mypropertyblog.com

Slowly, slowly catchy monkey.

I have no idea where the phrase comes from (I’m sure I should know, but I don’t). But it seems to apply to the property business in spades, such is the glacial pace at which it happens.

I’m STILL doing the same transaction I was in … ooo … 8 months ago I think? That’s about right. I viewed the property in December and got the ball rolling in January. And still … yes, still, it’s not completed yet.

Ho hum … it will complete for sure. I know for definite that we’ll get there. We’re just not there yet.

And there is a silver lining. I have already got a tenant lined up offering me £500 pcm and they’ll move in as soon as I get the keys and they’ll stay while the renonvation takes place – cool, huh! So that’s a BIG bonus.

I could just really do with actually completing

There are a LOT of people out there selling property courses (just look at the number of lease options courses that have popped up this year!). Some of them are excellent, some are not. Some charge very reasonable rates. Sadly, others do not.

What scares me is that there are so many of us who follow big name teachers who are authority figures and spend HUGE sums of money on their training courses, when it’s very clear we don’t have the money to pay for them! In the last couple months I’ve spoken to a few people who spent many thousands of pounds on attending training courses, seminars, 3 day events on the latest thinking etc etc blah blah blah. 1 guy I know spent £20,000 on courses but doesn’t even have enough money to put a deposit together on a house and is supporting himself and his mother out of his savings!!! And others, who don’t have a steady income, living off savings, and still spend huge sums out of the very same savings to attend these courses! (that’s money they’ve allocated to feed themselves!!!).

It makes me really angry to see all this money wasted and words like ‘exploitation’ and ‘mis-selling’ come to mind. Especially when the marketers are so skilful they persuade the attendees that they need MORE courses! Why not just get out there and do it, and stop spending your money on seminars! Save those precious pounds for tangible, income producing assets! Just like Rich Dad says.

Ladies and gentlemen – Training is VERY important! But there’s a time and a place for it and you have to be able to afford it! Now I know there’s a line of thinking in the Money Gym that putting a training course on a credit card is, in some cases, acceptable (I’m not going to comment on that). But, please, please, make sure you want and really NEED the course! Instead of a course, there’s really nothing quite like actual real life experience to teach you a thousand and one things that you will never forget because you were out there doing it for real! And mostly, real life experience isn’t going to cost you a penny, just some time!

Doing my regular estate agent rounds yesterday an odd thing happened to me.

One of the mortgage brokers I use was chatting away and said ‘Seeing as you’re out looking again …’. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.

On the way home I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Why did he think I’d stopped buying? I’m always buying. Why would he think otherwise?

And then it dawned on me … because I’m not telling everyone. I’m not shouting it from the roof tops!

If you’re out there looking for property, make sure EVERYONE knows what you’re up to.

You never know where the next lead will come from!

Timothy Ferris – The 4-Hour Work Week

‘Escape The 9-5, Live Anywhere And Join The New Rich’

My utterly biased take on this book:

AMAZING 5 stars, 10 out of 10.  I can’t praise it highly enough.  Whatever your situation, business owner, entrepreneur, employee in a large corporation, if you want to change your life this book is for you!

What is The Book About?

The book is about getting more out of life and working less. … Read the rest of this post here

It seems property auctions are particularly popular at the moment.  And judging by the one I went to last month there’s no shortage of interest.  Fox and Sons Southampton auction attracted several hundred people, leaving so little standing room in the packed hall they had to open the fire doors just to make sure we could all breathe.

I was there to see how a couple properties fared.  They’re both in areas I know quite well and I visited one beforehand.  It needed considerable work and was not well laid out.  The guide was £115,000 and I wanted to see if it would reached that amount as it seemed a bit high for the size of property, area and the way it was arranged.  The final hammer price was £110,000 so it seems the market had similar feelings to me and didn’t quite push it to the guide, despite the best effots of the auctioneer.  The other property in a slightly better area, but with a guide at the same level, went for £130,000 which seemed a little steep to me.

In fact, that seemed to be the prevaling theme of the day – realistic to high guides that were, in general, exceeded in the cut and thrust of the auction room.  In fact, the first property I mentioned above was the only one in the entire auction of 30 lots that went for less than the guide.  All the others went above (perhaps not surprising) but they all seemed to go for more than they should.  And more worrying, there were several cases where buyers clearly stopped bidding, ducking out at their pre-agreed maximum only to jump back in again and get carried away with the excitement to the tune of £5,000, sometimes as much as £10,000.

All of which brings me to think I won’t be buying at auction just yet.  Too much competition for too few properties.  Plus the hassle of having to pay for the survey beforehand with no certainty of success seems to me a lot of trouble for the right to fight against all those other willing bidders.

But, if you have a property to sell however and you are struggling in the current climate, then maybe the auction house is just the right place to do it.  Sure … you’ll see a lot of wiley property investors wanting to pay peanuts, but with the right understanding with the auction house and correctly set guide and reserve prices and you could be onto something!

So finally at the end of November 2008, 6 months of hard work seems like it is beginning to pay off and I have now completed on a property – with the 3 I’ve already got that makes 4 in total now.  It has been a long hard slog and I’ve spent 25% of the price in deposit money, but I am getting there.

Deal looks like:

Price: £107,000

Rent: £550 pcm

Refurb estimate: £4,000

Value after refurb: £130,000

Next – the refurb.  This one could turn out to be quite light if I can avoid changing too much:

- New bathroom (maybe).  Hopefully I can get away without changing it.

- New kitchen (maybe).  The letting agent I met recently reckons I can get away without changing it.  Interesting, when my first instinct was ‘No-one will rent it out like this’

- Paint throughout – all walls, all woodwork

- New carpets throughout

Next post I’ll let you know how I got on …