letting agent owners - help?

[anonymous]

Do you currently have client's and are they happy? If they are, that's good. If they aren't you need to work on improving your service.

At first glance, I think that your problem is too high of overhead for a company just starting off. You have two people to pay (you and your dad), an office, and all the other overhead, which is quite a bit for a company that doesn't have secured clients. It would have been wiser to start slowly. You guys could have worked your old job until you built up a client base. You could have had worked from your home until you had enough clients to support an office. You could have let your business grow by word of mouth and minimal advertising rather than invest in all the hype of paid advertising.

One thing to know about a property management company is that you need many property owners to make a living doing it because most clients that will hire a manager only have a few rental properties. The property owners with many units have in house management. Think about how much you make per unit. It's probably only a couple thousand a year with placement fees and service fees. Now, figure out your overhead cost plus the salary you and your father want/need to make. Divide your overhead & labor costs by the average income per unit. This is how many units you will need to be profitable. This client base will not happen overnight.

So, at this point, look to cut costs. Limit your overhead. If you or your father can work on the side, that will help stop the bleeding. You need a quality product and time to grow. When you invest so much money into the project, you have a very short period of time to develop your business before you go broke.

Go luck and keep your head up.