Over the last few episodes we've covered various ways of funding property projects, in addition to the familiar options of cash and mortgages. In this episode, I round off the series by summarising my main takeaways and suggesting how to choose the most appropriate form of funding. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/funding-property-project/
Joint ventures (JVs) get talked about a lot in property, with good reason: after all, if you don't have the cash to do all the deals you want to do, a JV is a way of solving that problem without going cap-in-hand to the bank. But where do you even start with finding someone who might want to lend you money? How do you structure the agreement? And what happens if something goes wrong? In this episode I'm delighted to welcome Jay Booth back to the podcast, to talk about how he's made JVs work for ...
If you own your own home or have buy-to-let properties, you might find yourself with equity you can't access – due to redemption penalties or too-good-to-lose mortgage rates, for example. By unlocking that equity, you could grow your portfolio faster – and in this week's episode, I speak to mortgage advisor Dave Cookson about a relatively little-known way to do exactly that. See this episode on the Property Geek site: https://propertygeek.net/podcast/second-charges...
You've probably heard of peer-to-peer (or P2P) finance, and you might be aware of the bigger platforms like Zopa and Funding Circle. But you might not have thought to turn to peer-to-peer for your property project – or be aware of how many different options there are. In this episode I speak to James Wallis from Aben Financial – a commercial finance advisor with a particularly deep knowledge of the peer-to-peer sector. See this episode on the Property Geek site: https://propertygeek.net/podcast/...
We're going to spend the next few episodes exploring ways you can finance property projects other than using a mortgage. In this first episode, I set out to demystify bridging finance: a powerful tool, but one that investors often find confusing and intimidating. And it's true – if you don't know what you're doing, bridging can be expensive and even dangerous. But there are certain situations where – with the right knowledge – it will give you access to profitable deals that otherwise would have...
In this series on lettings and management I've been lucky enough to be joined by some fantastic guests – both experts at the top of their field, and everyday landlords with great stories and lessons to share. To wrap up the series, in this episode I share my main takeaways from those conversations – and tell you what to expect in the next run of episodes that's starting next week. See this episode on the Property Geek site: https://propertygeek.net/podcast/lettings-and-management...
Adrian Thompson from the Guild of Residential Landlords spends much of his time talking to landlords in distress – so who better to tell us what we can do differently to avoid ending up in that position. In this interview we cover a wide range of topics that landlords should be aware of – and speculate about what the next few years might hold... See this episode on the Property Geek site - https://propertygeek.net/podcast/landlords...
Petra Romero only moved to the UK a year and a half ago, and she's already built up a thriving rent-to-rent business. That's already seriously impressive – but even more interesting is how she's intentionally designed her business to be run by overseas assistants, freeing her up to do what she's best at. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/rent-to-rent-systems
Richard and Susie Trow have property management down to a fine art. Thanks to some effective systems and a commitment to quality from the very start, their portfolio of 21 properties in Wrexham takes up less than 2 hours per week – freeing up their time to do what really matters to them. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/self-management
As a landlord, your social status is somewhere between "bankers" and "solicitors" – and you can't open a newspaper without being told how greedy and unfair you are. A lot of this is due to the prevalence of bad landlords. But bad landlords aren't necessarily bad people: it's just that they have no idea what the job of being a landlord is all about, and are flouting laws they didn't know existed. My guest, Tessa Shepperson, has seen it all when it comes to landlords getting themselves into very h...
For years, landlords have been telling me that there's nowhere they can go to find the information they need about letting and managing property – no accessible source with all the facts clearly laid out in a logical way. Well, I've put that right: my book, How To Be A Landlord, is out today! See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/landlord-special-launch-episode...
Sam Jones had a terrifying experience very early in her self-managing career – but she didn't let it put her off, and she's spent 17 years managing a geographically distributed collection of properties. Now though, she's started using an agent for new acquisitions – but she's not losing the unique ability that made her such a self-managing success. For Sam, property really is all about the people – and she uses her people skills to straddle the worlds of self-managing landlord and hands-off inve...
My guest this week, Tom Charrier, didn't intend to have anything to do with managing his properties when he started out – but after one awful experience, he decided to take matters back into his own hands. Now, he and his wife manage their small portfolio of HMOs themselves – and consider their ability to pick the right tenants and build strong relationships to be the biggest strength in their business. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/hmo-landl...
Self-managing can be tough. Self-managing HMOs can be really tough. So, self-managing HMOs from abroad...surely that's not a good idea? Well, my guest this week Richard Dyke makes it work – managing his portfolio (including a couple of small multi-lets) from Bergen in Norway. Richard visits several times a year for inspections and maintenance, and has all sorts of little hacks in place to make sure the distance isn't too much of a challenge. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https:/...
This episode kicks off a new series about lettings and management: not the glamorous part of property that it's easy to pack out seminars about, but the very important bit that makes sure your investment runs profitably, smoothly and legally. To get the series started I'm joined by Joanne Dron – a landlady of 13 years and a letting agent too – to run through some of the recent and upcoming changes that should be on your radar. Many of them have been poorly publicised – so it's well worth taking ...
In this series of the podcast we've been looking at "turning pro" – how to embrace the mindset of a professional investor, so you can continue to thrive despite the more challenging conditions for property investors. During this quick series wrap-up episode I revisit the major themes we've covered, draw some lessons we can take from what we've heard, and look ahead to what's coming up in the next series. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/turning-...
The theme of this series has been "turning pro" – so what better way to wrap it up than to speak to someone who's been a professional trader and investor for over 30 years? Jonathan Schuman holds around 300 commercial and residential properties, and has his own private "agency" to manage them. When the credit crunch hit, Jonathan was perfectly positioned with his contacts and knowledge to profit while everyone else was panicking – and he took bold action to seize the opportunity and rapidly scal...
In this series so far we’ve been talking about all the changes affecting our sector, and what investors should be thinking about as a result. In today’s episode, I catch up with three Property Geek listeners who have all rethought their strategy recently – to find out what they were doing before, what they’re doing now, and what factors played into their decision. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/changing-strategies...
Buying in an area you're unfamiliar with is scary enough – but David Barker bought his first without seeing it, and his next was a complicated five-unit site in a town he'd never been to. Both had happy endings, but were very different experiences along the way. I spoke to David to learn how he got the courage and confidence to take calculated risks, and learn the often-glossed-over truth of how complicated an investment can be... See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.proper...
All the signs are pointing towards London's incredible price growth of the last few years coming to an end – and the gap that's emerged between the South East and elsewhere starting to narrow. It's one thing to see those signs, it takes a lot of courage to act on them – and that's what my guest, Phil Whitehouse, has done. Phil has spent the last couple of years selling the small portfolio he'd built up in London, to take his profits and reinvest elsewhere in the UK. See this episode on the Prope...
If somebody told me they were busy running a business in London, and planned to buy and refurbish 9 properties in Stoke-on-Trent within a year...to be honest, I'd gently suggest they scale their aspirations back a bit. But after speaking to Jay Booth, I'll be a bit more careful before declaring something "impossible" – because that's exactly what he did. I found this conversation inspiring, because Jay had every factor that you'd be tempted to use as an excuse – limited experience, a busy job, a...
One of our themes for this series is taking a professional approach by investing in areas where there's the strongest business case, not where it's most convenient. For many investors (especially those in the South East), that will mean investing in properties away from where they live – possibly without even seeing them first. And that's why I was keen to talk to Stuart Ball – who's managed to build his portfolio of 6 properties 6,000 miles away from his home in Hong Kong, and has another 5 goi...
On last week's episode, we talked about the cause for incorporation. This week, I'm joined by mortgage broker Stuart Bailey to talk about what's often seen as a barrier to buying as a limited company: mortgages. In common with most other brokers I've spoken to, Stuart has seen a huge increase in the number of limited company mortgages he's arranged – and the news he's bringing back from the coalface is broadly positive for investors who might have seen company finance as a challenge... See this ...
It's been a huge switch: many mortgage brokers are reporting that while only a year ago it was a small minority of people who bought property in a limited company, the majority of investors now do. I don't find it hard to believe, because my inbox has been filling up over the last year with one question more than any other: "should I buy property within a limited company?" Unfortunately, I can't tell you the answer because I'm not a tax advisor and I don't know enough about your situation. But I...
The property cycle is a powerful concept: one that can give you the confidence to act when others are fearful, and avoid making moves (like most investors do) at exactly the wrong time. I'm joined this week by the UK's leading expert on the property cycle – Akhil Patel – to talk about what the cycle can tell us about where we are right now, and how you can tell what's going to happen next. See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podcast/property-cycle...
For many investors, finance is a critical part of the property growth plan – and it can also be one of the more painful constraints if you can't find your way through the mortgage minefield. So it's always important to keep on top of what's happening in the mortgage market, and never more so than now – with lenders grappling to come to terms with a whole new set of restrictions that have just come into effect, and more to come later this year. In this episode I'm joined by mortgage advisor Simon...
We're back! In this first episode, I run through what to expect in this new series of the Property Geek Podcast. It's a reboot not just for the podcast, but also a time for property investors to be reconsidering how they operate in general. So in this series, we'll be talking about everything that's changing: lending restrictions, legislation, incorporation, and ticking over into a new phase of the property cycle... See this episode on the Property Geek website: https://www.propertygeek.net/podc...
Anyone can pick a property off Rightmove and negotiate 5% off the asking price. You know that the real profits are made when you can reliably track down those elusive "below market value" or lease option opportunities...but where do you even start? My guest, Mark Dunsmore, used to be an estate agent (don't hold it against him) before he learnt to apply the same skills to sourcing properties for investors. Having built up a nationwide sourcing business, he's now teaching other investors how to fi...
They say that you make your money when you buy, not when you sell – but there's no doubt that how you approach selling a property can make a huge difference to the result you achieve. My guest this week, Anna Hart, specialises in helping her clients to sell at the best price within their desired timescale – and avoiding the nightmare scenario of having a property languish on the market. Even if selling couldn't be further from your mind, our discussion around presenting a property and doing view...
Another way to (indirectly) make money from property is to lend money to others who need financing for development projects. Alternatively, you might be looking to borrow from private individuals in order to do more deals without relying on expensive bridging finance. In this episode, I talk about my recent experience of lending money out. If you've got spare cash on the sidelines, I cover how to lend safely and reduce your risk as far as possible. On the other side, if you want to raise private...
