General (main property discussion here) - Whats your story

Hi

Im interested to know what sort of size portfolio's the posters have on here and what sort of experience you have.

Have you just started buying or have you been in the game for a while?

As a new poster im curious to know who's who.

Cheers

Hi Barr,

I am saving up right now to buy my first property. I am thinking of buying something below market value and selling as soon as possible so I can raise even more money for future properties.

So whats you story mate?

barry,

ive got a small portfolio in the north east and midlands.

however i have reasonably recently moved nearer to london so I am currently in the process of selling down my current portfolio to rev-invest in the london area.

ive been in the games for 6 years. i tend to use letting agents to manage my properties though this may change when i invest in london.

well thats me.

tom

Hi

Have been investing for a few years now & have built up a large portfolio 100+ of various types of property. Still buying at the moment as we always take a long term viewpoint on property purchase.

Cheers

Well Barry that is very impressive, glad to have someone with your experience on board.

Hi Tom

What have you got for sale mate?

Baz

Hi guys,

I run a property development company in Birmingham which renovates and sells between 4-5 residential properties per month, with the bulk being resold immediately. Outside of the company I own 40 properties in Birmingham and London which are rental investments.

I also run a financial services company within the property company, dealing with mortgages and insurances mainly.

Cheers

Ben

Hi Tom

What have you got for sale mate?

I live in the east midlands

Michael

Hey All,

I live in the U.S. but I'm building my portfolio in the UK (wife is British).

I have land in The Bahamas

A vacation rental in Palm Spring, CA

A 4 bedroom house in London, (Students)

I intent to re-mortgage the house in a year or two, and use that money to buy some smaller properties.

Hence I'm here listening intently.

Garth

Hi

With regards the original question. I have 17 properties. Always looking to seel bits of my portfolio to re invest in other places.

Remortgaging isn't always the answer. Rents don't tend to go up very much and so i find you are unable to release any significant amount of cash after two years. We seem to be in a market where the rentals don't stack up compared to the mortgage payments. And so long term capital and them possibly selling seems to be the answer.

Teresa

i have a portfolio of 13 properties in North London. getting good rents around here - £775 for a 2 bed flat, £650 for a one bedder. planning to sell a couple over the next couple of years to release cash to build my own house abroad. i would like to sell a refurbished one bed first floor conversion anytime soon if anyone is interested. getting £650 (rent paid direct to me by DSS) on an AST which expires May 07. good tenants. good location, transport links etc in a regeneration area. £135,500 - will consider sensible offers ! (London Borough of Enfield)

Hi Lorna, Interested in your North London Property, provide me with further details. ie. post code, conditon, tenancy viewing details etc. email: josapp57@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 07931 773 567

Thanks Joe

Hi Lorna, I may be interested in your properties in North London. I have a small portfolio in this area, and I'm currently looking for more properties in Enfield, Edmonton and surrounding areas.

Please forward further details of your properties and your contact details to me. Email: sueogun@hotmail.com

Cheers, Sue

I got into this game 2.5 years ago when my company relocated me to Newcastle upon Tyne, and provided the opportunity to rent my Principle Property in Shrewsbury.

Since then i have aquired a new place to live and am in the process of aquiring 3 additional properties (2 off plan, 1 existing).

I really enjoy the aspect of taking control of ones own Financial destiny and regardless of the paltry annual pay rises make my own way in the world.

I suspect I am not alone in this regard. However, still fairly inexperienced and glad to see much experience in this forum.

Hi everyone initially I had a small deposit on my first property. I took a mortgage out on an interest only so the monthly re-payment to the lender would be low, leaving the rental income per month to cover the mortgage, and any problems, which could occur, with the property and initial void periods when tenants leave.

I have not re-mortgage against my family home, the borrowing is totally independent in case there is a down turn in the market. I have just put an offer on another property; fingers cross it will all go through! One year in the game.

Michael

Hi

I am new to all this having traditionally invested in equities and now looking to diversify investment risk.

I have yet to make my first investment, but have done a lot of research into property clubs such as Challenor, Property For Life and others.

I have been reasonably lucky in that my brother-in-law has been investing in property through clubs and has been able to provide some very good contacts, which has guided me away from some of the companies that have appeared on the research radar.

I am currently looking to sell my existing flat to release some equity and use this to then build a property portfolio for the reasons outlined above. I have a 10 year plan and appreciate that over that time there is likely to be a bear phase in property prices.

Will see how it all goes over the next 12 months.

Jonathan

Hi, I have been going down the traditional route of buying BMV using the inherant equity there to use as deposit and paying all the costs myself, generally requires an amenable mortgage broker and a vendor that needs to sell quickly, it's getting harder to do that because valuers are getting wise to it. I built a portfolio of 12 properties using that method, but the last one I completed on was a new build through a company called Gemini, seemed to work well, all my costs were paid so I didn't put any money in, and I got some cash-back. It also rented within 2 weeks and if you take everything into account, it will self-fund for about 14 months, after which I will subsidise it to the tune of £120 per month, which from a taxation point of view works well for me. I am building a portfolio instead of a pension, so I am quite happy working until I'm 55 but want to acquire as big a portfolio as possible, making revenue streams out of property isn't an issue for me at the moment, I'd like to see the portfolio covering itself or being in a situation where I have to top it up on a monthly basis, but comfortably.....bugger, I'm rambling again, sorry!

Hi

I have 3 properties around the West Kent area and have had no problems sourcing good investments without using property clubs or developers. I have literally bought cheap properties in need of a cosmetic make-over and as far as I can see have made a good profit when I eventually sell. The problem I have is finding and keeping decent tenants, where can I find good advice for landlording as I find letting property is the hardest to guarantee.

Cheers

Nico

Hi nick

I have been using a site that looks after all landlord and property investor needs.

I would suggest you have a look at www.ResidentialLandlord.co.uk

Good luck

I have sourced almost a 100 properties for clients when I was a letting agent and when sold the business in 2004 started to invest in the North West - mainly Warrington and Hulme (Manchester).

I am still retained by clients to source them property as I know the market in the North-West but as Teresa and others point out the margin between yield and borrowing is now so tight that traditional "buy-to-let" now makes appears too risky for many.

There has been a shift in the market due to the above-mentioned towards discounted property as if genuine there is at least some gifted equity in the investment for the client. The trick is finding a true discount which then stacks up rental wise. There are a few out there. I have therefore changed by business strategy and luckily become heavily involved with a new property developer that needs my experience to offer properties off plan. Some will be BTS and some BTL's but as an ex-agent will be advising people accordingly.

Have I bought recently - yes in APril this year but only at a discount as otherwise it did not stack up. I will be increasing my portfolio where I can put as little equity in as possible. I try not to remortgage to release equity out of existing units so that at some point there will be a hopefully significant lump sum when the kids have flown the nest and I can sail off towards warming climes!!

Hi

Sam - Thanks for recommending Residentiallandlord.co.uk, there is everything I need on that website. It is good to have a few websites in my favourites that I can visit on a regular basis, the forum on there is pretty good for advice aswell.

I also saw your other post about letting property, did you notice that residential landlord have another site called lettings24.co.uk, this is free to use at the moment, have a look and see if it is what you need.

Nico

Been refurbishing & renting property for a few years now. Founded a letting agency in the 1990's, this gave me the bug and love of property. Now have 5, one & two bed flats in North & South London, many of my tenants have been with me in the same properties in excess of 5 years. Last year I completed a conversion of a large detached house into two flats, great fun. On the rental side yeilds have been squeezed in the last year or so but I am still satisfied with the income & equity increases. I have no plans to sell, rather to enlarge my portfolio, I am rather keen to diversify to other parts of the UK. Any tips from other landlords???

If I had one moan it would be not having enough time......Getting out to look at property.

Good luck to all

Richard