At the moment, if you earn £1 million in income, then you will pay income tax at the rate of 45%. If you sell your buy to let portfolio and make a profit of £1 million, then you will pay capital gains tax at 28%. But if you sell your business for £1 million, then […]
I don’t think that there has ever been a better time to buy a letting agency than right now. The income from a good quality letting agency is absolutely secure and so long as you don’t do anything stupid to upset the landlords such as forgetting to pay their rent, the vast majority of them […]
I was told off the other day. It was for something that I have done many times before. I really should know better by now, says Adam Walker, property business guru. What was my crime? I tried to give someone advice that they did not ask for. It was advice that they badly needed but […]
Since the Brexit vote and the resulting downturn in the housing market, much of my consultancy work has involved helping clients to reduce costs, says Adam Walker, but we have to avoid chopping the critical elements of the business! When things are going well, it is all too easy to let costs increase and a […]
Employee fraud is a significant problem faced by organisations of all types and sizes, says, Adam Walker and there is no reason to think that estate agents and letting agents are exempt from it. Whilst we would all like to believe that our employees are loyal and honest, there are still many reasons why your […]
“Money…” How would you complete the sentence? Money makes the world go around? Money is the root of all evil? What is your instinctive answer? And why is this important? says Adam Walker. Well, the attitude that we have towards money plays a very important role in determining how much of it we earn, how […]
“Every agent has homes on their books that are overpriced, says Adam Walker. All the evidence says the house is worth £450,000 but the vendor wants £500,000. You can tell them again and again it’s too much, but they will just not listen to reason.” Well, if it’s any consolation, the same is true for […]
Let’s consider the example of a small letting agent turning over £300,000 per annum mostly from let-only properties. At the moment, they might be making a profit of 20% of turnover which is £60,000. This provides a comfortable living for the proprietor. But agents like this currently earn up to one third of their income […]
Based on this experience, these are the mistakes that you need to avoid at all costs… 1. Responding to a direct approach. What would you say to a homeowner who told you that they had agreed to sell their house to a member of the public who put a leaflet through their door? This would […]
It is becoming increasingly clear to me that a lot of letting businesses are not going to survive the tenant fee ban that is due to come into force next spring. The businesses that seem destined to fail are the let-only businesses, many of which were set up by residential sales agents in response to […]
