Joining me this week on our panel discussion are Kelly Statham, an award-winning letting agent, Richard Parker, author of SSAS Pension Legacy and experienced portfolio landlord and Nana Piesie, co-host of the Pengaflode Podcast and early stage landlord/investor.
We start this first part of our discussion considering how to go about managing our first property or properties. We discuss the merits of self-managing versus appointing an agent,staying compliant and operating as a remote investor, among other matters.
Have a listen in when you get a moment.
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Transcription of the show
Joining me this week on our panel discussion are Kelly Statham, an award-winning letting agent, Richard Parker, author of SSAS Pension Legacy and experienced portfolio landlord and Nana Piesie, co-host of the Pengaflode Podcast and early stage landlord/investor.
We start this first part of our discussion considering how to go about managing our first property or properties. We discuss the merits of self-managing versus appointing an agent,staying compliant and operating as a remote investor, among other matters.
Have a listen in when you get a moment.
Property Chatter
Welcome to the property voice podcast helping you to navigate safely through the world of property investing, get the lowdown and updates, insights and outcomes on all matters property with a splash of entertainment along the way, the property voice, a voice to trust among the crowd. Now, let's get started with your host, Richard Brown.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the property voice podcast. My name is Richard Brown. And as always, it's a pleasure to have you join me again on the show today. Well, we're continuing our series property core skills. And we're moving through the gear so to speak through the actual skills themselves. And this week, we've got is discussion week. So we're having a panel discussion last week, which which I shared some content around managing properties, portfolios, and projects. And we're going to go into a panel discussion today starting to talk about managing properties. And then, later on, we'll pick up managing portfolios and maybe managing projects. I haven't actually had that panel discussion. Yeah, so remains to be seen if we pull that one-off. But that's what we've got. So joining me on the show today, we've got Kelly Stidham, who represents an award-winning estate and letting agency no less called asked property in Nottingham. Sure. We've got rich or Richard Parker, who is he calls himself an accidental portfolio know who he is, he's a portfolio landlord, he wasn't an accidental portfolio landlord. He's a portfolio landlord full-time in property these days, and also the author of the book, SAS pension legacy. And so he's going to bring his wisdom to bear. And we've got probably an ever-present on the panel. So far, none ipsc, who's joining us as well from Sweden. And it feels a little bit like question time with Nana because it's almost like, and we have a question from the audience. And the audience happens to be nano, and he's gonna ask the question. So we've got a really interesting mix of people. It's a smaller group, but it's very, very interesting nonetheless. So I'm gonna let them all let us all have a conversation around managing property. And we'll come back and wrap up shortly.
We've got Kelly, we've got Richard, and we've got Namor. Now I'm not sure if he's going to be talking an awful lot, because he has a little bit of background, you know, disturbance. So we'll see how that goes. But it's going to give me the thumbs up if he's okay to speak. So you might have just three of us conversing instead of four of us. But there we go. So, what I thought we'd do, just to kick things off, it'd be really great if we just go around the room, so to speak, and people would just give a quick introduction to themselves a 30 to 62nd pitch if you like. And, and just so people know where people are coming from and their background. And I guess, you know, we should do the honorable thing and say, ladies first so Kelly, would you like to work? kick us off and say, tell us a little bit about yourself? That'd be great.
Yeah, of course. Thank you, Richard. So I'm Kelly stadium. I'm a director of Bath property in Nottingham. Sure. So it's a letting agent. We manage properties. We do the full estate agency service. But we do specialize in house of multiple occupancy. So HMOs in the area. We've been running the business since 2013. So it's grown immensely. But prior to that, my background is actually policing. So as a police officer for 12 years for Nottingham Shipley's. So we've got a recover the whole of Nottingham sure we've got a small team that's growing. eight members of staff now so it's growing rapidly. And yeah, we are as property. So that's that source.
And you didn't say and I know, it's because you're very humble. modest. But you know, I said it in the preamble. But aren't you an award-winning estate and letting agency I think maybe,
yeah, so we're actually a double award-winning estate agency from 2021. The best estate agents in the East Midlands voted at the esters that was voted by tenants and the best best in the region as well. So and, and Nottingham. Sure. And we're also in the finals for the esters of 2021. First several,
I believe, it's all just a big blur, but yet, we are an award-winning estate agent. We're an illustrious company. But it's a good company because obviously, you must be doing something like for tenants to nominate who is the best state agency letting agency rather. And of course, when you said you you don't exclusively look after houses of multiple occupations, but you do have a lot of them. There's more regulation isn't there involved with HMOs as they're called?
Definitely, you need to be on your toes with HMOs. So welcome, Kelly,
it's great to have you. Thank you. And so, Richard, over to you.
Okay. So my name is Richard Parker. I started as an accidental landlord but developed into a portfolio landlord, and full-time in property now. So I've been doing that for a number of years. And I've got to say, I really enjoy it, you know, the whole thing around property. Started with standard vitae, let's I've got some student HMOs, I've got commercial property. And recently, I've just completed on a block of apartments in Cornwall, which I drove back from today. So it's been a very long day for me. My commercial property I actually bought with a suspension, because that was something that I educated myself on got really into. So that's, that was a great deal. And as a result of educating myself, I actually wrote a book called SAS pension legacy, which is on Amazon. And I'm proud to say that the reviews are going really well. So I'm really pleased about that. But part of the reason why I'm in this discussion, I think he's in a former life, I was an engineer for many years, an automotive engineer. So I'd like to think I know a bit about managing projects and how to run them well, and how to avoid the problems which I've definitely carried over into, into my property business. So that's, that's me. Yeah.
Brilliant. I'm glad you mentioned the book, I would have reminded you. I can see it behind you on the bookshelf, by the way. Yeah, yeah. I think that's it, isn't it? Yeah, there really is. What's it called in the SAS pension legacy? SAS pension legacy? That's right. on Amazon. Prime isn't very good. Excellent. No, no, he's a good book. Actually, it's very niche. But those people who've got pension funds locked up will find it really useful. And of course, you've got the diverse experience of looking at residential and commercial, and obviously more, you know, substantial blocks now as well. So so you can cross over onto the property and portfolio management side, but we'll pick your brains quite a bit on the project side as well reach with your that's fine, Richard. Automotive background. And so I'm looking over in Nana's direction. Same for a thumbs up. I'm getting a thumbs up from Nana. So come on, quick. Let's get you in where we got a window of opportunity. Introduce yourself.
Yeah. So thank you for having me. We can again. So my name is Nana Pac, I live in Sweden. Me and my fiance started our property journey in 2019. And at the moment, we have three rent-to-rent HMO and two by two LEDs that are in legal, hopefully. Yeah, and I'm learning. So I'm gonna pick all of your brains out today.
Nana Thank you. You're like almost an ever-present on this panel discussion series of hours. So it's good to have you here. And I think when we when we were doing the preamble conversation, before the conversation, we talked about potential roles each person might play. And so I think now you might ask questions, more than answer questions kind of thing is where we are framing things. But you've just told us you've got some, some properties under management. So we will ask you how you're going about that? I'm sure. And Kelly, obviously, as the letting agent and estate agent representative will probably be able to help us quite a lot I should imagine, on managing properties, potentially portfolios and rich, you know, managing properties and portfolios, but leaning more on the project side. So they're the sort of as the kind of roles I imagined we would play. But I guess you know, let's just start from the beginning. Because you know, a lot of people probably just buy their first property will be probably a buy to let probably a single leg. So I guess you know, one of the things to look out for what was the best advice you could give? When we're talking about your first property, it's vital that it's a single lead, there's probably not a project is probably not an HMO. What are the things to keep in mind, folks? JOHN means go. Yeah, go for it. I should have said Kenny, do you want to start?
No, I think when people are looking for their first property, whether they're accidental or whether they've been through property quarters, and I think it's very easy to get the first property across the line. So just keep in mind that actually it's a business and not get too involved in spending so much money and it doesn't work for you. It's the business so money.
The money side of it. Absolutely. Focus on the numbers, bank, do your sums Make sure you've costed everything out. A lot of people don't forget things like voids and maintenance. And one of the things, one of the key points actually, just before diving into the numbers is there's probably a decision to be made, isn't there about how you're going to manage this property yourself? Or are you going to ask somebody else to manage it for you? So, as a first time landlord, you know, anyone can join in? But what would you recommend? Would you recommend self managing a property? Or would you recommend actually leaning on a letting agent, for example?
And I mean, for me, Richard, I guess, I would say it depends on your experience. And just picking up on you know, the point he was raising the question you asked, initially, a lot of people think, well, especially if they've got their own home, think advice, let him have, if it can't be that different, you know, it can't be much more complicated, I know what I'm doing. But what I would say to anyone is, it's really important to talk to someone who's got the mix, some experience of actually doing a buy to let property, whether they manage it themselves, or whether they use it, use an agent to manage it for them. It is very, it's similar, I'm not saying it's overly complex, but it is slightly different. And don't think you're going to get all the answers just going on a training course, with some of these companies that are out there. You know, unfortunately, a lot of these people are out there selling all these courses, it doesn't necessarily give you all the answers. For me, I think it's really important that you speak to someone that's got some experience, and who will tell you, you know, these are the things that can go wrong, these are the things you want to, you know, to consider paying close attention to him before you just go off and do it. And having done that, then, you know, you get some idea about well, okay, with that knowledge now, would I be able to manage this myself? Have I got the time, you know, many people when they first start out a full time employed, you know, they're managing a property as well, it's, you know, you need to consider that. And maybe initially, you might want to start as use a letting agent, I certainly did, I started like ours full time employed, I had a very senior role, and I just would not have had the time. So I did let the properties through a managed agent. But then gradually, as I became more experienced, I've inside the spring them house myself.
We've got, we've got already a couple of things that come out. One is, you know, counting the pennies, if you like doing the numbers of your property. And then the other thing is, you know, the realities of managing the property yourself. And I'm going to just come back to that in a second. Because I think there's a bit more that you mentioned time in particular, rich, but I think in addition to time, I'm looking at the letting agent here, are there any other sort of responsibilities or things that you know, need to be mindful of when you're managing somebody's home that you're renting to them?
Yeah, of course. Of course, there are obviously there's rules and regulations, there is so much to rent in a single lead to a tenant. So obviously, you of course, you've got all your credit check in making sure that they're the right people. Time and time again. And I think and this could literally just ruin somebody's business, you hurt, you've got people that are offering really good rents, just to have your home and, and I think sometimes when it's not, then when it's a landlord that sells managers, they see cash and they don't look it and these people can be really convincing. And then before you know it, you've obviously you've got a cannabis grow in there, obviously, you need all your insurances in place. And you know, you've got to think of tenants rights, you compliance for your electric search gaffers making sure that you know that they're done routinely, you can't miss them because if anything is to go wrong, you simply if you miss a gutter, and then you want to evict you are going to struggle, evicted, and you've got your deposits that you need to protect. So there is so much and then obviously towards the end of it is the eviction process. So if you don't do it right from the start, it's gonna be really difficult at the end of it. Because tenants have got lots of rights these days and more so over landlords unfortunately so whether I agree with it or not is you know, it's I'm sure we all don't agree with it but they have got a lot of rights and is keeping up to date with the legislation the right to rent you know, everything's changing. Now we're coming out of the year, all that is changing. We've we've got to check everybody whether they're you know, Romanian polish, everything. changes all the time. So it's if you want to be a self-managed landlord, and we were self-managing landlords and no, actually, we had an agent, a really bad agent. This is why I'm here today doing what we do, believe it or not, because we decided this is it, we're going to manage your own properties. And before we know it, we're an accidental estate agent to be fair, so yeah, my trailer thoughts gone, I'm lost with it. But there is, I would always recommend joining a governing body like narla, or you know, rla, because you've got your support there. for them. It's just a phone call. And they'll guide you in the right direction. So, and actually, it's not just that, if you've got a property that you need to know your area, so if you're in selective licensing, you need to make sure you complain, so active licensing, and any complaints from the council, you just need to be sure that you are fully protected. And actually, managing your property is not just a case of rents coming in every month. And that's it, unfortunately.
No, I mean, you made so many good points there. I mean, I don't actually know what this is at the man. I mean, talk about regulation, landlord regulation, for example, the way we're going to new term, we've got an accidental letting agent as well as accidental landlord now. So I'm going to remember that one. So you, I think I'm an accidental agent, as well. Maybe, yeah, anyway, so digress, but then so rules and regulations. Now I know somebody, you know, your, your key people sort of say, oh, there's between 70 and 120, or something to that effect, different rules and regulations, I don't actually know, Kenny, if you've got a handle on that, that you get from one of your professional bodies, but I think just walking, you know, into your first bicyclette, and being confronted with whatever that number is 70 120, it could be more, I don't know, but not just the number, but the constant changing and the breadth of those different rules and regulations, is a bit of a minefield isn't it can be. So what I tend to recommend when people asking me is, you know, for your first property, I usually say either get a good letting agent, because they're trained in in everything that you need to know about. And you know, you just touch on one thing about gas safety certificate, for example, well, if you don't have a valid gas safety certificate, and God forbid, something happened to your property, you could literally or apart from injury or death, you know, resulting from that admission, you could find yourself in prison, called corporate manslaughter, seven years in prison, the consequences of Guide, which is missing that particular, you know, many people think it's just a tick box exercise, you know, could be very, very severe, from making a few 100 quid a month on rent, or saving a few quid a month because you want to cut a couple of corners, so and so what I tend to say is, if you don't if you're not confident, and reduce a talk to an experienced landlord, but if you're confident yourself, and you don't have the time to invest in your own knowledge, then it's best to give it to a professional. The alternative is, by my own recommendation is to get accredited. Now you can get accredited by one of the landlord bodies, if you're a landlord, I certainly wouldn't venture into I wouldn't recommend rather venturing into managing your first pilot or anybody to let if you haven't got the right sort of knowledge behind you and getting accredited by one of the landlord bodies is probably one of the alternatives. I didn't really think about that any, any alternative views.
Now, I would absolutely agree with that, Richard, you know, as I said, I didn't have the time. But even if you think you've got the time, and no disrespect to Kenny, here, I'll show you that. But by using good letting agents, you will learn from them. They will keep you safe in terms of legislation and things like that, you'll get to know how things operate. And you may run with them for a few years. And then you get another one. And you know, you'll get to a point where you might think well, I'm going to start looking after this myself. But equally, you start to build momentum. And as you get more and more, then you start seeing actually I want to give them all to an agent because this is getting, you know, quite a big job. And if you've worked with a good letting agent, like Kenny's organization, then you're probably going to come along and go Look, he is I want to give you all my properties. And I'm sure, you know, if you had a sizable portfolio, you know, there's some negotiation to be done on the fees. You know, that would be normal. that would be I think, the kind of best practice approach to take it but yeah. When I started, you know, so I think I started this in 2004. And even then, you know, I decided to give it to a letting agent and there wasn't anything like the legislation It's around today. So starting completely fresh with it with everything that you need to do these days, I would definitely go to a letting agent, but there's a lot of bad ones out there. You might kiss a few frogs, and ideally, do research, you know, go to the ones that have got awards like Kelly's organization. And they should keep you on the straight and narrow and you should learn from them. Definitely. Yeah.
Yeah, just I think Nana is poised with a question for her the more experienced amongst us, so I'll kill you in a second. But I couldn't let that last comment go really rich, really good advice, because you talk about if you aren't going to use a letting agent then to vet them? You know, there aren't many that are award-winning. But I guess by definition, but I guess there are some key things that you should look out for with a listing agent. And maybe carriers are a couple of things you can think of that. Don't touch it letting agent unless these things are in play?
Yeah, definitely. There are agents out there that are just trying to undercut each other and cheap isn't always good, sometimes cheap can bite you. In the bum. Most definitely. Anybody can set up a letter agent, anybody at all, there are no. And this is quite scary, actually, you don't need at present qualifications to set up a Latin agent for every single lesson agent needs to be governed by Oh my right, so I'm going to go beyond me. So they need to be governed with a redress scheme. So which is prs or redress? Get they need to be ICAO registered, which is data protection registered? So they need the relevant insurances? Money, anti-money laundering compliance, so there's so much compliance that they need. So you need to make sure that that they are compliant as a Latin agent, and speak to the counselors as well. They may tell you what they think about that, let an agent in particular, do they have any problems with them, really look into anybody can do a review as well, I can get 10 minutes if I wanted to, and put some really good reviews on you know it, it all looks good. And don't always be offended by negative reviews as well. So, you know, I think everybody uses social media now. So if you see negative reviews from tenants, you just know that they're doing a good job, because there are actually there's a disgruntled tenant is not happy because they've not had the deposit back. Why have they not had the deposit back? Because there's an issue. So you kind of like can look and think, Well, actually, that agent is not a naysayer, or you know, it's just gonna bow down. So what else is there? In relation to client money protection?
That's the one I was thinking, yeah, client money protection, and they the money laundering? CMP. And, yeah, and the other thing is, am I right in thinking that they need to be a listing agent needs to be a member of like one of the three redress schemes? Yeah. Sorry. Do they need to be a member of an industry body? Which interests narla? For example, do they need to be a member of Latin? Are they can operate without being a member of an industry? Well, they can operate without it. But were registered with the narla while it was our rla wasn't it, but no less so? Because we you with legislation changing? so quick? We like to know that actually, if we're not too sure, or we've got that professional advice at the end of it, so and solicitors as well. So we've got really good solicitors so there was when there's a dispute with the council, and councils are really hot on properties at the moment, especially in this area. So if they find one thing that's maybe not compliant, they're going for the 30,000 pounds, because it's money for councils at the moment so so in relation to that I disagreed with, actually, it is compliant and what you're saying is wrong. If I just let that go, my landlord over in Switzerland could face a really hefty fine, and we could face that really hefty fine, too. So get an agent that will fight for you and ask them what would you do in the circumstances how just ask them questions. How would you do this? When why why. But yeah, and actually, we pay for solicitors to fight our corner and the landlord corner. And it was Yeah, they were wrong. Very, very wrong. So but that could have been bad. costly for a landlord?an interesting piece of advice to speak to the local council and really thought about that one before. That's a good source of information and knowledge just before we use too many acronyms nunneries what the National Association of letting agents is it, then? All right. National, national residential letting agencies NGOs Association, sorry, landlords, there's no there's two, there's two rich enough that the landlord Association, which is the NRL a this, which is national and regional landlord association of beliefs, but then on the letting agent side the industry body narla is that they all change all the time, don't they say it's national association Association, wrestling agency think, like Google, and
I'll tell you what, always problems. We'll come back to the acronym. Don't worry, Kelly, I'm going to come back later. But I'm known as waiting there with bated breath. And when you mentioned an investor in Switzerland, you know, you can tell me a little bit about where you are now. And perhaps you've got a question.
Yeah. So I'm based in Sweden. So I think this, this may be good. And we know that Richard is like a globetrotter. He's everywhere. What advice would you give to a remote landlord slash investor?
And him what way Sorry? in any way, like, what advice? What should they think about it?
Well, as as a landlord living overseas, you can't really manage your property from overseas. So yeah, I get that good agent. And most definitely, but have that relationship with the agent. So you feel as though you cannot have that relationship with the agent, you would just get to know who's going to be managing your property. So say, for instance, the landlord that was in Switzerland, I understood that I got the same email from the council that they got. So I understood at that point, it was over the Easter weekend, and that they're gonna sit on that thinking, Well, what of my agents do? So instantly, I got them on WhatsApp. And there was like, really appreciative. So I sent them absolutely everything. And I went around the property and said, Look, this is what it is. Because there are so many ways that you can communicate now. It doesn't always have to email. So are the agents comfortable using a mobile phone and WhatsApp? If not, why not? Because, actually, if put yourself in the situation where you've got an email saying, your property's not compliant, and the quiet aggressive emails can be from the council, and it's up to with help with their 2000 pound fine, or imprisonment? Because ultimately, that's, that is the end job. You know, it's whatever any noncompliance will result in that. I don't even know if it's that imprisonment anyway. But how would you feel being overseas and not being able to go, Oh, my God, I, you know, I can't afford that? 1000 pounds, so I put myself in that landlord's position and gone, right. Okay. So this is what we've done today. Do you want to go through a walkthrough? And just we're sure, so look for the reassurance from them. Look for a point of contact, ask them, How will they contact you? How will they send you reports? They should be doing inventories? How often will they send them? So just because an agent has terms and conditions, there are things if you wanted a three monthly inventory report on pictures, you can have that it is your property. So ask for that. If it's a peace of mind, and after, I don't know to say for a year you're happy, you can pull away a little bit from that but just don't ever pull away from it because as a landlord you are ultimately responsible just as much as the agent. So never ever forget that because it is your property that the agents are also responsible if they're managing to so yeah, just build those relationships. I have landlords in charge they just bought that me to three o'clock in the morning. And they know that I'll get back to them. So what would what can I sell Is there any noco for for for questions like that, that we can ask as remote investors in America questions now we don't do like no, we don't do something now.
I think Some, you'll get different kinds of agents. And I personally think family-run business, family-run agents are a little bit better because you get more of that personal service rather than the corporate computer says no. And that well, that's just my personal opinion. But I don't think there are any no-go questions, just ask the question. And it's about a working relationship. It's a business view, it's a business for them. And it should ultimately work as a business. And you know, the property itself. So I don't think there are any no-go questions, whether you, whether you like the answer or not, is it's a different matter. So
I think what I'll do if I just jump in, and say, even so, for example, I've got some student properties up in the north. And they're managed by an agent. But for all my properties, I have a dashboard that I track all my properties were in terms of when was the smoke, smoke alarms, the last tech checked, when was the fire alarm, last checked, etc. So even though I'm having that remotely managed, by coming back to Kevin's point about us, you know, as a landlord, or being ultimately responsible, I still want it out when that was last done, and when it's due, and sometimes the agent will come to me and go, Oh, this is due, and I'll go Okay, and I haven't chased them yet. And I look on my dashboard and go, Oh, actually, yes, it's coming up. But they're like, they've reminded me first, like, occasionally, I will go to them and go, I've noticed, you know, this is going to expire in a few days, and you haven't contacted me, when are you doing that? And it's like, oh, okay, now, we seem to have missed that. Well, we'll get on that. So again, don't just think you're going to give it to a letting agent and you can go well, it's not my responsibility, I don't need to worry about it. Because that's not the case.
I want to come back on that as well. Thanks, Richard, as you make a really good point, especially when talking about how we're sort of moving into portfolio management to some extent where you can do that on one property. But it gets more complex, obviously, the more you've got, and there are more moving parts, more things to record, just to kind of come back to Nanos comment. I think, if you're many miles or kilometers away, you need a safe pair of hands, and a trusted, you know, eyes and ears on your property for you. So if that's through your letting agent, or through someone else, you need to have that would be the biggest thing I would say, particularly if you're remote, really remote in the same country or, or if you're remote in another country, have your have, you know, a trusted, safe pair of hands and always, you know, get your own eyes and ears on that property. So they won't Kelly was suggesting about perhaps having a, you know, a visit and an inspection every, every period, you know, a lot of people were happy just to take a quick video or photoshoot and send it across to you talk about WhatsApp, it's really easy. If you're in Sweden, as you are now, you know, you're just gonna want stuff from your letting agent every three months, you know, everything's tickets. Boo, you're going to feel more, you know, at ease with that. So I tend to agree with what Kenny was saying that if you go to someone who's got a more personal approach, you're more likely to get that and you know, sometimes there are charges involved for that kind of service, but it's also peace of mind.
So that was part one, if you like, we're just hoping we queue the intersection of the panel discussion, we're going to be talking about managing a single property effectively. Today, I'm going to talk about managing a portfolio more widely next time out. So hopefully, I managed to get the editing. Okay. And that's it. So it looks fairly seamless. So I think just a quick recap some of the main points. First of all, managing a property or buy, sell out your first buys that may be early stages, and possibly, it's a business, Okay, first and foremost, it's a business. So focus on focus on the money side of things. Do your checks and balances and your due diligence. And the big question to ask yourself really is how are you going to manage your property? Are you going to manage it yourself? Or are you going to appoint a letting agent, and I think rich was talking about a couple of things, which is your level of knowledge, experience, and time being, you know, key considerations there. And then Kelly came in with, make sure you're on top of the rules, regulations, and compliance because there is a lot and so this is really tipping the balance if you don't have the knowledge and the experience and indeed the time to invest in and understanding the rules and regulations, it's possibly better to give it to a letting agent rather than do it yourself. But if you are going to do it yourself, then at least you know, look at if you're curious about joining a government governing body that's obviously from a letting agent point of view. We talked about getting yourself accredited by one of the landlord associations otherwise if you're a landlord, so that's how you can stay on top of things. Rely on a letting agent who is with an industry body And or, you know, get yourself accredited with one of the landlord bodies, and do your checks and your due diligence, do things hard for me to say, due diligence, I think Kenny was alluding to she didn't make the point. overly, hopefully, it came over as quite subtle. But she said, there are people out there lurking in the shadows almost offering above-market rent, maybe cash upfront, those sorts of things to take on people's properties. And they're really looking for the unsuspecting and the uneducated landlord out there, who they can prey upon, and perhaps, you know, turn the property into a cannabis farm or something, you know, worse, perhaps. So just watch out for that is something seems too good to be true. Maybe it is. So that was that. So we talked about maybe using a letting agent, particularly to begin with, and then leveraging their knowledge and experience and learning from that as we go through. We talked about vetting the agent themselves. And there are quite a few things about, you know, checking that they're fully compliant. I quite like Kelly's suggestion is speaking to the local council Actually, I never really thought about that. But a local council is going to hear if they're letting agents or, you know, on the wrong side of things, let's say that, and you know, look for reviews, but you know, treat reviews with a pinch of salt, whether they're good or bad. If you get bad reviews, it doesn't mean it's a bad agent, it just means that there's a disgruntled tenant perhaps. And equally, if everything looks glowing, then, you know, you can go off, you know, there's been quite a lot of controversy about reviews in the public domain these days with other platforms. And it can apply equally with, you know, Google reviews and similar. And then we had a question coming in from, from Nana, and that was all about, you know, looking at as if you're a remote landlord, and talking about forming a good relationship with your agent, and making sure that you always realize that you're ultimately responsible for whatever happens, which is going to lead us into really part two, I think I kind of cut it off where we started talking about managing the manager. So that will be the start of part two, you're here, no doubt. But, you know, make sure we're ultimately responsible. And that we manage the manager is certainly something there but equally have your own eyes and ears on your property, whether that's independent, or whether you just get, you know, video or sort of an inspection report sent across to you periodically, as well. So there we go. So there are some tips in terms of managing your property, particularly if you're just starting out, maybe it's a single lead. And hopefully, that's been of use of interest to you. As I mentioned, next time, we'll come back and we'll start broadening the conversation to run a more complex type of property to manage. We'll talk about portfolios that are under management as well. So make sure you come back next week basically, in the meantime, of course, the show notes are going to be over the website, the property voice.net. If you'd like to talk to me about anything from today's show, or perhaps have an introduction to one of the panelists, then you can email me podcasts at thepropertyvoice.net as well. be delighted to hear from you. But I guess all that remains to be said again this week is thanks very much for listening, and until next time on the property boys podcast is coucher.
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai