I Am A Property Developer – Ask Me Anything!

I Am A Property Developer – Ask Me Anything!

8:48 AM, 1st November 2013, About 11 years ago 227

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I run a small property development business in the Reading, Wokingham and South Oxon and Bucks areas.

The company organises planning applications on small sites of up to 4 flats or houses, then secures the financing, oversees the design and specification, and commissions and project-manages sub-contractors to do the actual construction. I also undertake whole-house property renovations and act as landlord when I rent out existing detached houses on sites where I am assembling additional land or sorting out access and planning issues. 

My tenancies are usually graduate houseshares/HMOs as I find these give a more reliable income stream than renting to a family.  I Am A Property Developer - Ask Me Anything

I moved into property development from being a BTL landlord as I felt the returns would be better – perhaps not the wisest of careers moves in 2007!

I am inviting Property118 contributors to “ask me anything” as regards small-scale property development if they are considering this as an additional aspect or future evolution of their rental business.

I don’t claim to be able to answer everything as property development is a very wide-ranging field and can be highly specific as regards local valuations and planning rules, but I will endeavour to help.


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

8:22 AM, 23rd April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Harrold" at "22/04/2015 - 23:51":

Hi David

I am the founder of Property118, previously I was a commercial finance broker and a founder member of the NACFB. I have all the contacts you need, please see my member profile for my contact details.
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AnthonyJames

10:10 AM, 23rd April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Harrold" at "22/04/2015 - 23:51":

David, I've never bought at auction and have never needed bridging finance for a transaction. I've looked at so-called mezzanine finance as an option for development finance, but was put off by the credit-card levels of interest - 1.5-2% a month will torpedo anyone's bottom line - and cheeky practices like charging entrance and exit fees of up to 2.5% either side of the loan, for no apparent reason other than "because we want to". I've always found it far more viable to go through a bank, or seek a loan or co-investment from friends and family.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:24 AM, 23rd April 2015, About 9 years ago

There are a couple of good examples of competitive development finance deals arranged by NACFB members on this page >>> http://www.property118.com/property-development-finance-recent-examples/
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David Harrold

12:05 PM, 23rd April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "23/04/2015 - 08:22":

Hi Mark, many thanks for the swift response, I'll contact you directly.

David Harrold

12:15 PM, 23rd April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Tony Atkins" at "23/04/2015 - 10:10":

Thanks Tony, I share your concerns re the punitive in/out fees for many short term finance products - and although I've previously used high street banks for a couple of BTL's they appear to be behind the game for shorter term development/refurb capital.
JV and family funding is interesting though, I'd have thought it would be worthwhile to offer an attractive (0.75-1%) on this as it's relatively straight forward and avoids many of the usual costs - any thoughts?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

12:57 PM, 23rd April 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Harrold" at "23/04/2015 - 12:15":

There is also a Crowd Funding portal for development finance. I think it may be exclusive to NACFB members though.
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Hermione Burt

8:29 AM, 2nd May 2015, About 9 years ago

Hi Tony,

I am interested in exploring the buy to let market. Unfortunately I have no cash available for a mortgage deposit. However my home is worth around £210,000 and I have only a£40,000 mortgage, so I am wondering if there is some way of using the equity in my home to fund a project? I live on the south cost in an place where property prices are low compared to nearby areas, and was thinking it would suit me best to invest locally.

Many thanks.

AnthonyJames

11:50 AM, 2nd May 2015, About 9 years ago

Hello Hermione, May I suggest you report this query, as it is really a question for the wider Property118 board, not my page, which is about property development. In brief, if your income is enough and you have a good credit rating, you could certainly be able to remortgage your home to raise capital for use as a deposit on a BTL. Keeping it local is generally best if you are just starting out, so you can keep an eye on things and do a good deal of the administrative work yourself if you have the time.

As a beginner, please consider joining the Residential Landlords Association or the NLA: at the very least they have excellent advice lines for members, and a wealth of online information, forms and so on.

Hermione Burt

14:58 PM, 2nd May 2015, About 9 years ago

Great, thanks Tony. Sorry about posting in the wrong place.

Bilbo Baggins

18:09 PM, 21st June 2015, About 9 years ago

Hi Tony

Your offer to ask you anything has allowed to me feel ok in asking you a "how long is a bit of string" question!

Am looking to covert an old church that is about 150m2. (simple empty oblong shape)
Hoping for 2 floors of 2*2 bed flats (4 flats in total)
Assuming main building is structurally sound what would be a "ball park" figure for putting in a steel structure to hang the flats from (so as not to stress original building at all) ? And how much to have them at a mid to high end finish?

Any advice from your experience would be gratefully received.

I can see your main expertise seems to be in new builds - just trying to get a rough idea at this stage.

Thanks for any pointers you can give!

Simon

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