Why do people sell their HMOs?

I’ve visited well over 200 HMOs this year in every corner of the country (and Wales) from the South Coast to Barrow and Cardiff to Boston... That’s a lot of communal kitchens, a lot of empty pizza boxes, dozens of letting agents dropping key bundles at front doors trying to open up and my fair share of polite hellos to courteous non-English speaking tenants when they let me peer into their room. I’ve chatted and met scores of HMO landlords too from all walks of life, either just starting out, building a bigger portfolio or selling up... Here’s this year’s top ten HMO tips: 1. Choose a managing agent who ideally owns HMOs locally themselves 2. Don’t over leverage on a commercial re-mortgage 3. Base your room rates on appealing to the largest tenant base - your ‘boutique HMO’ doesn’t stay boutique for long and room rates will drop if you’re aiming for rents that are too high for the average in your area 4. Focus on solving a local housing need and providing accommodation ‘for the tenants’ and not ‘for yourself’ 5. Take your time going into business with someone as a JV or partner with your purchases - partner’s splitting is a very common reason why HMOs come to market 6. Don’t be afraid to pay a higher % per month for an experienced property manager - occupancy is key 7. Try and future proof your HMOs to cover yourself from changes to licensing/amenity standards 8. Look at tenant demographics where job security is maintained during pandemics! Construction, food production services, warehousing and distribution, healthcare, agriculture... 9. Don’t enter into R2R contracts lightly - you don’t have to rule them out altogether but they devalue your property while they are active which is an issue we come across weekly 10. If you rent your property to a social housing provider, make sure you still ‘manage’ them like you would a normal tenant with inspections and expectations