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Posts Tagged ‘investment’

Who Says January Is A Quiet Month In Property?

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Some say January is a quiet month in property.  Well not for me it ain’t!

I’ve been working on a few deals through the end of 2009.  Here’s a quick run down …

4 properties all in the same complex.  These came to me one at a time but I’ve ended up with all 4 and they’re all great little renters.  All currently tenanted earning a nice income.  The vendor has owned them for a couple years, maximised the use of the plot (by extending out the back to create two new properties) and now he wants to cash out.  He wants his money and I’m happy to oblige and get 4 good properties earning cashflow from Day 1.

Another block of 4 – this time a new build.  This is an interesting lease option deal on a property that has been converted into 4 falts from a detached family home.  Good terms for me (payment of £300 pcm for a property that rents out at £650) but short timescales on the option (6 months) so the vendor gets his money quickly.  Fair enough I say.  These are great to hold or to sell on, either to investors or owner occupiers.  And I’ve already found my first tenant buyer so at least one will be a sandwich.  I like these, so I think I’ll hold on to the rest.

Then the tricky one …  This deal has been jumping in and out of bed.  Another 4 flats  – these all exist on a single leasehold title.  The developer who refurbed them all to a nice standard with lovely open plan lounge / kitchen areas is going into administration and the bank are looking for a buyer with cash who can move quickly.  There’s a bit of a discount in it but at the moment the sticking point is the price.  I put a great bid together at £320,000, but they are looking for £360,000.  Whether or not we can work this one out … only time will tell.

And finally, I’ve found a builder to do the refurb on the purchase I made in November of last year … so I need to get that underway now.

So, all in all, I don’t think it’s been a quiet month for me at all.  And here we are, Valentine’s Day passed already and well into February.

Here’s to a full house and achieving all of the above – 3 out of 3!

Buying Buying Buying … Next Investment Property On It’s Way

Monday, October 19th, 2009

And so after a glorious 2 week holiday in the US to visit relatives and friends, PropertyBob is back and straight on it.

2 things have happened for me already …

Firstly, we’ve actually made some progress on my mammoth long running flat purchase. The last step in the chain to buy the place (going since January!) is to get buildings insurance in place. No small feat when the property has had subsidence AND the existing insurance has lapsed. But it looks like we’re coming through. Delite Insurance Broker has found with what appears to be a great policy from Nelson Insurance The premium is very reasonable and, better still, the excess for subsidence is the same as on a normal policy £1,000. This means it is far easier to get a regular every day mortgage rather than going to one of those specialist lender’s who fleece you. So … good good good. More on this if it comes off, when I’ll tell you all the financial numbers for the whole deal.

And the second thing … one of my estate agent friends has potentially found me another property. And this one could work out quite nicely. It’s a 3 bed house arranged as 2 flats, still on a single title. The bottom flat is rented out, the top one was being used by the owner’s brother, who recently moved out into council accommodation. So the owner’s looking to sell. Only at the moment it isn’t mortgagable because it is neither a 3 bed house nor 2 separate flats (because they’re not on separate title). All of which suggests to me that we could work something out. He gets the price he wants with no haggling from me AND I’ll sort out the split title problems for him (and pay half the costs!) and I get another property. Still very early days so hopefully I can share more details soon if it goes somewhere.

Your Property Deal Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Until your deal is done it’s not a deal and it isn’t done.

Anticipate every problem you can think of, plan for the worst and don’t be surprised if you’re surprised.

Let me explain …

I’ve been doing one particular deal since January. It’s August now and it’s still not done. And once we complete I’ve got a 3 month refurbishment to do. So all in, I’ll be lucky if I get this finished in 12 months start to finish.

Now it’s a great deal and I don’t want to pull out so I can be patient, but boy does ‘being patient’ take a long time! And it takes LOADS more time than I ever imagined.

Guess what’s caused the most recent problem …. yep you guessed it, finance! It’s been going so long my mortgage has expired, and after 2 extensions the lender has lost all patience (and to be honest I can’t really blame them!).

That doesn’t account for the 7 month delay. There have been lots of other reasons, it’s just the latest. But add them all up and it’s pretty costly. I’ve had the money ready for this deal all that time and it’s sat there doing nothing.

I could have bought another place, refurbed it and got a remortgage in the time it’s taken this one so far!

The lesson … don’t ever expect the deal to get done until it actually is. It’s a good job I can afford to wait. And until it’s done, don’t under any circumstance expect the return or any money from it. Don’t expect anything, and never need a deal to go through. That starts to get dangerous!