How to Start a Letting Agency Business: Tips to Start it from Home

A letting agency is a good business to get into if you have the time, understanding and clients.  Letting agencies act as go-betweens for renters and landlords.  They help landlords fill their housing capacities with reliable tenants.  Starting a letting agency requires some research, financial backing and a great business plan if it is going to succeed.

Letting Agency Business Plan

• Creating a detailed and professional business plan is essential if you are planning on seeking outside funding for your startup.  If you do not know how to create a plan, or are not comfortable doing so, hire a professional to put together a successful plan for your business.
• Start by creating a summary of your business and how you plan to make it work.  A short biography about yourself is recommended, but not necessary.
• Potential investors will be very curious about your financial status and stability.  Include all financial records for at least the last five years, including bank statements, tax records and any documentation on assets and liabilities that you have acquired.  Also, include contact information for each and every financial institute both past and present who have held or who currently hold your financial accounts for future and easy reference.

Research the Market

• Create a marketing strategy that details how you plan to gain customers and advertise your business and refer to it often.
• It is necessary to know your competition if you are going to succeed in your business.  Research other letting agencies to see how they format their business and the pay structures that they employ.  Also look into the type of clients and landlords they work with to give you an idea of the customer potential in your area.
• How is the housing market in your area?  Some think that if the sales of homes are decreasing that a letting business may not be prudent.  However, the opposite is true; with people not wanting or not able to buy homes, many are turning to let out an apartment or other type of housing which will help your business gain new clients.

Starting the Letting Agency

• First you will need to decide whether you will be working out of your personal home or if you will be leasing or buying a building for your business.  Working out of your home requires less startup capital and less monthly overhead, but does not project as professional an image as having a building for your business.
• Study your competition and see how you can implement new and unique ideas that set you apart from other letting companies.
• Develop or hire a professional to develop a very professional website with maximum SEO optimization so that your website will be one of the first to be seen when customers do a search for letting companies.
• Keep a blog, at least weekly, to help optimize your website and keep it ranking highly in the search engines.
• Offer a lower administrative fee to single applicants instead of charging them the same as you would for a couple or a family.