How can you make money from property without owning any?
When looking for a new income stream or sidehustle, many people think about property as a potential option. After all, if purchased in a desirable area, owning an income generating (through rentals) asset – which is steadily appreciating is a perfect combination. Right?
All true, but a significant barrier in the property market for a lot of early stage entrepreneurs is the cost of entry to this asset class. Finding a deposit for a house, which then may need some renovation, not to mention the cost and obligation of a mortgage can be an insurmountable barrier for many people – and this rich asset class is dismissed as quickly as it has been considered.
Whilst buying a property can involve a significant up front investment, there are many way to generate an income stream for an enterprising entrepreneur without actually buying a property.
In a recent blog post, we shared how to make money from what you already know by applying skills you already have. In this post, I will share three ways to make money from property, without actually owning any property at all. These approaches leverage transferable skills that can be used for other business ventures too. All approaches involve identifying and then delivering a value added service to property owners and landlords.
The first idea is to develop expertise and provide a service which identifies, shortlists and references new prospective tenants to domestic landlords. Think of it as a “landlord & tenant matchmaking service”.
This works particularly well where a landlord has subdivided a residential property into a shared/communal living environment. Finding good new tenants is an ongoing and time consuming challenge for landlords and if you can build the necessary skills and experience in this domain there will be a market for these essential services. In this example you are acting as a value added intermediary and if you deliver consistent, quality work there will always be a market for these services.
Providing this service requires:-
- good organisation skills
- good communication skills
- good customer relationship management skills
- basic knowledge of marketing (to find and build a list of prospective tenants & landlords)
Secondly, when landlords are moving new people into their properties there is always work to be done in getting the room or property ready to rent again. This can include redecorating, replacing damaged furniture & fittings and cleaning a room or property to a professional standard.
Now you could undertake to do all of these things yourself, but you don’t have to!
Providing a “do it yourself” service requires:-
- DIY / repair skills (painting, cleaning, fixing things)
OR – you could rather develop and provide a “managed service” to landlords which coordinates these necessary activities and then add a margin for your work. In this example you are acting as a coordinator and project/resource manager. If you can do this work and still make a margin for your own services this will be valued by the right customers.
Providing a managed service requires:-
- good project management skills
- good negotiation skills
- basic business development skills
The third idea is to provide a service to identify and shortlist new properties which prospective investors maybe interested in purchasing.
Here you will need to understand a specific market in detail first – for example the shared living residential market described above – but once you do, investors will seek you out if you can shortlist their search for a new property purchase and refurbishment project. This work is a business development and growth role where you could charge commissions for finding the right type of investment opportunities and then working with the purchaser to secure a successful purchase. This could be an ideal part-time sidehustle if you have an interest in the property market in your area – you would need to double check local laws however to see if providing such a service requires an estate agent or “broker’s” license.
Providing a managed service requires:-
- good business development skills
- good negotiation skills
- a good “eye” for a deal
It doesn’t matter what industry you have previously worked in, if you have the skills outlined above or you are willing to develop them, you could consider leveraging them to these ideas in order to make money from property, without ever owning any!
