Making Money From Property In The UK

How to make money from Property Auctions in the Uk

2009-03-04T20:18:00.002Z

Are you looking at buying property at a property auction in the UK? Do you know where your local property auctioneers are?

Well because of shows like "Homes under the Hammer" buying property at auction, became all the rage. Everyone was doing it and everyone thought they could do it. This one show alone was probably responsible for bringing more people into property investing and developing than any think else.

However, things changed recently with the credit crunch and many people that where thinking about getting into property now are not. And many people that dabbled in buying investment property have now turned their eyes to something else.

However, the truth is that because of the credit crunch there are actually many bargains to be had at auctions. Banks are selling off their repossessed property for dirt cheap and for the astute property investor with money in the bank to pay a deposit, the World can be their oyster.

If you haven't considered buying property at auction for a while, then now might be the time to look into it again. Before the credit crunch it was difficult to find a bargain because there was so much competition from other investors, both novices and experienced. However, now many novices and even many experience investors have disappear.

Buying Auction Property is now a good investment again. So you should seriously consider getting yourself down to you local auction house.

Don't follow the crowd when it comes to being successful at property investing, or anything else for that matter. be weary of doing exactly the same thing that everyone else is doing. Understand the process behind what you do in property investing and you should be fine, but if you fail to understand why a particular investment is a good investment or a bad investment, then you are building yourself up for a fall and you need to be aware of it.

It's now about reinventing the Wheel but it is about finding a good mentor and making sure that you understand the actions you are taking and why.

Make sure you know which lots you are going to buy before the auction and if you have done your figures right and you are confident in them then you can also put in an offer before the auction. Banks etc won't normally be able to sell to you in this way, but private individuals might welcome the chance to sell it quickly before the auction.

Plan to Succeed in Your Property Investments

2009-01-22T11:44:00.001Z

Planning to succeed in your property investments goes hand in hand with knowing your target and knowing your strategy. You have to have a plan set in stone of how you are going to succeed. It isn’t enough to solely have a goal; you have to have a detailed plan on how to achieve that goal.

I urge you not to make the same mistake that most other people make, which is to pick a goal out of the sky that is based on something you have read somewhere once about Joe Bloggs who bought 100 rental properties in 1 ½ years. Therefore you make your goal 100 or more without really understanding why and perhaps more importantly, how you are going to achieve it.

Let me try and make something clear. If you have the true inner self belief that you can reach 100 properties in 1 ½ years, then fantastic; however, for most people that haven’t bought their first property yet this goal is too lofty, it is more of a dream than a goal and they lack the inner belief to really make it happen.

It would be better for most people to start with a small goal, something that they can truly plan for and see happening, and then as their confidence and inner belief grows then their goal can grow also.

Let’s have an example:

Jane dreams of buying 50 properties this year, yet up until now she has only ever bought three and it took her two years to buy those. Is Jane’s goal too high? Well it is impossible to say without really knowing more about Jane and why it was she had only bought three properties up until now and whether she has suddenly gained more resources that might allow her to achieve this goal.

However, the first thing Jane needs to do before she sets her goal in stone is to plan how she is going to achieve this goal. Exactly what resources does she have already at hand? So if the goal she wants to set is 50 properties this year – does the resources she has at her disposal allow her to do this.

• Does Jane have a marketing campaign up and running that will bring her a few hundred deals a month to analyse?
• Does she have at least one (preferable more) excellent solicitor and mortgage brokers that have a proven record of being able to move quickly on deals?
• Does she know how she is going to finance these deals?
• Does she have a team of people she can call on for advise that have already been there and done that and own more than 50 properties?
• Does she have the time to deal with all the deals she is going to have to look at?
• Does she need to use a finder or some other means of getting other people to bring her deals?
• Does she have enough, or the right, property education to deal with this amount of properties?

These are just a few of the starting questions Jane needs to explore if she wants to know how to buy investment property successfully. If the answer is negative to any of these questions, does she have a contingency plan put in place to deal with any issues and turn a no answer into a yes? For instance, if she doesn’t have a marketing campaign set up that can bring her a few hundred deals a month, can she get one set up?

Getting Rich Quick from property

2009-01-04T20:43:00.003Z

Why is it that people who are intersted in making money from investment property are so intent on taking huge risks to be able to do it.

Well the simple answer is that there are lots of answers. However the get rich quick mentality is perhaps the most prevalent. The truth is that this mentaliity is not just there in people who want to get rich from there property investments, it is also there in people who want to make money in all sorts of ways from the stock market to online to gambling.

This is perhaps especially true of people who are in a job they don't like and want to get out and taste some of the fruits of their labour and make money easily. They have dreamt of winning the lottery and to date this hasn't happened, so now they dream of other ways they can make money quickly and easily.

The truth is that the knowledge and the eduation you need to aquire when you think about
how to become a landlord in the least risky way possible, can be daunting. The the fact is that all you need to know is tried and tested rules and things to follow that will help you to be a success at property investing.

Many people get stuck on question like where is the best place to buy investment property? While this question is very important, there are also others that need answering as well. You should get to focused some of the things that others are focused on. Instead focus on having a long term view of your property investments. Take a long term view that will help you to get results not just today, or tomorrow, but in the long run as well, by having this type of long term view, you can weather the little property storms that come along from time to time and that throw others out of joint.

If you are a long term property investor and not a fly by night property investor, then you shouldn't be to swayed by the ups and downs of the property market you need to just make sure that you have the right strategy to begin with and then when you are sure you have a long-term strategy that can weather any storms then you just need to go for it.

The get rich quick mentaility might work for you, but if you play the percentages then you will find out that it fails many more times than it actually works, so you need to be sure of what you are doing and it is many times better to take things more slowly and less risky.

UK buy to let landlords abandoned by lenders

2008-07-19T09:40:00.003Z

Lenders Finally Abandon UK Buy to Let Landlords

Banks are making it almost impossible for new entrants to the buy to let market to obtain a financially viable mortgage.

The credit crunch is hitting lenders hard and in response, they are hitting the buy to let landlord even harder. The number of mortgage products available has decreased by almost 75% since April 2007, and the decrease shows no sign of stopping there.

HBOS, who is the owner of a number of lenders including the Bank of Scotland and the Halifax, to name just two, has recently taken steps to effectively price itself out of the buy to let market. The other big lenders seem set to follow suite and "shut up shop," for all but the most risk free investments. They seem set to abandon the buy to let investor until the property market shows serious signs of turning around.

The rates that are being offered to UK buy to let landlords are becoming so unattractive that it is causing many to either seek a buyer for their portfolio or decide to hold and not consider buying any new property or refinancing their current portfolio until things get back to some form of stability.

Banks seem to have made a conscious decision to effectively price the novice or first time landlord totally out of the buy to let market. They are doing this by asking for larger deposits and changing rates to be so high that it makes it almost impossible for the first timer to see the value or profit in investing.

What are the options currently available to investors?

Many investors are now looking more seriously at buying overseas properties

Investors are holding onto their properties and not buying any more and not refinancing their current portfolio until the economic climate changes.

Investors are turning their hand to developing in parts of London, Scotland and any other areas that are still maintaining some form of stability.

Investors are putting their money into other potentially lucrative investments; in particular some are trying their luck at venture capitalism.

Investors are having to travel further than their local community and really seek out the undervalued properties, that can still be found in certain parts of the UK. They are then getting themselves the best mortgage deal they can and sitting it out until the market turns around and they can refinance to a better rate and draw out some equity.

Is there any good news?

For the experienced UK buy to let landlord who has a surplus of cash, there are some great bargains to be had. There is less competition at the moment, which means that those investors that have the cash and the knowledge to weather this storm are in a very strong position.

Home owners that have to sell their home are finding it difficult to sell. Hence, the opportunity for investors to pick up many BMV properties that previously they where finding it difficult to get their hands on.

At the moment surveyors don't seem to have a grip on what the real current market value of property is and in certain situations this can open things up for the discerning investor to pick up a bargain.

Any property investor, including the first time investor, that is prepared to do double the work to find the bargain properties and then is prepared to live with perhaps a couple of years of a higher mortgage rates, in a few years time when they refinance, will potentially see huge gains.

The bottom line is that while many analysts are predicting doom and gloom, there are always those landlords that will thrive in adversity.

The question all investors, new or old, have to currently ask themselves, is do they see opportunity or just a black hole in the current buy to let market place. If it is a black hole, then they are destined to find life difficult over the coming months; however, if it is opportunity, then they maybe amongst the few investors that thrive and actually love this kind of uncertain property market.

Lenders do seem to be abandoning the large majority of UK buy to let landlords; yet, what they are also doing, perhaps unintentionally, is separating the men from the boys, the strong from the weak, the experienced from the novices and the low risk investors from the gamblers.

Don't waste your money chasing profitless property deals. Carlton Johnson is a well respected author and webmaster specialising in helping investors make money in any type of property market. To learn more and to claim your free book titled "The Five Rules of Property Success" visit the investment property website

How to Buy Investment Property - 5 Top Tips!

2008-07-12T16:16:00.002Z

Are you interested in learning how to buy investment property successfully? This article will give you 5 top tips that will help you succeed and make money from your property investments.

Let's get stuck straight into these tips.

1. Do your research. If you are buying a property in the hope of becoming a landlord then make sure you have checked the areas rental potential and make sure the types of properties that you are planning on buying are the ones in demand by tenants. If you are planning on flipping the property, make sure you buy a property that is wanted by homebuyers.

2. Don't' blindly trust what anyone says. This includes so called experts. Talk to a few different property professionals to try and get a balanced view on things such as:

- What type of property to invest in

- What location

- What type of tenant to aim for

Sometimes it is only after canvassing lots of different opinions that you can really formulate you own strategy with confidence and with solid reasons why you plan to do what you plan to do.

3. Get for comparables for everything. Rental comparables, sales comparables - everything you can. Make sure your comparables are as much like for like as possible. For example: if you want to rent out a two bedroom flat next to a railway station, then try to get the rental comparison of other two bedroom flats next to the same railway station.

If you use a two bedroom flat that is ½ a mile away from the railway station, then your comparisons maybe way off. ½ a mile can be a long distance if it takes you from the desirable part of town to the rough drug dealing part.

4. Get your finances in place. This is a good thing to do even before you start looking for properties to buy. If your finances are sorted out before you start looking at how to buy investment property, then you will be more likely to be looking with confidence and purpose because you know if you find that bargain property you have the finances already in place to do the deal.

But if you don't have your finances in order there might be doubts in your mind about whether you can finance a deal even if you find it, this in turn may cause you to self sabotage any deal you see even before you put an offer in.

5. Employ the right professionals, whether that means builders, solicitors, contractors, or someone else, skimping on employing qualified people to do a job correctly can cost you a lot more money than you expect. Just because someone is cheap, doesn't mean they can do a good job and just because someone seems expensive doesn't mean that they can do a better job than someone who is cheaper.

The only way to find out for sure is to check references and their qualifications to do the job. Try and speak to real people, preferably face to face, that they have worked with before.

Hopefully by reading this article you now have a clearer understanding on how to buy investment property that will make you a long-term profit, as well as perhaps making you a quick buck now.

Do you want to learn even more on how to buy investment property for profit? Are you interested in learning how to buy property with little or no money down? Then go to the Investment Property website for more free tips articles and advice. You can also sign up for the free Property investment newsletter

The 5 Steps to Property Investing Success

2008-05-17T06:14:00.000Z

Many people have estimated that well over 90% of the richest people on the planet have created their wealth through property. On top of that, many of the individuals that originally created their wealth in some other way, now choose to put money into property to protect their wealth or to help it grow even further.

This article will teach you 5 steps to property investing success. After reading it you should have a better understanding of what it takes to become wealthy through property and what sort of sacrifices you will have to make to get there.

1. Make better use of your time. What do you currently spend most of your time doing? Most people spend the majority of their time indulging in two activities. They are either at work or they are sleeping. In fact, including the commute to work, many people spend about 18 hours of every working day doing these activities. However, what they do with the other 6 hours and what they do with their days off (assuming they have that luxury) is what holds the key to their property investing success.

You might do vital things like get time with your family, but what about things like watching T.V. or playing video games, or even going down the pub. If you sat down with a pen and paper and wrote down how much time you spend on these, none essential activities, you might be surprised at how much time you are wasting that could be spent doing other things, such as learning about money making or actively investing in property. Including the weekends, many people spend about 18 hours a week, watching T.V. If you could cut this down to about 5 hours a week, it could have a massive impact on your life.

Successful people generally don't spend every afternoon, sat glued to watching Eastenders. Do you really think that this is how Richard Branson or Philip Green spends their time?

Cut down, or cut out totally, anything that you currently spend your time on that has know real benefit to your future happiness, wealth and prosperity. Once you have decided what you want out of life, then focus your energy into activites that will help you achieve your goals.

2. Make your money work for you. If you are used to getting paid an hourly or a daily rate, then the chances are you are probably not very wealthy. The wealthiest people in the World do not generally get paid an hourly rate. They master how to get their money to work for them so that even while they are sleeping they are accumulating wealth. This maybe the single most important thing you should learn to you help get you out of the rat race.

3. Set goals. Learning how to set goals correctly is crucial to your property investing success. If you don't set goals you will be aimlessly wondering through life. There is a small chance you might be successful, but if you set goals you are much more likely to be even more successful. You need to plan where you want to go and what you want to do. On top of this you need to understand why you want to achieve what you want to achieve.

4. Strategy. Setting you goals will set out what you want to achieve, but planning your strategy will tell you exactly, HOW you are going to achieve it. Goals are virtually useless unless you have a clear strategy and plan of how you are going to achieve them. When you plan your strategy you need to plan down to the nth degree and have back up plans that will mean if something unforeseen happens, you can still overcome it and meet your goals.

5. Mix with the right people. This can be online through property forums or in person at property networking events or any other way you can think of. It is vital to your investing success that you mix with people that have similar goals to you and/or that have already achieved what you want to achieve. You might all of a sudden find that all your friends and relatives are telling you that now is not the time to get into property and that you have already missed your chance of making serious money from investing. The only way you are going to be able to continue to believe in the face of negativity from those who care for you is if you have proof around you of those that have succeeded and continue to do so.

Despite what the media says, it still is a perfect time to achieve property investing success. This success is available to anyone who is prepared to follow the steps and make the sacrifices today that will insure their future tomorrow.

Carlton Johnson, is a well known author and webmaster who specialises in helping people achieve financial freedom through property investing. To learn more about how to achieve property investing success visit the www.investment-property-guru.com website

Investors Show No Surprise as Inside Track Go Bust!

2008-05-10T07:25:00.000Z

The UK property education company, Inside Track has gone bust. This news came as no surprise to the seasoned property veteran, but many budding property investors where taken aback by the announcement.

For many years the Inside Track property company had been the most vocal of the property education companies. Its advertisements and free seminars led even some of the most conservative people, to part with thousands of pounds of their hard earned money. These people would have given almost anything to try and obtain their goal of becoming financially independent through property.

Not that long ago they were enjoying the fruits of their labour, and making millions of pounds in profit. They blame their rapid downfall on the credit crunch and how it has adversely affected their position to get the types of mortgages that make buying properties financially viable.

The truth is that inside track where always overexposed and vulnerable to any downturn in the property market.

One of the problems with Inside Track has always been that their philosophy never seriously took into account potential changes in the property market. They emerged onto the scene at a time when property prices where increasing dramatically.

At the time, their approach of buying as many off plan properties as you can, with a small deposit for each, then waiting for the expected price rises at completion, then pulling out huge sums of money to re-invest or do what ever you liked with, worked well. However, the problem was always that their property investing strategy was inherently built on a notion that the price of the off plan properties were ALWAYS going to be significantly higher at completion than they were when the deposit was put down on the properties, several months earlier.

The other problem they began to face is that as time went by, the increasing amount of investment companies that popped up promising similar things to them, meant that off plan developments where becoming over saturated with investors. As more and more investors competed with each other for less and less buyers and tenants this brought the prices of resell and rentals for the properties right down,

Inside Track realised early on that people where prepared to pay thousands of pounds to them, for the promise of becoming property millionaires. The beauty for Inside Track was that they could convince people to part with large amounts of money, without actually having to give them any cast iron promises as to the returns they will make.

It was simple for inside track to blame the property markets ups and downs, or the financial market, if investments didn't go according to plan.

While Inside Track and it's founder Jim Moore, made millions of pounds, ordinary people where losing their life savings, their homes, marriages and much more because of the flawed nature of the way inside track worked and invested.

Inside Track would have realised a long time ago that their way of investing wasn't as profitable for investors as it was in their hay day. The queue of serious complaints and lawsuits being filed against them, continued to grow at an alarming rate. Then BANG! The credit crunch hits and very quickly it becomes all too apparent that the wisest thing for them to do financially was to fold now, before things got even worse.

Experienced investors have for years, warned against the perils of investing with Inside Track. Yet, because of their huge media presence and the slick sales talk at their seminars, average people on the street, were being seduced daily, into trusting that just by parting with a few thousand pounds today, they can be the next property millionaires of tomorrow.

Investing in property can be one of the most tangible ways; it is possible for the average person on the street to accrue immense wealth. However, it can also be the easiest way to make yourself bankrupt very quickly.

What people where paying Inside Track for was available for free online, there was nothing ground breaking in what they were teaching. You don't need to pay thousands of pounds to learn how to make money in property; you just need to make a concerted effort to do whatever it takes to get the right property education, no matter what your budget.

Do you want to learn more about making money from property? Then visit the www.investment-property-guru.com website for all the hottest investment property news, tips and advice.

property glossary and abbreviations

2008-03-11T16:01:00.003Z

One of the most annoying things when you are just starting off as a property investor is coming across lots of different terms that you don't understand what they mean.

This might seem like a small problem but it is actually one that can hinder you massively.

Imagine not knowing the difference between gross yield and net yield. This could have serious consequences for your finances because if you get it wrong you could end up miscalculating how much profit you have in a deal. And worse still actually thinking you have profit in a deal when infact you are in the red.

That coupled with the amount of property abbreviations out there means that.

Check out the site below as I have found the best glossary of UK property terms and the best UK property abbrieviations that I have come across on any site on the net.

the site is:

http://www.investment-property-guru.com

and the property glossary page is:

http://www.investment-property-guru.com/property-glossary.html

and the property abbreviations page is:

http://www.investment-property-guru.com/property-abbreviations.html

Risking It All To Get on the Property Ladder

2007-06-18T07:31:00.000Z

First time buyers are risking everything to get onto the property ladder. With property prices continuing to rise there is an increasing desperation among them, to buy property sooner rather than later. Some buyers are risking financial and personal ruin to take their first steps onto what they see as a lucrative and secure property ladder.

Lenders are aware of the problems that increasing property prices are causing the first time buyer. They are also very aware of the problem that this causes them as mortgage lenders, as a considerable amount of their profit is made through interest paid to them on mortgages. Hence, if first time buyers are being priced out of the market, it leaves these lenders with a major financial problem.

To try and find a solution to the problem, many lenders have come up with progressively more creative ways for the buyer to fund their purchase. Things such as buying with friends, getting lifetime mortgages, interest only mortgages or self certified mortgages are becoming increasingly more popular.

These creative financing methods are at times, resulting in people being able to get far higher mortgages than they were previously able to. Not that long ago it was on heard of for anyone to get a mortgage five times their salary, where as now, it is becoming increasingly more common for buyers to get a mortgage five or six times their salary, by the use of methods such as self certifying themselves for a mortgage, as often no proof of income is required.

Even if you have only been in the country for a few years, if you have built up a good credit rating and are aware of the mortgage deals available and the loopholes within them, it is fairly straightforward for you to obtain some sort of finance.

The question is, is it worth the risk? Historically the answer has got to be a resounding yes. I have yet to meet many people who bought their property over seven years ago and have managed by hook or by crook to pay their mortgage, who regret their decision to buy. The topic of dinner conversation among these people is often how much equity they think they have accrued in their house. History bears out their enthusiasm by revealing that even though the property market has the occasional dip, it has always recovered, and normally goes into a period of rapid growth soon after the dip to make up for lost time.

On the other hand, at the other end of the spectrum we have those who have had their homes repossessed or whose marriages and personal lives have been ruined in some way by the pressure of keeping up with high mortgage costs. If you look at how the dream of getting onto the property ladder has ruined their lives you could be forgiven for never wanting to take the plunge yourself.

These two opposing viewpoints leave the first time buyer in somewhat of a quandary. However, perhaps this dilemma is caused or at least left more perplexing because we are asking the wrong question. If we changed the question from, would you risk it all to get on the property ladder? To, would you be prepared to do whatever it takes to stay on the property ladder? This might add some clarity.

Those people, who have taken a gamble and obtained mortgages way beyond their means, but have coped and even thrived, tend to be the sort of people that would do anything to pay their mortgage. That could mean getting another job and working over 70 hours a week, it could mean learning another skill altogether and changing careers totally in order to obtain a pay rise, or it could even mean forgoing holidays and regular meals out for a number of months or even years.

The people who don't tend to cope tend to fall into one of two categories, either they weren't prepared to make the sacrifices and do whatever it took to keep up the repayment on their mortgage, or alternatively they were hit by some disaster that they did not recover from. Maybe, they where made redundant or became ill or had an accident that meant their ability to work was affected in someway.

Though, it could be argued that this second group is only a minority because even of those people who lose their job, if they had the single-minded determination to still pay their mortgage, or even to downsize if need be, it would still be achievable for the vast majority of them. So, again we come down to the key question.

Would you be prepared to do whatever it takes to stay on the property ladder?
The answer to this simple question may hold the key as to whether any particular individual will be able to hold onto their property or whether they will be forced to join the growing band of people who are facing bankruptcy and their homes being repossessed.

The Big Fat Property Lie

2007-04-18T19:25:00.000Z

I watched a programme on TV last night called "My Big Fat Property Fortune". I don't watch a lot of TV but this programme caught my eye, it was supposed to be how these incredible people had made their fortune from property. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT.

What the show consisted of was a bunch of people that had made their money from property mainly through luck and good fortune rather than their business acumen. There were a few exceptions to this, must notably, a husband and wife team whom I have seen a couple of times before, they own over 700 properties that are worth in excess of 170 million. There is no disputing that this couple are worth a fortune and that they continue to rake in a fortune from property.

The problem I have with this show and others like it is that it is not realistic and truthful. Let me explain myself. Yes, there is no doubt that this couple have made an absolute fortune years ago, mainly by the sound of it by buying new and off plan properties. However what is not taken into consideration is the changing housing market.If this couple started today and did exactly the same thing all over again, the results would not be the same, in fact they would probably end of being bankrupt quicker than you can say "Jack Rabbit." It was a different market when they started investing and so many novice investors (or hopefuls) will have watched that programme and thought yes that is how I am going to do it.

The key with making money from property is knowing your market. Knowing whether it is the right time to buy off plans or to buy old houses etc. You have to give the property market and it's current condition due consideration and respect, many would be investors and developers get into financial difficulty because they haven't taken this into consideration. Exactly the same money is still out there to be made, you just have to adjust your strategy to make sure you are making it in the safest and most profitable way possible.

Carlton Johnson

http://www.UKPropertysuccess.com

Is your house really an ASSET?

2007-04-07T06:46:00.000Z

Would you class your home as good debt? Well, countless people might, but the reality is, it isn’t. Good debt is normally only found when you have invested in an asset. What is an asset, you say? Well, there are several definitions depending on who you speak to, but I think the following sentence epitomises it well: it is something that appreciates in value and/or can provide you with passive income, that pays for itself, and doesn’t need you constantly putting money into it.

So, what is good debt?

Good debt is debt that you have incurred by purchasing an asset that appreciates in value and/or can provide you with passive income that pays for itself, and doesn’t need you constantly putting money into it.

In this vein, your house could not be classed as an asset, because you live there and you have to pay the mortgage yourself through other means i.e. through working at your job for a wage to pay the mortgage or through the money you get from other assets. And even if you have paid off the mortgage, you would still have things to pay on the house, such as utility bills, council tax, repairs etc. So you will always need to have some income from some other means in order to finance the upkeep on your home.
Food for thought?
However, maybe you could class it has a sleeping asset ready to be realised whenever you choose to cash it in or remortgage? Well, maybe.

Invaluable Free website for property investors

2007-04-06T09:31:00.000Z

There are a few key changes within the law that are coming into effect this year. One you don’t want to forget about if you are a property investor are the changes to Tenancy deposits, which comes into effect today (April 6th). If you haven’t already got it in your favorites on your computer then it might be useful to put the web address below there now, as it has many useful update as regards to property and it contains all the info – or links to all the info – you need to know as regards to tenancy deposit.

http://www.communities.gov.uk

For more info on all aspects of property investing you can go to my website at:

http://www.ukpropertysuccess.com/

Regards Carlton

(Author UK Property Success)