The Business of Property

Having snuck away for breaks, Simon and Stuart are back and catching up on what's been happening in their property businesses. The discussion this week includes: Remortgaging. EPCs. Valuations. Mortgage companies trying to increase rents. Timing. Rapidly changing mortgage options. Books (Amazon affiliate links): Small Business Cash Flow Xero to One Where The Crawdads Sign The Business of Property...

This week Stuart and Simon are talking about making plans, from goals, then executing on those plans and what is actually involved. The chat this week includes: Get rich quick, prepare to be bored! Following on from why . Defining your goals carefully. "Clarity is key". How. Consider what's possible when setting goals. Talk to other people in property. "A wonderful tool like PaTMa " to give really...

Simon and Stuart are chatting about whys, goals, plans, pensions, and budgets! The discussion this week includes: Our goals when we started in property. Property income as an income to live off. Plan better than we did! Thinking out to a pension. Consider cutting back to make goals easier. What does/would your "good life" look like? We previously talked about pension pot sizes . Choosing not to sa...

This week Stuart and Simon are talking through the purchase process - what are the steps and what do you need to do to be prepared and make it through the process smoothly. The chat this week includes: The process and paperwork when buying a property. Offer accepted! Anti Money Laundering (AML) checks - with agent and perhaps others. Proof of funds. (Maybe) company bank account - ID and proof of f...

Simon and Stuart chat about the true meaning and value of an often quoted property metric. The discussion this week includes: The number of properties. Poor Ben . Regional price variation. Judging business complexity. Counting bedrooms in single lets. Differing rental markets by bedrooms. Using Companies House for research. A better vanity metric for parties? You can find us on on YouTube . Find u...

Stuart and Simon are talking about Simon's decision to buy his next property in a limited company, along with getting that process started and what else he can expect. The chat this week includes: Our previous chat about buying limited or not . Why Simon has chosen the limited company route. More talk about Section 24 . Section 24 is very dangerous if interest rates hit 6%+. Producing a property p...

Simon and Stuart are chatting about Stuart's experience hunting for HMO investments in the North West, plus buying with a keys undertaking agreement. The discussion this week includes: Keys undertaking. What is structural? "Why would anyone let you do things in their house before you've completed?" Considering less common finance options. Challenges investing in Manchester. Manchester HMOs (and re...

Stuart and Simon have been reviewing their property business income and expenses. Listen this week for tips on what to consider and improve to maximise your property profit. The chat this week includes: Reviewing our property businesses. Income > expenses! Occupancy. Market rent. Using PaTMa for reminders. Expenses. Refurbishment. Maintenance. Fixing expenses for consistency. Mortgage products...

This week Simon and Stuart chat about Section 24 tax and some of the proposed changes in the recent rental reform white paper. The discussion this week includes: Last weeks episode . Simon has made a decision on how to buy . June's rental reform white paper . Section 24 is in full force and will really start to bite with increasing interest rates. Test the impact of increasing interest rates with...

After a slightly different start this week, Stuart and Simon dig into some numbers to discuss the use of property as a pension, and the effect of Section 24. The chat this week includes: A sad story from Ben. Does/would anyone feel sorry for landlords? What Ben's portfolio might look like. How much pension do you need to retire? . What's an average UK pension pot . A quick pension income calculato...

Simon and Stuart are chatting about the age old question of limited company vs personal name for buying investment property. Complete with some very real (but do work your own out) estimates from Simon. The discussion this week includes: Research from Get Ground . 50% of investment properties were bought with a limited company. 76% considered buying in a limited company would help with inflation....

Stuart and Simon are joined by mortgage expert Simon Glastonbury to share first hand experience of the current mortgage market. Covering challenges, new trends, interest rate forecasts and some quick-fire current interest rates. The chat this week includes: Special guest - Mortgage broker Simon Glastonbury . Bank of England base rate has increased again. Mortgage companies pulling products at shor...

There are many reasons that buying in a "hot" property market can be difficult. Stuart and Simon explore some they've been thinking about and overcoming. The discussion this week includes: Direct to Vendor deal is a GO. Paper work needed to arrange early access during a purchase. Competing with home buyers. Prices feel big. Preparing detailed financial forecasts with Property Prospector . Being co...

Join Stuart, Simon and special guest Emma as they talk about retro-fitting property for better energy efficiency and comfort. Make sure you catch Emma's dancing trio! The chat this week includes: Bills inclusive rent (eg for HMOs) is a concern. Heating controlls (eg Time:o:stat ). Insulating well can remove the need to worry about heating management. Start simple! 34% of homes with lofts are not i...

Simon and Stuart chat about how Stuart has found a direct to vendor purchasing opportunity, and what he's planning to do with it. The discussion this week includes: Electrician tales. Rental properties must have an EICR. Direct to vendor purchasing. Direct marketing to landlords. Is a landlord a business and hence more open to contact (under data protection rules) than a consumer? Negotiating the...

Stuart and Simon are chatting about a few landlord favourites this week - tax, mortgages and EPCs! The chat this week includes: Making Tax Digital (MTD) pilot . Making Tax Digital will make life easier in the long wrong, but change can be difficult. Mortgage issues threatening to collapse chains. Last minute mortgage withdrawal stories. Bank restrictions due to building/area exposure limits. Landl...

Simon has been out viewing houses - this week he's chatting to Stuart about the viewing process with Strike and Purple Bricks. Plus his verdict on the two properties themselves (as potential buy-to-let investments). The discussion this week includes: Strike . Purple Bricks . Viewings with "online" agents. We previously talked about the experience of arranging viewings with Strike and Purple Bricks...

Property doesn't always go smoothly and this week Stuart and Simon are chatting about a long running sale attempt, taking drastic measures and refocusing. The chat this week includes: Pulling out of a sale. Reasons behind the sale. Back to rental. Visum . First come first served in such a hot rental market. Bills-inclusive at the moment? Being open with prospective tenants. The future is uncertain...

The good, the bad and the ugly of recent estate agent experiences! Simon and Stuart chat about a few of their recent interactions with estate agents as they try to buy properties. The discussion this week includes: Estate agent experiences from a buyer perspective: Strike Purple Bricks Local agents Comparing with commercial agents. Market conditions for letting agents. Find us on Twitter or Linked...

Stuart and Simon are taking on the 18-year property cycle! Does it matter and how should/is it affecting their investment plans. The chat this week includes: Car parts (bear with us)! The need to take charge of situations. Fred Harrison (Not Frank, sorry Stuart mis-spoke). The 18-year property cycle . Property Hub recently talked about the 18-year cycle. How we view the 18-year property cycle. Pro...

Simon and Stuart are talking about fraud and rent-to-rent this week - two things that some people have linked but are actually very distinct. The discussion this week includes: Should fraudsters be considered business people? More details on some of the fraud we're discussing can be found here and here . 30% interest rates. Large amounts of money. Do due diligence! Paying rent late (and hampers)....

Stuart has been exploring online auctions as a way to purchase his next deal. This week he chats with Simon about his most recent experience, and the properties that took him there. The chat this week includes: Interesting auction properties. Viewing with care! A wonky house and another . An online auction experience. Pre-auction registration by Essential Information Group . We chatted with David...

This week is all about measuring your property returns. Stuart and Simon are chatting about the metrics they use, with a focus on ROE and ROCE. The discussion this week includes: Return on Equity (ROE) is now shown in Property Manager . Some property terms defined in episode 12 . Simon had trouble with rent . How to calculate ROE. Return on Investment (ROI) . How to calculate ROCE. Estimating a pr...

Simon and Stuart are talking about their recent property headaches - maintenance and mortgages are the main focus of their ranting! The chat this week includes: Boiler trouble. Plumber trouble. Parts trouble. Alpha do fixed price boiler repairs. It's worth having backups! Further borrowing with a hurdle or two. HMO planning permission in an Article 4 area. PaTMa provides licensing and article 4 da...

The Expat Property Guy joins Stuart and Simon for a chat about buying in Hong Kong as well as buying remotely back in the UK. Make sure you listen for the crazy raffles! The discussion this week includes: Expat Property Story . (Problems with) financial advisors! Buying in Hong Kong. The shape/size of a Hong Kong development. Off-plan capital growth in Hong Kong. £100k in 3 years. Property sourcer...