OTH Magazine - Editor’s Letter, March 2023

One truism in property investing that stands up time and time again is that ‘you make your money when you buy’.

Buying with a buffer keeps you safe in the leaner times, helps you maintain a safe LTV by locking in equity or allows you to build your portfolio faster.

One element of nabbing that all important discount though is often glossed over or seldom covered in any depth in the property press. No not the latest shiny strategy or the ability to letter bomb your local area.

I am talking about the art of negotiation. Are you a negotiation ninja?

Negotiation is an artform as good practitioners read body language, adapt their tone, mirror, pivot, parry and carry out all sorts of psychological alchemy to get the deal across the line. Furthermore, it’s a science, for which the depth of research and quality of the questions you ask can yield phenomenal results. In fact, as someone who has spent two decades interviewing people for newspapers and magazines, negotiation is an element that drew me to property investing as negotiation feels something of a bedfellow to the humble interview as you wrestle with a subject for access to even more juicy information.

We view negotiation as so important to property negotiation that we have decided to seek access to the playbook of one of the foremost experts on the subject. In our cover feature on p19 writer Alex Daley learns techniques and tricks that are almost guaranteed to make you thousands! It’s a long read, but the ROI on your time could be substantial.

Not ready to negotiate just yet? No problem, our Beginner’s Corner series is back as we build on the last issue’s first step (highlighting the strategy for you) with this issue’s guide to zeroing in on your first investment area on p32 . ( Read the first Beginner’s Corner here).

Negotiation mastery was very much front and centre in the success of the fascinating London-commuter land flip case study which can be found on p29 and we are hoping to ignite somewhat of an internal negotiation with our strategy focus on p24 as we look at the pros, cons, challenges and opportunities of HMOs in the current market in the first in a two-part interview with one of the best in business Rick Gannon. Plus, there is our usual news, regulatory round up, The Glow Up and much more.

All this content entirely for free! Wow, maybe it’s you the reader who’s a negotiation ninja already!

Enjoy and happy investing.

With many thanks to our Issue 5 Sponsor

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