Who would have thought…
I remember some years ago now, when we first set up in business as letting agents, being advised by a local businessman and friend that it was an industry that badly needed to become much more professional and much more respected. Traditionally, surveyors, estate agents and solicitor firms (here in Scotland anyway) enjoyed much stronger rewards from their efforts, and running a letting agency was seen by many as operating at the bottom of the property food chain. Growing a sizable managed property portfolio was also challenging because far fewer landlords used agents, and the Private Rented Sector was much smaller than it is today.
But what has happened? Now many of those same letting agents are full of qualified surveyors, investment specialists, people with MBA’s and people with significant career aspirations. Here is Edinburgh, the highly respected Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC) in George Street, that in the good old days controlled 90% of the city’s residential sales market, now finds itself competing with other letting agents and working hard to build a portfolio of managed property – something that would have been completely unheard of a few years ago.
The size of the private rented sector in the UK today has also resulted in much more regulation – with Scotland almost certainly leading the way on that front. The industry may not always like some of these changes, but they do all add up to much more professionalism and public respect. Over the past few years the world of residential letting has entered a new era and closed the gap entirely with other property professionals.
For most of us who work in residential letting I suspect one of the greatest challenges is the prolific growth of competitor letting agents. I did a 10K run last weekend and as far as the eye could see in front of me there were faster, stronger (and younger!) runners. Marketing a letting agency business today can feel a bit like that – there are a lot of very focused and highly trained runners out there!
In terms of changes that are yet to happen, will the private rented sector keep on growing? Will local letting agents find themselves increasingly competing with online service providers? Will private landlords continue to use agents to the same extent? Will we see the rise of build to rent? Will some strong UK national letting agent brands emerge? For me the answer to these questions is “yes” simply because the relentless effort and relentless pace of change within our industry.
Best therefore that we letting agents do not become too comfortable in our new found higher status. We can all learn something from the Scout Association – BE PREPARED!