Could you help me to expand my business?

About a year ago I moved to Spain and I needed something to do. I decided to try holiday lettings - but as I had never done it before I wanted to start slowly and see how things developed. I decided to take one property on. Looking at my competitors I charged the owner 325 euros for full management which included advertising the property, property check, meeting and greeting guests etc etc. To be honest I advertised the property on holiday lettings co uk which cost £300 for a year but they provided 9 lettings over the busy summer period.
To make extra income I cleaned the property and did a couple of airport runs. I met the owner again last week and she was delighted, after paying her bills she estimated she made 1200 euros profit which exceeded her expectations and begged me to carry on.
I have now got a good grounding for property management and its something I like to expand. My income was around £1400 which included a charge of 15% per rental, property cleans and the odd airport run. My logic suggests if I can obtain 10 rental properties and if the average out the same income I should make around £14000 which will be more than sufficient for me.

However I dont want to continue with airport runs - so I will expect my income to be a little less

So I have been wondering how I should promote myself to get another 9 properties on. I want to be able to say to prospective owners that my upfront management charge really goes towards advertising their properties and I will earn my income from looking after their properties and a small percentage of their rental incomes.

This is a very different approach than my competitors who charge a much higher annual fee and a higher rental percentage - they all say they advertise properties but its only usually on their own websites.

So if anyone out there can come up with something that I can put in a newspaper advert that sums up what I want to explain I would be very grateful

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Where are you?

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Are you operating legally, paying tax and NI because if you had been paying the required €300 per month you would have lost money on this basis

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 upfront management charges are so cool.

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You have also not mentioned that as you are operating a 'taxi' service (airport runs) if you have the equilivent of 'hire and reward' insurance on your car and also charge and pay IVA/VAT.

If you are not a limited company and hold keys for a property this will invalidate their property insurance especially for contents.

Maybe this is why the established businesses charge much more as they are strictly tax legal.

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You have been doing paid airport runs?

Taxi license? Insured to operate as a taxi?

The other points on Social Security and tax are also relevant.

Obviously, if you operate illegally, you can under-cut legal businesses... until you get caught, and you will.

 

 

 

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Actually steone your last statement regarding a limited company  isn't correct as you don't have to be an SL company, just legal and registered, I know as I operate a property management business and deal with the insurance companies on a regular basis, especially after the recent damages after the heavy rains

When recently we had a do the Denouncia with the Police after a break in they wanted copy of my contract with the customer

We do however have our own PI insurance cover

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My appologies to you, inspectahomespain, but it was for  the sake of brevity that I stated a 'limited company'. Of course any legal business is allowed (by insurance companies) to hold keys.

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Jeez guys he's never asking for help again is he .comes on here and gets slaughtered .

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 No wonder he hasn't added any details on his profile! bet he doesn't write on this forum again.

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Well to be honest, l assumed when l read the original post, that he was a troll. Why would someone come on here, tell us all he's operating under the radar, and ask for help promoting his business?

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I've no idea whether or not "livingthedream" is a troll, but the general responses did make me chuckle.

Why is it that the brits nearly always tend to "pull the rug" on any money-making idea by shooting first and asking questions later? (definitely guilty your honour.. lets hang the b*****d out to dry)

If only people focussed more on their own businesses instead of curtain-twitching.

I got the impression the OP may have retired a bit too early and it seemed that making money may not have actually been his top priority. 

ps - what was that about having to pay 300 euro a month tax/NI, don't they use any allowances in spain? I'm obviously comparing to UK where 1400 would be unlikely to attract tax for the majority of people in his position (just self-employed NI contributions which are so low it wouldn't make much difference).

Ok, so now you've spat out your warm vegetable soup and kicked the calor gas heater in temper ... relax, open your minds.. enjoy.. don't be bitter because when you're dead you'll be dead for a very long time   ;-)

 

This message was last edited by growler on 03/11/2012.

This message was last edited by growler on 03/11/2012.

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Growler

                              if living the dream wants to do something useful and legal he could try being a volunteer helping others, as I have been for over 15 years.

 

Don't assume all OP's  are all miserable b-------ds

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Growler - to register as self-employed (or sole trader), known as autonomo in Spain, there is a basic payment of €330 (or thereabouts), which is not the same as but could be described as equivalent to NI payments in the UK. That is payable whether or not you earn a single penny that month. Then there's tax. And no, there is no tax-free allowance as l understand it (might be wrong).

I agree that the implication in the OP is that he wasn't really setting up seriously as a business, just earning a bit of spending money. But that doesn't mean it can be under the radar. Earning money as a sole trader, whether regularly or casually, os earning money. It needs to be recorded and taxed. Other people pay tax, why should some not bother?

Yes we have no proof that the OP is under the radar. But he has not come back to say "Get off my back, of course l'm paying my autonomo fees and my taxes and of course l have a taxi licence".

Or did l miss that post?

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We know absolutely loads of Spaniards earning, paying no tax, doing their couple of weeks 'paro' for the council.... so this person isn't any different.  They've just gone native.

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Good for you elaine!!! but I think you may be getting your OP's mixed up with OAPs?  (OP = original poster)

Thanks tamara for explaining the tax, well there you go then, I'm no economist but to start off with a blanket 300pm across the board just has to be about the most counterproductive thing in terms of encouraging startup businesses or entrepreneurs to take the bull by the horns and attempt to activate a stagnant or backward ecomomy!

I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I'd find it difficult to build an argument for paying taxes from zero level, simply because I don't see any logic in such a system. 

I also see a few people dissing those 'dodgy' airport runs. To that I'd say it takes two to tango and I've never yet seen a paying passenger being dragged into a car against their will. Would I pay €120 for a "legal" round trip when I can get a neighbour to do it for €40 or €50? No I wouldn't..... so let him/her who is without sin cast the first stone!

 

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The other thing that people do not realise is that there is a zero threshold on IVA so you have to charge on all transactions at 21% and then pay the accountant for the privilege of doing the quarterly return

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 Growler - I completely agree with you that the monthly autonomo fee is stifling business!  I know loads of people who would like to come over for a year or two, continue to run their businesses online, and be fully legal here in Spain.  The 300 euros a month stops them.  They either don't come (a loss to the rental market and the local economy) or go underground.  Poor outcome either way.

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Isn’t it good to know that all the Angels who used to live in UK are now here? What is the matter with everyone – is it boredom that unleashes their condemnation of others who are less well informed and who seek information on the forum?

When the Spanish Black Economy is running at 82bn Euros per annum which represents 23% of the country’s GDP, with around 4m undeclared jobs, is it not a little harsh to beat this individual with your moral riot sticks?

Why is it that all ex-pats from other nations stick together and help each other except the Brits who are hell-bent on condemning the actions of their own, claiming the moral high ground and criticizing others at every opportunity.

Besides, nobody asked if the enquirer had a business tax/VAT registered in another country – come on now, live and let live. – it’s going to be a long hard haul over the next few years here for locals and ex-pats, so let’s try to be nice to each other.

 

Woodbug

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