A letting agent or a real estate rental agent acts as a mediator between a tenant and a landlord. He performs some of the duties and responsibilities of a property owner to look for tenants to occupy a vacant unit.
Being a letting agent is not an easy job. It entails several things they have to do to help fill up a vacancy and that includes advertising and making sure that the property is in good condition at a reasonable price. If you are a letting agent and want to be a better one, then you stumbled upon the perfect read. Let me elaborate on two agent responsibilities and how a good letting agent would approach them.
• Renting out a property
The main purpose of hiring a letting agent is that a landlord may be able to find a tenant with minimal effort on their part. Some landlords may be inexperienced and maybe having a hard time renting out the place on their own, that’s why they seek assistance from real estate agents. However, there are also some who, although experienced, have many vacant properties to attend to and do not have enough time to juggle everything.
A letting agent handles the advertising, the property viewings, and the screening of applicants. Advertising alone is a lot of hard work and a good letting agent will make use of the background he has to find a suitable market to advertise the property to. Making use of several marketing mediums are also included.
With the rise of online marketing, an agent should know which web pages house hunters would frequent. When he publishes a rental listing on platforms like Padleads, where one can create a listing and syndicate it to other popular websites to attract several clients, the agent must strategically find the most high-traffic websites to increase its visibility to the target market. If done right, the listing would have applications coming in no time.
Once there are interested applicants, a letting agent is responsible to schedule property viewings and conducting the viewings themselves. He can also host open houses to accommodate a handful of applicants at the same time.
Another job for these professionals is screening the potential tenants. A lot of things should be considered before deciding which tenant gets the property. Background checks are done and if they have previous experience in renting, past landlords must be contacted. Having the capacity to pay is just one of the factors for applicants to be considered. There are so many things to take into account like credit scores and clean rental history. Some agents do visit the current housing of the applicants to check up on how they maintain their homes.
He should also be knowledgeable about the market value of the property to avoid asking a price higher than what is appropriate. A good letting agent must also orient himself on state and federal housing laws and jurisdictions. They sometimes draft lease agreements so knowing what is legal will be a great help.
• Managing a property
Once a deal has been closed and the new tenant moves in, the role of the letting agent could change to one who manages the property. His aim is to maintain the condition of the unit.
The agent must detail the condition of the unit during the inspection and take photographic evidence. It’s also a good idea to do another inspection with the tenant so that he is also aware of the condition of the unit before he occupies it. If they are unaware of some basic upkeep strategies, the agent should orient them. If there are specific materials in the house that should be cleaned by special cleaning solutions, then they should know about it. It is also a good chance to show them that the property is in good condition and that there are no leaks and damages.
A good letting agent knows how to maintain a property, when to repair a damage, and how much it will cost. If the property is a multi-unit building, common areas must be kept spotless and damage-free. He should ask the tenants to do their share of making sure common areas are clean.
Related article: Rental Agents: What do they do?