Hands off management?

[Festival]

Hello,

We're contemplating buying a flat in Edinburgh to use for holiday lets. We'd use it ourselves for the odd unbooked weekend every two or three months, so we could get on top of small niggles then. We live a couple of hours drive away, and couldn't be driving to Edinburgh every time there's a problem in between.

Is it realistic to think we can hand the day to day management over to someone else and still cover our costs? I have a background in online marketing, so could probably drive bookings with a website, but we'll still need to find a cleaner and a handy man.

I've read (on these boards) that you need to check with your insurers before using a keysafe; would putting one outside a block of flats affect the insurance of other residents?

Can anyone advise what we need to think of for the choice of property?
On another thread, someone said 3 beds generally performed better. Does that hold for city breaks?
We're favouring a central location vs a quiet one. Both together seems hard to find
Private parking is rare in central areas, so it probably wouldn't have its own parking space.
What end of the market is most profitable? Would a cheap and basic place likely earn its keep better than a larger and more expensive place?

Thanks all,
Simon

[marsh frog]

We live about 90 minutes drive from our 2 bed let on the south coast.

We are popular with weekend breaks too and cant justify doing our own changeovers due to petrol costs and sometimes we have 2 lets in one week.

You need to find someone very reliable, that goes without saying. Ours is a small company that looks after holiday lets. They have never let us down due to ill health as there are enough people to cover. They charge us an additional £20 per month for guest call outs.It's well worth the money! We give guests their number as first port of call and its invaluable.

Not sure about the keysafe outside flats query. The company we bought ours from fitted it themselves too which can help if there are any insurance claims.

Parking is tricky. If you dont have a parking space check out alternative parking and the potential cost.This might put people off if it is too expensive.

2 bed v 3 bed? Not sure. We do let very very well in our 2 bed as it attracts couples only which is a huge part of our market - as are dog owners.

[delilah]

Hi, I would check out the competition and see what gets booked up re 2 or 3 bedrooms. I am an hour away from ours and am fortunate in that i found a lady who runs a holiday lettings service. It's just her, although she can provide cover if necessary. She offers cleaning, contacts guest in the week before the visit to give the key code and make sure they have her number (i have usually emailed these by then, but it's a double check thing), takes the linen to be laundered, provides the tea, coffee starter, a loo roll per loo, flowers, milk, and offers to be on call 24/7 for problems. I pay her £90 for a changeover for a 3 bedroom property and the linen usually comes to about £40. She is worth her weight in gold. She originally quoted £60 for the cleaning, but i knew how long it took, so i asked her to make an assessment she was happy with and we arrived at £90. I wanted her to have the time and money to really check every appliance, cutlery, crockery etc so that it was immaculate.Maybe i could get it cheaper, but she is my king pin and I would really be in a muddle without her!
I wonder if you have something similar. I did put in time at the beginning to show her exactly how i wanted things done, beds set out etc. Her husband is a handyman and he does odd jobs there for me.
I think it can work if you find the right person. I have factored in these costs and know what the profit margins are. I don't have any experience of using an agent, but i'm sure lots of people here have. Good luck

[Hells Bells]

If the property is within reasonable taxi distance of Waverley and the airport I wouldn't worry too much about parking. I was astounded how reasonably priced taxis are in Edinburgh in comparison to NE England. We won't drive to Edinburgh in future, it was much easier to take the train up.

[tavi]

I discovered, without really planning, that there's a great niche market for sleeps 2 - just google the fabulous places designed for 2 (and sometimes a babe or child). Would have thought that for a city - especially a place like Edinburgh - the same would apply.

My market is obviously totally different but, even in a beach holiday place which is fantastic for families, I have couples all year round. We originally planned to accommodate 4 but found we could fill our bookings with couples which was great - less wear and tear. So now we won't even consider more than two guests. In fact my apartment is more comfortable for two - 4 would be a squash.

Location is the other (or maybe the most?) important thing. If it were me, I'd be looking for a one bedroom in a really central location, with a view of the city/castle/hills? One bedroom also means lower changeover/running costs.

Agree with Helen, parking probably not so important for city visitors.

Good luck - sounds fun - I love Edinburgh.

[MaggieP]

I've had a quick look at the Sykes website (we are with Sykes) and they have a sleeps 4 and sleeps 6 that both have no parking and are pretty booked up.

As for being away from your let, well at least you are in the same country and could drive over if it was a huge emergency. We are in another country and manage but we pay well and have reliable people to help

Good luck

Maggie