Opulent Diaries

Tip: Have a bucket ready to puke, because trust me, you will need one when you tally up all your expenses, mine came in a little under £10k. Stress cortisol anyone??…We met with our accountant for the first time and it was a free (woohoo) initial consultation to discuss the nature of our business and plans, so they can assess if we are the right fit. It is a two way process so feel free to vet them as well… It is a big decision as they will be looking after your finances and you want to make sure your financial affairs are with someone that knows their trade.

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...Hallo, ik hoop dat je een goed weekend hebt gehad…

Translation: “Hello, hope you had a good weekend” in Dutch.

I am not planning on relocating to Amsterdam but took a fascinating trip there over the weekend…as promised from last week I did mention I will talk you through what happens when you press that green button on your screen during an on-line auction. Congratulations! as you made the final bid so this makes you the rightful owner of your new purchase.

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‘If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got’…... Henry Ford

I reviewed what I was doing and wasn't happy with the results or lack of shall I say. So I tried something different and bingo; the penny dropped. At first you might be a little cautious, somewhat apprehensive but things will make sense if you just allow it. For me it was auctions, these power houses have had a lot of bad rap over the years and I think we really ought to cut them some slack.

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I would rather own 50% of something than 50% of nothing…I was dead set against this idea as I am a bit of a control freak and want to be able to make quick decisions without having to go through the layers for approval or lengthy meetings. In my head I knew exactly what I wanted and how I would like to go about it.

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This week I was thinking of discussing a slightly different yet related project as the past three weeks have all been about numbers and the finance side of things. I wanted to mention this as it's important to perhaps consider this element before embarking on your build project. This way you factor these into your equations. So what are permitted developments?

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Don't you just love this time of the year with all its shimmery orange and crispness in the air. Warming drinks such as Ginger Royals or Spiced Pumpkin Latte to tick us over. I have decided to reference a ‘flip’ in this week's blog as it is the 1st port of call for any investor starting out and part of the BRRR strategy…I would suggest contacting as many brokers as possible who are independent as they are not permitted to favour a single provider over another.

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Just in case you were wondering what the title of the blog BRRR (all consonants, no vowels) stands for ‘Buy, Refurbish, Rent, Refinance. Some people write it the other way round i.e buy/refurb/refinance and then rent at the end. But, I have been told you get a higher value for the house if it has sitting tenants in there and then you approach the banks. They will then see this as an established business. A lot of people fall into this strategy by accident without even knowing they are actually doing a BRRR. One of the oldest and popular methods chosen by many investors today.

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My week’s not been too bad considering all the sums and number crunching I had to do. It's one of those dreaded tasks that you just have to do, even if numbers are not your forte…That way when you are finally ready to purchase you will be that expert negotiator. These days I am very selective with my viewings and only book once certain factors meet my checklist. This has enabled me to better manage my time. So, what does it take to make it onto my list?

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Here it is in no particular order (as promised last week) a list of things to consider when renovating an investment property, better known as ‘flipping’ in the industry…Don't buy off-plan or go too fancy and get swept off your feet by that kitchen sales dude who tells you this gadget ‘is the thing’ to have and these are flying off their shelves…Other practicalities such as energy efficiency. You could never go wrong with this. Before you do anything at all make sure the house is treated for damp if it is evident that damp exists. Loft insulation, cavity walls,

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…it's very different from a corporate point of view as all budgets are already stipulated and your contractors are pretty much selected by the council so one just has to project manage and make sure everything runs smoothly on time within budget…You can't inject your own flair or personality as the autonomy is taken from you and made by those on top…With all the gorgeousness to choose from I can see very quickly how people are seduced into spending excessively. You have to put your personal taste aside and see what will have a broader appeal.

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We recently celebrated a religious festival lasting 3 days and I kid you not in these 3 days I'm sure I've gained 3 stones, that’s a lot of 3’s!…During the first half of the week I was looking at more potential areas for investment. It's better to spread the risk and have a few hotspots around Britain. From my research it is apparent that some areas are performing much better than others and some will start to decline as a result of the upcoming recession…Buying an investment property is no joke as you have to be spot on with your chosen locality. Within a single city you will have good and bad areas and within this area you will have good and bad streets.

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how does one assess rental demand in a particular area?…Let's take a look at each of the above in a bit more detail. It is a tedious task but I'm afraid it's something you can't skip as this will either give you the green light to go ahead or the dreaded red to stop. Which by the way isn't a bad thing, you will rather know now before committing to anything financially…This task was fantastic as it showed me very early on which postcodes to avoid for two very different reasons. One popular area showed market saturation with price wars going on. You will know this as ads will particularly say 1st month rent half price etc and they were all charging lower-rates for good rooms which were proving difficult to fill.

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Because we decided that we would rather delegate this task then we can pretty much invest anywhere in the UK (provided the numbers stacked of course). We weren’t limited to one single area or province…I absolutely love Wikipedia…This gives you an overall snapshot of the area in terms of demographics, culture, history and the political make-up which is so important. I then looked at the city council's main website for the city to research and any developments in the area.

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You don't have to be local; it's not like you're going to park outside your property and stalk your tenants. I never understood the fascination to keep your house at arms reach unless you are of course an owner occupier then in that case it makes sense…I don't really have any desire to manage my property/ies so that decision for me was easy. Yes I am going to have to pay that dreaded 15% management fee but people lets not forget I will be keeping the other 85% so the 15% of the pie really isn't a deal breaker.

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Please property people don't get angry as I always hear you say ‘deals are everywhere’. Yes this is true to a certain extent in that the best buys where the numbers work are often in the worst areas which would no doubt affect rental demand. So I am trying to buy wisely, no point getting a great deal if I can't rent out my rooms. Then when I look into mid-range (nicer suburbs) with great rental yield the numbers just don't make sense!

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So during this transition period I took the focus off of social media to formulate and activate my strategy/ies…According to Pareto Principle? 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts…So if the profit is not derived from the above then what am I doing wrong? Simple; ‘viewings’. The more properties you see the more of a chance to turn these into deals which in turn will put money into your pockets.

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It just shows once you make your mind up to a particular problem the brain will always find a solution, but you have to be persistent and make that decision…..You have to see what feels right for you. I didn’t like the idea of doing virtual viewings as for a newbie I really wanted to learn on the job. I have called a few agencies in the past weeks leaving my details and now they have started getting back to me.

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I recently decided to change things up in my business plan and mentioned last week that the focus was going to be deal sourcing for now. I am also considering traditional Buy-to-lets. I know this seems a little dated and not half as fun as some of the other fancier strategies but old is gold and there will always be a market for families looking for your 3 bed semi with a south facing garden in great locations.

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There are a lot of people out there that claim to be experienced deal sourcers when they are very new to the industry, this sits very uncomfortable with me. As entry level is very easy and minimal costs to set-up, I can understand the surge to get involved. But still, why take risks with other people's money (OPM) if you have little knowledge on the subject matter.

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Hello everyone I have a confession to make! If I don’t say it now I never will! I am not going to pretend but, I have completely fallen off the bandwagon. The introduction of ‘lockdown’ has somehow brought the worst out of me. I don’t want to sit here preaching to everyone when i’m a complete f***up myself! There you go I have said it. I have turned into one big fat loser! (literally).

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