Introducing Loise Wilson a Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter ROCKSTAR!

Many people ask whether rent to rent works in London. And it does!

Loise got 2 rent to rent properties after joining the Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter Programme.

Hello everyone! I am so delighted, excited, and ecstatic for another Rent to Rent Rockstar interview.

And we have the amazing and the delightful Loise Wilson from My Cosy Homes. Loise has been a total inspiration to me since she joined us in the Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter because she is amazing company and is so funny and her branding is on point.

It did take Loise quite a long while to get started up, but now that she has – she is on fire and I know that you are going to love her story. So welcome to Rent to Rent Rockstar’s, Loise.

Let's start at the beginning and tell us what your situation was before you started the Kickstarter course?

Loise: My background is as an accountant and I’ve done that for many, many, many years until I felt like moving on to something else. There's got to be more than this in terms of passion and career. And I've always wanted to run my own business. I was then headhunted to run a local charity, which initially was for six months to do a small project and run a food bank in my borough.

And then five years down the line, it grew into a really, really big food bank, one of the biggest in the borough, (which I still manage today) but alongside that, I thought, why not start the company that I've always wanted to start. I've had the passion for 20 years to have my own business in property.

So, I thought, why not try to build a company. I researched all the strategies and looked at what would suit me and my family because I wanted to have a family business. Working with HMO seemed the perfect way to go, so I started my property management company, My Cosy Homes.

Stephanie: I first remember you, Loise, when I saw My Cosy Homes popping up on social media and I just loved your branding and fell in love with you online - you had that little X factor with the branding.

Obviously, you've been in business for a while, can I ask you what attracted you to think… okay I'm going to try out the Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter?

Loise: I've been following your online groups for the longest time. I've seen you for a few years around and before we met properly I saw that you had HMO Heroes and HMO Heaven and I liked the style and the brand, and I liked the fact that I could relate to both you and Nicky.

I just felt like this would be the right step for me to take because it was hand holding to get your deal. Where I live in London, it's almost deemed impossible to get deals in London, so I felt like this would be the perfect thing for me to do and try and thought why not join your online group.

Stephanie: Brilliant. Can you tell me what you were worried about before you started the course? Sometimes when you’re going to put in some investment and you’re just not sure if it's going to work out.

Were you worried about anything before you joined?

Loise: I was worried about everything! To be honest with you, I was concerned that I was legal and compliant in every way. I was concerned that people wouldn’t take me seriously as a young company. I was concerned about referencing and letting my landlords down and letting myself and my family down.

There were just so many concerns and that's why when you find somebody that will hold your hand through every stage, that takes away all the fears and the concerns.

Stephanie: Wow, that's a great answer. I totally relate back to when we first started – we were like a deer in the headlights! The course is an online coaching course - had you been on an online course before?

Loise: Never

Stephanie: Did you know what to expect and was it what you expected?

Loise: I had no idea what to expect, but I think because I trusted you and Nicky then I couldn't be far wrong. I think you've got to trust your coaches.
If you don't trust your coach, then you're not going to be sure if you're really doing the right thing. And I felt I was in the right hands.

Stephanie: That’s lovely to hear. The first course that we ran started at the beginning of February 2019, and I absolutely loved your group because all those first people who dived into that course were just like you Loise, trusted us and dived in with us.

It was a very small group, but I've just loved working with you because you've all got that same get up and go, let's try this and dive in with both feet. So, it's been such a pleasure from our side as well.

Let’s go to the next question – I was going to ask what was it like setting up your business, but that side of it for you, you had already done?

Loise: Yes, I set up my business early in 2017. And I think when you're not quite sure which process you should follow, you kind of do a scatter gun approach - should I set up my company has a limited or sole trader?

You’re not sure what to do, you're absorbing so much information from the internet and wherever you can. And it's about making the right decisions. I was a little way ahead, but then I got stuck.

I got stuck because I think when you've got too much information, you don't know what's the right information. You get stuck on pictures, you get stuck on branding. I got stuck on trying to do the right thing so the deals would just fall in my lap.

And actually it doesn't work like that. You've got to do the whole shebang. You've got to do stage by stage by stage and drive it. I think I'd lost my drive halfway through.

Stephanie: I think it's so easy to lose your drive. When you haven't got people around you who are already doing it all, or who are already doing it but not showing you what they're doing, then you don't know if what you're doing is the right thing.

I know that a lot of people get nervous about the landlord part of it. So, let's start off with the landlord letters. We've letter templates which you can get some of them for free here.

But you took those letter templates to the next level - tell us about that.

Loise: I've got this thing about gold - I love the colour gold, so I just thought I'm going to put some gold in my letters. I put a gold fancy edge around the letters and some of the writing was in gold. And I thought, well let's do this thing golden and that's what I did and that’s what the attraction was – and it worked.

Stephanie: They looked amazing! Sometimes gold can be OTT but yours were on point. And having said all that, the response was less than we originally thought. Tell us what happened.

Loise: It's also about the style in which the letters are written and the right words to attract. So, when I sent out the first batch of letters… nothing.

And I thought, okay let's go again and send another batch of letters. And I think I got four or five calls within the first few days of those letters going out.
I also posted one to myself just to be sure it did come to me and I knew they were going out fine and hitting those door mats. On the second round of letters, I persevered, and I got the calls.

Stephanie: Tell us about the differences between the first batch and the second batch. Were they the same letter or different?

Loise: It was the same letter, but my audience was larger - I targeted a large number of landlords.

Stephanie: How many letters did you send the first time?

Loise: I think I sent around 200 letters.

Stephanie: And the second time?

Loise: Just under 500 letters

Stephanie: We normally suggest between 300 and 500 letters each time. So, you sent the second batch of letters and the phone started ringing. Now this is another place that I know people get worried.

We've got a checklist of questions to say to the landlords to help you with that conversation, but how did you feel when your phone started ringing?

Loise: I just looked at it. The phone's ringing and I thought I don’t recognise the number because I've got a different phone for my business. I'm used to my mobile ringing and I recognise my numbers. But when the business phone starts ringing, I just looked at it, and thought, Loise just answer the phone!

I also wanted to sound like a professional, “Hello, My Cosy Homes” … and I bumbled it. I don't know what I said, but I got through it.

It is nerve wracking, but what you've got to remember is that there's something that the landlord wants from you. There's something that you said in your letter that attracted that landlord.

There's no need to be nervous, he just wants to find out who you are - it's just a conversation. Just think of them as human beings and it's just a conversation.

Stephanie: We forget that it's just another person on the phone! One thing that I want to say is some people are lucky and the first person they speak to turns into deal and other people have to go with it a bit longer.

And for you it was a little bit longer, it was four months - which actually is not a huge amount of time, but it feels like a long time when you're sending out the letters and making the calls.

Tell us a bit about what happened with some of those previous landlords where it didn’t work out.

Loise: It wasn't as if I wasn't getting the attraction, the attraction wasn’t bad – the landlords would speak to me on Facebook or different social media platforms, and through letters, but it just wasn't sticking.

You put all your effort into the deal, you analyse it, you view the property, have numerous conversations with the landlord, and then sometimes it just falls flat at the end for no particular reason.

Nothing that I've done wrong, it just didn’t work and sometimes that can happen in life.

Stephanie: Often we find it can be the amount that the landlord wants is just not possible to be profitable and run the company and do what you need to do. And it’s important for people to know that it's not always the first or second or third call that works.

We were really willing it because we knew that you were doing all the right things – sending out the letters and you even made yourself call agents.

Tell us what happened with the landlord you’re now working with - how did it all go? And where did you meet this person?

Loise: This particular landlord was solely through my letters. They rang me and we had a bit of a chat and it felt like I was talking to a friend within 10 minutes. And before I knew it, we were on the phone for nearly an hour and a half.

The conversation flowed and I had a natural rapport with the landlord - they asked about me and about my family. And because we're a family run business, I think that really appealed to them. And whatever it is that attracts that landlord to you, that's what you know is going to build the relationship on.

We talked for ages, we talked about anything and everything - I actually forgot I was talking to a prospective landlord, that's how comfortable the relationship was in that short space of time.

Every potential landlord you should speak to them on a professional level, but also be relaxed with them and be true to who you are and what your company represents. And then that landlord will decide probably in the conversation if they want to work with you at all.

Stephanie: Yes, and the thing I love about it is you were so relaxed and forgot you're speaking to a landlord - whereas when you started speaking to the landlords the first time, (which was only a couple of months earlier) you didn't feel so relaxed at all.

Sometimes those landlords that didn't work out for whatever reason, you have to see it as a practice run for the ones that do work.
I remember one of the things that you said, was that you really started to believe in yourself more as you're going through the process and beginning to talk more to family and friends about what you were doing. And I think all of that really helps in those conversations.

Tell us about the two properties, because it's two deals in four months you got! Tell us more about your properties.

Loise: It's always been pretty close to the tail, but I hit two in one - double for your trouble! Both are in London, which is amazing because there's such a flavour going around that London is very difficult to get licenced HMO’s - but they are there, and you've just got to keep at it and not give up.

When I came across these two, I viewed them both – they are both five bedroomed licensed HMO’s in Southeast London and are already tenanted - so it was up and running already.

Stephanie: I really like this because you didn’t have to do a big refurb, and you didn’t need to find all the tenants. You only had to find two tenant’s - one for each property, I think.

Loise: Yes, just one room was empty for each property and they had literally given notice that particular week - so it was just a case of working with each room in each property.

Stephanie: You did a beautiful job, I saw all the pictures you put up everywhere on social media.  If you're reading or watching this, and you want to see the rooms that Loise dressed in her new HMO’s, you can see them in the Facebook group - Rent to Rent Success Secrets.

Do you want to tell us what your strategy is for dressing the rooms?

Loise: I'm trying to keep it in theme with the colour of the brand, which is centred around golden/mustard. My rooms are very much like what our brand name is - My Cosy Homes, and I just imagined that a home and a room has got to be cosy.

It's got to be somewhere inviting, somewhere you want to come in and just kick off at the end of the day and just relax. So, we go with that theme of being very cosy, with standard furniture in a bedroom - all furnished and decorated and refurbished with cosy colours and bright coloured bedding and just somewhere that you'd want to come to at the end of a long day.

Stephanie: My heart melts when I listen to you talk about it because it says something else really - it's not just about the logo and the branding because what you've done is you've created the brand values that My Cosy Homes stands for - it stands for family and home.

And all those values come out through everything you say about your brand. And that is one of the things that we do go through as part of the step by step process.

Sometimes people think, why are we doing this? But it really helps when you're thinking about your business, and your values. For you it was about being a family business and being a home and being cosy.

It's been great having you as part of the group with all your laughs - we've really had a hoot with you in the group.

Can you tell us a little bit about what it's been like for you being in the group?

Loise: I love the group. We were the first run of the first batch of students and you feel like you're sort of the mum or the big sister in the group, but it's a group where people join all the time and it's an interactive group where we’re like family.

I like to bring family wherever I go, and I love to be involved in some way that feels like family and that is very much like the group.

You're going through the journey together. Any questions you want to ask you can feel free to ask. We have online group chats where anything you're unsure about, you can ask because you've got people that have walked the same journey, they've had the fears, they've had the failures, they've dusted themselves off and kept going.

And sometimes you just need a bit of a motivation or bit of encouragement and support to just keep moving and you will get there. And that's what you get in the group. So, I would say to anyone, if you're unsure, just get involved, log into the group, see what we’re all about and be part of the family.

Stephanie: Whenever I'm speaking to you, I just feel you would be such an amazing coach because I feel uplifted listening to you. And one of the things I love that you said is that people who've already been there before with the same fears and the same failures and they've got up and they've carried on.

Because often people could be sitting in looking at this and saying, “Well it's okay for Loise…”, but actually what they don't realise is that you had fears and failures and missteps along the way. And other people might look at me and say, “Well Stephanie has been doing this for donkey years…”.

But again, at the very beginning, I was just looking back on failures, I wasn't looking back on successes. And so, you've just got to get up and take those steps and feel the fear and do it anyway and take the steps forward.

Because as I heard on a podcast this morning - what's the worst that can happen? You could end up running a property, have a lovely company and something you can do with your family.

Tell us about that, because you work with your two daughters, don’t you?

Loise: Yes, it's always been a dream to have a family business. My youngest daughter has just come on board so we're going to be announcing that pretty soon - so watch this space.

And then my other daughter who is our media guru, is coming onboard eventually as well and it will be a family affair.

Even my niece is now wanting to get involved as we grow it because we are expanding.

Stephanie: From knowing you and speaking to you, I can say that My Cosy Homes is going to be a great success because who doesn't want that cosy home? I think it's fantastic for landlords, but also for the tenants who will come and live with you.

Is there anything that you would like to leave people with if they're thinking of doing what you've done?

Loise: I would say no matter where you are at, what age you are, because I started at a later age (not too old), whatever stage of life you are, just make that start.

And even if making that start means just doing one thing a day to work towards bettering your business or yourself. It can be with your self-improvement or it can be with your self-motivation - whatever it takes to start, make that start because you never can regret starting but you can regret it if you didn't try.

I would say always try and even if you don't know where to start, get around like-minded people. It would have been great in the beginning if I had someone to share the journey with.

And now I'm a few years along, and yes, I know people in the industry, but you've got to start somewhere. We didn't all start where we are currently at.

Get involved with the group, get around like-minded people, educate yourself and just take that move to the next stage. You won't regret it.

Stephanie: Fantastic. Make sure you follow My Cosy Homes on Facebook and give Loise a ‘like’.  And if you're watching this on YouTube, you can give Loise a ‘like’ or even a ‘love’ and ask her any questions.

So Loise, what are your plans for the future?

Loise: I just would like to be the best that we can be in terms of the company. I think what I'd also like to be able to do is to continue with my charity work to run the food bank and even combine the two - to have a safe house for those who are vulnerable, so combine two of my passions.

I’d really like to be an encourager for somebody else, and to be that support system. Because we all need a bit of support and that's just what I want to do.

I'm happy to sit and grab a coffee if anyone wants to hit me up and we can talk property – I’m happy to do it.

Stephanie: A little bird told me that Loise is speaking at an event soon so you might be able to catch her! But remember to follow My Cosy Homes on Facebook and you might hear more about it!

Thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for reading and watching and ‘like’ or comment if you've any questions.

We will see you again soon for another Rent to Rent Rockstar. So, it’s goodbye from me and goodbye from Loise.

Loise: Bye guys.

Speak to you all soon and all the best for now,

Stephanie & Nicky

Xx

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