Starting a Rent to Rent Serviced Accommodation Business, one can admit that this is no walk in the park put in a better way starting up was not easy. This is one of the major headaches for this type of business getting the letting agencies to hand you over their properties. To be clear, it is not all that smooth when an agent hears the words “rent to rent” in a sentence. In business, this is the point where one may need a well structured and rehearsed speech. Finding the ideal combination of words at the right moment can help you win people over, alleviate fears, and help your for your Rent to Rent Serviced Accommodation Business expand.
In this blog, I’m not just going to give you a script. But I am also going to teach you how to create a dialogue with agents, dispel their worries, and entice them to listen to your offer as though you are a reliable and competent person they want to do business with for your Rent to Rent Serviced Accommodation Business.
Prepare Yourself: Steps to Follow Before You Make the Call
Before we dive straight into the script, there are some preliminaries to be done. As much as you have to know what to say, what is more, is to also have the right mental attitude and preparation that puts your words into action.
Let’s have a checklist before you speak to any letting agency
Research the agency
Know their portfolio what kinds of properties do they manage? Who are their typical landlords? Are they dealing with more corporate lets or short term options already? The more that you know, the better you can change the strategies for your Rent to Rent Serviced Accommodation Business.
Understand your business model inside and out
Be clear regarding your offering. What are the advantages of your serviced accommodation model for both a landlord and an agent? If any, make sure you have an informal business plan in place apart from the formal one that is most likely impossible for them to have.
Prepare for the worst
The fact is that rent to rent has a reputation problem hence, be prepared for the worst. If they have issues with property damage, vacancy periods, or tenant behavior, be ready to calm their fears.
The Best Script to Speak to Letting Agencies
We share a letter. It can be called boring but in our opinion, it is just perfect as it is a mix of business and friendliness. You may change the style to suit yourself.
1. The Introduction
This is where you make your first impression.
“Hi, my name is [Your Name], and calling from [Your Business Name] a property development and management company focusing on serviced apartments. I found your agency’s website because I noticed that you also manage properties suitable for corporate and short-term rents, so here I am. I would be very interested in discussing the ways we can maximize the incomes of landlords and Rent to Rent Serviced Accommodation Business for a longer period by ensuring them the peace of mind of not having angry tenants all the time.”
2. Explaining Your Business Model
You will have to put in all your effort in an attempt to make the rent to rent model sound very attractive and simple. Remember, agents are often scared of complexities and risks.
“In this type of approach, we as a tenant guarantee landlords fixed rents in exchange for renting their properties. Following this, we operate it as serviced apartments for corporate clients’ needs as well as business travelers. The landlord maintains the advantages of receiving stable rentals regularly without the associated worries of dealing with the tenants. Moving forward, we provide all the stuffing, i.e. house cleaning, house maintenance, tenant finding, and bill payment. For the most part, the landlord gets long-term care of his property without effort on his part.’
3. Building Trust and Reassuring the Agent
At this point, this is where you need to soothe their nerves. “Rent-to-rent” is a term they have more likely than not heard before, but you need to sell it yourself as different – professional, trustworthy, and decent.
“There are issues with the rent to rent business as I know there are issues with rent to rent businesses. And this is the reason why we are keen on ensuring we reach a certain level. Users are screened properly, only business clients and tourists on short business trips looking for suitable apartments are served, and surveys are done often. And, there is also a cleaning team to make sure that the space is clean after every visit and after each of our guests.”
4. Responding to Common Q&A’s
Anticipating objections is key. If you answer their concerns before they even raise them, you look to them as being well informed and to their best interests which are key in any marketing campaign.
Void periods: “There will not be any voids for the landlord even if the property is lying vacant for a short period as we guarantee rent all through the contract.”
Property wear and tear: “We know that landlords are concerned about the condition of property and this is the reason we conduct inspections, employ cleaning services, and perform repairs. More often, we bring properties back in even better condition than we got them!”
Legal compliance: “When it comes to the issues of subletting and serviced accommodation, we are 100% in line with the respective legislation. We do also undertake to ensure that every property is insured accordingly to protect against any risks to the landlord as well as to us.”
5. Explaining the Overall Benefits of the Concessions
The next step is to make the agent see a vision of working with you as a means of benefitting them. This is where you market the possibility before them.
“For letting agents, this can be a very good arrangement. You will have a long-term, dependable tenant for your landlord and you don’t have to worry about tenant changeovers and void periods. You will keep earning your commission whilst the landlord enjoys regular income with less hassle. We handle all the normal operations.”
6. Closing the Conversation and Setting Up a Meeting
I have proposed what I think is a reasonable offer, let’s therefore close this discussion and look at the next steps.
“I want to get into this in more detail and see if we can find some properties which could be suitable for this kind of approach. Do you have any landlords in your portfolio who would like to engage for a long term when let? I am glad to give further details and fix a meeting.”
Handling Objections
Even if a perfect script is utilized, you must know that objections are going to come up. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s part of the story! There might be several ways to mitigate some of those most common pushbacks:
Objection 1: “I don’t know much about rent-to-rent.”
Response: “That’s understandable and I’d like to help you, it’s no problem. Rent-to-rent is basically where we are going to be your tenants for a long time and in return we will offer the property on a short term letting basis. This has been on the rise because property owners want all the rent they can get and do very minimal tenant management. I can send over some more details to help these particulars to explain how it works.”
Objection 2: “I’m worried about depreciation.”
Response: “I get that. That is one of the major issues landlords have. Our guests are booked after going through a thorough assessment and routine checks are done and maintained, hence the property remains brand new. Moreover, a lot of our landlords, themselves, state that the houses have been better-managed when they were leased out for non-stop months. Besides, we have insurance to protect ourselves from all the unforeseen circumstances.”
Objection 3: “Why not just rent the property the traditional way?”
Response: “I appreciate your question. Renting a property in this way involves the repeated occupation and relinquishment of properties by different tenants and may involve periods where the property could be empty and delays in maintenance that the landlord has to undertake. With our model, the landlord does not have to worry about how they will be paid since the rent is guaranteed and all the management is provided for including tenant sourcing and property maintenance. In this model, the landlord does not have headaches or risks, while his revenues from renting are at their maximum.”
Additional Guidelines to Assist You Succeed
Be warm: Letting agents are creatures as well! Warm up a bit—don’t be a robotic person sitting behind the cover reading a speech.
Plan to follow up: After your first meeting conversations, try to follow up with either a straight email or if appropriate a call, whichever you deem congruent. This shows your level of professionalism even after a conversation.
Use testimonials: In case there are testimonials or case studies you’ve worked on with other landlords or other agents then show them! There can’t be a better way of winning someone’s trust than telling them that people have nice things to say about you and they did not even pay for the service.
Share opportunities: Even though the letting agent has no short term property for you, cultivate that relationship. There may not be one now but in the future, a perfect opportunity might arise.
Conclusion
Approaching letting agents for rent-to-rent serviced accommodation can be an unusual task particularly if you are new to this line of business. However, with a well-laid-out script, there is always a good explanation of your business model, there is ready attention to the problems facing them and readily available trust is built. Investing in property management is about showing different stakeholders that you can protect their investment and offer the landlord peace of mind.
How about you? Have you managed to talk to letting agents already? If you have, what did you struggle with? Comment below and tell us what you have encountered