Introducing Temi a Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter ROCKSTAR!

Temi got her first rent to rent property in just 4 weeks of joining the Rent 2 Rent KickstarterProgramme, even though she was super worried about getting started because she’s very shy.

Temi thought there was “no way a landlord would give a property to her” and she was worried about getting things right and ensuring everything was legal.

I'm really excited to be speaking to Temi because we're going to be talking about Temi getting her first rent 2 rent deal. We're so excited!

Within our Rent 2 Rent Kickstarter coaching, Temi was the first person to get a deal and just four weeks in! We'll talk all about the deal and Temi and how she did it, so Temi welcome.

Temi: Thank you. Hello.

Stephanie: Let's go back to the beginning to a few weeks ago. It was just after Christmas, coming into the New Year. And what made you want to go into rent 2 rent in the first place?

Temi: I think the initial start was when I went for some elite training in September 2018. It was more focused on HMO and I’d have to start on not a lot of money which wasn't the position I wanted to be in, so I was a bit confused because I haven't got enough savings to start my own HMO.

I was reading different strategies on what to do regarding sourcing, lease options, and everything else.

I was more interested in rent to rent but it sounded impossible and I felt there was no way anyone would let their property to me. So, I was a bit like this is not possible but let me just try.
I went on YouTube and I searched rent to rent and your videos came up and it became addictive.

I started watching them and I went to networking events, the free ones. I’d check online if there were any free one’s going on in West Midlands, usually in the evenings. And after work if I could get good childcare, I'd go for the three-hour evenings.

I met a few people that were doing rent to rent and the training they had was quite expensive so I was thinking, oh my I can’t do it for that amount of savings so I'll just carry on watching the videos.
I was watching your videos and there were a few things that you pointed out which was "get the business registered and accounts set up".

I started with opening the business accounts and registering the business. Those were the two things I did before I made the phone call to you.

Stephanie: OK Temi so that was good. If you don't mind me asking, how much were these courses that seemed like they were too expensive?

Temi: I think the minimum then was £1,999.

It wasn't that expensive but for my pocket at that time, it would dip in much more than I would like it to.

Stephanie: Well I'm so glad you called me. We had that call and you decided to go ahead but can I ask you, when you were at that stage and you were thinking, (because you knew quite a lot about rent to rent by then) what was worrying you about making it work for yourself?

Temi: The things that I was worried about was choosing the location and making sure I'm not doing anything that is illegal and making sure I'm not doing anything that could get me into trouble.

So, I wanted to be assured that I was compliant.

And I think there were three things - I knew it was location, being compliant then the documentations, I didn't know where to start from.

Stephanie: And once you started, let’s just talk about how you overcame them or how you got from "oh gosh, I don't know about the contracts, I'm not sure if I'm compliant" and the location, to actually getting one?

Temi: I think when I spoke to you on the phone call I was quite particular about the location and you did advise me to sit down and check SpareRoom and OpenRent just to see the market and I checked what things were going on in the area as I wanted to find professional co-livers.

I ended up choosing the location and after that the second thing was the documents. I asked you if it was easy and if you offer support, and you said yes.
We mostly get all the documents that we need, then we just need to read through it and make it our own and I thought this is what I needed.

Stephanie: I know that a lot of people are worried, and tell me if you were worried about actually speaking to the letting agents? Tell me how you felt about that and how you overcame it?

Temi: I think the whole rent to rent apart from my three main things that I wanted to clarify was my personality and the major thing about me is marketing and making the phone calls. My words just don't come, they're dangling in my head and nothing come out!

It's usually when I'm not sure what I'm doing the words don't come out and I get really shy, so everything just stood against me. I enjoyed doing the paperwork and I knew that wasn't my weakest thing.

So I think when I compiled all my work and saw where I was with some things, I realized that actually I need to try and make this phone call and see because if I cannot make that phone call then there's no point.

Even though I wasn't finished with a lot of things I think I faced my fear earlier than needed because that was the weakest part of me.

Stephanie: I wanted to ask about that because for most people I think that's the big fear, "Why would a landlord give their property to me?" and what am I going to say to the letting agent or when the landlord calls me, what am I going to say? But there's this sort of fear, but you overcame it.

Could you say anything else about that?

Temi: I remember the first week I tried making the phone calls and the first agent I spoke to - it was like going for an interview!

And he just kept asking me questions and he said, "I know what you’re doing." And I'd already checked his website and I knew he had the properties that I was interested in, four and five beds and I said, "Have you got anything at the moment?" He said "No! Why would I give my business to you?"

And I said, "No, no, no you're not going to give me your business”. So I tried explaining in my own little words, I can't remember what I said because already a felt a bit intimidated, I tried explaining to him that I'm just like a tenant but I need to get the consent of the landlord that this is what I'm going to be doing.

I just need the consent of landlord to say I'm going to rent each individual room out, but the rent is guaranteed. I tried to convince him and then later he said he didn’t have any properties. I said, "Oh I've checked your website and you've actually got a couple of properties that interest me."

He said, "Okay send me your letter." So I said "Okay I will send it." I think that day was the day we had the training assignment. I then made another phone call, that was a bit stressful I'll be honest, and I made it sound easier than it was and I think after, I felt like this is not for me.

So anyway I had another go and I called another letting agent and he said, “Okay we need to talk tomorrow”. It was a different world.

I met him the following day and he showed me round three properties but none of them were the model I wanted so I just told him no.

I think there was one property that actually interested me but when I got home and I did the deal analysis's, it wasn't going to make as much as I wanted.

Stephanie: And when you say it wasn't the model, what do you mean just so people understand?

Temi: My model at the moment is either at least four double rooms, or three bed with two reception rooms or three rooms including a small single with two receptions – then I could just leave the single as a study and take one of the reception rooms.

Stephanie: I love that you were so crystal clear on what you wanted so that you weren't going down rabbit holes, you just knew what you wanted.
So, tell us how many calls did you make to agents before you got the deal?

Temi: After meeting the guy that I didn't find any properties with, I went on Gumtree and I searched ‘landlord only’ adverts and I made another few phone calls and got rejected - they told me they didn’t want any agent they just want to do it themselves directly.

I made three phone calls during that week before I had the phone call from the second agent again, and they said I might like this property and that was it.

Stephanie: Okay great. And then tell us about the call where the magic happened?

Temi: I think I just called to check on him or something and he said, "oh yeah, I've got this property that I've not even put up yet if you want to come and have a look."

I went and had a look - it was in a student area and had four beds. It was three double upstairs and two reception downstairs. So already one of the receptions was made up to a room.

The landlord was managing it himself and he decided that he wanted to rent it as a whole house because he had a project coming up this year.

When I told him that it was what I wanted, but it was a bit higher than what I planned, I told him that I would send my offer in and then speak to the landlord.
So, he saw the offer and I think he spoke to the landlord then he said the landlord wanted to meet me.

I think that was the tough part! I went to meet the landlord and it was like another interview. He said there are other people that's come to me for the same proposal, and he kept asking me, “how are you going to guarantee my rent?”

I think he asked me seven times and I couldn't say more than what I was telling him, about the business model, and that I've got people that support me, and we do the referencing, etc.

I did try to convince him, and he said, "Okay just go for the second view, just go and view the property again with the agent and then come back with all the paperwork."

I went last week, and he was happy. I thought he was going to say no again, but then I spent another an hour with him and that was it.

Stephanie: That's fantastic. I think it's quite inspiring for people to see and certainly you've inspired me as well, to see how quick it can happen.
And that at the start you’re just thinking about getting your bank account and everything set up and within four weeks you've got your first deal it's all signed up and you’re ready to go.

What advice would you give to anyone who's thinking of going into rent to rent but like you, and certainly the same as I was when I started, is worried about speaking to the letting agents and all the contacts and people?

Temi: My main advice is to remember it's hard work and practice makes perfect. I would say I am learning I wouldn't even say I've learnt. I am learning and each step I've taken there's a new thing I've learnt so if I'm not taking these steps I wouldn't realize.

There will be a bit of distraction I would say, because it's early days and you don't want to feel it's the rent to rent that's not working, I think you just need to stay focused and understand the business and everything.

I want to learnt and the gain shouldn't be the money only.

Stephanie: You know sometimes I speak to people and they've been trying on their own, trying out different strategies for months or even years and they've not got a deal and they feel that it doesn't work.
So, I think it is inspiring that you've just taken it on. And it's not like you weren't scared.

Temi: I'm still scared.

Stephanie: Are you still scared? It's not like you weren't scared but you just went for it. And that's what I love about you Temi and you've really taken all the information that you've been given, and you've gone and done it. And like you said it's not about perfection it's about progression.

And it's the same for us, you said you're still learning, we're still learning as well, I'm still learning everyday as things come up that we haven't see before that we have to put right.

And it's amazing how much experience you get in quite a short period of time. Like you with your 4 weeks, we're in our 2 years and 8 months that we've been doing it and I just love it because it's so exciting, it’s so transformational and I get so much joy that you have got this deal.

And although you've said that the money's not important to you, I do want to say to people that you will make good money on this deal. It's only a four bed and you'll be making at least £400 a month because the way that we do the deal analysis is we put the void and the maintenance in there too.

We even put an amount for management costs even though we're self-managing because there are costs that come up, like gardening and cleaning and even after all of those costs Temi is still going to be make over £400 a month - so it's a fantastic deal.

I’m super proud of what you've achieved and if anybody has any question for Temi about how she got started or how you can get started or if you want any tips or advice from Temi just leave a comment below.

Is there anything you want to leave people with Temi, just before we sign off?

Temi: Another thing I would say is, the deal analysis check is really good and I would say use it because I tried using the number I had in my head and they were totally different, the check is really good and it's reassuring as well.

Stephanie: That is an absolutely fantastic point because I'm not so much a spreadsheet person, but I've become one through doing this. My sister and I would go and look at a property together and I would say to Nicky "I think we should offer X amount" and she would say "Well what you basing that on? Where's the analysis spreadsheet? How do you know that?"

And I would think why does she need to do an analysis spreadsheet? But then when you put it into the deal analysis spreadsheet you would get a totally different figure to what you thought.

And it also means that because it's got separate columns - the first column has the information that the landlord has given us and so we can work out broadly speaking what they're making at the moment.
Then we put in the next column what we would do, how we would do it and what we would pay and we look at how much we could give to the landlord and if it matches up to the net rent that he's currently getting.
It just means that when we make our offer, we can talk about it in the right way compared to what he's currently getting.

It's super helpful and we have the spreadsheets available to download here.

I do encourage you to use it because we get calls from people who've brought deals from deal sources and then it turns out it's nothing like what they were told and if they had put it in the deal analysis spreadsheet, you’d see straight away.

Is there anything else you’d like to add Temi?

Temi: I think I've said it all, staying focused as there's lot of distraction and it is worth it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for myself that this is just the beginning.

Stephanie: Absolutely. It will just be the beginning. Once you've got the first one up and running and you'll focus on this one and then get back on - then it's just rinse and repeat. Just keep doing it again and again.

It's about the mindset because like Temi was saying, you know we talk ourselves out of things or say that we can't do things in our heads, because that's just a human reaction to things.

But actually you can, if you can just keep your mind on track then the rest is relatively straight forward, like picking up the phone to people, it's writing a letter, it's sending an e-mail but your mind puts a barrier there.

Temi: I just remembered something that helped me as well, which was during the course. I got the book 'Go for no' and it just made me feel there's nothing wrong with failing.

I was thinking the more no’s I get, the more I can get closer to my yes and that's how I felt about those calls, they weren't easy but I just thought the more I'm feeling a bit rejected the more I'm getting closer to the one person that would say yes.

Stephanie: Yes, absolutely. That was a huge one for me as well because I used to be very shy and I think I'm basically an introvert.
But obviously being in this business and even in the business I had before, I've gradually started to come out of my shell and feel a lot less self-conscious and so on.

But 'Go for no' is a game changer.

Having that mindset where you put something that seems like a really negative thing and in your mind you turn it into a positive thing. And then that starts to make everything easier.

We will definitely invite you back on Temi again, when you have more deals to talk about in a few months’ time or maybe when you actually go through the process of getting your property ready and getting it tenanted because that's a story all on its own as well isn't it?

Has the property got tenants in it yet?

Temi: No.

Stephanie: No, so that's the more straight forward one.  Most of our properties have been empty but the last three have all had tenants in so I'll be saying a little more about that in future videos about how to take over the property when it's already got tenants in and transferring them across.

But, thank you so much for taking the time to come and just chat with us, I'm so, so happy and pleased for you.

Temi: Thank you, thank you. Thanks for the support it's been wonderful I would say.

Stephanie: That's how we want it to be. Such an inspiration.

If you've got any questions ask them in the comments below. Bye for now.

Temi: Bye, bye.

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

Stephanie & Nicky

Xx

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