Franchising property opportunity

Last month, my DH and I attended a very interesting presentation by Platinum Property Partners. You can look them up to see exactly what they do. Suffice to say it was a thorough and detailed presentation on the benefits of growing a property business on the HMO model. There were people present who had sunk a lot of money (theirs and other people's) into property, and after a lot of hard work and courage, were now making very good money. Platinum prides itself on the standard of HMO housing offered. They believe in offering high quality 'beautiful' accommodation, for discerning, professional clients. We looked around one of the properties owned by a PPP landlord, and saw for ourselves the high standard achieved. It was impressive! 

Each bedroom had an ensuite bathroom, the decor was to a very high standard and the fittings, fixtures and furniture were hard wearing and attractive. The systems for advertising, renting and managing the property were all part of the PPP package and so for the new landlord who has no prior knowledge, this sounded like  an excellent franchise. For that is what it is. A franchise opportunity. However, the initial cost of £130000 was rather steep for us, and the additional costs also put us off!

For those without the experience, and with the money I'm sure PPP offers a fantastic leap into the deep end of the HMO property ownership swimming pool, but with the benefit of well-inflated water wings provided by the PPP organisation.

by being a property investor

One of the drawbacks of being a franchise partner is that you commit to developing properties within a certain geographic location. Many franchises operate this rule - there are only so many Avon reps any town can cope with!! That's why franchisors usually force franchisees to limit the area within which they operate.  It is no different with PPP. And that was another one of our concerns. What if we saw a fantastic opportunity a few miles outside of our agreed geographic location? We were led to understand that PPP would not support us buying a property like this outside of our agreed area. The difference between a lipstick business and a property business is that one is successful if high volumes of sales are generated; the other is successful if high yields are generated. While it is possible to generate high yields in the same geographic location, one of the skills of the property investor is to be able to take advantage of  opportunities presented wherever they appear. 

Another is always to be made up and look good (Avon, here I come) ...

So for us, the PPP model was fascinating and worthwhile but not something we felt we could invest in. In the memorable words of a certain Mr Bannatyne ' I'm out'!