TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS ....

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS ....   

In the early 1950's, one of the world's greatest entertainers, Elvis Presley, coined the phrase "Takin' Care of Business" and it soon became a catchphrase between him and his entourage.  It eventually became shortened to "TCB" and Elvis had many personalised items of jewellery and clothing made, using this logo.  These are now collector's items

What has Elvis got to do with property you may well ask?  Well, when it came to business, the King knew a thing or two ... and he was right to "take care" of it.  You should consider adopting the same attitude.  If you are investing in property, then you need to constantly "spring clean" your business and make sure that you are getting competitive rates on everything, and not paying for things that you don't need to.  It's a great discipline to adopt, and of course, it will save you significant amounts of money.

Click here to register your seat.

Have you switched mortgage or paid it in full in the last few years? If so, it's likely you were overcharged by your old lender, possibly by £100s, and now officially you can get this money back. We can introduce you to a step-by-step guide will show you how to reclaim your cash in minutes.

It's all about 'mortgage exit fees', which you pay when closing a mortgage account (including shifting to a new lender). Sneakily some lenders have been charging people more than their contracts stated and, thankfully, in January '07, the regulator, the FSA announced if "past customers have paid a higher fee they can expect a refund of the difference". Yet if you don't ask, you don't get.  Sometimes, it can just be a simple phone call to a lender to get a refund. 

Have you been charged extortionate fees for renewal of a tenancy agreement?   Well, the National Landlords Association has recently been campaigning against these.  Currently, many landlords in London and the South East who have been managing a property on their own and who simply want to renew the tenancy agreement for a further 12 months, can expect to pay 10% or 11% of the annual rent as a renewal commission to the letting agent. For many properties in the region, this could be a figure running into thousands.

John Socha, Vice Chairman, NLA, in welcoming this announcement said:

"The NLA has been pivotal at encouraging landlords to come forward and complain about these 'money for nothing' fees which seem to have become the norm in London and the surrounding region.

"We very much welcome the OFT's decision to seek an injunction in this case and hope this sends out a signal that this fee, where the agent has done nothing to earn it, is unwarranted and unfair and should be abolished as soon as possible."

Most letting agents in other parts of the UK charge a small administration fee for a 'let only' renewal. This covers contacting the tenant, negotiating the length and level of the tenancy along with signing the renewal and returning completed paperwork. This often costs less than £95 plus VAT.   Have you been paying too much in fees?  There could be some money to reclaim here.

When was the last time you called up your credit card supplier and asked for a more favourable interest rate, or perhaps even a 0% balance transfer?  A few simple phone calls could save you hundreds of pounds in interest payments, and reduce your monthly payment and/or enable you to pay off your debt more quickly.

If you have a number of properties, how about becoming a distributor with Utilities Warehouse?  This will earn you a passive residual income as, every time your tenants switch on a light, or boil a kettle to make some tea, you will be earning a passive residual income!.  On top of that, Utilities Warehouse supply all sorts of competitive utilities packages, and you (or your tenants) receive one bill itemising everything.  Very simple and clear.  Why not utilise this simple strategy to earn you another income stream and simplify your life?

There's also our fantastic Investor's Kit - a neat package to save you time and money!  Click here for further details.

Another example is your home office.  Are you running it efficiently?  If you are not, then your business will soon suffer. Here at 4 Walls, we lease all our computer equipment.  There's no capital outlay, its 100% tax deductable, you can regularly up-grade to the latest technology, and if it breaks down, help is just a phone call away.   At the end of the lease, you then own the equipment!  It's sheer madness to spend out capital on technology.  So maybe your office needs up-dating in order for you to work more efficiently?  Well, we've teamed up with Phoenix Business Solutions to offer our clients a fantastic leasing service.  Please contact Simon on 07817 243712 for a no obligation quote.  We are currently working with Phoenix to kit out our high class holiday let on Camber Sands.  We're putting in a plasma flat screen TV, sound system, IPOD docking station, Wii computer games, and WiFi for our clients to enjoy on their holiday.  All these extras really make our property stand out from the crowd and the bookings are flooding in as a result.   

Finally, do you have your properties under control?  For example, do you know when your fixed rate mortgages are coming to an end, when service charges are due, when tenancies are due to end, when letting agent management fees are due?  If not, you are not taking care of business and the management of your cash-flow might be compromised as a result.  In any business, cash flow is king, and if you do not take care of it, your business will fail.  We offer a simple but effective solution to this:   our fantastic property management software.  Start using this early on in your investment career, otherwise your properties will soon get out of control  Every time a tenancy agreement expires, you should be looking to increase the rent.  You should also be looking to negotiate on all your commissions with letting agents.  We are currently achieving 8% commission on some of our fully managed properties!

So whilst Elvis may have "left the building" permanently, he's still a very wealthy man because he took care of business while he was alive.  His family and his estate benefit from an incredible passive residual income to this day.  Do you want to follow in the footsteps of the King by managing and protecting your wealth efficiently?

If so, why not come along to our fantastic networking event on Saturday 12th April at the Holiday Inn in Guildford, as we will be having a presentation on the above and giving you the full information.

Please register your seat at events@4wallsandaceilng.com.  Entry is £10.00 to assist towards the room hire and it includes the first round of refreshments.

We look forward to seeing you at our event and helping assisting you in all aspects of TCB!!  Successful property investors take CONSTANT ACTION ...

Or as Elvis might sing "A little less conversation, a little more action"

He definitely did know a thing or two!

See you there!!

Click here to register your seat.

Comments

[West Hampstead Estate Agent]

Long live the King

[investment property]

I have read a lot of from other places and it makes to seem so tricky and hard to understand, but your post helped me so much and very nicely.

Thanks for this brilliant job!