Letting agency recommendation

sultal

Hello there,

I am considering renting my apartment via an agency. Picking an agency is the problem I am stuck with at the moment. Could someone please advice on/recommend a good one?

Thanks in advance, Alex.

athtrasna

Do you have a trusted friend or family member who could do it? Or consider letting it yourself. We used a big name letting agent first time and it cost us money, time and stress. Much easier not to use one in the long term.

Scortho

Where abouts are you?
Parents have used both Owen Reilly for the city centre and o Farrell Cleere for north co dublin.
In their own view it's worth the money as they don't have to worry about finding good tenants, showing the place to prospective tenants etc.
that said there are some really crap letting agents out there who will get the worst of tenants to get their commission so you'd need to get someone that's well recommended.
A good letting agent will get good tenants and a good tenant equals happy landlord.

sultal

Many thanks for replies to my thread. I live in Dublin city centre.
I would have let the apartment out myself, but I can't as I am being reallocated to a different country. Thought of selling doesn't appeal to me for obvious reasons.

Thanks again, Alex.

sultal

Could anyone else please recommend a good letting agent?

AfterHrsProp

A good letting agent could be worth its weight in gold. They should be able to find you a reliable tenant in a very short space of time. I would be surprised if they dont have a list of people on their books already looking for a place to rent like yours.

The best thing to do would be to ring around, see which one is the quickest in getting back to you with a list of propestive tenants available at a rent which justifies the quality of your place. Which one would be able to market/advertise/promote your property in the best way. Have a look at their websites, etc

There is no easy answer to finding a good one, I'm afraid you'll have to do your own research on this. What works for one landlord may be terrible for the next.

sultal

Thanks AfterHrsProp.

If only I could weigh each letting agent and see which one is worth its weight in gold.;)
The purpose of my thread is actually an attempt(not too successful at this stage) to narrow down the list of letting agents to research. There are so many of them and each, understandably, boasting they are the best in what they do.

Scortho

sultal wrote: »

Thanks AfterHrsProp.

If only I could weigh each letting agent and see which one is worth its weight in gold.;)
The purpose of my thread is actually an attempt(not too successful at this stage) to narrow down the list of letting agents to research. There are so many of them and each, understandably, boasting they are the best in what they do.

If its city centre I'd go with Owen Reilly. Just take a look at some of his ads. They're quality compared to some agents (thinking of one in scd that have the worst pictures going. They start with c.)
He is in docklands so you'd be looking at it, Law, acounting and financial professionals so all good tenants.
To give you a bit of background my parents have a car parking space on Hannover quay that wasn't being used by the new tenant. It was on the books of another agent for 6 months (I enjoyed free parking for 6 months!) and they weren't getting anyone for it. Owen Reilly had it let in a week at a slightly higher rate than the other letting agent had it on at.
For the record I have no links to either agent just good experiences.
http://www.owenreilly.ie/lettings/search2
http://touch.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?search=1&s[agent_id]=6498&s[p]=spwvsyxx

sultal

Scortho,

Many thanks for the detailed review of your experiences with Owen Reilly and the links! I'll be sure to check them out.

3DataModem

Fergal Hopkins in the Landsdowne Group.

leonidas83

.

AfterHrsProp

sultal wrote: »

Thanks AfterHrsProp.

If only I could weigh each letting agent and see which one is worth its weight in gold.;)
The purpose of my thread is actually an attempt(not too successful at this stage) to narrow down the list of letting agents to research. There are so many of them and each, understandably, boasting they are the best in what they do.

I know what you mean but I wouldnt really be posting here looking for the best one as its highly likely people with connections to various property firms will be advocating such and such even though if they may mightnt be right for your property.

The best things to remember when looking for an agent in my opinion are

1) Efficiency, how quickly they get back to you with fees, property potential, potential tenants etc.
2) Ideas they have for marketing/advertising your property in the right way
3) Website, is it a good one or has it just been thrown up, how popular is it, alexa may be a good website to use for determining this.
4) How the agent themselves come across, are they professional & friendly or arrogant & incompetent, could you see yourself building up a good working relationship with this person.
5) Knowledge, can they inform about potential pitfulls or potential opportunities with regard to your property. e.g. Do they know every property advertising for rent this year onwards must have a BER rating, etc.

Hope this helps

sultal

Thanks again AfterHrsProp, this should definitely help me.

Speaking of people with connections to various property firms posting in this thread and recommending them based on associations, I might be a sucker, but I still believe that the vast majority of people are good in heart. These good people wouldn't recommend a bad thing just because they are in some way associated with it.

Other thing that comes to mind is why would one waste his/her time on public forum questions if one knows the replies would be biased. Maybe I should call Ray D'Arcy show and this question, but then again the same people would crowd it with answers based on their connections.

Scortho

sultal wrote: »

Thanks again AfterHrsProp, this should definitely help me.

Speaking of people with connections to various property firms posting in this thread and recommending them based on associations, I might be a sucker, but I still believe that the vast majority of people are good in heart. These good people wouldn't recommend a bad thing just because they are in some way associated with it.

Other thing that comes to mind is why would one waste his/her time on public forum questions if one knows the replies would be biased. Maybe I should call Ray D'Arcy show and this question, but then again the same people would crowd it with answers based on their connections.

I can assure you I have no connections to any estate agent just good family experiences with them.
However I do understand where AfterHrsProp is coming from and you do need to do your work.

sultal

Scortho wrote: »

I can assure you I have no connections to any estate agent just good family experiences with them.
However I do understand where AfterHrsProp is coming from and you do need to do your work.

Scortho,

I never thought you do, really appreciate your help.