Frequently Asked Questions
Please click on a question title from the list below to read the answer...
- 1. Is there room for another Company dealing just with Residential Lettings?
- 2. What does this mean to me?
- 3. How hard is it to get Landlords onboard?
- 4. What's the competition like?
- 5. What type of person is perfect for this business? Do I need property related experience?
- 6. Can I really earn over £100,000 a year?
- 7. What support structure to you have in place?
- 8. How does your training and systems compare to other Franchise organisations?
- 9. How much is the Franchise fee?
- 10. What does the Franchise fee include?
- 11. Do I have to pay a monthly management fee?
- 12. How long does it take to get back my Franchise fee? And are there other opportunities for me to earn additional income?
- 13. What are the typical working hours/week?
- 14. What is the guarantee that my business will be successful?
- 15. What is so special about the LET-system? And what training and support is provided?
- 16. What about financing and setting up suitable premises? I thought High Street Offices were expensive?
- 17. Will my territory be exclusive? What are the opportunities for growth?
1. Is there room for another Company dealing just with Residential Lettings?
The UK property market is huge and the trend for residential letting has been booming in recent years with many more Landlords jumping on the Buy-To-Let bandwagon. This upward trend looks set to continue for the coming years.
In most large cities in the UK there are 100s of Estate and Letting Agencies. The underlying reality is that very few of these agencies are efficient at the job - they simply are not pro-active enough and lack the business systems to optimise their performance.
The URBANLET LET-system and commitment to excellence set up apart from the crowd. That is why the business has grown from zero to three offices in the last three years (in a thriving and competitive market-place.)
2. What does this mean to me?
URBANLET will be providing you with the very best systems and techniques available which will enable you to make a real impact in your chosen area from day one.
All you need is some training to use the LET-system, some marketing effort and the right attitude to succeed. Just imagine for a moment what you could achieve over the next 5 years?
3. How hard is it to get Landlords onboard?
URBANLET have developed highly effective ways of recruiting new Landlords - we'll show you how by using some simple telephone techniques you can recruit new Landlords and market their property(s) for them. They will be happy to pay for the excellent service you'll provide them with.
In addition we'll work with you from the outset to ensure you have a comprehensive marketing plan and create an office launch tailored to your needs. If you follow our existing tried and tested procedures, we know you will be successful.
4. What's the competition like?
There are very few specialist Residential Lettings Agencies in the franchise market at present - and this is a gap that URBANLET are well positioned to address.
URBANLET have demonstrated the viability of operating in the Residential Lettings marketplace and invested in and developed the specialised systems to ensure all our future Franchisees will be well positioned to succeed in their chosen location. And because we are just launching, this is your ideal opportunity to take our winning systems and marketing knowledge into some of the most lucrative property markets in the UK. However, please don't delay as this superb business opportunity has already attracted a lot of interest and will sell out fast!
5. What type of person is perfect for this business? Do I need property related experience?
While we welcome applications from people with estate agency or lettings experience, we also recognise that many motivated business people are perfect for this business. This is because we provide all the systems and training required to run a successful URBANLET operation.
We are however very selective about the people we take on board. Why? Simply because our success is directly related to your success.
We know that the ability to earn a substantial six-figure income is enough to raise substantial interest from most people reading this website. However, not everyone is right for this business - therefore we can't afford to accept just anyone. For starters, you need to display the following attributes or we simply can't consider you...
- Are highly motivated
- Have good business acumen
- Are proactive and sales driven
- Have excellent interpersonal skills
- Have a good standard of education and presentation
- Are computer literate
- Have the drive, desire and ambition to be the best and build a highly profitable business!
6. Can I really earn over £100,000 a year?
Yes you can. It may sound hard to believe, but put simply one new deal each week will bring in sufficient funds to pay you well. As you take on additional Negotiators and even develop additional offices, you'll see you can easily earn this amount of money and more.
But don't for one minute think that it's a "walk in the park". You still have to earn your money! You do have to put the effort in, but because our systems are so detailed and straightforward you work smarter - not harder.
7. What support structure to you have in place?
We believe that the support structure of any Franchise organisation is one of the most important aspects of running a successful Franchise.
You have to know that you'll never be left alone to "get on with it". Of course, our training is so detailed you won't need constant supervision, but you will need help from time to time.
That's why we have a structure in place that ensures your success...
Teamwork is essential to the success of URBANLET and we want to ensure that our Franchisees feel that they are running their own successful business and are an integral part of a large successful Team. The support structure in place will ensure you're well supported by regular team meetings, conference calls, e-mail support for the LET-system and our dedicated Franchisee website.
We guarantee you'll never feel alone. You'll be comforted in the knowledge that we place huge value on supporting you and all our other colleagues.
8. How do your training and systems compare to other Franchise organisations?
We truly believe that our LET-system, coupled with our detailed training procedures, manuals, and our systematic business philosophy will put you well on your way to developing a highly successful business. We believe we offer the best training available in the industry today.
With a-b-c type, step-by-step instructions, and attention to detail that will stagger you; we know we can develop you well on the way to becoming a true expert in the Residential Lettings field in just 5 days flat.
We don't accept everyone as Franchisees, but those who qualify already have the basic skills - we just give them the tools of our trade!
9. How much is the Franchise fee?
The Franchise fee is just £19,977 + VAT for a single office. The minimum total investment (including the franchise fee) is likely to be in the region of £45,000 to allow for all premises, set-up, office fitting and lease vehicle. . Few, if any franchises offer the combination of excellent return on investment and job satisfaction of URBANLET.
10. What does the Franchise fee include?
Your franchise fee includes:
- Initial Marketing costs (sign-up to web portals)
- Initial supply of business cards and letter heads etc...
- Your own dedicated URBANLET website
- LET-system license fee (worth £5,500.00) - the on-going LET-system fee is just £100 per user per month
- Initial supply of URBANLET "To Let" boards
- The URBANLET livery for your vehicle
- Marketing materials and local PR launch
In addition to the above, we also provide you with assistance in securing appropriate premises, securing funding, all training, assistance with the office launch and all future support including assistance with staff recruitment when needed.
NOTE - Many other Franchise offerings charge a fee, but the fee doesn't include any of the marketing spend included in the URBANLET Franchise fee. Therefore, if you are "shopping around" for a Franchise, be sure you are comparing like-with-like.
11. Do I have to pay a monthly management fee?
Once you have paid your initial Franchise fee you do not have to pay anything else (apart from the monthly LET-system license fee of just £100.00 per user) until you have negotiated your first deals. All on-going payments you make are based on the success of your business. If you do not make money (not that this will happen!), then neither do we!
On a monthly basis you will be invoiced for a Management Services Fee of 11% on commission and fee income, this is worked out on information you provide us about your deals in the preceding month. Much of this information will be automatically prepared by the LET-system again keeping your administration to a minimum.
12. How long does it take to get back my Franchise fee? And are there other opportunities for me to earn additional income?
Unlike many other Franchise opportunities we've set the fee at a level where we know 99% of our Franchisees will have earned more than double the amount in their first year.
As you will notice from the information contained on this website we have concentrated exclusively on the income you can generate by receiving commissions for successfully letting properties. There is a second and third "string to the bow" that we also want you to benefit from in the longer-term and that is the on-going management and cleaning & maintenance of properties.
Many Landlords simply do not have the time or in many cases the inclination to manage the day-to-day aspects of the rent collection and on-going maintenance of their property portfolio, and this is an aspect that can, over time, amount to a considerable additional income stream.
However, our experience has shown that this aspect of the operation can take up a considerable amount of time and effort. Therefore, in the short-term we consider this aspect of the operation is best handled centrally at Head Office. This then frees you up to concentrate on the core aspect of the business, namely the letting of properties.
Once you have been trading successfully for 6-12 months, and have taken on additional resources to assist with this core task, then we will provide you with the tools and the information to take over the day-to-day Management of the properties you have introduced that require the on-going management option.
Further opportunities such as the setting up of a property cleaning and maintenance company also exist. However, we think a staggered approach will help to ensure the success of the business and these additional income opportunities can be added in a structured manner as your URBANLET business grows. It makes good business sense not to try and "run before you can walk."
13. What are the typical working hours/week?
40-50 hours or less, but some of these may be later in the working day than you may be used to.
14. What is the guarantee that my business will be successful?
We are so confident of this claim that we 100% GUARANTEE that should you fail to earn your Franchise Fee back within the first year of operation we will make up the difference!
15. What is so special about the LET-system? and what training and support is provided?
The "corner stone" of the URBANLET business is the bespoke LET-system that has been specially developed by URBANLET.
The LET-system software is web-based, this means that provided you have access to the internet and the necessary passwords to gain access to the LET-system, you can operate your business from ANYWHERE!
The LET-system greatly reduces the amount of administration you will need to undertake. Once you have entered the details of the Landlord, their property and the Tenants into the LET-system, it will produce all the necessary documents automatically for you, such as:
- Tenancy agreement - A full document with all the various legal sections populated with the correct data (no need for you to manually type up each Tenancy Agreement - saving a huge amount of time and drastically reducing the possibility for errors)
- Statement for the Tenant detailing the amount they will need to pay before they can move into the property - the statement includes additional fees you can charge etc - further boosting your income potential
- Statement for the Landlord detailing the amount of commission charged - the statement includes additional fees you can charge etc - further boosting your income potential
You will also upload the photographs of the property onto the LET-system - and the LET-system will then automatically upload these photographs directly to your website which we also provide for you.
The LET-system truly is a fantastic tool that will provide you with a real advantage over the competition. And because it is so powerful, we will spend a considerable amount of time training you on how to use it and demonstrating all the benefits. However, don't think you need to be a computer genius to work it, as it has been designed to be very simple to use. If you can use word processing software, then you will be able to use the LET-system.
There is a dedicated LET-system User Manual (both in hard copy and on-line.) We also provide all franchisees with dedicated telephone help-desk and e-mail support.
16. What about finding and setting up suitable premises? I thought High Street Offices were expensive?
Typically you will look to set up your URBANLET franchise in a large town or city near to where you live. This will assist you, as you will already know the local area well.
You will NOT need to set-up in an expensive high street location - a secondary location works just as well for this business - you could also look to share an existing office with another company. We will give you very specific instructions on the suitable types of premises and will be pleased to assist you in securing them.
17. Will my territory be exclusive? What are the opportunities for growth?
Yes you will be the sole URBANLET operator within a chosen area, which will be defined by postcode and road boundaries.
The nature of this business in large urban areas means there is potential for a number of Franchisees to be successful, (each of our existing offices is based no more than two miles from each other and there is still very little overlap.)
In larger cities such as London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol etc etc there is room for many URBANLET offices. You will have the opportunity to develop further offices (subject to availability) should you choose to continue investing.
The full potential for growth will obviously depend on the demographics of your chosen area, and your ability to execute our market leading systems. We will be happy to discuss the opportunity for growth in your area if you qualify to meet with us face-to-face.
If you like what you've read, why don't you contact us to arrange a FREE No Obligation Meeting. Phone us at 0845 225 4444, or complete the online enquiry form by clicking here.
Alternatively take a moment to sign up to our free 2 part mini-course...
