My tenant CV stood outWhen I applied for an apartment, I included a link to my HomeHak tenant CV. The landlord loved it and I got an invite to a viewing invite that day. It was easy.
Your connections vouch for you.Living at home, I didn’t have landlord references. With HomeHak I could show references from my Coach, my Lecturer and Friends who were happy to vouch for me. Thanks to their help, I have my own place.
My personal data is safeI used to be nervous about sharing ID and other personal information. Now I just share a link to my HomeHak CV. The landlord or agent can check what they need, and I can see on my dashboard when they reviewed my info. It just feels safer.
A readymade householdMy two friends and I linked our HomeHak CV’s and applied jointly for the house. The landlord loved that they could see everything up front about the three of us. It was easier for her and much better for us than moving in separately with strangers.
Ready anytime I want to moveMy renting details and references were all over the place. Now I store everything safely on HomeHak and I can use them whenever I like in the future. Handy if I move to a new country.
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Send your Tenant CV direct to Landlords or apply through Letting Agents websites. On Property websites, tell landlords and agents you have a pre-prepared Tenant CV on HomeHak. No more repetitive applications.
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Essential Books Every Irish College Student Needs to Read
If you enjoy reading then you will love this article on our top Essential Books. This article includes HomeHaks top essential books that you need to get your hands on now. If you’re looking to create a well-rounded, successful college experience, you can’t go wrong with any of these.
As it turns out, habits shape much more of our behavior than we realize. The habits we do have largely determine the progress (either good or bad) we make in life. Luckily, the way habits are formed can be understood – which means they can be changed – and The Power of Habit is the best overview of how habits work that we have ever read.
This book gives you an in-depth, well thought out method for pulling epic grades in all of your classes. The book is based around that fact that there are many college students who get straight A’s, yet don’t study for more than a couple hours a day and still have plenty of other things going on in their lives. It lays out effective strategies for note-taking, quizzing yourself, writing papers, and more. If you want to be like one of the aforementioned students, get this book.
This is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls “true north” principles based on a character ethic that he presents as universal and timeless.
Author Brad Karsh demystifies the job-hunting process and shows you how to most effectively scout out and land that crucial first job out of college. He goes through writing resumes and cover letters and even provides a fairly large index full of completed examples of each.
Learning to effectively manage your money should be priority #1 if you haven’t done it already. You’re most likely in college so you can get a degree and gain access to jobs with greater earning potential; make sure your degree goes as far as it should by learning what to do with the money once you have it. Your Money: The Missing Manual is a fantastic general overview of personal finance, and it’ll show you just how to keep those bills in the bank rather than blowing them on random things.
To summarise
The power of habits shows us how our habits shape much more of our behavior than we realize. How to Become a Straight-A Student teaches us how to get great grades in all our classes. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People gives us the tools to achieve our goals. Confessions of a Recruiting Director helps us to land our first job out of college. Finally, Your Money: The Missing Manual explains how to effectively manage your money. We hope you enjoyed our top recommended essential books!
Top Top Survival Tips Every First-Year Irish University Student Should Know
There are so many things to consider when you are embarking on your first year of third level education. It is an exiting step in your life. On the other hand, it can also be stressful and scary. Keep these HomeHak Top Survival Tips in mind once you start classes, but more importantly don’t forget to have fun along the way!
Remember that every person you meet in college has something to offer you.
You will meet hundreds new people at college – classmates, professors, advisors, recruiters, staff at campus, etc. Naturally, you won’t become friends with everyone, but we recommend networking with as many people as possible, especially when you’re new at the university.
Get a calendar, whether an online app or good old paper diary, and write down all your deadlines, exams, group meetings and school events. You will have dozens of different assignments during your college years and the sooner you find a routine that fits you, the better. Top Surivial Tips is make it your priority to never hand in an assignment late. Being diligent and dependable is always a plus!
Never. Ever. Plagiarize.
Don’t even come close to plagiarizing. Learning how to write is one of the core skills you will be developing at university. Don’t ruin the learning process with copying and pasting words from a different source. Instead, find enough various resources, learn how to cite sources properly, and develop your own writing routine. You can also make use of one of the many programs and apps that detect plagiarism in your work.
Find a note-taking system that works well for you.
Taking notes with a laptop might be faster and easier than writing notes by hand, but writing down notes with good old pen might help you remember the content of the lecture better than if you typed them. Find out what works best for you in each class so you can make the most out of your notes once revising or studying. Read more about when you should take notes by hand in our previous article.
Top Survival Tips always back up your files.
There is nothing worse than having your laptop broke down in the middle of finishing your unsaved essay or losing a whole file of documents.
Meet with your academic advisor on a regular basis.
Connect with your school’s academic advisor as well as a career center. Both your career advisor and academic advisor might play a valuable role in your college years and in your future decisions. Also, go to most career fairs in the campus or the city you live in, whether you are looking for a job or just want to network with recruiters.
Actively participate in activities organised by your university/faculty.
Whether it is extra-curriculum lecture or a Christmas party organised by the faculty, these events are a great opportunity to get to know your classmates, professors and professionals better, but also to learn interesting things.
Don’t be afraid to drop a class you don’t like.
Feel no obligation to take every single class you register for. If you don’t like them, drop them and spend your time in a more meaningful class for you. At the end of the day, college is about finding out what you want to do.
Take good care of your health.
Taking good care of your body and mind is essential every day of your life, but even more when you get to start a brand new chapter at a university, often miles away from your family and home. You will likely face a frequent temptation to eat unhealthy food, cook low-cost meals and miss out on physical exercise due to lack of time. Nevertheless, it is important to keep a healthy lifestyle, eat enough fruits and veggies, drink enough water, sleep well and exercise often. Especially in the times of global pandemic. Bottom line: Your health is the foundation for everything else, so don’t neglect it.
Get to know your professors.
Another top survival tip is college is as much about networking as it is about taking classes. Plus, most of professors will be very happy to get to know you, share their experience and guide you through your college path
Get involved in student clubs and/or organizations.
Joining a student club and/or organization does not only mean more networking and likely more friends, but also a chance to boost your resume and have a say in how things are run.
To summarise
Remember that every person you meet in college has something to offer you. Be organized and make deadlines your priority. Do not plagerise. Find a note-taking system that works well for you. Always back up your files. Meet with your academic advisor on a regular basis. Actively participate in activities organized by your university/faculty. Don’t be afraid to drop a class you don’t like. Take good care of your health. Get involved in student clubs and/or organizations. We hope you enjoyed our Top Surivial Tips. Check out this article for more tips every first year student should know.
For more student hacks, check out our other articles:
The novelty of walking into your kitchen at home and everything you ever need is always there has come to an end. It is now time to arm your own kitchen with all the basic essentials. Read more to find your shopping essentials for your new accommodation in Ireland.
Packing your life away can be stressful enough without having to think of all the basics you need to have in your kitchen to make a decent meal. Bringing along a grocery list or a weekly menu is a good idea if you get easily side-tracked in the store or don’t know where to begin.
When creating a shopping list you should consider creating a healthy and well-rounded diet . This should primarily comprise of whole, nutrient-dense foods. Include for example,veggies, fruits, protein sources like fish and eggs, beans, nuts, and seeds.Â
HomeHak has put together a go to list of essentials to get your cooking journey started. It’s time to stock up the refrigerator and cabinets – let’s get started!Â
Let’s start with groceries.
Let’s start with the essentials!
Protein – chicken, beef, fish.
Grains – rice, pasta.
MilkÂ
Cereal
Bread
Oats
Coffee
Tea
Fresh fruit and vegetables:
Potatoes
Berries – strawberries, blueberries.
BananasÂ
Apples
OnionsÂ
Peppers
Spices and herbs:
SaltÂ
Pepper
Garlic powder
Dry basil
Sauces:
Ketchup
MayonnaiseÂ
Olive oil
Soy sauceÂ
Frozen food:
These are truly a gift in university. They take away the pain of chopping up vegetables and there is no worry of your fruit and veg going out of date.Â
FruitÂ
Vegetables
Meat- chicken, beef, fish
Home essentials
It is easy to forget about everything we take for granted at home but do not forget these basics to get your kitchen in proper running order.
Washing up liquid
Hand soapÂ
Laundry supplies (if needed) – detergent.
Toiletries – razor, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel
Toilet paper
Cleaning supplies
Supermarkets
Best supermarkets to do your food shop in? Check out these:
Aldi is your best bet when it comes to buying only essentials. This store focuses on the staple items. They offer some of the cheapest products and weekly sales that really help when you are on a budget.Â
Lidl is the cheapest of them all when it comes to buying your shopping essentials. It focuses on essentials. Lidl has weekly specials where they offer amazing discounts not only on food items but also on electronics and more expensive products in general.Â
SuperValu is Ireland’s largest grocery and food distributor serving local communities throughout Ireland This reputation has been earned through their fresh food quality, strong value offering, consistent support of local producers and the expertise and customer service across their stores.
Dunnes is a high-end supermarket which makes it a bit more expensive than Tesco. The stores usually sell clothing, homewares and groceries. You can find reasonable and trustworthy products of their own brands. They have a grocery delivery system and a click and collect from their nearest stores.Â
Tesco is a UK based retail store and probably the largest supermarket chain in Ireland. They have the widest range of products including well-known brands and a variety of their own brands. You can also find some of the cheapest prices for your groceries here.Â
To summarise
When creating your shopping essentials list try and break it into sections. For example non starchy / starchy vegetables, fruits, beans and grains, nuts and seeds, proteins, frozen foods, dairy and nondairy substitutes, drinks, condiments, and miscellaneous items.
If you are an international student, check out our article “Where to shop for international students”. We share the best places for you to do your shopping and get all your necessities!
As a renter, moving from one home to another is inevitable. However, you may come across new landlords who want to know about your renting history. Before approving your application, they may ask for a landlord recommendation letter provided by your previous landlord. HomeHak will share our tops tips for the importance of a reference.
A landlord recommendation letter, also called a rental reference, is an important component of your rental application. In a competitive rental market, a good reference can make a huge difference.Â
A landlord recommendation letter is a letter written to a potential landlord by your current landlord. A property manager or a supervisor can also write you a rental reference. Your new landlord will likely ask for this reference in order to complete your background check.
Landlord recommendation letters tell your landlord that you are a responsible and financially stable tenant and that you adhere to the terms of a lease. A rental reference letter can help boost your application and make up for any shortcomings, such as a low credit score. This is one of the main reasons behind the importance of a reference. It assures the landlord that you’ll pay your rent on time, respect deadlines, and not incur defaults.
What references should you include in a rental application?
Submitting a great rental application is key to getting the rental property you want. Once your personal information, proof of income and background checks are complete, the references you include with your application can make or break the deal.
A rental reference (or referral) is a vote of confidence from someone who knows you in a personal, financial, educational, professional, or prior rental experience capacity. Ideally, your rental reference will know you well enough to speak to your character and express it to a property manager/owner. Who you choose as your reference and what they say about you can make all the difference to your application. Here are a few things HomeHak recommends to consider when you get to this stage.
Importance of a reference – what relevance does your rental reference have to you?
When a property manager starts screening applicants and calling references, they will ask each person how they know you. If you include your Dad and college friend, their opinion may look a little biased. Where possible, choose people who can talk about how you’ve performed at your current job (your employer, for example). Look for a reference who can say you’ve demonstrated great personal responsibility through other means. If possible, add a previous landlord to your reference list who can vouch for your ability to look after a property.
How to approach your rental references
If you have a few people in mind but want to select the most appropriate person for your application, think about some open-ended questions for them. Things like, ‘If I were to list you as a reference, what would you say you’ve noticed about me and responsibility?’ The answers you get will give you some idea of who to include. Try to select people who know you well. You don’t want to pick casual friends or a tutor who took you for one class back in the day. Avoid including your boyfriend or family members unless you plan to include personal references. Here is an article on choosing a personal reference for a rental application.
Choose your rental references wisely.
Once you’ve thought of a few people who know you well, work out whether they’d provide a positive reference for you. Remember, some people find it hard to say no to others, or they might not tell you that the reference they provide could be less than glowing. A better move here is to offer your potential reference a way out. Let them know you won’t be offended should they prefer not to be contacted. Gauge their reaction and decide whether you still want to use them on your rental application.
Who makes the perfect rental reference?Â
A former landlord/property manager: If you had a good experience with your former property manager and know they would speak highly of you as a tenant, they’re probably the perfect choice.
A career mentor: Career mentors could make an excellent reference for your rental application. Their experience with you will most likely be a professional one, and they’ll be able to speak highly of your good qualities and ability to perform under pressure.
An employer: Employers have probably worked with you for a long time and would also make an excellent reference. Top tip: Ensure they’re happy with your work ethic and attitude first!
Volunteer supervisor: Have you done volunteer work in the past? If you worked under one supervisor, they would also make a great choice.
Think about the people in your life who think best of you in terms of what is needed to be a good tenant, such as: personal and financial responsibility, professionalism and accountability.
To summarise
No rental reference? Don’t stress. Even if you’ve never rented before, you can still find people who make perfect rental application references. Choose co-workers, employers, coaches or mentors. These are the ideal people to tell your potential landlord or property manager what you’d be like as a tenant. They will base their experience on what it was like to work with, coach or mentor you. Their opinion will also help demonstrate the character of someone who would make a great tenant.
Moving out of home and taking your first step towards independence can be exciting but also a bit of a minefield. It is important to thread carefully if you want to make accommodation sharing work. Here are HomeHaks top tips to help you in choosing your housemates at Irish University.
Make poor choices and you could find yourself falling out over dirty bins and dishes. Pick well and you will have so much fun and make lifelong friends. Don’t know how to go about picking housemates?Â
Know the sort of people you think you will get on with
Looking for housemates is a bit like online dating. You need to go into it knowing what you’re looking for and make that clear from the get-go. If you think you’ve found a potential match, ask your prospective house-sharer some questions. This is to see just how compatible you might be. Don’t make them feel it’s an interrogation. You just need to get a feel for what they’re going to be like once you’ve moved in together.
People can be very different once the front door is shut. Get to know them better before you agree to go house-hunting. This could spare you a lot of grief further down the line. Here are 30 questions to ask a roommate before moving in together.Â
Get ahead of the competition
Don’t put off until tomorrow something you could do today. There’s always fierce competition for the best houses and apartments in university cities. If you want to stand a chance of finding nice housemates and a nice place to live, then it’s never too early to start.
You’d be amazed how many people leave it until the very last minute to decide on who they’re sharing with and where they’re going to look for houses. If you want to end up living in housemate heaven rather than housemate hell, you need to start broaching the subject with people as early in the spring term. This is so you can start arranging to view a few properties together. This article gives some more tips on starting your search early.
Choosing your housemates – Same course or different?
Sometimes living with the people you ‘work’ with isn’t always the best move. You’re probably most familiar and friendly with the people doing the same course or modules as you but remember that everyone needs some space now and then. If you’re living with the same people you’re in seminars with day in, day out, you might get sick of each other’s company very quickly.
Try to have a mix in your house if you can – not only does it widen your social circle but it can broaden your mind. If people are studying different courses to you, you’ll each learn something about the other’s subjects. You’ll also be forced to find other things you can bond over, such as societies, hobbies or even your shared love of obscure foreign language films…
Set house rules from the start
Almost all household disagreements are avoidable in some way. You need to set out a few ground rules right at the beginning. Before you agree to move in with other people, you need to make sure they’re the sort of housemates you can trust.
Chat with them and decide how to carve out who will organise things like paying the bills and how the rent will be managed. Pencilling a schedule for cleaning and cooking before you move in together will give you a good idea of whether or not they’re likely to pull their weight. If they look like they’re shirking responsibility, then maybe you need to look for someone else.
The following article is designed to help you and your roommate(s) establish guidelines for while you are living together.
To summarise
If a house share is going to be a success you need to know you’ll all get along and it’s not going to descend into chaos. Try to spend as much time as possible getting to know each other before you commit to moving in together. House sharing is a nightmare when it doesn’t work out but choose your housemates carefully and you could have a fantastic couple of years.
MoreoLetting Agent in Ireland – The True Cost of Being One.
A letting agent acts in the landlord’s best interest. You provide housing for tenants while facilitating the livable environment to turn their house into a home.
As an agent, you must tread the line of the middleman, adding value, mitigating costs, and fundamentally identifying a delicate equilibrium between obligations and profits.
 Squaring out a margin sandwiched between both entities is a balancing act of efficiency. How you spend your time and resources are of critical importance to your bottom line. You are required to provide a minimum standard of care to your tenant that remains profitable within your 6.5% – 10% share of the landlord’s earnings (Estate Agents, Let.ie, 2021).
Requirements
To be a letting agent in Ireland involves a base number of costs. A seemingly endless number of license fees, brokerage fees, and of course membership fees to be paid to the Property Services Regulatory Authority including:
– €1,000 for a company, partnership or sole trader
– €100 for principal officers or employeesÂ
Overheads
As an estate agent, in order to coordinate a successful business, you must incur a number of overheads. They grow in tandem with your success and unless effectively managed can cause mounting concerns for your eroding profit margin.
Office supplies, utilities, continuing professional development, and internet charges are all par for the course. These should be carefully monitored on an annual basis. Â
You may be utilising project management software to rightfully monitor and maximise efficiencies. Teamwork.com (from €9 per user per month) is an excellent third-party project management software that will help you to keep on top of your copious list of actions for each and every one of your clients.Â
Wages
The average cost is €30,334 (payscale.com, Average Real Estate Agent Salary in Ireland, 2021) annually per estate agent. We are going to outline a number of ways that you can maximise your return on this investment.
The Interview Process
Numerous emails, attachments, and questions will be from both suitable and unsuitable applications. Demand has never been higher with reports indicating up to 25,000 units are needed annually to keep up with the demographic changes alone (Ahrens, Martinez-Cillero, O’Toole, Trends in Rental Price Inflation and the Introduction of Rent Pressure Zones in Ireland, 2019). Serious questions, therefore, need to be asked around how you filter these applicants and how long is invested in this stage? With hundreds of potential tenants to choose from, how do you know that you are getting the very best for you and the landlord?Â
An open house provides some opportunity to shake the hands of the hundred or so people that can show up on any one day. Fielding repetitive questions and partaking in conversations. Resulting in semi-memorable face time.Â
Much like when interviewing for a new employee, the interview process is the most critical factor for what the next number of months or years will look like. Your ideal tenant will provide little interaction besides their monthly rent paid on time for years to come.
However, without a rigorous examination of every applicant’s references, bank statements, proof of employment, proof of address, identification, and specific requirements, you will be throwing caution to the wind. It could end up with a couple of month’s filled with arduous issues before the property is vacant again (voluntarily or otherwise). How many of your tenants fall above the average tenancy length of 10 – 12 months (Ahrens, et al. Trends in Rental Price Inflation and the Introduction of Rent Pressure Zones in Ireland, 2019)?
Safety checks, installations, rent reviews, and pre-letting expenses are all expenses to ensure the property is in a suitable condition. The most valuable sot suffered is the letting agent’s time.Â
Disputes
A happy tenant is dependent on a number of factors:
How long is their commute to work?
How close by are friends and family?
Can they keep their bicycle indoors?
Can they have friends over?
A happy tenant is an engaged tenant. A tenant that will invest their time and effort into making their house a home. They might even add value to the property with painting, sanding or varnishing.
However, disputes do typically occur around the (pre-agreed) terms & conditions of said property. Arguing over damage incurred by claw marks, pet smell, parties, or carelessly manoeuvring a bicycle indoors.
Repairs & Maintenance
The vast majority of time spent on tenants is around repairs & maintenance. Happy tenants will happily complete smaller repairs and maintenance tasks. This is to save the hassle of waiting for a handyman to screw in the hinge of a press for example.
The handymans job is to focus on larger projects rather than spending time visiting multiple properties for minute-long jobs. Your tenant and their respect for their home will directly impact the property depreciation and post-letting expenses.
Marketing
The Irish letting market is awash with demand and finding any tenant will not be an issue. Finding the right tenant, however, is another thing. Property sites such as Daft.ie, Moovingo, or rent.ie (to name but a fraction) will provide you with a full inbox of applicants for costs ranging from €5 up to €2,500 (Irish Times, Selling a home is expensive, but we offer a way to cut down the costs, 2020). This marketing expense could be the tip of the wedge of time-consuming evaluating costs.
Finally…
At the end of the year, it will either be a loss, or else taxable profits. A large number of expenses can be tax-deductible for landlords. However, the most significant variables will impact your bottom line through costs. Secondly, they will also prevent you from reaching your upper revenue potential.Â
The time spent on managing tenants is already incurred in the interview process. That is then realised throughout their tenancy. From the influx of emails to the days spent meeting and greeting the waves of potential candidates. Moreover, these are where the most hours are sunk and the least value gained. Implement efficient sifting and prioritising from the onset. As a result, agents’ time can then be focused on analysing the select number of clients. Moreover, that tick every single box for you and the landlord in question. Allowing you to negotiate a more comfortable equilibrium. Further, nestled between a content tenant and a satisfied landlord.
