Why Are Letting Agents Short-Term Thinkers?

When I opened my letting agency back in 2007 I’d been warned that as the new kid on the block I’d soon be approached by all the crappy landlords with crappy properties.

Sure enough...it didn’t take for them to come out of the woodwork - trying to gauge if I knew what I was doing and whether they’d be able to get me to take on their hard to let, scummy property for a ridiculously low Tenant Find Fee.

Given my beautifully refurbed shop had a grand total of No Properties in the window, I had to summon up massive resolve and willpower not take them on...

But looking back, I’m really glad that I stood my ground.

I’m a firm believer that you’re judged by the company you keep. If I’d started my lettings career with a window full of poor quality properties, chances are this would then have attracted more properties of an equally low standard.

Instead I stood firm, maintaining my original mantra that I would only take on a property if I’d be happy moving a family member into it.

In a roundabout way this ethos came from my first house share as a recent graduate in my early 20’s. It was a truly horrible property at the start of the tenancy, so much so that my mum took one look inside (from the safety of the front door) and burst into tears, never to return again. 

It drummed into me that you can’t expect a tenant to respect a property and look after it if the landlord evidently doesn’t care for it themselves...

Anyway, after a while I did attract the attention of landlords with better quality properties and the business took off. And I maintained my ‘family member’ policy consistently thereafter, respectfully passing up the chance to take on poor properties when they did occasionally come my way...

I can remember a number of occasions when I’d gone to a property being advertised To Let (the landlord presumably having got us involved due to a lack of interest from the current agent) and was genuinely shocked by the poor condition of the property. 

What shocked me was not the condition of the property (as everyone knows there’s some awful accommodation out there), no - what shocked me was that the current agent had been prepared to put their name to it in the first place.

Everyone knew the agents in town who had absolutely no quality control and would take on really poor stock but every now and then I’d see a really shocker being advertised by an established agent with a decent reputation - who I thought really should have known better.

I always wondered how could they let this happen?

From what I could see it was often an agent where the owner had delegated the listing responsibility - and presumably not enforced their standards rigorously enough.

Being a control freak, even when I wasn’t really that involved in the day-to-day I still insisted on setting foot in every single property before we listed it, even if I hadn’t dealt with the lead or done the appraisal.

I also suspected that with the other agents it also stemmed from a short-term attitude. 

One focused on securing the instruction and getting the money in for another let rather than the long term impact it might have on the business - both in terms of reputation but also from the impact of having to manage a crappy property only likely to attract bad tenants and fall into further disrepair.

And I think many letting agents suffer from this short term view, it’s all about this week or at most this month, with staff incentivised in this way and little or no consideration for how this may affect their long term goals or the impact it may have on the business.

And that short term thinking also explains why very few agents really stand out in their market as offering something truly different or unique.

Sure, they may waste a few grand on an expensive rebrand every few years, but it’s all a bit fur coat and no knickers...delivering little or no real ROI.

And this short term approach also affects how they deal with their tenants, before and during the tenancy. 

I deliberately didn’t write ‘after’ the tenancy as in my experience very few agents maintain any form of positive relationship with ex-tenants, which in my view is a massive missed opportunity (and one that I was guilty of missing out on too).

So how do you avoid the temptation to take on any property? How do you truly stand out in your market? How do you adopt a long term approach in the way you treat all your landlords and tenants?

It’s actually not as hard as you think. It takes discipline when starting out - but like most things, the more you do it the easier it gets.

But it’s not something that comes naturally to many agents. That’s why without help or guidance they tend to just focus on the here and now.

But if you establish a strong & unique position in your market it will have a massive impact on your business. 

This is one of the key areas covered in my Agent Success Template.

It will also show you how to motivate your ideal landlords and tenants to seek you out. That’s rather than you having to continually scrabble around chasing for new leads every month, spend increasing amounts on the portals or clock up the hours on social media. 

You’ll have the confidence to pass on poor properties & bad landlords. You’ll be able to command the fees you deserve.

If you’d like to chat about how my Agency Success Template can help your letting agency  then drop a comment below and we'll arrange a time to have a chat.