first but can’t move in for 6 weeks, yet there were five other applicants who could have moved in sooner (but they weren’t given the opportunity to view).

It’s time to start thinking differently. Stop dreaming of a ‘quick let’ and start thinking of a ‘smart let’.

A smart let is all about taking control over who moves into your property. It’s about getting it filled with the tenant that is right for you and your own individual circumstances.

Sure, your letting agent would love to let your property quickly – after all, dealing with applicant enquiries and viewings are time consuming and time is money. So, getting an application from the very first applicant who views is what a lot of agents think is the best result. But this isn’t always the case. We understand that every Landlord’s situation is different. As an example, we were working for a landlord very recently who was perfectly happy for her property to remain empty whilst we looked for her perfect tenant. It took a little longer than usual but I am pleased to say that Mrs Nelson was very pleased with the end result.

It’s important to have a good choice of quality applicants so we market our properties to attract as many suitable applicants as possible. Notice that I didn’t say as many applicants as possible – we’re looking for quality here not quantity. Marketing details are carefully prepared to ensure that they attract the type of tenant that you would choose. We will follow up on all of our applicant enquiries and we will do as many viewings as necessary to find you the right tenant.

The more information obtained about the proposed tenancy the better. So, once we have interested applicants we ask them to complete our application form. The form is designed to get as much information as possible and this, coupled with the expertise of our lettings team to spot the ‘not so good’ tenants, means that you will easily be able to make an informed decision when choosing the tenant to suit you.

Smart huh?

If you would like to discuss how we can help get you the right tenant for your property please get in touch with me, either by telephone 01489 579911 or email to emma@robinsonreade.co.uk

Emma Macgregor MARLA

Property Manager