When Tola Abe and her husband struggled to raise the money to put down a deposit for a home, she looked for a company that offered a more flexible approach. She searched the market but not one company provided a solution to her needs. With the backing of an Angel Investor, Tola set up her own company ‘sMighty Home’, a service offering ‘out of the box’ solutions to the many housing problems experienced by first time home buyers. In this interview, Tola expands on the multiple services offered by her company like the ‘Rent to Buy’ scheme which will help many first time home buyers get on the property ladder. Read on to see just how sMighty Home could provide the answer to your own housing concerns.
sMighty Home is more than just a property or letting agency. You offer a very wide range of services to customers in the housing market. Can you explain what you offer and why you are different to other agencies?
sMighty Home is a specialist property management company that works with landlords, property investors and home buyers to find alternative but suitable solutions to any problem they have relating to property ownership. We are different from other property managers because of two unique products we offer.
(i) Guaranteed Rent Management Service
This is our all-inclusive property management service which protects landlords from the stress and costs associated with rental properties, as we take on the risk and responsibility of managing their properties.
Rent is guaranteed every month, so landlords don’t have to worry about late or missed rent or how to pay the mortgage during void periods.
If you are a landlord and you want to enjoy passive income from your rental properties without the usual stress and cost of repairs and maintenance, then this service is for you. The Guaranteed Rent illustration on our website shows how landlords can benefit from this service.
(ii) Rent-to-Buy Scheme
This is a scheme that helps first time home buyers who are struggling to get mortgage get on the property ladder. Benefits of our Rent-to-Buy scheme include:
- Future purchase price and rent are fixed for three to four years so the tenant pays the fixed agreed purchase price when they are in a position to get a mortgage rather than the appreciated value of the property.
- Tenants are free to update their homes and they benefit from any future capital appreciation.
- Rent-to-Buy is not a shared ownership scheme. Tenants own their homes 100% when they get a mortgage to complete on the purchase.
- Tenants have the opportunity to build up equity in their homes before they even get a mortgage.
- They can sell their right to buy their home if they choose to and they benefit from any future capital appreciation.
The rent to buy scheme seems an excellent solution to the housing situation at the moment. Is this a popular service and what kind of customers are opting for this service?
Rent-to-Buy Home Ownership Scheme is a financially sensible solution that is popular with first time home buyers. Without it, they would constantly be playing ‘catch-up’ with property prices as house prices usually rise faster than their savings.
With our ‘Rent Now, Buy Later’ model of home ownership, the purchase price of the homes are fixed for three or four years and tenants will pay the fixed, agreed purchase price, no matter how much the property has appreciated when they get mortgage to buy their home.
- The scheme was designed to help the following group of people who can afford to pay rent monthly but can’t get a mortgage:
- Young people struggling to raise deposit to get a mortgage
- Tenants who are tired of paying ‘dead rent’
- Legal immigrants who are new in the country
- People who need time to improve your credit rating
You say that ‘one size does not fit all’ in the housing market. How are you able to offer such individual, tailored services?
We have flexible terms on most of our properties hence we are able to customise our Rent-to-Buy Scheme to meet individual needs and circumstances of tenants.
Are you only active in North Kent?
We currently cover areas within South East and Greater London Councils of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth & Southwark as well as Kent County areas of Dartford and Gravesham, however, we plan to make the scheme available all over the country.
How did you get involved in the housing sector?
I became interested in the housing sector because of the difficulty my husband and I had in 2003 when we were trying to get a mortgage to buy our first home. The problem we had raising deposit got me thinking and researching into different models of home ownership and I found Rent-to-Buy Home Ownership, which is commonly used in Australia and America to be the ideal solution for first time home buyers who can afford to pay rent but can’t get a mortgage.
Do you see a brighter future for the housing sector and the prospects of sMighty Home?
With rising property prices, rising cost of living and people having less disposable income; saving enough deposit to get a mortgage would continue to be an issue for thousands of young people trying to get on the property ladder, so I see a very bright and busy future for sMighty Home.
For more on sMighty Home contact: http://contact@smightyhome.co.uk