If I had a penny for every person who wished they had invested in property but never did, I could retire. And the most cited reason for not taking the plunge? Because they never quite get round to it. Let’s face it, buying a property can be time-consuming and stressful, and venturing into buy-to-let can come with a whole host of other issues and uncertainties.
That’s the main reason I set up My Property Consultant. To take the stress and hassle out of property investment for busy professionals who, quite frankly, are busy getting on with the day job, or enjoying the small amount of spare time they have.
So if you’re one of those people who wish they had invested in property, but still can’t quite find the time, you should read on.
The cost of delay
According to the Nationwide, if you had bought a property in London a year ago, it would have gone up by 9.9%. In the last three months, it would have risen by 3.6%. So let’s assume you bought a £400,000 flat a year ago, and it’s increased by 5% (nearly half the average for London as reported by Nationwide) – that’s an increase of £20,000 in one year. So for every year you delay through procrastination, you’re effectively losing thousands of pounds. The cost of employing someone else to do it for you, and getting it done now, would quickly be outweighed by the gains you make on your investment.
The cost of fear
One of the main reasons people shy away from property investment, is that they are scared of negative equity, and they are scared of having an empty flat with a mortgage to pay. A property consultant can help you find a property in an up-and-coming area, where prices are likely to beat the market average, and where rental demand is high. Of course, I would be lying if I said that property investment came with no risk but, by using experience and local knowledge, you can mitigate that risk, as long as you are prepared to invest for the longer term. Here’s an example:
Let’s go back to just before the credit crunch in 2008. If you had bought a flat in South West London at the peak of the market in January 2008, you would have paid an average of £289,654. If you sold it 5 years later, it would have been worth £326,065. That’s a 7% return on investment (before fees, expenses and tax). The point I’m trying to make is that, even investing at the peak – before one of the worst financial crises the world has ever seen – London property continued to return profit over the medium term. If you still owned the property in January 2016, exactly 8 years later, it would be worth £474,882 – a 60% return. (Source: Rightmove, September 2016)
Why use My Property Consultant?
- We use our expertise and knowledge to find you a property in an area with excellent rental demand, and excellent investment potential.
- We compile a detailed overview of your finances, and will only recommend a solution that doesn’t impact your day-to-day spending. In fact, you won’t notice any impact on your daily finances at all.
- We arrange all the finance for you – dealing directly with a mortgage broker to find you the best deal.
- We work with local estate agents, often getting ahead of the game on sought after properties. We’re not tied to one agent or builder, and are entirely focused on finding the right property for you.
- If the sale falls through – which so often happens in London – we don’t charge you any extra. We just start the process again on your behalf. You don’t pay us (other than a deposit) until we have successfully bought you a buy-to-let.
- Once the sale is complete, we can manage the property on your behalf at a rate that under-cuts most high street estate agents. If you prefer to self-manage, then that’s no problem at all.