Common Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes, even landlords. Elbert Hubbard once said “The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you'll make one.” It is not a case of if you make a mistake, but when. Being a land can be a rewarding job but the work isn’t easy and there are many problems lurking out there waiting to surprise you. So for this week’s blog post we thought we would share with our readers three of the most common mistakes we have known landlords to fall afoul of:

Be Wary of Time
When you are working in property, keeping note of time is essential. We mean this is in a long term sense, not hours and minutes. For every day that a property of yours stands empty it’s another day the property fails to bring in rent. Don’t let a job get drawn out keeping your property off the market.

Don’t Take Tenants on Face Value
We’ve all heard the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and this is especially true of tenants. This approach will ensure you have done all you can to receive a good quality tenant. Demand references and be thorough, never grant a tenancy on first impressions.

Keep Perspective
Although we earlier mentioned that an empty property is something to be concerned with it is important to always keep perspective. Never assume that any tenant is better than no tenant just to fill your property and start the rent flowing in. A bad tenant will cause a great many problems for you and at the end of the tenancy you may be worse off than when you began. So stay patient and stay focussed.