Letting Agency - Advice NEEDED

[imrn]

Hi.
Looking to open a letting agency, however only issue is I can't find a right office.
Was thinking of getting a virtual office.
What do you think of a virtual office. Any help is appreciated.
TIA

 

[Mr D]

Hi.
Looking to open a letting agency, however only issue is I can't find a right office.
Was thinking of getting a virtual office.
What do you think of a virtual office. Any help is appreciated.
TIA

Not meeting up with clients at your premises?

 

[WHGB Tom]

Surely that would make it difficult if / when you wanted to meet your customers or clientsface to face?

 

[imrn]

I did had a premises sorted but the sale from sellers side didn't go through.
So now I'm left without no premises.

I would like to meet clients face to face but the virtual office would be temporary till I find another office.

 

[billmccallum1957]

https://www.regus.co.uk/locations?country=united-kingdom

 

[WebStartupSolutions]

Have you thought about a letting website to showcase your properties on your own portal if your thinking of a virtual office ?

 

[Alex Foster]

Depending on where you are based, we offer serviced office space in Birmingham, and soon to be Milton Keynes, where you can Hot-Desk, use Co-Working. Or if you want your own private office we can arrange that to.

 

[Dave Sutton]

If you don't need shop-front space and do your business online/phone and via pre-arranged meetings, I'd echo Alex's post above and suggest cheaper shared working space. They usually come with meeting rooms & a coffee area.

hubblehq .com is good to check for options in London & Birmingham.

 

[Salman Afzal]

Regus is one the worst service provider i have ever signed up with, their aim to just ripoff their customer by all means, once you sign up they will send you an invoice 60 days in advance of the month and will ask you to pay in 10 days, otherwise you will incur late payment charge of £65 on an invoice of £123 ridiculously rippingoff , we have reviewed the contract but cannot find any payment date in contract. moreover If you have moved your office within the same Regus building, they will charge you £240 of cleaning charges, even for a hot desk. they will also charge for tea and coffee up to £70 pounds a month without mentioning, until you discover in your bill, i ended up paying thousands on additional charges and amgoing in court against them, I STRONGLY SUGGEST TO EVERY ONE, PLEASE GO TO A TOM DICK AND HARRY BUT NEVER SIGN UP WITH REGUS THEY ARE A COMPLETE RIFF OFF AND A DESPERATE COMPANY.

 

[Mr D]

How are they charging you for stuff not in the contract?

 

[Krprop]

Hi,

I run a property management company from home in my garden office.

I dont allow any tenants or landlords to come to my house.

It works very well, i either drive to meet them at their home or meet them at the property.

I have a postal address for documents etc.

Never had a issue.


Kiran

 

[ethical PR]

Hi,

I run a property management company from home in my garden office.

I dont allow any tenants or landlords to come to my house.

It works very well, i either drive to meet them at their home or meet them at the property.

I have a postal address for documents etc.

Never had a issue.


Kiran

But you don't know how many landlords or tenants have been put off using your service because you don't have an office they can visit.

It also helps with brand awareness to have a high street location that your target market passes by.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

But you don't know how many landlords or tenants have been put off using your service because you don't have an office they can visit.

I can't imagine landlords seeing that as an issue. As a landlord I have only visited the offices of my agent once, and that was to give them a new set of keys.
Tenants definitely don't care who the agent is or how they operate - its not anywhere on the list of deciding factors on where to live. Can't imagine anyone ever turning down a place to live which they like, but the agent isn't on the high street.

 

[ethical PR]

I think you would be surprised @Gordon - Commercial Finance.

I run some Airbnb accommodation with lots of young people looking to move onto permanent accommodation. There are unfortunately too many fraudulent people posting online about accommodation that doesn't exist and taking money from tenants from properties they don't own or manage but have managed to get the keys to. One of the ways would be tenants check that an agent is genuine is by visiting their offices.

 

[owas]

Unrelated to your industry but I have recently come across a couple of "scam" companies and after a bit of digging the one thing they all have in common is a virtual office. For this reason we are taking much caution working with any companies that do this, if any to be honest. Of course a majority are good honest business but this seems to be a key tool for the scammer and I would just be cautious how your business is perceived.