My property investment career – please help me to make some choices

My property investment career – please help me to make some choices

8:31 AM, 3rd October 2013, About 11 years ago 49

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I have questions which I’m sure many people outside of property investment ask themselves before drawing a blank or getting confused or deciding they don’t have enough information to make a decision.

“How much money do I need to begin a viable property development business?”

And

“What’s the most sensible route as an entry point?”

I’m in a position right now to seriously consider this, having just been given notice of redundancy. I have savings, shares, redundancy money and the option to release equity in a flat I have which I currently let out. Altogether this would amount to around £250k. Below are the scenarios I’m considering as viable options. It may help to know I’m 45 and have a family of dependants:

1) All in – Devote all my energy into buying high yield properties in the north of England, circa £50-60k @ £400 to £450 per month rent. My property investment career - please help me to make some choices

Pro’s

• Lot’s of fun and what I would prefer – an adventure!
• Steep learning curve
• Large portfolio to spread risk

Cons

• I’ve no experience in managing a large portfolio
• Lower equity yield than most property
• I live near Watford
• Can I deal with the admin?

2) Eggs in one basket – Buy 1 or 2 flats in west London (where my current flat is), @ between £1,2oo to £1,700 permonth rent

Pro’s

• High equity yield from London Cross Rail benefits
• More local to maintain
• Easy to rent to professionals

Cons

• Low rental income means it could not be my “new profession”
• Lower relative rental yield than north England option
• Slow way to build portfolio

There’s a third option which would be to buy up to 8 houses in South Wales, where I originally hail from, which would give me a geographic advantage and I also have family and friends who are tradesmen and could possibly manage the properties, which falls in between the first two options.

As you can see from my options, I’m stuck between the pragmatic and the adventurous options and I may not get another opportunity to chase my dream again, but I’ve got a lot at stake if I fail.

One of the things I’ve been interested in pursuing is a mentor system where an old hand in the housing game could act as mentor, for free, or a small stake in the business. Maybe someone who works in a different location, is semi retired, or deals with much bigger fish, so as not to have any conflict of interest. Does such a thing exist? If not, is that something we can kick off in this forum?

What I’m seeking from you all is your opinion or advice, all of which will be gratefully received!

Regards

Matt


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Comments

Matthew James

23:59 PM, 6th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "LucyM " at "03/10/2013 - 10:12":

Agreed, thanks for the advice Lucy.

Matthew James

0:01 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Scott Hymas" at "03/10/2013 - 10:21":

Yes Scott, I had a good look at property around the north of England, but much of the advice suggests, going from one extreme to the other adds a lot of complexity and risk. Maybe if I lived up north it would be more reasonable to contemplate?

Matthew James

0:04 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "LucyM " at "03/10/2013 - 10:37":

I did look at 1 beds around Tottenham Court Road and they are going for around £1m! This could work if I had a partner on board, but maybe I should look a bit further afield. I have this fixation on tagging onto the Cross Rail project as I already have another flat in Acton which is on route.

Matthew James

0:07 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Scott Hymas" at "03/10/2013 - 10:56":

Yes Scott, I had similar figures... all very tempting, but in the cold light of day, could I be going to the north of England regularly with a new job (and all the added pressures this brings), plus the leg work of building the portfolio and managing all the renovation works to get them in a rentable state... seriously I'd love to make this happen, but unless I was in a partnership with a very understanding business partner, I'd struggle, I think.

Matthew James

0:10 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "LucyM " at "03/10/2013 - 11:05":

Lucy, you are the pragmatic little person on my left shoulder and Scott is the little devil on my right!

Matthew James

0:14 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Scott Hymas" at "03/10/2013 - 11:23":

My wife does work and she's just set up a small baking business on the side. Along with a busy social/exercise side of life, 2 kids and a dog, we are really pushing the envelope on what we can manage. My wife would only be able to take on so much on through mortgages as well though?

Also, I was thinking of setting up a limited company to handle all the purchases and make me as tax efficient as possible?

Matthew James

0:16 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Jeremy Smith" at "03/10/2013 - 11:32":

Good point Jeremy, but you can also avoid voids a fair bit by being local and vetting good tenants yourself, buying property which more affluent renters will take on. I've learned this over the years and no longer take on the first person to show an interest!

Matthew James

0:25 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "03/10/2013 - 17:02":

Many thanks for this comprehensive response, Vanessa. I understand your point, and agree that the monthly income figures would not make sense in London, if I relied on them as an salary. This was why my 'all in' option worked on the premise that I would buy properties in the north so that the higher rental yields would make it more feasible to live off the income.

But, looking at the many responses (many, many responses!) I'm wavering towards keeping my grotty commute in the the big smoke and building a smaller but more lucrative portfolio in terms of equity gain, if not monthly gross surplus, over and above the mortgage payment.

Many thanks for the offer of phone advice, I may well take you up on that.

Matthew James

0:27 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "LucyM " at "03/10/2013 - 17:26":

Lucy, for reference, my £320k flat grosses £1250 PCM. Some agencies may charge a bit more (Or maybe you know a cracking London area for yield you want to share with us?!)

Matthew James

0:31 AM, 7th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "03/10/2013 - 18:34":

Well explained Mark. I've tried to explain just this to others who want to know why I would saddle myself with a large mortgage when I could just buy cash or at a very low LTV. I'll copy-paste this if you don't mind! 😉

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