The property management business is a really good idea for someone who wants to make a decent income without taking too many risks. My foray into property management was purely by chance. I had about 15 flats in Dundee and employed a full time handy man to collect rents and sort out any minor repairs. My friend Chris knew that my properties were well managed and he asked if I would look after his mother’s flats. I knew that she was not well and because of her health, in the last year half her flats had lain empty. I reluctantly agreed and started renting out her properties.
I managed to get her occupancy up to over 90%. My charging structure was very simple as I kept 10% of her rent and she also paid all costs. She was delighted with my service and told her friends who approached me to do the same for them. Being busy but not wanting to say no straight away I offered to provide the same service but at 15% of the monthly rent. To my surprise they agreed.
Word of mouth got around and soon I had to start turning people away as I was far too busy managing my packaging company to do property management full time! Had this business not been doing well I could easily have started managing properties full time. I even managed to buy a couple of apartments at knock down prices when one of my clients wanted a quick sale after his tenants left. They offered me the properties for the same price they had bought them for a couple of years ago. I knew the market had risen substantially since then and bought them straight away. I spent a couple of weeks doing them up and had them rented out in no time. When property prices started rising strongly I sold both of them, making decent money only to miss out on the real boom in prices! If you have time on your hands why not consider managing other people’s properties? Be warned though that you are on call 24/7 if an emergency happens at any of the properties.
