Welcome to the March edition of Your Property Network magazine, while the mainstream media continues to focus on the doom and gloom of the UK economy here at YPN we understand that during a recession more entrepreneurs and indeed more millionaires are made than at any other times! What you won’t hear in the mainstream press is that UK property investors are currently experiencing never before seen high yields from their new property purchases and those of us with tracker mortgages are experiencing significant improvements in our cash flow. Yes things are tough with mortgage lenders and it will be interesting to see how the near nationalisation of many of the UK’s banks affects their lending decisions over the coming months. In terms of the national press and media we say – continue with your doom and gloom mongering so us active investors can carry on picking up property bargains!
Ant Lyons,
Your property network magazine was established as a communication vehicle to enable like-minded property investors to communicate with each other through a professional circulation.
Managing Editor YPN
The business unlike most other business was established with three thoughts in mind:
In this month’s YPN Here are just a few of the great things to read in this month’s YPN
Pages 8-11 Meet the Mentors What have the UK’s most experienced investors got to say this month?
Pages 12-13 Cash Flow Strategies How to maximise profit from your property business
Pages 14-15 Negotiate That! How to get massive discounts from estate agents.
Pages 20-21 Valuing properties in a down market How to get the valuation you need.
Pages 24-25 The UK’s first REAL investor show
The first was that the property market was moving down and that any market that moves down provides an opportunity to someone, somewhere. The second was that we wanted to be in a business that did not just focus on making a profit, this may sound cliché but we wanted to create something that we could be proud of and we wanted to put quality before profit, which is why we run a magazine and not an email newsletter. Thirdly we wanted to create a professional vehicle that would enable like-minded property investors to communicate with each other given that most investors also offer services as well as buy properties and we wanted communication to be affordable and not cost an arm and a leg.
YPN profiles April’s forthcoming Property Exhibition Show
Pages 28-29 Student properties No longer dingy student digs, our expert explains his strategy for generating significant cash flow from the student rental market.
Pages 34-35 Trade the markets like a pro! Our resident stocks and shares expert Marcus De Maria gives his top trading tips
Pages 36-37 Rent to Own Update In this exclusive interview Rick Otton explains how he continues to buy property without the need for mortgage finance.
We would like all our readers to know that our mission is to help investors promote their business’s to the very best of our abilities and we are very happy to run affiliate programs and profit sharing schemes but we must cover our basic overhead and distribution costs, so we will always ask advertisers for a minimum fixed contribution to the magazine in addition to a profit sharing structure. Finally, editorial content is always welcome but please note we do receive many requests to promote readers services. Whilst we are happy to help anybody grow their business when it comes to editorial features we aim to provide the very best objective information that we can.
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HOW TO FIND TENANTS FOR YOUR BUY TO LET PROPERTY. Last month, I talked about the 3 steps to finding quality tenants, and we covered the first of those 3 steps, with Gaining Interest. This covered how you market to find tenants using the right sort of description and images. This month, we’ll cover part 2, which is how to Qualify the tenants. Now this is one of the most important bits, and doing this right can save you an awful lot of time, and doing this wrong can mean tenants not turning up toview the property, or it being a total waste of time. We qualify tenants by asking them questions. When do you need to move in? Do you need furniture or car parking? Are you in full time work? How much notice do you need to give ? Who will be deciding on the property? (ie. the decision maker). I’ve attended viewings only to then find out that the tenant is not moving in for a few months, and that’s the question I forgot to ask them. That’s a total waste of my time, so half and hour there, 10 minutes waiting for the tenant, and then half an hour back, simply because I didn’t ask the tenant that one simple question. Its always the question you forgot to ask that lets you down too, so do not be afraid of asking the tenant to ensure that they are a good match for your property, as well as the property being a good match for them. If a tenant takes offence to you asking these questions, then well done, you’ve just got rid of a poor tenant, so don’t be afraid to ask them, asyour time is the most valuable, and it’s the one commodity that we can’t getany more of. Of course, using a professional lettings agency, means that you don’t needto worry about Qualifying your tenant, as they will do it for you. And with that in mind, for NEW Landlords, we’re offering 25% off our setup fees on the production of this article!
Website www.thethinktankgroup.co.uk
Telephone 0845 643 2 653 Email sales@thethinktankgroup.co.uk Daniel Latto - Director of The Think Tank Group
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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MEET THE MENTORS Glenn Armstrong www.glennarmstrong.com
Telephone
01908 423700
Simon Zutshi
www.propertyinvestorsnetwork.co.uk
Telephone
0121 377 2470 info@propertyinvestorsnetwork.co.uk
Through our seminars, courses and mentor programmes over the past few years I have taught literally hundreds on investors that have gone on to build large and extremely profitable portfolios. Profitable property investment is not overly complicated if you have a set of rules that you work to but that does not necessarily mean it’s easy. For every person who has gone on to become a property millionaire there are others that have learnt all of the strategies and techniques that we use but have not gone on to implement them. For some people this is down to the fear factor – they are terrified of failure. In reality we are all scared of failure and the only difference between those that do succeed and those that sit on the sidelines is overcoming the fear and jumping in and taking action.
Overcoming the negative Doom and Gloom
Saying this, hands on property investment is not for everybody and whilst I have always said that our aim is to teach people to fish rather than sell them fish there are a number of people who have busy lives and busy jobs who don’t necessarily want to be as hands on as myself.
I meet thousands of investors every year, many of whom already know exactly what they should be doing but they just fail to take action for a whole number of reasons (or you might call them excuses). So I thought I would give you a list of 10 practical things you could do to improve your mindset and keep that little voice quiet.
For those investors we run an armchair investment service for investors looking to invest £50,000 to build a portfolio with a value of between £600,000 and £800,000. £50,000 gets the armchair investor 5 properties with significant equity in each one which will average around £200 per month profit after all costs giving a return on investment of around 24% on capital invested.
1
Put together a CD off all of your favourite positive uplifting music and play it whenever you need a pick up or boost of energy.
2
Turn your car into a moving classroom by listening to business, property and personal development CDs instead of listening to the radio.
3
Ignore the news on the radio, TV and in newspapers. There is hardly ever anything positive reported.
4
Be careful what you watch on TV and ask yourself if it is moving you towards your goals by watching that programme.
5
Get up 1 hour earlier everyday to do some exercise, plan your day, and review your goals.
6
Read personal development books or autobiographies of successful people just before you fall asleep and when the first wake up.
7
Catch yourself when you have a negative thought and make a conscious effort to replace it with a positive thought.
8
Spend time with other likeminded, positive people
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Always focus on the solution to a problem rather than the problem itself.
In terms of learning there is rarely a substitute for learning as much as you can and going out and doing some deals. You will often find that overcoming your fear is an exhilarating experience and provided you are sticking to your buying criteria there is no reason why you should fail. If you are looking for a more hands off approach to investment then you will find that our armchair investment programme will ensure you stick to my own buying model of acquiring cash generating assets with built in equity from day one. Perhaps the biggest golden rule there is in property is that you make your money when you buy NOT when you sell.
If you are interested in our armchair investment programme we would recommend coming and spending some time with myself and the team to start to understand how the operation works or initially just give us a call on 01908 423 700.
In the current economic climate it is easy to be swept up by the tide of negative press and doom and gloom. However, in times like this it is even more important than you work on your attitude, beliefs and mindset. Whilst many investors are running for the hills there is serious opportunity for those with the courage to go out and take advantage of the best buyers market we have seen in 18 years. I am not talking about putting on rose tinted glasses. 2009 will be a tough year for many people, but it is in your power to decide if you going o be a victim or a victor? As a friend of mine W Mitchell says: “It is not what happens to you, but what you decide to do about it”. Your thoughts and emotions will affect your behaviour which will affect your results.
10 Be grateful for all the wonderful people and things you already have in your life.
I know some of these suggestions seem really simple that’s because they are. Just try it and see what happens. Let’s make 2009 a great year
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 8 - FEBRUARY 2009
MEET THE MENTORS Rhett Lewis www.rhettlewis.com
Rob Moore & Mark Homer
Telephone
robmoore@progressiveproperty.co.uk
0800 027 7895 This month I am going to be writing about the different approach from investing in 2009 to the passive investment programmes that drew in many new investors over the last few years. For a number of years large companies made lots of money by getting naïve investors to invest in their developments. Investors were told that the properties would be worth X when they were completed and would rent for Y. Where did these figures come from? Well if we are being kind they were based on best guesses and estimates and if we are being less kind then they were made up to encourage investors to part with their cash. I know many investors that had their fingers burned in exactly this way. In 2009 the buying opportunities are tremendous with investors being able to purchase properties at unprecedented discount but before you go on a buying frenzy I would always recommend taking the time to understand the local market. What is a property really worth? – chances are you have a very good idea of the value of your own home and you should enter any investment with the same kind of knowledge. What is the area like where you are buying? Who are you actually going to be renting to and what is the demand like in that area? If you are unable to answer these basic questions then your property purchase is not an investment, it’s speculation. Getting to understand your area is not difficult it just takes a little time and some research. Naïve investors get excited when they learn that they can get a 30% discount off a property but the reality is that experienced investors look to do a deal when they know they can get a discount off a property that will rent easily and generate a monthly profit. Ask any experienced investor what a 2 bed terrace is worth on a particular road in their area and they will know without having to look the details up, you don’t necessarily have to get to this level to succeed but you do need to be able to answer these questions to make an informed decision on your investment. The most successful investors through 2009 are those that will learn their area inside out whilst taking action! Learning the property values and prices in your area is invaluable and when they are in the hands of an investor who understands that property investment is for the long term they are formidable tools and a recipe for success.
0845 1309505
www.progressiveproperty.co.uk/book
14 Negotiation Strategies Using Estate Agents to get £10,000 more per Property 85% of our deals are sourced through Estate Agents in a Property Crash. The great thing about this strategy is that 1. The Estate Agents are more ‘motivated’ than ever to help us and 2. It is the cheapest form of property marketing. Most people just don’t think they can get BMV property in constant supply through Estate Agents. Well, our last 39 deals have given us an average discount of 30.67% BMV, with 35 of them coming through agents. Enjoy the little secrets that make the biggest difference below: 1. The Long game: Play the long game with negotiations. Don’t try and do the deal there and then, but let negotiations take place over a longer period. This will allow you to assess whether the seller is really motivated. We often buy properties 6 months after viewing them. 2. How to introduce yourself: Before dealing with agent do research on rightmove and show that you have knowledge [the Law of Authority – 1 of the 6 Laws of influence]. Explain that you are looking to buy more than one property as you will be perceived as a much better buyer. 3. Rapport with agents: Law of Liking [another Law of influence] is really important. Get on with the EA and don’t feel intimidated by them. If you can find a common ground discuss this for instant rapport – then move onto the property. Spend time building rapport when you are out on viewings with them, away from their managers. 4. The right type of agent: When you walk into the office the agent you speak to is the one you deal with. Great tip for dealing with the right one is to look through the window at who is working on the phones and only go in when they are free. That way you will deal with the top negotiator. 5. Negotiation: Round no, round no, random no: Be more tactical when dealing with agents for the first few deals. For you first bid; make it a whole number, second bid; a whole number [increase by c. £5k] final bid make a very random figure – tell the agent that it is the absolute maximum you can pay. Don’t bid more than this [remember the long game]. A random number is more believable, and it looks like this is all the money you can get your hands on. 6. How to protect your deals [gazumping]: When buying 30% BMV you are very exposed – many investors would purchase at 25% or 20% BMV and first time buyers would take 5% BMV. If possible build a relationship with the manager of the EA as they can keep an eye on any negotiators trying to gazump! 7. Mindspace: Speak to the agents every few days and visit them once a week. The more mindspace you have the more likely they are to call you when a BMV property comes on the books. 8. Viewing for viewing figures: The Law of Reciprocation [another Law of Influence] states that ‘people repay, in kind, what another person has provided us’. EA have viewing targets and if you can help them out by viewing property that isn’t what you necessarily want they will return the favour with a BMV deal For the other 6 Tips, and for more detail on each one, please visit www.progressiveproperty.co.uk/2009/02/24/agents
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 8 - FEBRUARY 2009
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MEET THE MENTORS John Lee
www.yourhmoexpert.com
Telephone
Telephone
0161 681 7328
01933 460270
Getting Leads on the Internet.
They Laughed When I Said I Was Still Buying But When I Showed Them I Had Finance!~
This last month has seen a big push within Property Cow to get members to use the Internet to generate leads. As a part of Property Cow, members get a website. Many new members arrive declaring that they already have a website. The first question: Is it based on a Content Management System (CMS)?
“What does that mean?” Well simply put – can you log in to your website and … • Change the title of any page at will? • Add another page? • Upload an Image? • Embed a Video from Youtube? • Add extra fields to your forms? • Add audio? If you have to pay £30 - £50 every time you want to make a small change, then you are in trouble. The Property Cow websites are there to generate leads. As an Internet Marketer, you need to tweak your site continuously as you test Titles, Copy, Calls to Action, etc. A website is not a static entity. It should be a dynamic document that changes as you learn better ways to convert visitors into customers. As Frank Kern says, “Marketing is about engaging with your prospects and building trust.” The quest for many investors is to get free search engine rankings. Dave was chastised in Atlanta for not testing his keywords using Adwords Pay Per Click advertising first. Jerry West said “You can recover money, but you can’t recover time. If you spend 6 months ranking for the wrong keywords, then that time it is gone forever. Test to see if you can make money on your chosen keywords before doing SEO.” So create an Adwords advert that grabs attention and drives traffic to your webpage. Once there, you need to build trust, and focus on converting that visitor to a Lead, and then onto to being a Customer. Many investors get hung up on free. What you should focus is ROI – return on investment. Spend a £1,000 and make £20,000 – that’s a great ROI. What gets measured can be improved – so make sure you measure how many times your advert is shown, how many times that advert is clicked on, and how many visitors become leads. Once you know these numbers, you can then start to make changes and test new ideas to improve your conversion rate. With a CMS you can do this simply. Property Cow runs a one-day workshop. During that day you will build a web page, create an Adwords campaign, install tracking code, split test adverts and interpret the results. If you think you might like to take action and generate leads from the internet, email john@propertycow.co.uk with the subject line “adwords”. Until next month… John Lee
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Matthew Moody
www.propertycow.co.uk
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
To be frank, I don’t really care what the latest google tactics are, I’m not interested in the latest leafleting tricks, I’m not really bothered about how I can save money with utility suppliers and I certainly don’t want to read the latest report on 891 tricks to make me a million. There is solely one focus on my mind and that is – how can I finance my deals. Nothing else matters, nothing else will impact my ability to become wealthy – and nothing else will determine my future and add assets to my net worth. So, why are none of the property experts telling you how you can get finance? Why is it such a closely guarded secret? I can’t answer that question but what I can tell you is this. We at Stanford Knight have made it our number one priority to ensure that we have access to finance. And not just any old finance, not another counter clerk who pushes buttons and doesn’t understand risk; no, this is finance for those folks who want to build a solid dependable cashflow rich property business.
You can legally buy properties through our bridge and remortgage providers. You can get access to refurbishment lines of credit. You can buy as many properties as you want. You can build up a long-term relationship with providers who WANT to work with you. But there’s a catch. You need to be serious about property; you need to want to be successful, you need to willing to work with us as partners to ensure that you do succeed – oh, and there’s going to be a lot of hard work involved as well. Its often said that only 10% of people ever taken any action based on something they have read, listened or watched. Take action today and secure your source of finance. Stanford Knight has extensive experience in property investment and as a company has over 35 years of corporate experience, business acumen and know-how. We want to partner with you to help make your dreams into reality through finance, education and investment opportunities. Pre-register for our brand-new DVD launching in APRIL where you can learn all the property investing secrets you need to know – for FREE…
www.stanfordknight.com
MEET THE MENTORS Steve Bolton
Ajay Ahuja
www.platinumpartnersgroup.co.uk
www.ahuja.co.uk
Telephone
Telephone
0845 293 2877
0870 990 3205
Increase the streams of income in your property business with Low Risk, High Growth Passive Investment Opportunities We all know that buying properties seriously BMV today will reap rewards in the next 3-4 years, and that HMOs can provide excellent income through a recession. Yet executing those strategies properly requires expertise, time and effort. The strongest businesses are those which generate streams of income from multiple sources and I’d highly recommend to anyone with a property portfolio that they invest some capital in the best low risk, high growth opportunities that are presenting themselves in emerging markets overseas.
1996 to 2007 was the era of capital growth for landlords. The professionals right down to the amateurs all experienced that nice feeling of making money without actually doing anything. If anyone is a home owner they will know what I am talking about. It was one of the main allures of buy to let over that 11 year period which you could call the buy to let era. So is buy to let over? Has the music stopped? Has the party ended? Not likely.....
With banks paying virtually no interest on deposits (some are now considered high risk themselves), government bonds questionable and stocks and shares currently a huge gamble, high net worth individuals are looking for new, secure investment options. It’s encouraging, then, that some of the top accountants and wealth managers in the UK are now recommending select property projects to their clients as extremely attractive investment opportunities.
Welcome to the after party! All that has happened is that the DJ has switched. Instead of it being hard and fast techno where its going so fast you do not know what is going on now its smooth funky house music. Laid back, paced and in control tempo which we all understand.
The key is identifying the best pure investment vehicles, and of course it’s imperative that you do extensive due diligence on the companies offering them. However, in terms of the proposition itself, I’d advise you to look for these 7 elements as a minimum:
What the hell am I talking about! I am talking about positive cashflows like no landlord could ever imagine. 1% rates heading towards zero quick time. This means any properties bought before June 2008 on even rubbish rates will be paying 3%. Landlords on good rates will be paying sub 2% and even 1%.
1 That it’s a completely passive opportunity - i.e. it doesn’t require any time commitment from you in order to give a capital return. 2 The project satisfies a genuine and robust need in a local market. 3 There is no property ownership involved for the investor. 4 There is no need for you to raise additional finance at the end of the project. 5 Your investment is either guaranteed, or the risks have been expertly and exhaustively identified, and the level of return acceptably reflects them. 6 The developer has been incentivised so that he has a vested interest in making sure the investors have their capital returned and receive their profit before he does. 7 The people offering the opportunity have invested their own funds. If you can satisfy yourself on all these points, what you should be left with is a fundamentally very simple transaction for you: capital in, then after a specified period of time, capital and profit out. As increasing numbers of investors approach Platinum Investment Partners with funding, we’re able to negotiate better returns and security, with our latest project guaranteeing capital and profit. That kind of investment, alongside what the UK market currently has to offer, means the next 18 months are set to be record profit-makers! Go to www.platinumpropertypartners.net/guidetoinvest to receive your FREE PPP 20-page Guide to Investing in 2009.
So with rents coming in at the same rate and borrowing costs at near zero it means that 2008 till the near future will be the lovely healthy cashflow era or more like laid back funky house! So what is after the after party. I hazard a guess here but it will be inflation. Another party for us landlords. We will come out of our high cashflow era into high capital growth due to inflation. We will lose our cashflow but gain in capital. Either way I do not mind. This is because they are going to print money. If they double the money supply expect property prices to double. There is no simpler calculation than that. The strategy you should have is to: Buy as much appreciating assets you can lay your hands on. If you are one of the lucky ones who can get a buy to let mortgage then you would be crazy to let this opportunity pass you buy. Lenders are favouring less geared individuals compared to highly geared individuals like me. So just imagine buying £1m worth of property no money down today, the doubling of the money supply over 2 years and selling out for £2m. That would be making £1m out of nothing. So, are you the next slumdog millionaire? Talk to us and we will help you decide! Ajay
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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Are you making enough CASH from your property Business? With many investors struggling to make a living from property investing, YPN decided to get some expert advice from experienced investor and property mentor Simon Zutshi who has helped many investors to create significant income streams, something which most investors would find useful right now. Whether you want to make a full time living from property or just earn some extra monthly cash flow to make life a bit more comfortable, there are a number of relatively simple strategies you can put in place to generate cash from your property business. I thought I would explain just four these strategies by using practical examples from some of the graduates from My Property Mastermind Programme.
HIGH YIELD STUDENT AND PROFESSIONAL MULTI LET Instead of renting your property on one single Assured Short hold Tenancy (AST) contract you can make a very good cash flow by renting out individual rooms on ASTs to students or young professionals. The combined rent from each room is usually far higher than you would receive on a single AST even if you are including all the bills in the rent. It is important to buy the right kind of property, in the right location but once you do this, an average multi let can earn you anything from £300 to £1000 profit per month. How many of these would you need to replace your current income? Nickki and Pete Uglow wanted to earn enough passive income from their property to replace Nikki’s salary, so that she could give up work. Nikki explains how they smashed this goal. ”Pretty soon after starting Simon’s Mastermind Programme we realised that Student multi lets would be the easiest way for us to achieve our goal. Both Pete and I had been to Coventry University, which is where we met, and so we were confident that we understood the local market and demand for student accommodation.” “To maximise our cash flow from the properties we realised that we would have to buy them below market value from motivated sellers. Using a number of the strategies we had learnt from Simon and with some focused effort we found motivated sellers in the area we wanted to buy with the result that we have purchased a total of 10 properties, with £611,000 of equity and a potential positive cash flow of £38,000 per year. With the drop in interest rates we are now making even more but we are going to set this extra cash flow aside for a rainy day”
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
Pete added ”We loved the idea of using other people’s money to do this. We did use some equity from our own home to put money into a few of the purchases, especially where renovation was required but we have now been able to pull all that money out. We are amazed how much we have been able to achieve in just 12 months. We don’t really need to buy any more property as we have enough but there are some great deals out there right now so as long as it fits our strict criteria I am sure we will buy some more cash flow properties at the right price.”
RENT TO MULTI LET STRATEGY As we have just seen, multi lets can generate great cash flow and so are great assets to have in a portfolio, but you don’t have to own them to generate this cash! There is a strategy of renting larger houses then sub letting them. The basic concept is that there are large houses on the rental market that are currently empty advertised as single ASTs but would actually be suitable as multi lets. The current owner may not want the hassle of multi lets or even know about them. Denny Spratley and Dave Turner who are both very successful investors teamed up after meeting on the Property Mastermind Programme and have taken the idea of lease options one stage further with their rent to multi let strategy. Denny explains their strategy. “ As usual, location is key so identify the area you are interested in that has a room rental market, then search for suitable houses which are available for rent in that area. Ideally you are looking for 5 letting rooms to generate the right amount of income e.g. four bedrooms (preferably at least 1 en-suite), separate lounge and dining room so that one of these can be a bedroom. Then calculate how much income you can generate, and compare that to the cost of the rent plus an estimate of the bills and running costs. Decide if that is enough cash flow for you and move into action!” Once you have found a suitable house for rent the next step is to view and get to meet the owner. It is usually a good idea if you are going through and agent to ask for a meeting with the owner to explain what you want to do. Some owners will say no outright, but some are open to the idea when you
sell them the benefits as follows: They get to rent their house to professional, responsible investors You will return the house in the same condition (photos/inventory a good idea here) Offer a 3 year contract with an annual rent increase (say 5%) No voids, no costs of finding new tenants This could be a great deal for landlords who are struggling to rent their properties. It is a great deal for you as you don’t have to get a mortgage or even come up with a big deposit. Obviously there are set up costs for you of furniture etc, but look for houses with fire doors, fitted kitchens and wardrobes (smoke alarms and door locks may needed)– this all helps to reduce initial costs. It is a good idea to estimate that the first 6 months income will cover the set up costs, then after that its in profit – that’s why it’s a good idea to ask for a minimum 3 year contract”
SELLING DEALS TO OTHER INVESTORS If you are out there actively looking for motivated sellers you will no doubt come across great deals which may not suit your personal requirements but would be good for someone else. If a particular deal does not work for you because it is out of your area, the wrong type of property etc you may be able to sell it onto another investor. The amount of money you can earn really depends on the quality of the deal and how much work you have put it. If you merely pass on an unqualified contact you might sell it for as little as £25 but if you pass on a fully negotiated done deal then a finders fee of 2% of the property value is usually very acceptable. Andy Evans explains how he has turned his and other people’s unwanted deals into a successful business generating significant cash flow: “Simon showed us how we could turn our unwanted leads into cash by selling them to other people on the Mastermind or even outside the group. I thought this was a great idea as many investors just seem to bin leads if they are not cash out deals, failing to recognise that they may be suitable for another investor with slightly different investment criteria.
about if you could sell it to another investor to generate some cash”
ARMCHAIR INVESTMENTS FOR OTHER INVESTORS Taking the concept of selling deals one step further, there are many people who love the idea of investing in property but don’t know how to do or have the time to do it. These armchair investors would rather pay someone else to do all the running around for them. There are already a number of companies in the market who charge a lot of money to build portfolios for you, but there is nothing to stop you as an individual investor from doing it for other investors as Julie Boddy explains: “Having purchased 23 properties in a very short space of time since starting the Mastermind Programme, I decided that I had enough personal property for the moment and wanted to make some money by selling on deals to other investors. I liked the idea of providing a complete service together for armchair investors who pay me up front to build portfolios for them. I charge the armchair investor £5000 per property which I then buy for them no money down and do all the running around. This is a real win win for me and the armchair investors as I have a ready supply of deals and the investors does not have to do anything. It is of course great for my cash flow as I am paid before I do the work. You can see the services I provide on my website: www.allweatherequity.com So as you can see it is very possible to make great cash flow for your property just by thinking differently from the average investor.
Although Simon has been sharing his knowledge, experience, and strategies since 2003, the Property Mastermind Programme was only launched in April 2007 and has already created about 35 property millionaires. The next programme starts in April this year and full details can be found at www.Property-Mastermind.com
I decided to meet as many investors as possible who could pass their surplus deals to me in exchange for some of the revenue if I was able to sell them on. I started by selling deals to my contacts and other investors I had met though property networking events. This worked really well and is a great way for anyone to start making money by selling leads. However, as word spread and volumes increased I had to set up some good systems and now actively promote deals through my website www.BMVwarehouse.co.uk. So when you find a deal that not right for you as long as it is a good deal, just think YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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Negotiate That!
How to negotiate massive discounts from estate agents Many YPN readers will have honed their negotiating skills buying bargain properties direct from motivated sellers and even from other investors but here at YPN we get many emails from investors who struggle to transfer these techniques when buying through estate agents. With this in mind we spend a day with one of Glenn Armstrong’s ex estate agents who sources BMV deals for Glenn and Glenn’s Armchair Investors. Here Michael Holt explains his techniques for consistently getting 30%, 40% and even 50% discounts through estate agents. YPN Can you tell us a bit about your background?
buying a month? Mike We buy somewhere between 15 and 20 properties per month so anybody who thinks that they can’t negotiate 30% discounts through estate agents either has the wrong mindset or they are just giving up too easily. Recently I was viewing some properties for myself and went round a few agents that I hadn’t worked with before who all told me that I was never to going to find the kind of deal I was looking for. I was almost at the point of giving up and this is my day job! Fortunately I was with my business partner, which helped, as we were there to give each other support. At the end of the day I actually ended up buying a property that was worth £110,000 for £45,000.
Mike When I was 14 years old my uncle was a senior partner
YPN Do you ever feel awkward about the low offers that
in a large estate agents in London and during the school
you are putting in?
holidays I used to go up there and spend time gaining work experience. As soon as I turned 17 I took a job with Connells estate agents where I worked for about 4 years. I quickly became their top sales negotiator in the region and this was the direct result of a change in my approach. During my training we were trained to find a buyer to pay the sellers price, after meeting Glenn I quickly realised that if I focused on finding sellers that would accept the buyers price I was going to sell a lot more houses. This made the difference between me being a run of the mill agent and becoming their top negotiator. YPN And so after all this experience you are now the ripe old age of?
Mike Glenn once said to me that another investor he knows often says that if you don’t feel embarrassed by the offer you are putting in then it’s too high! I don’t ever feel embarrassed by the offers because I believe it’s up to the vendor whether or not they want to accept it. I know that there are enough people out there that will accept very low offers just to get shot of their property for a multitude of reasons. Lets say that only 5% of vendors are going to accept the kind of offer you are willingto make. If an average estate agent is listing 100 properties then at any time every single agent has 5 potential deals that fit your buying criteria. My job is to make sure that I am the first person they call when that deal comes in.
Mike I’m only 21 but have been doing property for 7 years and
YPN Can you perhaps give an example of one of your
most recently I have bought a few for my self. Now my day
recent deals
job is buying properties for Glenn and his investors. I spend all day negotiating with estate agents and tying up deals. YPN I notice you didn’t say viewing properties?
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YPN Just to give us an idea, how many properties are you
Mike We purchased a house recently that was a builder’s part exchange, it had been in pretty bad condition and they had been unable to sell and so they had fully refurbished the entire house. It was in immaculate condition and even in
Mike No, now I know the area so well and have such a good
poor repair had valued at £155,000. We actually did the deal
relationship with the local agents that we do the deals over
for £102,000 and as I say the property really is immaculate.
the phone, at their office or in the pub! I go to view lots of
I also tied up a deal last week on a property that valued at
property to help the agents with their viewing figures but
£175,000 and we are buying for £120,000.
they know that if the deal fits our buying criteria then we’ll
I also often see investors going out and doing a bit of re-
buy it. I also spend some time with new agents trying to
search and finding 1 property that they like the look of and
educate them about thinking the right way about selling
getting despondent when there 30% bmv offer is rejected.
houses. I have to say that in the current climate it’s not too
One of my absolute top tips is to find properties that are
difficult to get many of them thinking in the right way. Eight
perhaps priced slightly below what you expect to see them
months ago many really did not want to know us but right
at. If they are priced pretty keenly then there is a fair chance
now they are hurting and have to think differently about how
that somebody is keen to sell and you will be able to do a
they work if they are going to survive.
deal. Look for properties that are already a bit of a deal,
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
maybe houses that you would expect to be priced at
of practice makes perfect. Waltzing into agents and simply
£150,000 on for £125,000 and look to get another £20,000
thrusting your business card towards them giving it the big I
off the price. In this market no agent is going to get upset
am is a sure way to ensure it ends up in the bin!
with you offering £20,000 under the listed price. YPN so can you give a few of your top tips on how to build YPN so starting out you were what, going out and making lots of offers? Mike When I started working for Glenn my phone used to ring 20 times a day with agents trying to give me deals that were not that great. By explaining my buying criteria I have got to the point where I perhaps get 1 or 2 phone calls per day but they are very serious calls with a very high likelihood of becoming a deal. YPN Can you just explain about the buying criteria, as I know Glenn has some pretty strict rules? Mike Our buying criteria right now due the reduced interest rate is that the property has to be cash flow positive by a minimum of £200-£250 per month. We used to be happy with £150 per month but as interest rates are now low we have tightened up our criteria. In addition when we refinance the property it must pay for the cost of the refurbishment and have at least £6,000 - £12,000 cash back out of the deal. For new investors these figures sound ambitious but personally
that relationship? Mike Whenever I go into new agents I always look at my watch before I go in and won’t leave until I have been there for a minimum of half an hour. Normally I will spend over an hour the first time I meet a new agent and believe me right now they haven’t got that much else to be doing! If you haven’t spent around forty-five minutes at that initial meeting then you have failed and you need to go back and see them again. YPN So who is the best person to deal with normally? Mike I always get asked this question and the answer is normally that whoever greets you first when you go into the agents is the person you want to be dealing with. The best negotiators are the proactive ones, when I was an agent I was always at the door first to meet prospective buyers. YPN Any other tips or advice
I am agreeing between 15 and 20 deals per month that fit
Mike Just remember that whatever you might have heard to
exactly this model within 1 city.
the contrary estate agents are people too! Treat the whole thing as you would any business relationship, be professional
YPN so to buy 15-20 per month how many agents are you
and polite but do your best to build a good working relation-
deaing with?
ship. Put yourself in the agent’s shoes, who would you rather
Mike We probably deal with around 8 agents that know exactly what we want to buy and they pretty much tie up the deal before giving us a call. It takes a long time to get to this stage though and much of it comes from you doing what you
deal with somebody that you get on with and does what they say they will do or somebody who appears arrogant on your first meeting and has not taken the time to talk through their strategy with you?
say you will do. You need to be consistent and reliable if you are going to build up a long-term relationship with the agents in your area. YPN So what works best when trying to build a relationship when working with a new agent? Mike If you think that by walking into an estate agents and handing across your business card and telling them you will buy anything with a 35% discount off of RICS valuation they will suddenly be falling over themselves to give you deals
Glenn and his team run an estate agent mentoring service whereby his team of former agents will come and visit estate agents in your area and help hone your negotiation skills. For more information call 01908 423700
then you are going to be pretty disappointed. You need to find some common ground with the agent that isn’t about property, if you can go out for the day and view some
Glenn Armstrong
properties with them then your job is to build that relationship. It might sound silly but I always think when an agent is comfortable enough in my company to swear then we have started building a relationship. If you can spend some time with them and they think you are a pretty decent person then they are more likely to think of you when a deal comes in. To some people this rapport building comes very naturally but other people struggle and it is very much a case YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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Investing in Turkey Why is Turkey an attractive proposition for UK based investors? The likes of Price Water House Coopers, the Urban Land Institute and Global Property Guide do not recommend many places for investment in Europe currently but all three promote Turkey as offering the best investment prospects and all three agree that Turkeyis ‘safe’. In January 2009, The Financial Times rated Altinkum, Didim as the 9th best place in the world to invest in property. Also in the same month, Property Investor News had a focus on Turkey as an area where an investor can escape the ‘doom and gloom’ of current times – all positive news for investors. Within Turkey, Didim is the least expensive area along the desirable Aegean coast. It is a designated Tourism Development Region (TDR) and will benefit from a minimum of another 8 years of government investment. The last 2 years has seen the construction of Europe’s second largest marina and the planning of 2 golf courses, as a start towards the TDR plans. This is only just the beginning. What types of properties do your investors buy? Usually clients give us their property criteria and we show details of properties / developments that tick all of their boxes OR we source the criteria for the client. We have a ‘can do’ attitude backed by a healthy wariness of developers and vendors in the area. We are hot on due diligence and
recommend that clients supplement this with their own research. We regularly advertise BMVs in the YPN weekly mail outs but we also offer guaranteed rentals, joint ventures, buy-to-lets- buy-to-sells, NMD deals. The BMVs and guaranteed rentals are the most popular (especially when combined) How are these typically financed?
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Financing and re-mortgaging of existing property portfolio in the UK is the most popular currently due to the fabulous borrowing rates.
2
Turkish mortgages – from a UK IFA or a Turkish bank are good for financially strong borrowers.
3
Increasingly in 2008, we saw more cash buyers and have fine tuned a great selection of advantages for cash buyers.
What sort of returns do your investors normally see? 5% to 40% capital growth on the market value, - depending upon the area chosen within Didim. In addition, we offer properties and developments with rental guarantees between 4% and 10% per annum – up to 5 years. These are extremely popular as they are always located in desirable areas so in addition to the guaranteed rent, the capital growth is usually very good.
THE THREE BUYING OPPORTUNITIES Auctions provide three opportunities for purchasing so let us take a look at the pros and cons of each.
Pre-auction
Post Auction Any lot that doesn’t reach its reserve will first be offered to the highest bidder or bidders to negotiate with the vendor (via the auctioneers) before they leave the room. You may get agreement under (but close to) the reserve, or the lot will
If you have any experience at all of auctions you will probably
remain unsold and will be available to anyone for a short
have noticed that some lots are withdrawn, sometimes at the
period after the event. The property may eventually go back
very last minute, and others may not show a guide price but
on the open market or be re-listed in another auction, but
simply state “refer” instead. Lots can be withdrawn for many
there is a small window of opportunity for a successful offer
different reasons, perhaps because the vendor gets cold feet,
up to a couple of weeks afterward.
or that some vital piece of paperwork hasn’t materialised in time. “Refer” means “refer to auctioneer”. You will need to
Auction conditions remain so there are no corners that
call them to get the guide price, which can also mean that the
can be cut here, but don’t assume that an unsold lot must
property has an offer pending and the auctioneer is wait-
have something wrong with it. Equally, don’t assume that it
ing to see if the buyer can exchange contracts before their
doesn’t!
deadline. In addition to our sourcing and buying services, at Auction If you choose to make an offer prior to auction then you will
Insider (www.auction-insider.co.uk) we have a dedicated and
also need to exchange contracts quickly, so make sure your
experienced team of solicitors and brokers at our disposal,
funding is in place and that you are not cutting any corners in
who understand the auction process and procedures. We are
order to do so.
therefore able to put you in touch with the people best placed to advise how to achieve the financial outcome you require.
It is worth bearing in mind that auctioneers like to receive bids in advance because it gives them an indication of the
Please email info@auction-insider.co.uk
likely interest in the property, and may also encourage them
or call 01784 460874 in the first
to raise the reserve and hold out to see what happens
instance and discover the many
in the room.
ways wecan assist you.
At Auction In order to bid on the day you will need to be a cash buyer or have your finance in place. You will find yourself somewhat at the mercy of fate, in that you may be the only bidder and get yourself a bargain, or you may find your competitors fight amongst themselves taking the price beyond your limit before you have even had your say! If it ends up being between you and one other, don’t allow the auctioneer to dictate the pace - if you are nearing your limit, slow him down by taking your time to indicate your next bid. Once the bidding slows the auctioneer may accept smaller increments, and this may make your opponent think you know something that they don’t! There is a lot of up-front work required (especially for a noncash buyer), for an uncertain outcome, and you could find your lot withdrawn. However, the best deals will be snapped up on the day.
Donna Searle & Derek Armstrong YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
By converting your house into an HMO you have the potential to improve your cash flow massively by up to as much as 300% compared with renting your property out as a single unit. For example: a 3 bedroom house with a downstairs living room, that would normally rent out to a family for £800 pcm could bring in £1,300 pcm if you were to rent each of the 4 rooms out at £75 weekly. On an annual basis you would make an extra £6,000! In this example there are 4 bedrooms, a shared kitchen & bathroom.
So what is an HMO? A House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) is a property that has been let out to sharers rather than a single family unit. These sharers can be anyone from students to professionals.
How do you convert your investment into an HMO? Planning Consent is required from the Council. Submission of drawings of your proposed HMO together with your application form is needed. This process normally takes 6-8 weeks. Building Regulations Approval will be required to ensure that the development meets set standards in areas such as: Sound proofing. This has to be done mainly between floors, party walls & internal vertical walls especially surrounding bedrooms. An acoustic test is normally required to see if minimum standards are met. Fire safety. A mains-wired fire detection and alarm system is required as well as a protected route ie: fire-resistant walls, partitions and doors with the protected route needing emergency lighting. Both fire and alarm systems will need annual inspections and certificates. Also appropriate fire fighting equipment needs to be accessible such as extinguishers and fire blankets. In some cases an external staircase will be required as a means of escape. Energy Insulation. Adequate heat insulation should also be considered. Parking issues. Off street parking for occupants of HMO’s should be provided wherever possible. Once planning is granted and you have complied with the above you will need to obtain an HMO licence. For this you need to provide gas & electricity safety certificates,maintenance records of your fire detection systems,tenancy details together with your insurance certificate and detailed floor plans. Although there is an additional cost, the benefits far outweigh this and once converted you have the benefit of your fantastic income stream FOREVER.
Who can help you? With over 19 years in property investing including HMO’s and 8 years in the renovating and building business Home from Home Property Services Ltd is the ideal company to smooth the process of converting your investment into an HMO.
If you are interested or would like further information please contact Christina Kusytsch on 07961 441050 or email her at christinak123@hotmail.com Christina Kusytsch
Over Analysing syndrome- how to spot it and avoid it! When I started out, I made the mistake of over analysing my first project and worried about every single aspect. I thought it would be useful to describe how this can affect a development and your frame of mind. I was reminded about the type of mindset you have when you start out, when we recently did some work for a landlord who just has the one the property. It is important you recognise what I am taking about because the quicker you loose it (this mindset) the more money you will save. The mindset involves analysing every single aspect of the development, being involved in every decision, taking days to make decisions, then possibly changing your mind at every turn. In the above example it was very important to the chap that we plastered one ceiling because every other ceiling had been plastered. Now, no one else would have ever noticed, least of all the tenants. In the scheme of things what he was asking for was not important but he mentioned it every time he met our project manager on site. He was analysing every aspect of the job and to be frank worrying unnecessarily. Apart from putting yourself in a early grave, the above ‘over analysing syndrome’ will mean you are more likely to take too long turning projects around, spend too much money, be on site too much and fail to see the bigger picture. The bigger picture is sticking to your budget and time frames- these are the tests by which you should be judging yourself. Get yourself a couple of forms and plan (estimate) on how much each project will cost and how long it will take. Once the project is running make a note of the weekly totals of the project. At the end of the project review your performance - only at this stage should you start giving yourself a hard time if need be. If you want a ready made template to help with this- drop me an email at ’jonbieri@potential2property.com If at any stage, during the project you start to give yourself a hard time and are ‘beating yourself up’ it is very important you stop yourself from doing this. Remember the time to analyse is at the end- that’s how a professional would do it.
If you don’t change your mindset you will make mistakes and it will be well nigh impossible for you to manager multiple projects because you spend too much time on each refurbishment- in fact you will start to hate refurbishments!
For FREE property refurb tips email me at jonbieri@potential2property.com or for a chat call me on 0151 355 8044 or 07740 466 981
Jon Bieri
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Valuing Properties In A Down Market I’m sure you’ve been there before. The 3-bed semi that you think is worth £135k comes back with a mortgage valuation of just £100k. So Below Market Value deal only comes back as an Open Market Value making it deal impossible. I’m sure you’ve been there before. The 3-bed semi that you think is worth £135k comes back with a mortgage valuation of just £100k. So your Below Market Value deal only comes back as an Open Market Value making it deal impossible. This is a typical scenario for property investors eager to get the value they want. I personally meet investors all the time who tell me this exact scenario and I’m often surprised as this situation is for the most part avoidable. Firstly, we have to question whether bricks and mortar have any kind of intrinsic value. Buy to Let mortgages value on comparables – what similar properties (residential or but-to-let) have sold for in the very recent past. Investment guru John Burr Williams defines the intrinsic value as the cashflow that can be expected to occur during the remaining life of that asset (The Theory Of Investment Value).By this token it could be argued that investment properties should be valued according to their investment potential (like commercial properties) rather than on the basis of an estimate of what the market will pay for a property at a particular moment in time. A question we could reasonably ask is: has the intrinsic value of our 3-bed house really dropped by 20% or is it just the market’s ability to pay that has dropped? So surveyors have a difficult job right now. Your surveyor is looking for is the Open Market Value of the property, and to arrive at this figure he looks at is what similar properties have sold for in the previous 3 months.
3. Estate Agents Because the data that you get from Net House Prices (from the Land Registry) can be up to 3 months out of date, you really need to know what similar properties have actually sold for in the immediate 3 month period. The best way is to establish a relationship with your estate agents. Do get friendly with them as it goes without saying that they are not terribly busy – and you may need to use them for various strategies in your property investment career. Once you have developed the relationship you can just call asking if they have sold any similar properties in the last 3 months.
4. Walk Around It goes without saying of course that you’ll need to know that the property that sold for £20k more than the one down the road did so because of the extension or the double garage.
So this is how the investor should approach this:-
Armed with this valuable data – you should have a reasonable case for what you think is the Open Market Value of the property. Now to the trickier part of managing your survey.
1. Sold House Prices
1. Meet Your Surveyor
The investor can use www.nethouseprices.com to look up what similar houses have sold for in that street or in the surrounding streets. The data that Net House Prices uses comes directly from the Land Registry and the greatest flaw with this approach is that this data can be up to 3 months’ old. Nevertheless, this is a useful starting point as it is also the starting point of your surveyor.
As a professional property investor, valuations are critical to you as they control your raw material – money. You cannot afford to just leave that process to your seller. Either meet your surveyor there or use a professional service (www.meetthesurveyor.com) . This gives you much more control over the valuation process and the reason is this: if you’re buying a property that’s worth £135k and you leave the valuation to the seller, if the surveyor understands from your seller that the price you’ve agreed with your seller is £100k then your surveyor will value the property at £100k! When you meet your surveyor you can block any interaction with the seller and the surveyor and assist the surveyor in valuing the property
2. Selling Prices What estate agents have put similar properties on the market for should not in any sense be viewed by the investor as an indication of the Open Market Value. However, it can be useful as a benchmark. What you can do is to find out what similar houses are selling for and then use a free Hometrack regional report www.hometrack.co.uk, put the postcode of your property into Hometrack and one of the figures it will return for you is the Sales-To-Asking Price
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percentage. For example, if the Sales to Asking Price is 87% for instance, then houses are actually selling for 87% of what the estate agents are putting them on the market for – this can be a useful statistic even though – taken on its own – it is not reliable.
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2. Allow Your Surveyor To Do His Job This is one of the biggest mistakes made by beginning property investors. They go around with lots of
documentation pulled off the internet and thrust it right underneath their surveyors’ noses. The surveyor is immediately left with an unfavourable impression of the investor. Much better to let the surveyor do his job, but block interaction with the seller (perhaps ask that the seller isn’t there) and ask the surveyor if you can have a chat with him afterwards. This way, you form a relationship with your surveyor with idle chit-chat about “what’s happening in the market?”, “how your firm finding things?”, ”are you doing lots of valuations?” Then get to talking about the house.
3. Modesty & Pessimism As an investor turning up to the survey in a bright red Porsche might not be the best strategy as the surveyor thinks you’re living in the fast lane and you need to show that you’re successful and the reason you need to show that you’re so successful is that you’re just about to go under – ‘ I’d best downvalue this property!’. The last thing the surveyor wants is an investor going under with a property they’ve even slightly overvalued – especially in a down market! While speaking with your surveyor also show the surveyor that you are taking a pessimistic line. When speaking about comparables, suggest that you think the property that sold two weeks ago sold for ‘way too much in this market’. Get the surveyor to agree with you and understand that your approach is sensible and prudent.
4. Let Him Ask You What You Think It’s Worth You’ve kept your documentation up your sleeve until now. Just wait until he asks you what you think – surveyors often like to understand investors’ thinking, so when he asks, you can reply calmly: “Well – I dunno – number 24 sold for £150k two weeks ago through Foxtons – but I think that’s a bit high!” This is instantly preferable to foisting your documentation on him. At the end of your conversation with him (I’ll often sit in my surveyors’ cars for 20 minutes chatting and try to ensure I get their business card!) you can offer to leave your documentation with him – especially if you’ve got comparables that have sold that don’t appear on the Land Registry yet.
5. Use Recommendations On Surveyors Like it or not there are optimistic surveyors and pessimistic surveyors. Both have their uses. For mortgage valuations we usually want an optimistic surveyor. Since the demise of the mortgage packager it is more difficult now to choose our own surveyor. We can however still have an impact upon which surveyor at your firm actually carries out the valuation. By networking and using online forums we can get advice from other investors as to which surveyor to use (or not to use) in a particular area. We know for example that Birmingham Midshires always use Colleys, their in-house surveyors. What we want to know is how to get the optimistic surveyor to carry out the valuation. One approach I’ve used is to find out which days the pessimistic surveyor works – if he doesn’t do Fridays then the only time my seller is available is a Friday!
6. Stop The Marketing Of The Property This is critical! If the property is on Right Move or has an estate agents board outside it will value for less – guaranteed! The logic goes like this: if our £135k property has been on the market for 7 months and is now on the market for £125k then the valuer will assume the £125k to be the asking price and value it at 87% of that! Dismantle all the marketing of the property to guide the surveyor into actually doing their job!
7. Energy Performance Certificates One trick that I’ve used effectively is to find out if that surveyor’s company is now doing Energy Performance Certificates in order to keep busy. If they have, you might promise to have all of your future rental properties EPC’d by that particular surveyor! It works!
8. Always Overvalue The Property for Mortgage Purposes The next step is to always marginally overvalue the property on the mortgage application so that this figure reaches the surveyor. If you massively overvalue the surveyor won’t listen to a thing you say, you’ll destroy any credibility you have. Do expect your valuer to beat you down on this valuation - as it looks to his employers that he is doing his due-diligence – but also – you may be pleasantly surprised in that one of these properties could value at your slightly inflated value!
What If It All Goes Wrong? Occasionally it goes wrong and your property gets downvalued. You may try to speak to the surveyor (especially if you have his mobile on his business card) or your broker may be able to do this for you. What happens is the lender, or surveyor firm will ask you to provide 3 recent comparables – again not an easy thing to do in this market as few properties are selling. The lender may not refuse, generally, neither does your surveyor – they will just ask you to provide 3 recent sold comparables. It is down to you to produce the evidence. In a down market valuing properties is less about getting what you want for the valuation and rather getting what is justifiable. Your surveyor has to justify his valuations and your role is to help him do just that. However, the whole process is made much simpler when your starting point is a justifiable Open Market Value. . Richard Shepherd is a property expert & public speaker. He runs beginners and advanced workshops in property investment at www.YourPropertyTutor.com and www.themasterminduniversity.com and sells investment deals at www.PropertyInsiderDeals.co.uk
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LEGAL EAGLES! One thing that’s guaranteed in property is that without the right legal teams in place your deal is going nowhere. The days of using your local country solicitor to transact your sale are long gone and now experienced investors look to use highly professional specialist legal teams that understand the intricacies of a below market value transaction. Here at YPN we have experience in using the following 3 teams of solicitors and are pleased to report that our transactions have completed smoothly due to their professional approach.
FROM REPOSSESSION TO RICHES.... How hungry survivors, riddled with court judgements, formerly bankrupt and repossessed can become multi-millionaire property investors. Last month’s article (2009 will be MEGA) has resulted in my inbox bursting at the seams. I really enjoyed writing it, thank you all so much for your positive feedback. The recurring thread in these emails, has been asking me to explain how “ANYONE, no matter their background, no matter their knowledge, no matter their credit rating, no matter their location, no matter how much cash they have, ANYONE can achieve massive things in property in 2009.” Some people are saying yes, ANYONE else can do it, but not me. Something has happened in the past, or I have this issue to overcome right now. I can see how other people can achieve MEGA things in property, but not me. Successful people say that if you have a big enough reason WHY you want to do something, then HOW to do it will appear. They also say “If your WHY is big enough the HOW is irrelevant.” This is clearly not sufficient, sometimes you need to know HOW so you can picture yourself achieving those dreams and start believing they are possible. I would like to share my HOW with you.... 5 strategies that I am currently using to achieve massive things in property.
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Discounted Property Acquisition using Buy to Let mortgages. It is important for current lending purposes that you have an income independent of property, that your credit rating is excellent and that your credit score is high. Discounts can be turned into deposits by using specialist third party finance companies.
2 Joint Venture with other investors who meet all the
above criteria and are happy to obtain the mortgages in their names. With joint ventures you both have the advantages of motivating each other, planning together and sharing management responsibilities. It is also simple to tie up legally using a Deed of trust. Just make sure that you like each other and that you are either very flexible, or share similar long term aims, before you start.
3 Partner with Passive Investors. Most long term private
investors in the property community, if comfortable, will lend funds at returns of around 12% - 24% pa. This sounds like a lot of money but for quick cheap purchases (under 25k) and improvements, such borrowed money can be very useful.. We bought a flat for £5,000 mortgage free, it rents at £325pcm and our investor will be repaid in full within 22 months. Recently we used £3500 to convert a garage in a 3 bed house to a room and increased the house rent by £350pcm.
4 Lease Options or Exchange with Delayed Completion
(EDC). I first used my EDC system in 2008 to take over a BTL portfolio. We are now fortunate to have Rick Otton
and David Lee teaching us how to do this kind of thing properly. We can instruct brilliant solicitors like Paul Gelder at MSLaw who can tie the paperwork up legally and add massive credibility to the whole transaction. A typical case study is the Vendor of a 4 bed house who had moved to London. Mortgage was 137k costing £850pcm, he used to let it at £750pcm. Value in 2007 was around 165k. I assumed responsibility for the mortgage using a Lease Option, Power of Attorney and Letter of Authority. The vendor paid the legal fees and £1400 cash to me (equivalent of a previous years rental shortfall). The Vendor is overjoyed that I took this property off his hands and it rented within 3 weeks via the council at £1100pcm. There is not always a need to deal with the mortgage lender, in some cases, we simply take a long term lease option with the Vendor and they pay their own mortgage on an ongoing basis. LO/ EDC are very flexible services and can be tailor made to suit the needs and plans of vendors.
5 Deal Packaging and Selling. Source, Negotiate, Secure,
Sell. Within YPN and the online property communities you will see pre-negotiated deals for other investors. Selling deals is an excellent way to generate income. Each investor’s criteria is different so take the time to network and befriend other property buyers. Find out what they are looking for in a deal and you will maximise your chances of that deal completing and of your promises to the vendor being honoured.
Do not rely on any one strategy but try to use at least 3 at any one time. If you would like to discuss this article, I will be at the www.progressiveproperty.co.uk course on the 8th March. Now you have the HOW, work on your WHY. Nurture your dreams, grow your dreams and put yourself in the environment where property success is expected and taken for granted. Build your reasons WHY very big, and you will build your property business very big. In total support,
Phil (I’ve got a friend) Martin Phil Martin and his wife Wendy are full time parents to 5 daughters. Phil enjoys building property portfolios for himself and for other investors www.MRNPortfolioBuilder.com Phil specialises in Sale and Rent Back transactions, his brand Mortgage Rescue Network was recently featured in The Telegraph as an example of an ethical sale and rent back provider. The Mortgage Rescue Network partner with lead sellers and advice agencies, they receive in excess of 60 referral enquiries each day from people looking to sell quickly or solve a property problem. 2 Free Downloads: www.propertyinvestmenttips.co.uk/ABC.doc . www.propertyinvestmenttips.co.uk/stopping-repossession.doc YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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The UK’s first REAL Property Investor Exhibition? Here at YPN we have done our fair share of traipsing around different shows supposedly aimed at property investors only to come away pretty disillusioned with trying to find those people offering the kind of business or service that as active UK investors we are looking for. Many shows seemed crammed with huge glitzy stands advertising off plan properties in faraway countries that we know nothing about. Some of these may well be offering the deal of the century but how would you know? To say that many exhibitors might have been peddling questionable investments may well be the understatement of the century! Our good friend Rhett Lewis (regular guest writer and
Legal experts
contributor to YPN) obviously felt the same about a number
(conveyancing experts that can ensure your
of exhibitions as he is launching the first ever UK Property
purchase goes through smoothly)
Exhibition Show aimed at the Below Market Value investor,
The principal aim is get as many people who are actively
taking place at Marriot Rennaissance hotel, Heathrow on
involved in buying property and those looking to increase
Saturday 25th April
their portfolio or even begin their career in property investment together. At YPN we know that when you bring
The aim behind the exhibition is pretty straightforward, to
people together many of them inevitably end up doing
bring together many of those companies offering exemplary
business with each other creating win:win deals
service to the BMV buyer and to put them all in one room
for all involved.
where investors can go and meet these leading lights of the BMV industry for FREE.
When Rhett came to us with this idea some months ago we felt that a relevant exhibition for investors looking to buy
YPN was delighted to be asked to support this event and we
over the coming months was something that was badly
will be exhibiting and sponsoring the exhibition as we feel it
needed. YPN have never before been involved in an
is such a great idea.
exhibition other than simply attending as we have always
Who is exhibiting?
felt that in the main property shows have been focussed on people “vaguely interested” in property and often exhibitors have been pushing deals that we have found questionable
Rhett’s team are busy finalising the exhibitors as we speak
as investments.
but their aim is have a good variety of exhibitors including:
Property Sourcers: (those finding and packaging BMV deals)
High Profile Investors:
As investors ourselves the YPN team have always taken the stance of only featuring those people that have experience dealing with or have been personally recommended to us and were delighted that many of these people will be at the UK Property Investor Exhibition.
(some very big names in the Buy-to-let market will be there to answer any questions you might have)
SEMINARS
Financiers:
Rhett has informed us that there will be a number of
(the people who can arrange for your purchase to happen
seminars happening through the day covering different
often No Money Down)
aspects of property investment for the active buyer.
Experienced Brokers (who are used to working in the BMV industry)
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
The cost for these will be £5 per head with all monies going to “Make a Wish Foundation”.
WHO IS THE EXHIBITION AIMED AT? The idea behind the day is for there to be something for
Phil Martin
everybody who is involved in property whether you have a
(Investor and Director of Mortgage
portfolio of 100+ properties or are just starting out. If you
Rescue Network and repossession
are not interested in property and are not looking to buy
specialist)
then it’s probably not for you! We have been to a number of exhibitions where many people seem to have taken the kids along for a free day out! Rhett is anticipating in excess of 1500 investors through the
Juswant Rai
day but space is limited so you do need to pre book your
(Investor and co-founder of the
FREE tickets in advance to ensure you can get in!
Berkshire Property Meet – the UK’s largest property networking event)
BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW To prebook your tickets simply visit www.rhettlewis.com/propertyexhibition/ We look forward to seeing you at the first ever UK Property
Kevan Keegan
Investor Exhibition
(UK banking expert and director of Rent Back Charter Association)
GUEST SPEAKERS During the course of the day you will get the opportunity to hear the following guest speakers:
Matthew Moody (extremely experienced investor and HMO specialist)
Ranjan Bhattachara (property investor and mentor)
Alaister Cooper (Partner of City Law leading conveyancing experts in below market value property purchases)
Rhett Lewis (experienced investor and property coach with over 100 properties in Nottingham)
INTERESTED IN EXHIBITING? If you are interested in exhibiting then you should call the bookings team direct on 0115 9814153 The UK Property Investor Exhibition is running as a non profit making event
Glenn Armstrong (Glenn has purchased over 180
with any surplus funds being donated to “Make A Wish Foundation”
properties personally in Milton Keynes and a further 100 properties for other investors)
To pre book your tickets for this unique event visit www.rhettlewis.com/propertyexhibition/
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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CONFESSIONS OF A PROPERTY INVESTOR In our regular feature YPN readers tell more of their stories about the less than glamorous side of being a property investor. Don’t forget to email your stories to editor@yourpropertynetwork.co.uk Beggars can be choosers Following last month’s article by John Rattigan I decided to explore the opportunity of renting a couple of my properties direct to a local housing association on a guaranteed rental scheme. One of the tenants was leaving from one of my 2 bed Victorian houses so it sounded like a good way of ensuring the rent would be coming in. After a few phone calls I found a housing association that ran one of these schemes and we arranged a time for them to come and view the property. The house itself is in pretty good order and I have never had a problem letting the property to the young professional market. When the representative from the housing association came to the property they explained that would most likely be using it to house vulnerable members of society, people who may have problems with alcohol or drug addiction. I wasn’t too worried as they explained that the housing association were responsible for any and all repairs. Imagine my surprise when they told me the house really wasn’t what they were looking for as they would prefer a property with a separate dining room and longs and their “clients” tended to prefer “new build, executive style homes”! I ended up working with a housing association that were obviously less picky about the properties they were looking for and my first tenant moves in in a couple of weeks but I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that my house which had been perfectly good enough for a young couple both working in financial services was not good enough for an out of work alcoholic!
Pet’s Paradise I have read a number of YPN readers “confessions” and chuckled at the many animal related tales from landlords. I wonder however if any YPN reader can better my story. I own a couple of commercial properties (small retail units) that in the main pay pretty well but recently I started experiencing some fun and games with one of my tenants. They missed a couple of rental payments and were avoiding my phone calls. When I went round to the shop it became apparent that they had recently done a runner and
disappeared. This is always a pain particularly with commercial properties as it can often be harder to find a replacement tenant compared to residential properties. In this case the problem was complicated by the fact tenant had left behind all of their stock and they had been operating as a pet store specialising in reptiles and exotic pets. I suddenly found myself the owner of numerous snakes, lizards, spiders and even two dwarf crocodiles! I am as much of an animal as the next man but there was no way I was going to take all these home with me! In the end the RSPCA, local animal sanctuary and even Bristol Zoo re-homed the menagerie!
It’s Snow Joke During the recent cold spell one of my tenants phoned me up to tell me that the path between his front door and the pavement was “very icy and a danger”. I told him that I was sure this was the case as it was the same thing at my own house and I had had to go out and clear the snow and ice. My tenant felt that it was my duty to clear the snow and he pointed out that unless I did so he would be unable to go to work and would therefore not get paid. If I didn’t come and clear the path he would therefore not be paying the rent! Needless to say we disagreed on this point and in the end the path thawed in time for him to get back to work!
Rising Damp I own a small 2 bedroom flat where the tenants had been complaining about damp. After paying for a surveyor to check it out it transpired that the problem was condensation so I wrote a cheque for my tenants to buy a dehumidifier to resolve the problem. When some months later I asked for a receipt my tenants explained they had spent the money on going out instead and on reflection weren’t that bothered about the damp! I now trying to get the money for the dehumidifier back from them but hopes are not high – next time I will just go and buy it myself!
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
27
STUDENT HMO’S Over the last twelve years I have built up a reasonable size portfolio of standard buy-to-let (single let) properties. Towards the end of 2006 I realised that I needed to start buying for income rather than just long term capital growth and so began purchasing student properties that would generate a significant cash flow. I was recently offered the opportunity to join the CBS group taking on the role of Sales Director, I was very impressed with the professional and ethical way the company was managed and as their investment criteria was very similar to my own I had no hesitation in joining the group to help develop and promote a range of new student HMO property strategies.
Student properties offer a great investment opportunity as they operate in the same way as an executive HMO (of which I also have a few). Forget about the student digs that you might have lived in during the 80’s or 90’s these days students are a discerning bunch and expect high quality accommodation.
rental figure of £1300 pcm. In the past student properties have only been let for around 9 months per year but we have found that by offering high quality desirable accommodation we can let our properties for the full 12 months per year without the need to negotiate lower rents through the summer months.
For anybody interested in investing with the CBS group then this is the model we follow:
Typically after ALL costs (including mortgage, management fee, all bills including utility bills + full sky package a property like this should give an income of £450+ per month which would give a return of around 24% on capital invested.
We currently source property in sixteen well researched locations throughout the UK and all our properties are located within walking distance of the local universities. We aim to negotiate a reasonable discount (normally 10-20% BMV) thus giving us built in equity at point of purchase. These areas are typically very desirable and so getting the massive 30%+ discounts that are achievable in some areas tend to be impossible, as we operate in areas where properties retain their values due to their massive rental potential once converted to HMO’s. The properties are typically purchased on a bridge facility that enables the purchaser to borrow 100% against the valuation of the property following which the property is refurbished to an exceptionally high standard. We never cut corners on any of our refurbishments and even provide a full furniture package, wide screen TV’s, Sky, and WiFi as standard. Typically we buy anything from 3 bed 2 reception room properties to much larger properties with the potential to be converted to 7 to 8 bedrooms plus. 3 bed properties can typically be purchased from around £85K to £95K, we then convert them to 4 bed properties but retain a communal living room (we normally create a bedroom from what was the dining room). On average the refurbishment will increase the market value by around 15%, and the cost is typically around £17,500 which the investor provides. As soon as the refurbishment is finished normally within 28 days of purchase the property is remortgaged to 75% of its NEW increased market value enabling the investor to release equity at this point. We use a mortgage product that allows instant remortgage so our clients finance is already in place before the property is purchased. This means that we do not run into problems with lenders or down valuations from surveyors at a later date. Once the property is refurbished our in house lettings team CBS Lettings take over and offer a very cost effective full management service. In terms of rental value our average is around £75 per room per week which on the example above would give a gross
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
There are a number of benefits associated with student properties which is why they remain our primary focus. Firstly there is no council tax to pay on student dwellings so this does not eat into your profit margin. Also in the majority of our properties our tenant’s parents give rental guarantees so we have very few issues with damage or non payment of rent, and we have the added benefit of providing investment property in a rapidly growing market place with a wealth of prospective tenants. As well as providing properties that give a strong monthly cash flow we have also found that in the main properties located in the areas we purchase tend to be less affected in the current market down turn and hold their value well, as they tend to be valued with potential yield in mind. A property converted to a HMO would typically return over 50% more income than a similar property in the same location let on a standard family let.
Following our tried and tested model allows us to offer a totally passive turnkey investment opportunity for our clients, allowing them to benefit from the high yields generated by one of our student HMO properties with no effort required on their part. For interested investors we will shortly be offering a number of nationwide seminars covering all aspects of generating profits from student properties. These seminars will be beneficial for investors looking for a passive investment and also anyone thinking of entering the student HMO market place.
For more information visit www.cbsinvest.co.uk or drop me an email at stevekendall@cbsproperty.co.uk or Call on: Office: 0870 8601234 or Mobile: 07970 685 685
How to work with Estate Agents when organising a Valuation One of the most challenging scenarios that we at “Meet The Surveyor” come across for our clients is how to deal with Estate agents. Estate agents – or “EA” are notorious for following protocol, especially as there maybe several types of people working in the EA office from the very Savvy but very busy veteran who is willing to be flexible to the 17 year old newbie who is told to follow protocol by the book or be sacked! A few facts for you: Fact 1: The EA is frightened that the deal maybe stolen from them by buyers who may go direct to the seller and cut out their commission so they are very cautious when giving out vendor’s details until the deal is done. So the protocol normally followed by the EA is that they take control and speak to the surveyor to book the valuation. This is obviously unacceptable to us because invariably the surveyor will ask, “How much is the property being sold for” and one of the agents will tell them! Fact 2: The surveyor’s position is to value the property at the market value or the selling price, which ever is the lower! This is why if the surveyor gets to hear the BMV price of the property being sold for they will automatically put forward that price to the lender as the true market value! Simply do not allow the EA to organise the valuation! You must insist that “As you are paying for the surveyor, that you will organise the appointment with the surveyor and the vendor”. If we are lucky we will get the owner or manager, and explain to them that “we” are both on the same side and that you understand that they want to sell and earn their commission and that you definitely want to buy the property. At this point it is worth explaining to the savvy EA the reason why you don’t want the surveyor to be looked after by anyone but you. Remind them that both of you share a common goal “The Sale of the property” It is essential to always “attend the valuation” to insure there is no EA board outside of the property or the surveyor WILL take down the number and call the EA to check the sale price and the 17 year old will answer the phone, god forbid! If you want a fighting chance to get the right Market valuation then you must be in total control of the valuation process. For many people the valuation process can be intimidating and stressful, at Meet The Surveyor we handle this process for you and have a vested interest in getting the valuation you require. Happy hunting and speak next month Sonny Walia www.MeetTheSurveyor.com Please feel free to write in with your most pressing questions to www.MeetTheSurveyor.com and go to the contact us page.
Sonny Walia
FINANCE Whatever you are planning to do in property one thing is for certain you won’t get far without finance. Right now getting deals is easy, trying to finance them can be a real challenge. Each of these brokers is an expert in Buy-to-Let and BMV purchases and every month they take it in turns to give their thoughts on what is happening with the mortgage market.
STARTING OUT AS A PROPERTY INVESTOR I’m a mortgage broker and property investor. I love everything associated with property, so this month instead of providing the general round up of what has happened on the finance front over the last month (which isn’t much apart from trackers being withdrawn), I’m going to share my ideas to help newcomers get on the property investment ladder. Hopefully you will pick up some useful tips!
Lay the foundations Lending is squeezed right now, so it’s important to prepare and make yourself look as attractive as possible to the lenders. Ways to do this include:
Make sure you are on the electoral roll at your residential address; Get a copy of your credit file and request a credit score. Most of the lenders seem to be using the credit reference agency Experian; Keep all your credit commitments up to date, and avoid missed payments and defaults; Cancel credit cards/store cards that have not been used for many years, as these can bring down your credit scoring with the lenders. I am not saying cancel all credit cards, as they can come in handy at times; If you don’t have any credit, take out a couple of credit cards (this credit might be needed in future to grow the business e.g. deposit, fund the refurbishment). The lenders are more favourable to applicants that can demonstrate they are ‘good payers’. However, in recent months they are not too keen on applicants that they perceive to be financially over exposed. Then make a few fundamental decisions. For example:
What type of investment properties do you want to invest in? Where do you want to invest? How will you source the properties? Who do you want in your power team? A lot more than luck is required to build a long term property business. The more you know, the bigger you will grow. Speak and listen to experts and convert the information you gather in to a model that is going to work for you, build the right team, do your own research, develop relationships with a good accountant, property lawyer, mentor, broker, estate agents, local shops, local businesses. Where possible speak to a surveyor, tell them what you plan to do, ask for their advice.
Finance options It is more than likely that you will need at least a 25% deposit to purchase your first investment property. If you are already a residential property owner, here are a couple of suggestions:
If you have good equity in your property, consider re-mortgaging to release funds that will cover your deposit and costs. There are some reasonable products at 75% ltv; If you are tied-in with your existing lender, contact them and ask if you can apply for a further advance; You might want to let out your current residential, and purchase your next property as a ‘Let to Buy’, please contact me or your broker if this needs to be explained in greater detail. If you don’t own a residential property and you want a buy to let mortgage, it’s still possible, but the lender will more than likely assess your application based on your affordability rather than the property being self funding. You will need a deposit though. Here are a couple more suggestions:
Do a joint venture with someone that already has another mortgage, so the application will be underwritten as if you are a homeowner instead of a first time buyer; If for any reason you can’t get a mortgage, do a joint venture and then create a deed of trust, you would need to take legal advice regarding this option; Speak to a family member or someone you trust that may have deposit funds available to invest, and they are happy to go in to business with you. If you are buying a property, and let’s say it’s residential and it’s below market value, you can ask the vendor to gift the deposit. This can be done subject to the surveyor agreeing with the gross purchase price (correct at time of going to print).
What next? OK, so you’ve bought your first investment property and it was a pretty smooth process. The sooner you can release your money from the first investment, the better. The longer you leave it, the more chance that criteria may tighten or the property value will reduce. So how do you get your money out:
Obtain your first mortgage with no tie-ins, and then refinance as soon as possible. I know of five lenders that will potentially allow you to re-mortgage within the first six months. However, some of these may say you have to demonstrate that the property has been improved to justify the increase in value; Apply for your first investment mortgage with a lender that will allow you to apply for a further advance immediately; Final option is to wait six months and re-mortgage, at this time you should be able to apply to most other lenders.
What are you looking to accomplish? Immediate equity, capital growth or cash flow? I hear you say I want everything, and I don’t blame you! If I don’t get what I want, I walk away (but that’s not before gearing up my negotiation skills). In today’s market, there is no reason why you can’t have it all. For sure you can buy properties with immediate equity. Historically properties have been proven to produce long term capital growth (even short term in the boom or if the property is right). Of course you want cash flow, and why wouldn’t you? You are growing a business that in the long term needs to provide you with an income, and the sooner you can grow that income, the sooner you can become financially free. Leveraging your resources will enable you to make money, and one of the best ways to do this is in the property market. You can repeat the success of one property investment to make many more property investment achievements, and your assets and cash flow will grow along with the property market. I could continue, however Ant has only allowed me 850 words approx (think he knows I’m a chatterbox), so I will close my article for now. If anyone wants to call me for a property/finance chat, please feel free to contact me.
Catherine Crooks Senior Partner and Mortgage Adviser Landline 01457 876285 Mobile 07904 184424 Fax 0161 332 7744
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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BULLS, BEARS AND BUFFALOS How to trade the markets like a pro and make money whether markets are moving up, down or sideways. Last month, after several requests from our readers, we introduced a new regular section – the stock market – to the magazine. We started off by interviewing Marcus de Maria, a well-respected name in the UK stock market education world. This month Marcus starts to introduce us to some of the concepts of the stock market, and even gives you the opportunity to attend a FREE seminar end of March! Most property investors will tell you that they have chosen property because unlike the stock market, it is solid, it leverages your money and you don’t have to do much to watch it grow. Then why do some people fail to make money in property and why are people turning to the stock market as an additional, sometimes even alternative way of making money? The truth is that the stock market is one of the most misunderstood vehicles of creating wealth, best left to the professionals in the City. But over the last 10 years, people are starting to understand that they themselves can make substantial amounts of money, whether that be an extra £400 a month or a day, often tax free.
The 5 pillars of wealth The most popular ways of becoming financially wealthy are:
Career / job Investing in property Owning your own, traditional business Investing in the stock market Marketing a service or product on the internet I am here to prove that in my opinion, the
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
Career / Job
Property
Own business
Stock market
Marketing on internet
Can you protect yourself if the market goes against you?
Rarely
Depends
No
Yes
n/a
Can you do it without having customers?
No
No
No
Yes
No
No competitors
No
No
No
Yes
No
Opportunity to earn money grows as more people follow similar business
No
No
No
Yes
No
Constant and massive demand for your business
No
No
Depends
Yes
No
Does not involve physical labour
Depends
No
Depends
Yes
Yes
What if the market you are in goes into a decline – can you still make as much money?
No
No
No
Yes
No
Can you buy and sell from anywhere in the world?
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Time - Totally flexible - Work your own hours. However short or long you wish, whenever you wish.
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Can anyone do it, regardless of sex, age or physical ability?
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Huge and unlimited profit margin
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No meetings
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Something you can easily teach your children to do themselves
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No debtors, no creditors
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Guaranteed to exist in the future - Fad proof
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Can you make money within seconds / immediately?
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Can you use leverage to make even more money?
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
The better you get, the more money you make, every month
Depends
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Can you do it without staff?
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Is only very low starting capital required?
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Very low overheads and running costs
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Extremely easy administration - Straight forward and simple
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Easy, defined risks, which you set
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
You can easily stop activities if you have to and get out easily
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Figure A: Why you must consider the stock-market as a source of income
stock market is the simplest and fastest route towards creating financial wealth. Don’t get me wrong, I love property and have land and property in over 5 countries, but the stock market holds a particular fascination because it is a great and simple way for people to start making some cash. I am a firm believer in having as many wealth creation vehicles, or pillars of wealth working for me, and with some education, the stock market can become a solid and profitable source of financial wealth. If the table opposite has evoked a particularly strong reaction and you feel you need to vent or seek clarification, then I am happy to respond personally at marcus@investment-mastery.com.
So what is the stock market? The stock market is the name of the place where company stocks are traded. You can buy these stocks and hope that the stock price goes up, while the company CEO and staff do all the work for you. So far so good. But as most people know, the stock market does not always go up, is sometimes goes down. In that case – and most people do not know this – you just do the opposite, meaning you sell short, making money when markets go down. In my opinion this is the one single reason why the stock market just cannot be ignored as an important wealth creation vehicle, because you can make money when markets go down. And you can do so faster than when they go up. But what most people don’t know is that you can make money when markets go sideways. In other words, the stock market has 3 main movements. They are,
1. Up 2. Down
the other hand can do what we want because we are dealing with our own money. professionals are not allowed to make money 2 Most when the market goes down or even sideways, whereas we can (see above). professionals are not allowed to buy into a 3 Most company and sell within a short period of time, whereas we can. Most of them are restricted to the companies they are allowed to invest in, whereas we are not restricted. most professionals are not allowed to insure 4 Finally, or hedge themselves in case the market goes in the wrong direction. This is like driving without insurance. Again, we can do all of these things. That’s all we have time for in this issue. In next month’s issue, we are going to reveal the 6 steps to becoming a successful stock market investor.
INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE? To find out more about investing in the stock market contact Marcus directly. Marcus teaches complete beginners how to make money in the stock market. For intermediates Marcus launched his wildly successful Foreign Exchange (FX) and Oil trading mentorship programme. BEGINNERS: Simply go to www.investment-mastery.com/freeseminar for your FREE preview evenings or contact Marcus directly on 0870 835 2260. INTERMEDIATES: Simply go to www.investment-mastery.com/advancedstrategy or call directly on 0870 835 2260.
3. Sideways. Can you imagine making money when the property market goes up, down and sideways? Well you can with stocks. The truth though is that most people never get beyond the ‘buying low, selling high’ paradigm. And as a result they can only make money when markets go up but lose when markets go down and sideways. In other words they have a 1 in 3 chance of making money, which I don’t need to tell you are very bad odds indeed. If you learned to take advantage of just one other market direction those odds change dramatically to 2 in 3 and then you can make money for life.
Can a beginner like me make money? Beginners can make money in the stock market – and very often do so. In fact, there are even four basic reasons why beginners with just a computer and internet access have more chances of succeeding than the ‘professionals’.
1
DO YOU RUN EVENTS? Do you want a dynamic, inspirational and informative speaker at your event? Marcus de Maria can deliver high quality training in:
General wealth creation concepts Wealth mindset and psychology The Stock Market and Foreign Exchange (FX) For more information visit www.marcusdemaria.com or call 0870 835 2260
Marcus de Maria
Professionals are restricted in an industry that is highly regulated because they are dealing with large sums of other people’s money. We on
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RENT TO OWN UPDATE With finance becoming increasingly difficult to obtain many investors are looking for creative strategies that enable them to profit from property without the need for a mortgage. Back in July we interviewed the “king of lease options” Rick Otton about his use of purchase lease options to gain control of a property without the need for finance. With current mortgage lending at an all time low and the banks seemingly looking unfavourably at professional investors YPN decided to interview Rick prior to his 2-day UK boot camp in April. YPN We see David (Rick’s UK partner David Lee) at a number of events widely promoting your strategies, for anybody who doesn’t know what you do can you just explain the message you are trying to get across? Rick To give you a bit of a background about myself I started buying property 22 years ago in an environment where there were no banks, in 1988 when the banking system collapsed in the US. I was building systems and processes that enabled me to buy houses where there was in effect no banking system in place. We realised that the system that people were using to buy houses had been developed back in 1677. This was the same year that the pen that you dip in an inkwell was invested and I couldn’t help but think that we didn’t use those anymore but many people were still using a possibly outdated process to buy and sell property. The systems that we created back in 1988 during the savings and loan collapse have become more sophisticated and more accepted in pretty much every western country across the world. In essence what we are doing is introducing new systems that enable investors to continue to grow when the old systems no longer work in the current market. YPN Our own strategy has been to work to a strategy of trying to obtain property at a significant discount from the market value, preferably no money down and to obtain mortgage finance in order to do this, what’s wrong with that strategy? Rick I really see two potential problems, firstly what you are actually buying the property for is the true market value so this process actually serves to lower property values particularly in some areas where BMV investors are prolific. Secondly the system is reliant upon you obtaining finance to do this and as I understand there are a great many investors for whom this is becomingly increasingly difficult. I would suggest that if the investors aim is to make a profit there are a whole number of other models to do this that enable you to purchase much faster, with much less paperwork and without being liable for the loan debt. YPN Picking up on the system for being able to buy a house for a pound, I have met a number of your former students that have done exactly this, can you elaborate on how they have been able to do this without the need for banking finance?
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
Rick Sure, when most people think about real estate they think about buying or selling a house. I reality the real estate business is about people. Often if you ask somebody why they are selling a house they actually either want to get rid of the debt or obtain cash from the sale. I would suggest that there are a great number of sellers out there who are not desperate to get rid of their house they simply want to be able to walk away from the debt. We create systems that enable them to do this often in a matter of hours. YPN Can you talk us through an example transaction to show how this would work? Rick Lets say you have a house in the UK that was worth £240,000 and there is a mortgage on the property of £200,000. Well theoretically you have £40,000 in equity but if we agree that values have dropped in the UK and maybe this house is now worth around £200,000 then cash has been wiped out. Lets suppose the owner sells the property for £200,000 he is effectively walking away with nothing, he is only selling because he wants to be rid of the debt. If I said to the guy that we could conduct a simple transaction whereby his next mortgage payment was going to come out of my pocket rather than his do you think in some cases he would be happy to walk away from the debt? I have seen this situation many times where the owner is simply relieved to no longer have to pay the mortgage debt as myself or one of my students has taken over the mortgage. YPN OK, so for this to work I would still have to ensure that the property is generating enough cash to pay the mortgage debt repayments? Rick absolutely, you are in the business of making a profit so if you do not have a vision of what you are going to do with the property to generate a profit then why are you in the property business in the first place? Many of our students have a number of prospective rent-to-own tenants lined up to take on the property. These are people who want to get on the property ladder but for whatever reason they are struggling to obtain finance in the current market with which to buy. Most recently in the UK there has actually been an upsurge in the number of first time buyers looking to get onto the property ladder as they understand that prices have fallen. The principle problem is that these potential buyers simply cannot obtain finance.
Our systems enable them to rent the property and make an overpayment that will serve as their deposit when they eventually own the property. This Rent to Own system is now widely practised throughout Australia and the US and increasingly so in the UK thanks to David my business partner and his work with UK investors. As an investor your job is to have the vision of what you are going to do to turn a profit from the property. I understand that elsewhere in YPN this month you have an editorial piece from some investors that have used option agreements to take on large 4 bed executive homes and renting them on a room by room basis in order to generate some pretty impressive rental profits. YPN Many investors are put off of using purchase lease options because it all sounds a bit complicated. Rick Many investors have learnt specific ways of doing things are so understandably struggle with a completely brand new way of doing business. Some of our most successful students are those that have absolutely no real estate experience and so start trading with no preconceived ideas. They simply learn the strategy and implement the systems and like so many things in property success is simply about following a proven model. As long as you can walk in the door and recognise that you are trading in a new way to fit a new market then the transactions are relatively successful. Even those investors who know a little about options don’t know that there are actually 3 or 4 tools that can be used to achieve this. Most recently we are seeing our students taking on properties that may be in negative equity and generating a positive cashflow from them. Think of the situation from the vendor’s perspective, if they owe £220,000 and the property is currently valued at £200,000 then how do they sell? The answer is they don’t. If you have a strategy that can generate cashflow from the property then do you think the vendor who is in negative equity may be willing to walk away from their mortgage now? Again the answer is that of course there are people who are in this exact situation and we all probably know them or can find them. YPN you mention about estate agents who have the very real problem right now that they cannot sell properties, have you had much success in working this way with agents? Rick Again agents have been taught to do things in a specific way. I have found that the best way to work with agents is to explain to them that they can either get a commission cheque through working with myself or continue to list the property and sell it in the traditional way and potentially not get paid. You are never going to be able to work with every agent but right now I would imagine that in the UK there are a number who need to be more creative in their approach if they are going to survive. Most of the agents that I have worked with don’t really understand what I do but they do understand that by working with me peoples problems get solved, they get paid and everybody goes away happy. For every 6 agents
I meet 5 will think I’m a turkey and 1 will think well what have I got to lose by working with this guy? YPN Rick you are based in Australia so how do you go about implementing support systems for your UK students from the other side of the world? Rick Well it’s interesting as for most of our students once we have given them the toolkit it’s actually very straightforward for them to go out perform. For my students across the world we are happy for them to book a timeframe to talk to them 1 to 1 which we record for them. We also have a number of teleconferences and seminars if students do want a bit more support. Of course David is at many events across the UK and he can often answer any questions that students may encounter. YPN Rick we understand you are here in the UK for your boot camp in April, what can those people interested in attending the boot camp expect you to cover over the 2 days? Rick The training event takes place on the 4th and 5th of April and but I am actually going to be in the UK for around 3 weeks from the middle of March as I really want to know what’s happening in the market. This is our first 2 day event in the UK and we are running it now as the problem of obtaining finance is so real and there are an increasing number of people looking to do things in a different way. In fact we really couldn’t have timed it any better. The aim for the 2 days is to outline all of the different strategies that can be used to actually profit from the fact that finance is difficult to obtain. It’s really going to be a re-education process over the two day period for many investors. We have a whole variety of tools that investors can simply pick up and start using to transfer debt from one person to another in order to solve problems fro vendors and potential buyers. We encourage all attendees to bring in their transactions so we can use these real life examples as case studies so students can actually go away and implement what they have learnt for that specific property.
Rick’s 2 day training event takes place in London on the 4th and 5th April where YPN will be in attendance to review the 2 days. You can listen to YPN’s full interview with Rick and hear success stories from some of his UK students at www.rickotton.co.uk/ YourPropertyNetwork.html
Rick Otton YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED In this section YPN tries to answer all the questions you have sent to us. Please send us your questions to editor@yourpropertynetwork.co.uk. Can you explain the difference between a tenancy agreement and a licence? A tenancy creates a legal interest in the property and a licence only gives permission for the person to occupy the property. A licence will be created where you do not give the occupier exclusive use of his home. For example, this could be where the occupier lives in a room in a building and you reserve the right to move him to another room. Or it could be created because the property is not let as a separate dwelling. For example, the occupier has a room but he has no kitchen and shares a bathroom. There are two types of licence, contractual and excluded. Excluded licences can be ended by serving reasonable notice. However, a contractual licence can only be ended by serving a Notice to Quit in the prescribed form and bringing court proceedings. Excluded licences are commonly used in houses of multiple occupation but are not accepted by all lenders so do your homework first.
I have been told that instead of remortgaging my new property to get my deposit back I may be able to do this sooner with some lenders, how does this work? What you are referring to is a further advance, some lenders will allow you to purchase a property and extend your borrowing soon after completion up to a percentage of the market valuation rather than purchase price (typically 75% at the moment). This means that if you buy a property 30% below market value you may be able extend your mortgage to 75% of market value within a shorter time frame. Be aware that at present because lenders are being far stricter on their criteria the further advance is possible but not guaranteed.
I am keen to get started in property investing and have been told that a common way to begin is to use a “Let to Buy” mortgage product, can you explain what this is? A let to buy mortgage works by allowing you to borrow money to buy a new home to move into, while your existing residence is let out to tenants. The new mortgage lender will calculate the maximum that they are prepared to
lend you and not take your existing mortgage into consideration as a commitment as long as the rent covers the existing mortgage payment. A deposit maybe required for the new mortgage however this maybe released from the existing property by remortgaging or a secured loan. Let to Buy mortgages have enabled many people who have purchased property to move out of their residential property and rent it out whilst moving in to a new home. Right now it is a particularly good way begin building your portfolio as residential mortgages often have lower loan to value requirements (many will enable you to borrow 85-90% loan to value) so you may need to put in no deposit or a lower deposit depending on the equity in your own existing property.
I have spent a large amount of money on leafleting and press advertising to find motivated sellers with varying degrees of success and am now thinking about switching to marketing via the internet – what’s the best way to do this? Marketing for motivated sellers is a tricky business as it often takes quite some time to begin to understand what works in your area. At YPN we have been doing this for a number of years and still struggle to understand the formula for what’s successful where we invest. Be aware that using internet marketing is also not a formula for guaranteed success and it is very possible to spend large amounts of money and not see a response. The guys who do this best really are specialists in internet marketing and have whole businesses built on their expertise. Go and do some research on internet marketing strategies but be careful that you can end up spending lots of money. Google adwords (pay per click) are a good way of ensuring traffic is coming to your site given chosen search terms but often terms such as “sell and rent back” and “property fast sale” can be quite expensive.Right now there are so many deals around you may choose to save your money and start sourcing deals from estate agents.
YPN will work hard to answer all of the difficult questions about your property endeavours, so please hit us with your best shots! Email them to editor@yourpropertynetwork.co.uk YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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Gaining Successful PROPERTIES Every day I speak to people who are challenged by the current economic climate and no longer motivated. Yet after some simple questions I realise that a few fundamental bricks which normally act as the solid foundation of a successful business, are actually cracked, flawed or missing. My purpose is to make a difference to you, for you.Try this!
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Read this article through once allowing your thoughts / experiences to bring to life the points detailed below. THEN read this article again, this time making a note of 3 activities you can start NOW that will make an immediate difference to your life / business.
Your P.R.O.P.E.R.T.I.E.S urpose - Having and knowing your purpose is the TRUE driving force behind why you do what you do. Why is this so important? Without a purpose, it’s easy to become distracted. Every problem, barrier, challenge is reason enough to STOP. So, identify your real purpose and keep that in clear view, always, as this is what keeps you on track.
elationships - Positive relationships are critical to success in ALL aspects of your life. This is not something new so let me challenge you in a different way. With every interaction you have, anything you say or do, I ask you now to ALWAYS come from a place or thought of Positive Intention. When you talk to someone, think/do something, where are you starting from? Is it a positive intention or something else? This is powerful, try it now!
thers - Do good for others. You’ve heard that “What you give out comes back to you ten-fold”. Do something because you can help but not with the intention of receiving. As you do, become aware of the feeling within, it maybe abundance, maybe ‘good’ will. Giving promotes strength, self worth and respect of others.
roactive - Be proactive. Be in control of your environment rather than it control you (CAUSE and EFFECT relationship). When the mortgage market changed dramatically in 2008 how many of you were able to finance your properties in other ways? Last year, the environment controlled the future of many people. Where else in your life / business are you letting events happen to you, rather than taking (pro) action to take control? xcellence - Be excellent in everything you do. Have the edge. There are a small percentage of us that are excellent by showing commitment, innovation and focus. Are you one of those to stand out and reap the rewards of success? ealise your potential - Recognise how much you know and present the world with what you know. What you know WILL add value to someone else. Realise and trust your potential. NOW, this part is IMPORTANT. In recognising this, allow yourself to feel special. Congratulate yourself on this achievement. Feeling special is a basic human need. If we can take control and nurture this in ourselves without looking to others, what else can we achieve by looking within?
riumph - Create a Win-Win situation in everything you do.
A win/win mindset is one of abundance and co-operation. On the contra, a win/lose person comes from thoughts of confrontation, scarcity and loss. As you read this point, observe which words create a positive feeling (your Triumph Strategy) and which ones create a negative charge?
nspiration - Identify who your role models are. They are successful for a reason, they have strategies that work. Educating yourself in property allows you to be good at what you do. Educating and adopting the Positive Mindset Strategies enables you to be EXCELLENT. Do not under-estimate how much you absorb from the content of an inspirational book. Read books that inspire you on people you respect and admire and observe how your mindset starts to shift.
xperiences - There is no failure, only experiences. Experiences give us opportunities to learn, adjust our strategies and even change paths. The tree which clings to life on the edge of a storm-battered rockface will grow far stronger than the tree which is protected from the elements. As we grow we will discover new muscles that become accustomed to pushing past resistance and seeing great achievements on the other side of that rockface.
elf Renewal - Give time for yourself.
Rest, rebuild and develop. If you run the engine of your car ‘flat-out’, 24/7, without stopping, your car would probably last barely a week. If you did the same with your own body, how long before you burn out? Treat your body with respect, listen to the signs when it is telling you to slow down or stop. Self renewal is not just about the physical self but also your mental, spiritual and emotional self.
Sylvia Rai is the co-host of the UKs Leading Property Networking Event. As a qualified Master Results NLP Coach she is available to help you move forward in any area of your life – personal or business. Whether you own zero or 100’s of properties, if you’re hitting road blocks or just need guidance on your goals, call Sylvia for a free consultation now!
Contact Details: Phone Mobile Email Website
01628 560771 07748 100018 info@sylviarai.com www.sylviarai.com (Under Construction)
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Potential returns of 30%+ per annum We are always actively looking for alternative investments and one that looks very attractive to us and has been recommended by several parties recently has been Forex trading – ie trading on currency movements. Do you know there are many traders making 30%+ returns per annum by trading on currency movement? Would you like to potentially earn up to 30% returns hassle free? The big attraction right now, and an excellent reason to diversify slightly, is that this is completely unaffected by the current economic climate! As the currency markets are constantly moving,they are not affected to a great extent by the current economic problems becausedealers are carrying out transactions in multicurrencies and as a result frequently make profits on deals whether the market rises or falls.
An overview of the Forex market The Forex market is a non-stop cash market where currencies of nations are traded, typically via brokers. Foreign currencies are constantly and simultaneously bought and sold across local and global markets and traders’ investments increase or decrease in value based upon currency movements. Foreign exchange market conditions can change at any time in response to real-time events. When trading currencies, you would trade only when you expect the currency you are buying to increase in value relative to the currency you are selling. If the currency you are buying does increase in value, you must sell back the other currency in order to lock in a profit.
We have been working with a team – and have more information available to send out –where you can put your money into a managed Forex account and get potential returns of 20-35% per annum – if interested in looking into options working with managed accounts email us back at info@property-investment-deals.com or call us on 0115 9474155.
In A new feature to YPN each month Dr Rohan Wearasinghe will be reviewing a different book around the subjects of wealth creation and property
Notes From A Friend Anthony Robbins, ISBN 0-684-80056-X (112 pages) Reviewed by Dr Rohan Weerasinghe (www.rohanlive.com & www.wealthangels.tv)
“There is a force that controls all decisions. It influences how you think and feel every moment you are alive. It determines what you will do and what you will not do. It determines how you feel about anything that occurs in your life. That force is your beliefs.” Anthony Robbins Anybody who has seen me speak at a property seminar will have heard me referred to this book. I personally believe that it should be on everybody’s bookshelf simply because it provides some essential yet simple tools for helping people make positive decisions in any area of their life. For this reason I highly recommend that you get a copy of this book. The proceeds of the book also go to the foundation that works with children. Personal development it is an essential part of your growth as a property investor or wealth builder. If you’re prepared to grow in this area of your life you will create abundance at completely different level. Anthony Robbins is arguably the world’s leading coach and peak performance specialist. In the past some people in the UK were dismissive of his material arguing that it was too American. Anybody
that has spent time at his events, or who has been through his material will know that he has a gift for taking complicated subjects and simplifying them to provide us with some incredibly powerful tools. This book has 11 chapters written in a simple format and each chapter contains simple yet incredibly effective methods for improving your life. It is my belief that in order to create true wealth we each must get a balance in how we live our lives. The tools provided in this book are translatable across virtually every area of your life from relationships through to moneymaking and wealth creation. In particular for anybody developing a property portfolio, trading the stock market or developing a business two chapters that are particularly useful are Chapter 4 on Beliefs and Chapter 6 on Questions to ask yourself on a regular basis. I believe that these two chapters alone will help you deal with over 85% of most challenges you face. My suggestion is to read a chapter, then read it again, then apply what you have learnt. You will find that much of what you learn can be applied on a personal and business level and I believe it will also help you with your relationships to those around you. Enjoy.
SAS – Survive and Succeed in a Recession Over the last few months The Wealth Angels have been mainly talking to and helping two types of people; those who are considering entering the property market now and those who are worried about the future of their portfolios. Indeed it would seem that there is a great opportunity for some, while it is a dig deep and hope situation for many who may be overstretched or experiencing other set backs. Large businesses are failing every week, so it is some achievement for a property investor who may not have the same support as the corporate bodies to survive. House prices and interest prices have probably seen their biggest cuts ever. The market is certainly a very cautious one and we have heard a lot of differing opinions and seen a lot of frantic, and sometimes dumbfounding, activity in finance circles. One thing appears sure though; not many seem to think that the market won’t recover. The crucial goal for us all is to be there at the end of recession with portfolio, business, wits and sanity still in tact; something that can only be achieved by being sure of maximum efficiency, making ruthless decisions and staying on top of the market. To cut through the hype and offer a no nonsense approach to surviving and succeeding in a recession Rohan Weerasinghe, Anton Lane, Ali Crooks and some special guests have decided to host an exciting and exclusive one day event to coincide with the launch of their new double DVD Credit Crunch Strategies Unit.
During this fast paced informative day on the 14 March 2009 you will be guided by Anton and Rohan through the methods that are working for them in the economic downturn. You will learn about the current UK property market and strategies that get results as well as receive tips for diversifying and broadening your horizons. Ali Crooks is going to focus on alternative short term investments which can still create wealth, despite the doom and gloom. Other guest speakers will talk about emerging global growth markets, the benefits and the pit falls and how to make those paramount educated choices. The event will finish with how to structure your business and manage your finances and most importantly how to get and stay cash flow positive, with a mortgage broker providing an update on the property market. With regular refreshment breaks to allow the information to sink in, the day will offer a great opportunity for networking with fellow investors and for meeting our team of experts and professional advisors. Every one who buys a ticket will receive various bonus material and there will be special offers available on the day. An exclusive DVD of the event will also be made available to all who attend.
To reserve your place or to find out more simply visit the website at www.wealthangels.tv or call their office on 01242 700240 to find out more.
IDENTIFY YOUR PASSION AND DESIGN YOUR DREAM LIFE Have you ever wondered why some people tend to glide through
have put together a few key points
life effortlessly achieving an abundance of wealth and success yet
that I think best summarise some of
some people struggle to simply make ends meet?
the crucial steps to success:
Is there a formula to success and can this be taught?
1. Identify your passion and purpose in life:
Matt Morris, Founder and CEO of Success University is a firm
Most people go through life
believer that success is a formula that can be taught and hence in
working in a job or running a
2005 created Success University – a company that is
company that they are not passionate about. Ask yourself this
committed to providing as many people with access to personal
question, if money and time were no object what would love to
development education to help them take their life to the
do with your time? This is a great question to help you identify
next level.
what your true passion is in life.
Within the first year of launching Success University became the
2. Take action:
most visited website in personal development surpassing some
Once you’ve identified your passion or purpose in life then, take
of the most well known websites such as Anthony Robbins.com,
action – successful people take quick decisions and take action
ZigZiglar.com; Success.com to name just a few. Other
in situations when most people let circumstances get in the way.
companies that experienced such phenomenal growth in their first few months include Ebay and Myspace giving a small clue
3. Have a positive attitude:
to the potential of this company. A few weeks after their fourth
A positive attitude is key – the power of the mind is phenomenal.
birthday Success University boasts over 100,000 students in 180
We are what we think – if you feed the mind positive thoughts
countries and growing daily.
then you will generate positive results.
By becoming a student to Success University you have access to
4. Don’t let obstacles or challenges hold you back:
150 of the greatest minds in personal development such as Zig
A great acronym that summarises the ‘poor’ mentality is:
Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Denis Waitley, Les Brown to name just a few.
Putting
There are over 1,200 hours worth of material available in various
Obstacles
categories such as Leadership, Communication, Sales, Financial
Over
Management and even Property; among many more.
Riches
We interviewed one of the Ambassadors of Success University,
You see, we all have obstacles in life, its just the winning
Kalpesh Patel to share his secret to his phenomenal success.
mentality won’t allow for these to get in the way of our dreams.
(Kalpesh Patel is one of the most Dynamic & Inspirational Speakers in the UK, having touched over 300,000 lives over the
If you had one statement to say to encourage people to go
last 12 years and is one of the key leaders of Success University
out there and make a difference, to follow their passion or
having surpassed every record in the history of the company in
whatever, what would it be ?
the 2 years since he joined) Find your passion and follow it, whatever it takes. Never let go of Mr Patel – can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your
your dream, you were born to live it, most of us forget or are too
history and what you believe you owe your success to?
scarred to do so.
I put my success down to my love of transforming lives & my WINNING ATTITUDE inherited from my parents. You see,
Johnny Wimbrey puts it best: ‘Do today what others don’t to
I overcame the toughest of challenges, my friends and family
have tomorrow what others wont’
used to say I was lucky, but I say “we are all lucky if we are
(Johnny Wimbrey is the first and only Presidential Ambassador
open to luck”.
of Success University and Leading motivational speaker)
Mr Patel you walked away from an income of £15k per week to start again from scratch with Success University!! WHY? Because 12 years ago personal development TRANSFORMED MY LIFE FOREVER and I have promoted it for FREE ever since, now I can get paid for doing what I love most, empowering others to “be the best they can be” – it’s a dream come true! Do you believe there is a formula to success? Absolutely – and although I believe there is no single formula I
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To find out more about Success University please visit www.TeamTurboSu.com and contact Efrosyni on Efrosyni@Empower2Day.com or 0786 123 3486.
WHEN DO YOU MAKE THE DECISION TO SWITCH TO LANDLORD SOFTWARE? Anybody who is serious about being a long-term landlord will need to choose some kind of landlord software package to help better manage their portfolio. Spreadsheets tend to work well in the early stages, but as the portfolio grows then a dedicated landlord software solution is required. Therefore the question most landlords ask is, ‘when is it the best time to go for a dedicated software solution’. It is a question that frequently gets asked and I personally feel there are two answers:
1
If you are serious about being a long-term landlord and are going to continue to grow your property portfolio then the sooner you buy a software solution the better. This is because as you continue to grow your portfolio you will also become more and more familiar with the software package you are using, so in effect it will be helping you to grow your portfolio and will become one of the vita parts of your business.
you haven’t invested in a solution when you 2 Iffirst became a landlord (most cases) then you should definitely do so when you start to feel that you are becoming disorganised and are no longer on top of you portfolio. For some people they can start to feel like this after they have bought maybe two or three properties and for others it can be when they have upwards of five or even ten properties. Once you start to feel that your existing paper system or spreadsheet system is not giving you all the information that you need then you should decide to make the investment. Property Portfolio Software provides landlord software that is guaranteed to save you time, money and effort in running all aspects of your property business.
To learn more about our landlord software solutions visit: www.propertyportfoliosoftware.co.uk, Email us at enquiries@propertyportfoliosoftware.co.uk, or give us a call on 01925 398 599.
YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
Networking Events Here is a guide of dates for popular regular property networking events so you can book ahead in your diaries (please note that some events are not held every month e.g. August and December, and dates may be subject to change so please check ahead).
If you are hosting a Property Networking Event and would like to be listed in future issues of Your Property Network, please email us at editor@yourpropertynetwork.co.uk YOUR PROPERTY NETWORK - ISSUE 9 - MARCH 2009
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