Updating post from Reddit.

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Posted by Artistic-Occasion757 1 week ago
Thoughts on advertising flat before or after Christmas? Details in post.

It’s a lovely 2 bed ground floor, London zone 5. Hoping for 2 professionals sharing or a couple or a small family. Is it better to advertise now or wait till after Christmas? Property was on the market for 2 months with an EA so I think it might be good to give it a 2 week break from the portals and then re-enter again to be on top of the listings. Would like to time this right. What are your thoughts?

Some background: My property was marketed by a local estate agent for 2 months resulting in 14 offers but due to judgement errors on their part, the 3 tenants they suggested either failed credit checks or there was some other issue - and some good prospective tenants were rejected in the process. So 2 months in, I’m ready to pull the plug on the EA & try myself with Open Rent. I would like to meet the prospective tenants myself as I don’t really trust the judgement of the EAs anymore. Grateful for any tips and advice.

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Posted by chamanager 1 week ago

I rent out a couple of properties in zone 3 - I always use open rent and I’ve always found tenants within a week of advertising. I keep the rents competitive - better to take a bit less and fill the place immediately than have it empty and earning nothing for a prolonged period.

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Posted by Ok_Entry_337 1 week ago

Nothing to be gained from delaying.

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Posted by Slightly_Effective 1 week ago

People have more time to look for flats in the holiday season.

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Posted by citruspers2929 1 week ago

I’m sure I remember reading somewhere that Boxing Day is the day right move gets the most traffic.

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Posted by Hot-Literature9244 1 week ago

I use OpenRent very successfully. I recommend setting up an auto reply to initial enquiries to save some time. Enquiries come through a number of different ways, and some strip out info like names etc (not useful!). So in my auto reply I ask these questions to save time further along:

  1. Name of enquirer
  2. How many tenants will live at the property?
  3. When do they want to move in?
  4. Confirm they will be living in the property and not subletting/rent for rent/airbnb (a stupidly common problem!)

You might want to add any other questions that you need to to weed out unsuitable tenants (eg I allow small pets but if you don’t ask now to save time).

Good luck!

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Posted by Artistic-Occasion757 1 week ago

Ah thank you, that’s very helpful. I’m a first time landlord so trying to soak up all the info and tips I can. How do I go about things CCJs, UC applicants, students - can I set up a filter when I list or is that not allowed? It’s a leasehold flat so pets aren’t permitted as per the lease, so I want to be upfront about that too.

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Posted by Hot-Literature9244 1 week ago

You can filter for all sorts, including benefit and students. Use the OpenRent Rent Now option and they do referencing and sort all the paperwork. They even have a checklist so you can be sure you have all the certificates etc and they send them to the tenants. Plus they lodge the deposit with a deposit scheme. It’s not expensive and worth every penny.

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Posted by Artistic-Occasion757 1 week ago

Brilliant, thank you! That’s all great to know. Will go with the Rent Now option.

What’s your view on the marketing ? Should I put it on the market next week or wait till after Christmas ?

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Posted by Hot-Literature9244 1 week ago

That’s up to you. If you’ve got time to do viewings in the run up to Christmas, put it up now. But if you’ve don’t, don’t mess people around and wait until afterwards

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Posted by Artistic-Occasion757 1 week ago

Ok, yes. That’s what I was thinking. Good to get a sense check.

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