I recently went to a local landlord gathering in Southampton, i
met with some of the local landlords and we had general conversations about the
amount of different Estate Agents in Southampton and what landlords expect from
there Estate Agents, what I found was a lot of agents concentrate so hard
on trying to win new business, that as soon as they have won a new landlord
over and rented out their property, they pretty much forget about them and
start the chase all over again. Wouldn't it be great if
they took the time to at least get to know your name, your preferences
regarding your property management style and what makes you feel comfortable as
a landlord?
With almost 300 properties on our books and over 80 landlords, we are always in
contact with a vast number of those people about one thing or another, and
where one landlord might be quite liberal and easy going towards the actions of
his tenants, another may well have stricter standards – for example, some will
allow tenants to decorate to their own style, fix furniture to walls or
undertake other improvements such as fitting extra radiators yet another
landlord might not allow any of this, with the property having to stay magnolia
and with a limited number of picture hooks put into the walls. This is where
knowing your landlords and their preferences adds a personal touch, because as
the agent we can then take a lot of the strain and buffer many of the requests
that we get from tenants.
So if we get a request for a new fridge for one of Deans properties we already know his answer and how to handle it, whereas for Jane her answer and approach will be different, and on any given day when Kevin calls we immediately know his voice, where his properties are, what his tenants are like and the on-going issues and relationships he and they both have, and all of this means we can tailor our approach towards the very specific nature of the matter at hand and the people involved. We can do this because all of our staff are located in one location, and we are all constantly over-hearing and getting involved what is going on within all of the other roles within the office - there is no outsourcing to a remote call centre, no subcontracting of responsibilities, and you can always reach the same person who has been dealing with an on-going issue at any time.
So if we get a request for a new fridge for one of Deans properties we already know his answer and how to handle it, whereas for Jane her answer and approach will be different, and on any given day when Kevin calls we immediately know his voice, where his properties are, what his tenants are like and the on-going issues and relationships he and they both have, and all of this means we can tailor our approach towards the very specific nature of the matter at hand and the people involved. We can do this because all of our staff are located in one location, and we are all constantly over-hearing and getting involved what is going on within all of the other roles within the office - there is no outsourcing to a remote call centre, no subcontracting of responsibilities, and you can always reach the same person who has been dealing with an on-going issue at any time.
We don’t offer a ‘one size fits all’ approach because clearly we are all different, the properties are of varying age, condition and specification, and sure as anything we get to see the whole spectrum of human nature demonstrated by tenants (which is in itself a whole blog article for the future). If you were to call your existing agent today, out of the blue, would they have a good enough relationship with you that they could already pre-empt your requests and the way you would like such an outcome to be achieved? Would they even remember your name?
You see, as someone made clear to me some time ago, being an Estate Agents is not just about property but is more about people and personality, because who would you trust to look after your best interests – someone in it purely for the money, or someone prepared to dedicate the time and effort to building a relationship with you such that trust, confidence, and ultimately a smooth transaction will naturally follow?
If you are looking for an agent that
is well established, professional and communicative,
then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of
your investment property.
Email me on brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk or
call on 023 8001 8222.
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to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.
Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir
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