Moving forward with MTM
With its foundations firmly established in the student lettings market, MTM are now building an impressive sales portfolio. Latest Homes reports
MTM started as a student letting company back in 2004 and this year celebrated its tenth birthday in April. Over those years the company, managed by Leon Mepham and managing director Toby Hamilton, has specialised in student letting. Toby was originally a landlord who worked as a recruitment consultant in the City of London. Back then he had always done his own management and thought that he could help other people let their property in a way that landlords would like.
Leon joined one year later having met Toby when he was one of his tenants. Both Brighton University graduates, they knew that their experiences as student tenants combined with Toby’s experience as a landlord would put them in a great position to offer a professional and progressive service.
Starting as a business fully focused on student accommodation meant that they very quickly became well known within the student community as an agency that provided a good and reliable service and those services were soon listed by the city’s universities.
That area of business has built and built over the last ten years and has provided the company with a very sure footing in the market. But now they have decided it is time to broaden their market and expand – and of course the natural place to expand into is the area of sales.
“Moving into sales we are uniquely positioned to sell properties that are ideally suited to the student market,” says Leon, “but not just that kind of property – any property across the market and across the city. Already, we have bought and sold residential properties for clients. Right now the market is very buoyant, prices are increasing and properties sell very quickly with offers coming in very fast and sales following at speed too.”
With a newsletter that goes to around 1,000 landlords MTM are uniquely positioned to sell within that market, targeting people actively investing in portfolio properties (both existing landlords and people wishing to create a new portfolio), small investors looking for one or two properties to let and create a steady income to those wanting to create a far more expansive business portfolio.
“We have a huge number of investment properties, nearly 100 properties ideally suited to the landlord market in a field that our letting business makes us ideally suited to represent.”
This expansion into sales does not mean that they are moving away from lettings, far from it. “We spend a lot of time ensuring that the properties we represent are of a high standard.
We make sure that we advise our landlords to invest in keeping a property looking good which in turn protects both their income and their investment. It is massively important that we do this, a well looked after property will command a level of respect from a tenant that will maintain its market value both in the short term as a revenue source but also in the long term as an investment.
“We are a large team of 15 full-time staff and four part-time and our part-timers have all been student tenants. We may appear to be staff-rich and that is because we believe in giving the very best possible service. Our busy season runs from June to October with an average of 2,000 students moving out of properties and 2,000 moving in.
“We are very aware that we are not the cheapest service available in the city but we do believe that we give a great value for a realistic fee, a full and proper service which in the long-term has to offer better value than something priced as a bargain.
“It is also massively important as a lettings agency that we stay fully up to date with current property legislation. Right now there are massive changes in the field of Houses in Multiple Occupation, HMOs. HMO licensing has played a big part in what we do. There are a finite number of properties that have these licenses and those that do can be £30,000 more valuable than a property without that license. Right now the number of licenses is a constant with very few rooms being added.
A landlord cannot currently buy a house and convert it to a HMO very easily. An HMO license lasts five years but this could very easily change again and we need to make sure that we keep abreast of all of these changes in status and law.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve and evolve as a business. We pay a lot attention to this and listen to our staff in all three of our departments: accounts; lettings and sales; and admin. Each landlord has a person in each department allocated to them, so they will always know who they are talking to. It is a system that works well and we have very few landlords who leave our service.
“When it comes to maintenance we use a collection of good service providers that we have come to trust, good contractors that we have been using for years. Both Toby and I are landlords so we have an inside track on what is required to maximise income potential and protect the value of an investment property. We believe that constant improvement helps to maximise the potential of and investment and we are experienced property business advisors. We also believe in constant training for our staff and that we need to belong to all of the appropriate business organisations from membership of UK ARLA, NLA and the Property Ombudsmen Scheme.
“Above all we believe in transparency, being open about the way we do business for both landlords and tenants, vendors and buyers. We would also like to be active in the world of charity fundraising. We support The Rockinghorse appeal as well as others and we always involve our team in making those decisions. Recently Toby ran the Brighton and London marathons in consecutive weeks and we all take part in local action team activities.
“We also engage with social media with a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We have learnt just how important this can be to a growing business – and with people of all generations!”
“Property is still the best investment and pension, and as a company MTM is well positioned to advise on this – for first time buyers to experienced property portfolio investors. And our remit is to cover Brighton and Hove from border to border, offering the very best service in both sales and lettings.”
MTM are offering an industry revolutionising FIXED RATE
on all sales. Sell your property for £995 + VAT*AND 6 months FREE management when taking up a 12 month fully managed or part managed contract (standard fees at 12% and 10% respectively)
Call one of our advisors to discuss how MTM can help you achieve your potential
*terms apply
Redvers Road
This property was originally a traditional two bedroom terrace Victorian house but has since been reconfigured to a three bedroom student house. Generating a strong rent of £1,456pcm and fully licensed under the local small HMO scheme, it stood out as an ideal buy-to-let investment opportunity, particularly as it is located close to Lewes Road and the Universities. We marketed this property to our large investment client-base and within just a few days of coming to market had received several offers and a sale has now been agreed. The vendor was impressed at both the level of interest and price we achieved.
Sackville Road
This quality two bedroom top floor flat forms part of a converted building containing three flats. This property was most suited to first-time buyers, with the added benefit of vacant possession.
Through our wide-ranging marketing efforts, we sourced two ideal first-time buyers for the property and after receiving offers, the vendor had agreed a sale within just a fortnight of coming to market.
The sale is ongoing and expected to complete within just a few weeks. The buyers are excited to be moving into their first home and this interest from first-time buyers shows how the market is improving from the bottom up. The vendor lives in Malaysia and has benefitted from being able to Skype with our staff throughout.
MTM, 108a Lewes Rd,
Brighton and Hove,
Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 4AE
01273 645797
Info@mtmpropety.co.uk
www.mtmproperty.co.uk
