It’s often assumed that the two most important things when it comes to succeeding in the buy-to-let game are the quality of the property itself and its location. In reality however this isn’t the case at all as it’s all well and good to own the UK’s most incredible property in the most wonderful area, but if you can’t find the right tenants, you’re headed for a pretty rough ride. By contrast, a much less luxurious property in a less-than picturesque location could be an absolute goldmine if and when the right tenants are found and held onto long-term.
According to the experts therefore, the matter of deciding the kinds of tenants you’d like to target and deciding how to target them represent the two most important parts of the process of all. For the majority of first-timers, problems begin when they approach the buy-to-let process from what appears to be the most obvious angle, though is in fact entirely wrong. It might seem like the standard thing to do – buying a property and then trying to decide on the right tenants for it – but it’s pretty much always better to decide on the tenants you’d like to attract prior to going ahead and choosing a property. After all, the whole point of making a buy-to-let investment is to make money – this is the only way you can make sure it happens.
Which leads of course to the obvious question – what can a buy-to-let landlord do to make sure they find, hook and retain the very best tenants long-term? Well, the key lies in landing the ideal tenants for the property the very first time at bat, in order to then avoid having to go through what’s often a painful and costly process all over again. So with this in mind, what follows is a quick introductory guide covering a few of the most important rules to follow when it comes to finding those dream tenants the first time around:
Be Creative and Proactive with Marketing
First of all, the number one rule when it comes to getting your property let out to the right tenants is to target your marketing in a creative and strategic way. You need to think about your target tenants and then work out where they are, where they go and where would be the best place to leave your posters, flyers and information. It’s a case of taking your marketing offensive to them wherever they may be, in order to ensure it’s impossible for them to overlook it.
Professional Assistance
Of course, the most obvious approach to nailing those dream tenants the first time around and with little to no fuss at all is to hire a group of dedicated professionals to do it for you. These days, it’s almost unheard of for successful buy-to-let investors to dedicate their own time and effort to scouring the market for tenants. Instead, they sign up for property management packages from leading providers who in turn use their experience, contacts and general knowledge to find and secure the right tenants in the fastest possible time. With the help and advice of the professionals on-board, any landlord’s chances of finding those dream tenants can increase exponentially.
Due Diligence
In any and all cases, it’s you and you alone that will get the final say as to whether any given tenant’s application is accepted. As such, it’s more than worth getting involved with this stage in the process at least as while the agency may have vetted and checked them out well enough, it’s still a good idea for you to do the same – at least to a modest extent. From reference checks to credit report checks to in-person meetings and so on, it may seem like a long-winded process but is at the same time one that will guarantee you make the right decision and hopefully will not have to go through the process again for some time.
Think About More the Money Alone
Last but not least, it’s extremely common and understandable too for landlords to make a beeline for those tenants that are willing and/or able to pay the highest possible monthly rents. However, just because a tenant can pay a higher rent does not necessarily make them the best tenant you could choose. Instead, it’s better to look for things like signs they will stick around long-term, a track record of paying their bills on time and generally amicable tenant to get along with. Choose wisely and you’ll soon find out that there’s so much more to choosing the right tenant than money alone.