Having completed on her first property on June 25th, PPP Partner Holly is now busy managing builders and getting ready to put the skills she learnt at the Foundations Lettings Course to use.
"I'm delighted to say that the refurbishment of my first property is well underway and expected to finish this week. My garage is no longer a garage, it's a room, and the property is really starting to take shape.
It's been a relatively smooth ride. I have a really good relationship with the builders as they have done work for me in the past and they've surpassed all of my expectations this time around. I know that when they say something is going to happen, it will and so I only need to go two or three times a week so see how they are getting on and perhaps collect some samples.
They've also taken on the responsibility of liaising with the original building firm regarding a restrictive covenant - we needed to seek permission to change the appearance of the house and while not very interesting, we are blocking up some doorways and replacing the garage door with a window. They have dealt with all of that and I've not had to do anything at all, which was great.
Instead I've been thinking about how I am going to finish and furnish the property ready for tenants. I did my first IKEA trip this week to get some ideas and I have swatches of carpets, fabrics and tiles all over the place. During boot camp we visited another Partner's property who used stripy carpets, so that is something I'm definitely considering as not only will it have the 'wow' factor when someone walks in, but they go with a lot of colour themes.
Luckily for me, I'm just a few weeks out of the Foundation Lettings Course too, which was fantastic, and so everything is fresh in my mind. The course covered everything from referencing tenants and checking them in right through to inventories, quarterly checks and checking tenants out. It was really easy to understand and jargon free, which was important to me as I'd never dealt with the rental and lettings side of property before.
The section on advertising your rooms was particularly interesting because I had visions of having adverts coming out of my ears but in reality, the way that we are taught to do it is completely different and will save me a lot of time as well.
I now know what I need to do, how to do it and best practice. The biggest benefit for me is that I will have the knowledge and confidence to take on the management of my single occupancy buy-to-lets when the current tenants move out. The skills I learnt are easily transferrable from the HMO model and it will save me a fortune in management fees.
It's also good to know that all of the information is still available on the intranet, including legal documentation and tenancy agreements, and if you have any problems or questions, you can still pick up the phone.
This is the side of the business that I'm really looking forward to, although I am a little apprehensive about picking the right tenants. I suppose only time will tell!
I'm looking forward to finishing some of the rooms so that we can get the pictures up and the rooms advertised. I'm hoping to be fully tenanted in a few weeks so that we can start the process all over again with property number two!"
