Expat Property Story

#83 Are you going to Scarborough? It’s definitely something you should think about, given that Scarborough Borough Council has approved a £2.25m budget for the return of the Scarborough Fair which was last held in the 18th Century and has now been reimagined as a year-round programme of arts, heritage, culinary and sporting events funded by £1.2m from the government's Town Centres Fund. So if...

#82 Suresh Mistry and his wife Natasha took the well-trodden expat path of renting out their family home and heading abroad for higher earnings, lower taxes and expat property possibilities. Their story took them from London to Singapore to Switzerland while building a mixture of buy to lets in Barnsley, Liverpool and Ipswich. Their expat property story may help your expat property story which may...

#81 Are you an expat property investor with a full time job? Do you wish there were more hours in the day? Are you able to make the most of the hours available to you?   Systemising your UK property business not only creates efficiencies but also enables other people to share the workload.   Helen Turner is the co-founder of COHO , an all-in-one property management software specifically built for...

#80 Acquiring high yielding assets is the smart investor’s way to stay ahead of inflation and high interest rates. But with so many short-term rental businesses going under during Covid due to an over reliance on Airbnb, Serviced Accommodation investors ignore the power of direct bookings at their peril. Mark Simpson is the host of the Boostly podcast, and the author of three books on helping hosp...

#79 The third and final instalment of this three-part special details how we raised the money to purchase the two properties that made us 126K from UK property in two days. If you’re interested in raising finance for your deals or investing in other people’s deals then this episode could help you consider some of the factors worth factoring! We also reflect on the three main lessons we learned fro...

#78  Following hot on the heels of Part 1 (#77), this episode takes off where yesterday’s left off as the race is on to exchange contracts on a 150K 3-bed semi in Nottingham that is arguably (by me anyway!) discounted to the tune of £60,000! Fortunately, it’s Friday 4pm by the time we agree to buy, so we have the weekend to carry out more due diligence, arrange our own mining reports and prepare f...

#77 Be greedy when others are fearful is one half of Warren Buffet’s famous quote and was at the forefront of our thoughts when first one then another deal came up on consecutive days in November 2022. This was a time when most investors were deserting the UK property market in the wake of the government’s disastrous mini-budget just weeks previously. Today’s episode is the tale of how we took adv...

#76  Building a UK property portfolio undoubtedly has many benefits but perhaps the best thing it affords, if you get it right, is the chance to be both financially and location independent. Julie Talbot started building her portfolio in and around her hometown of Salford in Manchester, whilst living in London, before following her husband to Abu Dhabi. After fine tuning their remote investing ski...

#75 Are you an expat thinking of investing in UK Property? Are you a UK property investor thinking of becoming an expat?  Are you an expat UK property investor thinking of returning to the UK as a 'Repat'? If the answer to any of these questions is YES, then this is the episode for you. And if not, well come in anyway, everyone’s welcome! As a business & economics teacher and coming...

#74 Fed up with working in supermarkets in the North West of England, Darren McNeill of FMP Property Group started keeping a Progress Journal on Property Hub in February 2017 as he started to build his property portfolio.  At that stage he only envisaged buying a few Buy to Lets. But as he documented his progress on his journal, private investors started contacting him to lend him money so that he...

#73 Dubai based Scottish expat Mike Lawson of Lawson Lettings has scores of mostly residential units with a GDV of nearly £10 million pounds WITHOUT giving up his day job! But if you’re thinking, ‘Greedy landlord’, think again, as Lawson Lettings’ mission is not to be the biggest landlord in Fyfe, but the best! During the interview Mike explains why the days of the hobby landlord are numbered and...

#72 Property can be a lonely place, and even more so as an expat investing in UK property, so the more Expat Property Stories we hear, the better for our Expat Property Community. Peter Sell is an expat property investor based in Singapore and, in this episode, he recounts the resourceful way in which he found his mentor and UK property partner, the challenges he has faced growing his portfolio in...

#71 This episode contains loads of value for those getting started, those with experience and everyone else in between! At any one time, property investor Danny Inman has a £25 million pipeline of projects in development so he knows a thing or two about property. As  the founder of the Prosperity Network , Danny is also passionate about the importance of both education and community, and has maste...

#70 If you need some inspiration to kick start your 2023 Property Story, then this episode is for you. North East investor Terry Blackburn left school at 16 with no qualifications, having been written off by his teachers who had told him he’d never achieve anything in life. Terry has gone on to run seven businesses and counting, winning multiple awards along the way. Terry also has a portfolio of...

 #69 Finding a build team and / or a project manager from abroad is often the most challenging aspect of the Buy, Refurbish, Refinance business model.    Richard Stone is relatively new to serviced accommodation but with a wealth of business expertise and a 30+ year background in construction, he is the perfect person to reverse engineer a strategy for this business model.   This episode is packed...

#68 Our mini-season of bite-sized daily episodes celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas 2022 culminates in this final episode announcing the winner of our Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors.   It’s Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill   This timeless title is as relevant now as it was when first published back in 1937. Many of the ideas that are thought of as modern now, such as Master...

#67 Before the Hammer Falls and its authors have had a huge impact on my Expat Property Story in 2022, as revealed in Season Two of the podcast (Episodes 35-53) and as such sits in second place in our Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors. This book literally delivers what it says on the tin and is packed full of enough information to give you every chance of success buying UK property at auc...

#66 I love Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell and the only reason it’s not number one in our Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors is because it’s perhaps less applicable to property than the two titles above it on the list. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, and how brilliant decisions are often made in the blink of an eye, but built on the fo...

 #65   The main message behind The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work And What To Do About It is that, to be successful, you need to work ON your business rather than IN your business. Michael Gerber’s book sits just outside the top three in our Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors which forms the basis of this mini-season of daily episodes celebrating the Twelve Days of...

#64 Happy New Year On the 8th Day of Christmas 2022, our mini-season of daily episodes takes a break from counting down the Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors as I run through what each letter in the phrase, HAPPY NEW YEAR, means to me. This episode serves as a reflection on my Expat Property Story so far and outlines our plans pushing forwards.   H is for Hard Work A is for Auctions P is...

#63 Tax Planning for Non Residents & Non-Doms by Nick Braun forms part of a series of books published by Taxcafe , and is a must-have book for Expat Property Investors. As property investors, it’s best to start with the end in mind, which is no easy task in itself, and is compounded by the intricacies and complications of tax planning as an expat or a ‘repat’. This book and others in the serie...

#62 Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss is THE go-to book about negotiation, a vital skill in the toolbox of property investors. This bite-sized episode was published on the sixth day of Christmas 2022 and is in sixth place in the Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors. Never Split the Difference contains lots of practical tips on the art of negotiation and argues that in business, a succ...

#61 Day Five in our Christmas 2022 mini-season counting down the Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B Cialdini sits in 7th place. This book explains the psychology of why people say yes by presenting six universal principles that teach you not just how to become a skilled persuader but just as importantly how to defend yourself against...

#60 This is the fourth pocket-sized podcast episode in this Christmas 2022 mini-season counting down the Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors.   The Millionaire Fast Lane identifies three routes to wealth: the sidewalk, the slow lane and the fast lane. encourages those seeking wealth to Author M J DeMarco demonstrates why the fast lane is his choice.  Please rate, review and follow the show...

#59 The third in our Twelve Days of Christmas (2022) mini-season of bite-sized episodes reviewing the Top Ten Books for Expat Property Investors  In ninth place is Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, which explores Behavioural Economics and contains many though provoking case studies which can be related to property investing.  Please rate, review and follow the show and if you’re an expat prope...