The last couple of years have been a bit of a roller coaster, to say the least! Like most people, I’ve had my ups and downs, but I recently have discovered something amazing and just couldn’t wait to tell you about it.

Did you know that you can claim back 50% of all your bank payments? This includes any payments made from any current account, be it personal or business. This is a new service so I advise you to jump in now to be first in the queue.

I’ve probably blown your mind by now, and I know you will have a million questions. One of the first questions I get asked is, ‘Why 50%?’ Well, quite simply, some of it goes in taxes and some of it in fees.

Maybe you think is just too good to be true. I promise you this is not a loophole, or a tax dodge, or a scam. It is your absolute right. If you are in the least bit curious, have a look at the attached article which gives you a bit more of an idea.

Matrix Freedom offers a suite of services based on your inalienable rights, and this is just one of them. You can find out more by following the link to access a library of documents and videos.

Tell me more, Steve

If you’d prefer to have a chat with me about it, why not book a free 45-minute call with me here:

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Claim Your Money Back!

In chapter seven of my book, Your Financial Freedom in Sight, I discuss managing and maintaining things in order to build on them. I talk about the need to educate yourself about your property and your tenants before leveraging work out to others. You read about my ideas on property maintenance – how it’s good to have a plan for long-term repairs to communicate that plan with your team. When it comes to protecting yourself and others, you discover that it is good to insure your property as a landlord and how you can provide the right cover whilst keeping the costs down. I cover the relationship between landlords and their tenants and recommend that you consider learning some basic relationship and communications skills to enable you to build the ideal relationship with your tenants. I advise that when there are no tenants, you should have in place: a cleaning company, your maintenance team, and be ready to take pictures. The close of this chapter and this book is the subject closest to my heart – goal setting. I compare setting goals with playing bowls. I explain that even though things can change, by keeping focused on your goals, you can change and adapt to stay on target.

STEVE’S TOP TIPS
1.     Be aware that the fabric of the property needs managing as well as the tenants.
2.     When setting up regular systems for management, think leverage.
3.     Get educated in the field of tenant management so that you know if your agent is doing their job correctly.
4.     Keep good records of all costs so that you know if a property is not performing.
5.     Make sure you/your agent carry out regular visual inspections.
6.     When you take on a new property, contact the utility provider as soon as you can to avoid taking on the debt of others.
7.     Have a system in place to cope with voids.
8.     Whenever a tenant leaves, put the price up for the next.
9.     Be approachable for tenants but maintain an air of authority.
10.  Review your goals at least yearly
11.  Be an achiever who learns from your mistakes as well as other people’s.
12.  Keep up to date with property values in your area

I recently saw on local news that Turner and Townsend have won a major 2-year contract working with HS2 in Crewe, proving that HS2 is a realistic boost to Crewe’s economy and investments.

This got me thinking about my serviced accommodation (SA) business which frequently hosts contractors on major projects like this in the area, and what type of accommodation is preferred by them. I often get the feedback that they enjoy having the option to use a fully equipped kitchen where they can do their own cooking rather than having to rely on takeaways in their hotel rooms, or costly restaurant meals.

If you are working away from home, which do you prefer?

In chapter 6 of my book, Your Financial Freedom in Sight, I show you the biggest trick of the trade. How you pull your money back out. You learn that bankers will lend 75% of the money for your investment, and that means that bankers regard property as an extremely safe investment. You will read about keeping up with, and making yourself an expert on, the values both of property sales and rents in your area. We look at what good debt and bad debt are and discover that it is okay to have 75% debt on your portfolio. You learn that the important thing is to focus on return on investment, that is, how much of your own money is left in and how much cash you are getting each month. Of course, I talk a lot about mortgages, and that the best for this strategy are buy to let interest only mortgages. I also go over the reason for gathering all that price comparison data – it’s all about getting the valuation you want at the end of the process.

MY TOP TIPS
1. Know your values and get plenty of comparisons.
2. Borrow 75% loan to value – that’s the sweet spot between the lender’s comfort zone and you making cash flow.
3. Keep to the strategy for revaluing and you can reuse your capital.
4. Every time you revalue and pull cash out you are both reducing the money you have at risk, and increasing the return you are getting on that money. When you have no money left in the property your returns are infinite.
5. Good debt, bad debt. Bad debt is things like store cards, personal loans and purchases on credit cards that don’t earn you anything. Good debt is where your money is secured against a true asset that is something that is providing you with an income.
6. Having good debt against your portfolio reduces your tax liabilities both for inheritance tax and income tax.
7. The six month rule. Lenders won’t let you borrow a second time until you have owned the property for six months.
8. Get a good understanding of all the different kinds of mortgage products.
9. Know the rental values for your area because the lender’s valuer will find out what they are and base your loan on them.
10. Only use interest only mortgages. You will never need to sell so you will never need to pay off the original loan.
11. Make the first mortgage, the one to buy the property, a standard variable because you will want to change product after six months.
12. Keep using the same mortgage broker and their fees should come down. It’s also helpful to be using someone who knows you well and can represent you with the lenders.

If you’d like to learn more, download a free digital chapter of my book here, or get the full book for just the price of postage and packaging.

I want a free chapter!
#property #investmentproperty #cashflow #ilovetoshare

In chapter 5 of my book, I discuss tenants. I cover all the basics you need to be able to deal with tenants. More people than ever before are expecting to rent, and that means that it’s very easy to find tenants and not have voids. In relation to my buy/refurbish/refinance strategy, I show that there is a difference between investing for capital growth and investing for cash flow. I believe investing for capital growth is just gambling, because you don’t know when or even if that growth will happen. When you invest for cash flow you get an immediate gain and when the capital growth occurs you can leverage that as well. I also talk about the all important issue of getting tenants out. It’s not that hard when you know how to set things up in the first place. Things can be easier when you use agents but,  it’s up to you to check that they are good professional agents who are members of a trade association that guarantees their standards, and you should check that they have client accounts to protect the deposits. Lastly, I encourage my readers to get a strategy together for void periods so that they don’t last too long.
My top tips
1.     Yield (the formula for a rough calculation of gross yield) is rent multiplied by 12, divided by purchase price, multiplied by 100. You should be looking for a result of 8.5% or higher to be certain that you will make money each month.
2.     Make sure you know all costs of running your investments so that you know if you are making a profit.
3.     Investing for capital growth is just gambling but investing for income is future-proofing.
4.     NEVER, EVER hand over your keys to potential tenants until you have: ·  A signed tenancy agreement ·  The deposit ·  The first month’s rent
5.     Warning! When advertising a vacancy you must: explain any charges or fees attached to applying for the tenancy and you must have an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate).
6.     The law also requires you to hold a gas safety certificate and it must be renewed every year.
7.     Choose tenants carefully; be confident that there are plenty out there. Best tenants are: blue collar workers, working families and young professionals.
8.     It’s easy to vet tenants; just get their address details for the past three years and hand over to a vetting agency and wait for the results. The best tenants to accept are the people who turn up on time, dress tidily and can prove regular work. It’s okay to ask to see recent bank accounts.
9.     Don’t accept cash for bypassing the application process and don’t allow tenants to move furniture or any other possessions in before the start date of the tenancy agreement.
10.  When your property falls empty have a strategy for turning it around quickly.

If you would like a free digital chapter of my book, or to get the full book just for the price of post and packaging, just click below.

Get your free chapter here!

In chapter 4 of my book, I explore the long-term plan in my strategy. I explain how inflation can wipe out debt. I cover how you can create value by buying at a discount, extending, or converting to create extra bedrooms, or replacing things like kitchens/bathrooms or putting in a new central heating system. I also explain that decorating for tenants should be done simply and with plain magnolia-like colours, and that it’s okay to let tenants paint the odd wall themselves. Regarding negotiations, I point out that you must keep as quiet as possible and find out as much as possible before declaring your hand. You should use your ears and mouth in proportion to each other – in other words, use your ears twice as much as your mouth. Open questions are the most effective to use when finding out something – open questions are questions that begin with Wh or H, such as who, what, where, how, and when. About finance, I illustrate the power of leverage to explain how with a 25% deposit on a £100,000 investment you will make a 50% return when the property’s value goes up by 10%.

If you’d like to learn more, download a free digital chapter of my book!

Yes please, Steve!

In chapter three of my book, I focus your mind on the issue of value. I explain that the value of anything is how much someone who wants to buy is prepared to pay at the time someone else needs to sell. I explain that you are going to need to do a lot of hunting before you find your first bargain. It isn’t all bad news though, because I teach you how to spot the people who need to sell at a discount. I explain that there are people who have other criteria besides getting the highest price – people who sell for many other reasons not related to price at all. You will read all about the different ways you can find the sellers that don’t go to agents, get in ahead of the agents and offer a quick sale. You will also learn about all the different ways of uplifting the value of your property and you will get my favourite calculation, the yield calculator – the way to work out very quickly in your head how much you should buy the house for. Lastly, I will give you a basic spreadsheet list of headings – you should make sure you use a spreadsheet because it will build into a comprehensive record of property values in your area.

MY TOP TEN TIPS ON HUNTING FOR BARGAINS
1. Viewing: you should be prepared to view at least 50 properties before you find one that could work.
2. Estate agents: an excellent source of potential bargains – you just need to spend time building rapport and trust with them. Remember, they are obligated to the vendor, not you.
3. Getting rapport with agents: remember that they are supposed to be getting the best price possible for the vendor. Get to know them as an individual. Buy them lunch or just a coff ee occasionally. Off er them a lift to save them petrol.
4. Sourcing deals: newspaper ads. These can cost a bit but do go direct to sellers.
5. Leaflets: If you do them yourself it is time consuming. If you pay others it is difficult to control.
6. Networking: there are many and varied groups, all of which are worth a try so you can see which one you find the most helpful.
7. Bargains: to find a bargain you need to know your market. Get excellent knowledge of your investment area, find out what sells and at what price. A bargain is something you can buy at a price that is well below what you absolutely know you can sell it for.
8. Creating up-lift: you can do this in a number of ways – upgrading the bathroom and/or kitchen; creating an extra room (e.g. turning a garage into a bedroom); upgrading anything connected to energy efficiency; or putting an extension on the property.
9. Re-mortgaging: when you buy with a mortgage, you are usually forced to wait six months before your lender will let you re-mortgage.
10. Research and valuations: the two best sites for finding values and learning about market movement are Rightmove and Zoopla.

Interested to learn more?

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In chapter two of my book, I talk about the journey I had to take from being a piano tuner with a dwindling business and no pension to look forward to, to becoming a moderately successful property investor who has an income for life.

You will learn about strategies, goal setting, and sticking to the plan. Although property investors can be dazzled by lots of shiny new things, it is important to learn and understand the basics. For me, the basic principle you first need to learn and understand is how to buy, refurbish, fill, and refinance your investments.

With my book, Your Financial Freedom in Sight, I cover the key things you need to know in order to have a solid foundation from which you can grow your property investing experience.

Sound good to you? Click below to get a free chapter, or the whole book just for the price of postage and packaging.

In the first of my ongoing weekly series of blogs here, I thought I’d share with you the first chapter of my book “Your Financial Freedom in Sight”.
It’s based on what I think is the most fundamental principle for anyone getting into property investing…Buy; Refurbish; Refinance.

This strategy teaches you about every aspect of dealing with: buying, negotiating, dealing with trades, and the things you need to know about: plumbers, electricians and general building.  Still to come are  finance, professionals like solicitors, mortgage brokers and lenders, banking… a whole new topic for another day.

After all that you also have the tenants – the agreements you must put in place, and the legal structure that makes it possible to get back possession when you need to.

And…oh, there’s soooooo much to know and I’ve realised something…it’s not all in this book. I think I should write another edition!
Anyway, please find below your link to a free chapter, and, if you want the whole thing free just keep on following me here and I’ll let you have a chapter with each post.
Thanks for reading and I wish you successful investing.
#property #mortgage #investing #strategy

Chapter One – You Can do it With Your Eyes Shut