What Is a Search Agent?

Simply put, a search agent looks for a property on your behalf. If you are looking to move – be it buying or renting – the search agent can do all the legwork for you. That’s finding suitable properties, arranging viewings and brokering the negotiations on your behalf saving you heaps of time and energy. If you really trust them, they can even attend viewings on your behalf. Maplewood often takes on this responsibility and reports back with videos or video calls, saving you further time travelling to multiple appointments.

In the UK, this process is less familiar than elsewhere in the world. In North American sales transactions, for example, both vendor and buyer are usually represented by a qualified professional (real estate) agent who acts in their interest. This isn’t the case for rental transactions, but it does mean that Americans and Canadians fully understand the principle of someone working on their behalf in this way.

In the London rental market, it is not uncommon to encounter relocation agents (or ‘relo agents’ in agency lingo). They are normally retained and paid for by a company to look after relocations for members of staff and their families (often internationally). They have excellent little black books full of London agency contacts and can work proactively to get access to properties that aren’t yet on the market. This role is common particularly for those looking for a property in Prime Central London.

If the idea of having someone take care of all of the hassle of looking for a property sounds ridiculously appealing, you may be wondering why search agents aren’t more common in the UK. The reason for this comes down to – perhaps unsurprisingly – money.

In Prime Central London, a search agent can undertake their work on the basis that they are paid a portion of the fee earned by the seller’s/landlord’s agent (i.e. the agent listing the property). The prices of Central London properties produce margins that allow for this and with both agents retaining a healthy fee. Outside of Central London (even just south of the river) the commission on offer isn’t regarded as sufficient to be split between two agencies. So a search agent must pass their fee directly to their client (the buyer/tenant) instead.

In an environment where much emphasis has been put on eliminating fees for tenants, lots of those people looking to relocate would rather take on the search themselves than pay a fee for someone else to find them a place to live, despite the valuable time-saving, negotiating experience and contacts the search agent may have.

The tide is changing however and – particularly in a hot rental market – it can be a difficult and logistical nightmare to find a property if you’re a busy professional. Hiring Maplewood to conduct a four-week rental property search for you starts at £1500+VAT. We jointly determine your search parameters, source potential properties, arrange and attend viewings for/with you and advise on the negotiations right through to your move-in day. Imagine that: a quick, low-stress and proven solution to finding your next rental home.

You can find more information about our property search service here or book a call with us to have a chat about your dream home.

Top Tips for Spot On Property Photography

Property photos are far and away the most important asset in marketing a property in both the sales and lettings markets. Good images show a property truthfully and also in the best possible light (pun intended). Whilst post-production can tweak/magic/erase a few wrinkles (like turning a wintery grey sky blue or even vamoosing a neighbour’s unsightly bin), it is far simpler to start with good images than to try to correct them after the fact. And the uncomfortable truth is that with only one chance to make a first impression, you don’t want to give the people viewing your property any reason to swipe left - and they can be a fickle crowd. 

To give your place the best chance to truly shine in the photos, bear these top tips in mind…

•   Put the toilet seat down: Toilets come with seats for a reason - so that they can be put down in property photographs! Joking aside, this is probably the most common faux-pas in property photos and it is such a quick and easy fix. Distracting to some buyers and downright off-putting to others, having a toilet seat up automatically makes your photos look less polished. By putting the seat down, you’re not triggering those who are bothered by it and those who don’t care will never even notice. #win-win

•   No selfies please: Property photos are not the place to play Where’s Wally - as much as we love a good round of ‘spot the photographer’ in reflective surfaces. Particularly in bathrooms, it can be a challenge to position a camera to capture the room without also capturing the camera - and the photographer. Good property photographers are experienced in their camera placement and have software to magically erase any stray body parts, if necessary.

•   Spruce me up: We’ve shared previously about the amazing results that an interior designer or home stylist can produce, however you need not commit to a total overhaul. Give your home a critical eye. Are there obvious areas where a pot of paint would do a world of good? Can you employ some pops of colour through cushions or a decorative throw to inject some life and catch focus? Plants are a quick and easy way to make spaces more attractive and are very on trend.

•   Take a knee: Another very common feature in property photography is the downward sloping angle. Resulting from taking photos from too high an angle or even from a top corner of a room in order to capture as much as possible, it results in odd-looking images that aren’t pleasing to the eye. It’s far better to take more than one image instead to capture the entirety of a space.

With just a few tweaks, these images could show off the property to much better effect.

•   Lighting, lighting, lighting: It cannot be overstated that lighting is critical in showing your property to best advantage - so much so that at Maplewood we deliberately schedule photography sessions for brighter days! Internal lighting is so often from overhead sources that can add odd shadows and unflattering colouration. Over-saturated photos, where too much light occurs, can wash out images or make it difficult to see details - and beware images that are overly filtered in post-production to cover up dark rooms! As much as possible, ensure that natural lighting is finding a way into your rooms and pay attention to window dressings.

•   Beware room stretch: Professional property photographers have wonderful equipment that allows them to capture far more of the edges of a space than a conventional lens. Beware of images that take this to the extreme though - some agents use photographers who use ‘fish eye lens’ or panoramic views such that the rooms wind up looking wonderfully large but oddly stretched. The result is that on viewings, potential tenants and buyers are expecting much roomier spaces than exist in reality - a waste of everyone’s time. 

•   If DIY’ing it: Don’t – use a recommended estate agency! We pick up the cost for all photos and floor plans and many agents will too. If you must, use a tripod. This will only set you back around £20 but is worth the investment. With cameras in phones now being so advanced, it can be tempting to give it a go yourself. A tripod will ensure a clearer image and you can be more consistent in the angle and framing to ensure a consistent look. Don’t forget the basics though. Make sure your lens is thoroughly clean and that you’re shooting sufficiently high resolution to allow for clear images in both web and print marketing materials. 

 •   De-clutter: It should go without saying that your property should be sparklingly clean before a photographer comes in (with the beds also made, properly), so our top tip is to Marie Kondo your heart out. Purge your rooms of the stuff of life before a photographer comes in. And we do mean ruthlessly. Try to see your rooms as they will show up on an image the size of your phone screen. Lots of ‘stuff’ makes it hard for the eye to settle and to properly assess the property rather than the stuff. The photos are an invitation to visit in person. Your stuff can stop people from taking you up on this. It is far better for a property to err on the side of too empty rather than over cluttered.

•   Oh and Landscape… not Portrait! Simple.

And there you have it! Nine top tips that will have your property photos looking spot on. For more information on our services, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Go Digital with Virtual Staging

In another recent article, we discussed the importance of visual imagery in the marketing of your rental or sales property and in particular, dressing & styling packages for rental properties.

In recent years however, another alternative has become a cost-effective way to show your property to best advantage… virtual staging.  

Particularly helpful where a property is completely empty, virtual dressing is a game-changer to make marketing photos more visually arresting, particularly for lower value sales and rental properties where the cost of ‘real’ (i.e. physical) dressing and staging might be prohibitive.

Having furniture in the rooms of your property gives potential viewers a better sense of the size of the rooms and how their furniture will fit in the space. It also provides far more visual interest and that all important #HomeInspiration than an empty white box. A virtual staging company works with your existing high-resolution images to digitally place furniture in the space and with an endless array of options at your disposal for a fraction of the cost of renting or buying physical dressing items and furniture - as well as none of the carbon footprint. Best of all, it’s quick! Images can usually be turned around within 24 hours.

Images can also be altered to adjust light levels, add a cheery blue sky to brighten often overcast British exterior shots and remove unslightly items like road signs photos or waste bins. Costs typically range between £20-30 + VAT per image for full ‘furniture dressing’ with the removal of items depending on the complexity of the background.

We’re astounded by the results that virtual staging can produce. Can you tell that the furniture in these images has been added digitally?

Things You Don't Know About Your Estate Agent: Part 1

The agent who lets your rental property will never speak to your tenant again 

At Maplewood, we’re all about transparency so we’ve decided to lift the lid and show you the inside workings at your typical high street estate agent. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be revealing things you probably didn’t know about your agent. Intrigued? Read on…

If your property is managed by a large or mid-size, multi-branch high street agent, you might be surprised to learn just how far apart are the functions of letting your property and managing your property (and managing your tenant). Consider the number of people involved in the lettings process:

1.     Manager / Valuer / Director: The person who initially comes to meet you at your property and provide a valuation. They’re experienced senior staff whose time is most valuable in convincing you of their company’s ability to let your property and get you to sign on the dotted line.

2.     Office Administrator: Having signed terms, the office administrator back in the office is tasked with creating the marketing materials – the descriptions and brochures seen online. They very rarely will actually step foot in your property, but hopefully they know the area.   

3.     Negotiators: Often on very low base salaries (£15k/year in London is not uncommon), negotiators compete with each other to let your property; their commission depends on it. They can be known to ‘encourage’ multi-year offers regardless of your preferences as break clauses eat into their commission.   

4.     Tenancy Co-ordinator: Once you’ve selected a tenant, the negotiator hands over the tenant’s details to a tenancy co-ordinator (and hopefully with the right information). With luck, this person can complete the referencing and move-in process for you and your new tenant.

5.     Property Manager: After move-in, if a tenant has any issues, they don’t follow up with any of the people they have connected with thus far. A separate property management team looks after any maintenance issues and tenant aftercare.

This chain, when well-oiled, can work very well however it does rely on potentially FIVE different people being excellent at their jobs – and assuming you speak to the same person within each of those roles every time. As with anything, communication is key and when considering the letting of your property, don’t be afraid to ask detailed questions on who takes care of what steps of the process.

Contact us for more information about the process behind the scenes.

Tenants from Hell

We’ve been speaking to a number of landlords recently who are experiencing ‘less than perfect’ tenant scenarios. We’ve heard just about everything over the years from unscrupulous agents pocketing deposits and disappearing without a trace, seemingly perfect tenants installing locks and subletting rooms in unauthorised rent-to-rent accommodation right through to straight-forward squatters – and even a marijuana farm!

As a landlord, how can you protect yourself from these expensive, stressful and time-consuming mistakes and what should you be looking for when choosing an agent to market your property? Once the agent has found new tenants, how do you know if they are any good? You did check, right? In this market you should have a choice of good tenants.

Read on for our top tips to avoid the tenants from hell…

It seems simplistic, but nine times out of ten, a good agent is going to sniff out a problem tenant and avoid introducing them to your property in the first place. Experienced agents have met tens of thousands of potential tenants and should know when something isn’t right. The tenant’s story doesn’t stack up, the source of funds are questionable, the tenant is overly keen or pushy etc. Start by choosing the right estate agent for you.

Ask yourself (or the agent):

• Are they registered with a redress scheme, like The Property Ombudsman? Details of registration with a redress scheme should be clearly visible on their company website and in their communications with you. It’s also a legal requirement. Do they have Client Money Protection? Are they a member of PropertyMark? (The largest professional body for both estate and letting agents respectively.)

• How long has the company been operating and how long has the agent been in the industry? Specifically, who is the individual working on your property? The agency might be ancient but the individual meeting your potential tenants is the person who counts. Do they have less letting experience than the tenants we’re trying to avoid?

• When selecting new tenants, what kind of referencing is your agent undertaking? Does your agent provide you with the referencing reports? Do they undertake any independent checks via open sources like social media and Companies House? Are they checking the tenant’s legal right to rent?

• After move-in, does your agent provide you with a copy of the tenancy agreement, deposit registration certificate and inventory? We’re surprised to hear how often these basic documents are not in place or are not legally-binding – and your ability to take legal action to evict a tenant later on is reliant on the documentation that was issued to a tenant when moving in.

• Are the property management team equipped to deal with such tenants and scenarios? Do they have the experience to realise something isn’t right and then deal with it early? Are they visiting the property for inspections and are you receiving a report of the condition of the property? 

Ultimately, with these simple points in mind, do you trust your agent?

Thinking about it differently, would you hire them to work in your business? Are they reliable, responsible, communicative and transparent? If you have any doubts or any warning bells are ringing, it’s time to pull the plug on this relationship. Ultimately, you are trusting this person with something incredibly valuable, your investment property or portfolio.

We’re launching a landlord advice service where you can connect with us to discuss tricky situations – large or small. Be it a tenant wanting to leave before their notice period, requesting a change in the date they pay rent, clarifying the legal requirements for valid eviction proceedings, or managing the timing of a property sale with tenants in situ, we can offer friendly expertise and there is no such thing as a stupid question.

Let us know what you think and if you think this service would be useful to you. We’ll be announcing the details shortly so keep an eye on our website and social media.