What I Wish I Knew When I Started Rent-To-Rent?
Discover nine things I wish I knew before starting Rent-to-Rent!
Learn from some of my mistakes, things I could have done better and what I now realise was so important during the early stages of my property business...
In this episode, I will be breaking down the nine things that I wish I knew about Rent-to-Rent before I started two and a half years ago. It's been an incredible journey, and I started with zero property experience. The whole reason I started the podcast was to show you that you can do it as well.
From zero property experience two and a half years ago, I'm currently setting myself a challenge of securing five Rent-to-Rent deals in two months. We've made a good start securing two deals in the first two weeks. I've been documenting my challenge in my Creative Cashflow Facebook group - so head over and check that out.
Listen to this weeks episode to hear the top nine things I wish I knew about Rent-to-Rent or if you don't have time right now, scroll down to read my top five.
Available on iTunes, Google, Spotify and others or click “play” on the player below!
Number one
Remember that a bad deal is worse than no deal at all.
Number two
I mention this all the time because it is so important, have a professional image. When I started my property business, I didn't have a professional image, and it was ten times harder for me.
Download my 12 steps to set up correctly from day one, and it will make your life significantly easier during those early stages in your business.
Number three
It's not all about you or me. People work for themselves, and people have their own best interest at heart. Whenever you are going into a situation, make sure that you're putting the other person's needs before yours. It's not always about how much you can earn, how much you have to spend, how quickly you can break even. Have a little bit of empathy and put their needs first, and you will be astounded that the deals will start coming.
Number four
Systems. I underestimated how many systems I would need in place, especially when I added Serviced Accommodation into the mix. The part of the business I love the most is getting the deals, negotiating. I'm not as motivated with the admin and system elements of the company. If I had set up the systems from day one, I wouldn't have had to systemise over 30 units, which took much longer at that point.
Number five
You can't do it alone, and you want to get as much help as possible. Your time is not well-spent painting and decorating, and you don't want to be running around doing viewings, maintenance, refurbs, viewings - it's too much to do on your own.
If you have the opportunity for someone to help you or the chance to outsource, trust me, it's worth it.
Podcast Transcript↓
Two and a half years in over a million pounds worth of rent to rent revenue today. I want to share what I wish I knew about rent to rent. When I start
[00:00:14] I'm Simon. And a few years ago, I decided I wanted to make a change. I wanted to create a passive reoccurring income to support me and my family today. And a legacy for the future, a future fast forward two years, and I've managed to generate over 10,000 pounds worth of monthly passive income. I've set up the business, scaled the business.
[00:00:38] I now have systemized the business to free up my time. So join me to find out how I've done it. How well does it do it every day and how you can do it too.
[00:01:06] Simon here and on today's episode, I'm going to be breaking down nine things. I wish I knew about rent to rent when I got started two and a half years ago. And wow. What a journey it has been. I had zero property experience just a few years ago. And the whole reason I started this podcast was to show you that you can do it.
[00:01:34] And to give you maximum value. Okay. Maximum value to help you learn from my mistakes and to give you the confidence to be like, yeah, do you know what I want to make a change? Because for me, I came to a 0.3 years ago where my primary source of income was not enough. It was not consistent. I didn't know if it had the security.
[00:01:58] I didn't know if it was going to be there tomorrow. And. I knew something needed to change. I was like, no, I can't do this. Do you know what I mean? I was getting to the point where I, well, I was engaged to be married and, you know, one day I'm might have wanted to start a family at the time. I didn't own any property.
[00:02:22] I didn't have any assets, had a fancy car, a liability. And I knew that that wasn't good enough. And I knew that I needed to make a change. And. It's been such an emotional journey, especially when I look back, I'm like, wow, it's been crazy. And it's been an amazing week in my business. Um, if you follow me, you'll know, I set myself a goal of five rent to rent deals in two months.
[00:02:50] And this came about by my friend saying to me, say, you're doing all these massive refurbs and that, and B are ours. When was the last time you did a rent to rent? And I was like, yeah, that's a good question. It's probably been about six weeks to two months, which is a long time for me. So I was like, no.
[00:03:06] Okay, cool. Let me hold myself accountable. So I pushed myself five deals in two months. We've done two deals in two weeks and I've posted the details and done videos and stuff of them on my Facebook group, the creative cashflow Facebook group. Head over to Facebook and check them out. I'll put a link in the description of this podcast, if you scroll down.
[00:03:32] Um, but yeah, that's what I've been doing. And then I've had some exciting stuff in terms of the BR ours as well. I've sourced an amazing, amazing four bed deal on to an investor who, you know, they're going to generate probably over 15 in Japan, a month off this one deal in the Midlands. Um, cheap prices up here.
[00:03:51] And then also I was doing a Bri. It was going to be a four bed and the sparkies or the electricians went up. To the loft to basically run the wiring because I've done a full rewire and he called me up and said, look, so, do you have any plans for a pier? Cause he's app solutely massive. Um, because if we got plans and he can't just run the wires on the floor, it need to do some additional work.
[00:04:23] So I said, I'm going to meet, let me just come down and have a look. I went and had a look I'm not big fan of ladders and all that, but I kind of stuck my head up and. It's massive. So all of a sudden, you know, light bulb, hang on a minute. Can I get five beds out of this? So made a couple phone calls, got a couple of people down, and now we're pushing to actually do, maybe turn it into a six bed or maybe turn it into a five bed with an extra on suite bathroom with stairs.
[00:04:52] So. Lots going on in my business right now. And yeah, it's a really, really, really, really exciting time. But let's get into today's content nine things. I wish I knew about rent to rent. When I started number one, a bad deal is worse than no deal. In other words, if you're starting and looking for your next deal or your first deal, Make sure you manage your emotions in terms of which deals you choose, because some people are so hungry to get a first deal.
[00:05:29] They get the wrong deal, they get a bad experience and that's the end of it. That's the end of it. Okay. So first things first, remember a bad deal is worse than no deal at all. Number two, and I bang on about this all the time, but I have to say a professional image. When I started, I didn't have a professional image and it was 10 times harder for me.
[00:05:51] So do yourself a favor, download my 12 steps, set up correctly from day one and it will make your life so much easier. Number three is not all about me or not all about you. People work for themselves. People. Have their own best interest at heart, whenever you're going into a situation, make sure that you're putting the other person's needs before yours.
[00:06:22] You know, it's not just about how much can you earn? How much can you generate? How much do you have to spend? How quickly can you break even have a little bit of empathy and put their needs first and you will. Be astounded, the deals will start coming to you and they'll start coming to you super, super quickly.
[00:06:46] Number four systems. I guess I underestimated how many systems I would need, especially when I then added essay two to mix. Cause I was doing rent to HMO and rent to essay, but the thing is systems are so key. And I'm a bit of a doer. I like to do the deals at the value negotiate. I'm not great at the admin and the systems and stuff, but I guess I wish I would have set up systems as I went along because then I wouldn't have had to systemize like over 30 units, like however long it was in at that time.
[00:07:27] Um, you know, I think I started implemented some systems around 10 to 15 deals, but it wasn't until we got to 30, I was like, wow, we need some serious systems. Now this is getting a bit crazy. So yeah, I wish I, I wish I would have looked into the systems a little bit sooner and I wish I would've got them set up.
[00:07:46] So it wouldn't have been such a mountain to climb. Number five, you can't do it alone. Can't do it all alone at the beginning. You're going to do it all alone, but you want to get as much help as possible. You don't want to be painting and decorating. You don't want to be running around like a headless chicken, doing the viewings, doing the maintenance, doing the refurbs, doing the viewings with the landlords, me and like it's too much on your own.
[00:08:16] So if you've got the opportunity for someone to help or for you to outsource certain bits, It's worth it. Trust me. Okay. And that brings me on to number six. You've got to invest to grow. So I think for a while I was trying to do it organically. So I was saving up the cashflow to generate more deals. Um, so, you know, it may be, I could do, you know, I'd have to generate cashflow from deals and then reinvest that money into deals.
[00:08:46] And then at one point I was like, this is working. I need to invest to grow. And I plowed in around 20 K investor finance to fast track my journey I did about four or five deals super, super quickly. And we never looked back from that. You've got to be willing to invest, to grow. And that's in terms of your deals, your team, your systems, any education that you need, don't scrimp and save because rent to rent is an amazing strategy.
[00:09:21] And you might as well invest in certain things that are going to add value to help you crack home. Number seven, property is a people business, so choose wisely. And I think the person, the landlord, the agent, or as important, if not more important than the actual property deal that you take on, because. If you misjudged that and end up with a landlord that's not really interested or that isn't happy with their rent or their is going to want to be too involved in the process.
[00:09:55] It can be such a headache. So sometimes just remember, I always get a bit nervous when I have a deal on the table and I don't know the landlord because I don't know what they're capable of and where their heads are. So. Wherever possible, trying to get in communication with the landlord and the agent and choose people that make you feel good.
[00:10:18] I never forget. It was one of my first deals and I was really desperate scale the business on, and the agent took me around to see a property and I liked it. And the agent said the landlord wanted to meet us. So me and Lucy went down to meet the landlord and. Just something wasn't right. And, um, I remember we left and Lucy was like, mm, no, I don't think that can work.
[00:10:41] I didn't get a good vibe and we didn't do that deal. And then what ended up coming to light is that we knew somebody that did do a deal with this guy and it was an absolute nightmare. Absolute nightmare. So thanks for that, Lucy. She's got the. 6 cents on that. So yeah. Be careful. Don't rush into a deal. It could be the best property in the world.
[00:11:07] If the landlord or the agent on amenable number eight boundaries, you've got to set out boundaries and that's something that took me awhile to realize. And I didn't for so long boundaries between you and the work you and the tenants, you and the landlords. You know, protect your energy, protect your home time, protect your family time, get some time management in place, some boundaries, some diaries of time that, you know, when you're going to work.
[00:11:38] And when you know, you're not going to work and make sure that you let your spouse and family know, so they know where they stand. They know where they stand with me, me and the Mrs. We always have this thing. Like you don't mind if we have to work late. But we'd rather there be a cut off and us know so that we can do other things.
[00:11:59] You know, you want to be waiting around for someone thinking they're gonna finish at six, they don't finish till nine. And then you could have gone to the gym or you could have gone to meet your friends or whatever sounds stupid. But it's something that I really have learned through scaling this rent to rent business, and last but not lease, even though rent to rent is a short term game.
[00:12:25] Think about it in terms of the bigger picture. And long-term because if you've got a deal for five years, you don't have to necessarily be making money from day one, but you want to control the property. You want to make sure you break evens, right? You don't want to spend too much money on these properties, but don't panic.
[00:12:45] Don't stress, you know, maybe it's not fully occupied and you're only breaking even, or whatever. You've got this property for five years. So don't put yourself under too much stress and see the bigger picture, which is over five years. My average deal makes 50 K. So, you know, if I have a bad few months, it's a busy, you know, it's a blip in the ocean, especially if I've only invested 5k.
[00:13:09] So don't be afraid to see the bigger picture and as you scale, and you've got more properties that will become more and more profound and clearer. So. Hope that's useful. Do me a favor, as I said, go ahead and make sure you drop us a review, subscribe, share this episode for, you know, share it to people that you think might find it useful.
[00:13:32] And of course, whatever you're doing, if you're going to get started, get started now don't wait 25 years. Okay, crave.
[00:13:50] Thanks for listening. For more information, check out Simon Smith, online.com. See you next time.