Buy to Let Tips and Advice from Letting Focus and David Lawrenson

I found something on the Internet that I had written a few months ago for Kate Faulkner’s site over at Designs on Property and thought it would be good to put in on the last blog of the year as the advice still makes good sound sense and should really be the first principles for anyone new to buying property to let out. So, here they are - my top ten tips for buy to let.

1. Buy into the right location. Look at areas that are getting or have just got faster transport links such as Folkestone in Kent or regeneration money such as Elephant & Castle in London. Also, look for areas where new employers are moving in or existing employers are hiring workers. There is lots of information on all this on the Internet and the publication Estates Gazzette, available in most libraries, has lots of news on planned regeneration. Do your research.

2. Use today’s weak market to make “hard ball” offers at below the asking price. If the vendor won’t play, simply walk away and make a cheeky offer somewhere else.

3. Buy the type of property that is in demand from tenants and for which there will be a strong resale market when you eventually come to sell. Ask letting agents for their view of what type of house is in demand locally.

4. Read up and understand your legal responsibilities as a landlord. Get my book – still the UK’s top selling property title.

5. Try to build up a deposit of at least 25 per cent to allow you access to the best mortgage rates.

6. Carefully check all prospective tenants’ references to avoid the “tenant from hell”. If your agent does this for you ask to see the references they obtained. Don’t fully trust to an agent until you have worked with them for a while and they have aerend that trust.

7. Treat tenants as you would like to be treated.

8. Keep all receipts and invoices and have a good administration system.

9. Have a sense of humour. You’ll need it from time to time.

10. If you need advice, make sure it is independent advice and not provided by someone also looking to sell a property or finance package to you.

Happy New Year to all you LettingFocus.com blog readers.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

Hi, I’m David Lawrenson.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
At LettingFocus.com, we help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk to the investor.


We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one to one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars.
Unfortunately, in the UK today, property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “good advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.
At a corporate level, we also provide consultancy for banks, local authorities and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies. We also write for property websites and are regularly quoted by the media.
We have written articles for numerous publications including The Independent, The Telegraph and quality landlord websites.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

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For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
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Property prices will Rocket, Then We All Die. Cheerful Stuff from LettingFocus.com

Ever heard of James Lovelock and Gaia theory?
James Lovelock is a chap you really should know about because his theories, if they come true, will impact all of us.
Lovelock is an independent scientist whose Gaia theory - that the Earth is a self-regulating super-organism - came out many years ago.
Stay with me this really has something to do with property, I promise.
His new book, “The Revenge of Gaia”, predicts that by 2020 extreme weather will be the norm and by 2040 much of Europe will be Saharan and parts of London will be underwater.
Increasingly and rather scarily, other scientists like those on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, tend to agree.
Sadly, according to Lovelock, global warming has now passed the point where it can be stopped and catastrophe is now inevitable. (Well, if the whole world went fully nuclear tomorrow we may just have a chance but that’s pretty unlikely with oil men being so close to the White House and Kremlin.)
Before that happens, he says, the UK will increasingly become a place for refugees from mainland Europe as life in the south of Europe, Africa and Central & South Asia beomes impossible.

GOVERNMENT STATS AGREE
On population predictions the UK’s own government statistics make similar predictions to Lovelock. At http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1352 you can read the predictions that government minister for immigration Phil Woolas was so cross had been published at all.
These say that the UK population is projected to increase by 4.4 million by 2016 an increase equivalent to an average annual rate of growth of 0.7 per cent.
If past trends continue, the population will continue to grow, reaching 71 million by 2031. This is due in part to natural increase (more births than deaths) and because it is assumed there will be more immigrants than emigrants.
So just before we all die – and I hope I’m joking here- we will certainly see a shortage of property and record prices for houses and possibly high rents, i.e. any form of shelter from the burning heat.
But once catastrophe beckons, (Lovelock predicts 80% of us will be dead by 2100), I guess you should substitute your assets out of property and switch into buying cans of tinned food, a secure bunker and some guns. Cheerful stuff!
For the sake of my darling 7 year old son, I dearly hope that Mr. Lovelock will one day turn out to be a very very deluded octogenarian with a book to promote who has finally got it wrong.
I’m an optimist so I’m sticking with that hope.
In the medium term given the increasing population and a dearth of house building I just can’t see house prices falling much more.

ESTATE AGENTS REALLY ARE GETTING BUSY
I know they are eternal optimists but the number of estate agents in the London area who seem genuinely rushed off their feet (at least outside the prime property markets) may really suggest we are getting near the bottom for house prices.
This is backed up by my own experience too. Every week I go to Rightmove and select 2 bed flats and houses in an certain area of central London (well 3 miles out if you must know) where there are loads of identical property.
These are my bellwether properties.
None have dropped their asking prices for 2 months now – further signs that we could be near the bottom.
Around the rest of England and Wales I’m hearing the same story.
I’ll be looking in mote depth at the state of the property market and the opportunity for investors, at my seminar on Wednesday. I’ll also have special guests along who are experts in mortgages, tax and buying below market value.
Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening of 18th March
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ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com - the property letting experts. Read Property Articles by David Lawrenson.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property book - buy Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let.
The new edition is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on sale and rent back.
I’m an expert property writer and property speaker - and I run the well known landlords blog that you are reading now.
Come to Our Next Evening Property Event in London Evening of 18th March
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general property letting advice and consulting to anyone looking to buy property for themselves or to let out. I can help private individuals with any aspect of buying property or buy to let.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are independent property investment advisors because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from these sources.
We simply give one to one unbiased advice and are often asked to evaluate other property investments.
In my corporate consulting role I also advise banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
Find out about some great deals we have arranged at our Landlords Resources page.
Copyright: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated roughly once a week.
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Buy to let property overseas? David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com looks at the risks

One of the highlights for property saddoes like me is the London March and September Property Investor and Homebuyers shows run by Homebuyer Events.
The guys behind the London show also ran events in past years in Manchester and Birmingham.
Unfortunately, these events have just become a casualty of the downturn in the property market as vendors seem unable to commit to having a presence at the show.
It’s a shame because whilst the show was usually pretty choc full of stands occupied by over zealous highly commissioned real estate salespeople, the organisers were always keen to also give a big platform to old wise independent voices – the likes of me and Richard Bowser (of Property Investor News) among a few others.
The fact they did this was pretty unique amongst property shows and I know we’ll all miss the show and I hope the guys from Homebuyers bounce back soon.

RISKS OF OVERSEAS PROPERTY INVESTMENT
In recent years, many exhibitors at the various property shows were busily promoting buy to let overseas. (I’m talking here about properties to be let to long term tenants here, not holiday lets, which is another story for another time.)
Now, I have always been very sceptical of the wisdom of buy to let overseas because I think the added risks usually don’t justify the possible gains.
The risks are many. They include currency risks, the hassle of trying to understand a different legal process - whether that is to do with getting a good legal title on a property or simply trying to understand the legal aspects of foreign letting arrangements.
To that you can add poor quality and expensive estate and letting agents, strange new taxes that the vendor or promoter “forgot” to tell you about, the difficulty of ultimately selling easily in what are often, thin and immature property markets, high exit costs, property insurance issues and a different and complex tax environment - especially as regards capital gains and inheritance taxes.
But most of all – and this is why all the big successful landlords here that I know don’t “do overseas” – is the impossibility of controlling something that is far away. What do you do if the agent says you need a new boiler? (On which topic see yesterday’s blog.)

FOREIGN GAINS
Over the years, I have seen lots of vendors trumpeting the gains of whatever foreign buy to let ghetto they are selling.
Often these are currency gains only. All too often the underlying investments have not done too well, especially in the big buy to let ghettos overseas – think about the oversupply of flats on a Manchester and Leeds scale - and then double it.
Sure, some investors have done well - especially those investing in Euro linked areas. But I think if you want to speculate on currency then you should become a currency dealer instead.
Also, many countries in Europe are as indebted as we are but I don’t think the markets have realised this yet– and I think when they do the pound could rise against the Euro.
So if you have made money on a buy to let ghetto in Europe, maybe now is the time to sell – whilst there is at least some currency gain to be had.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com - the landlord and property letting advice experts. Read More Articles on Property by David Lawrenson.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property book - Buy Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let.
The new edition is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on sale and rent back.
I’m an expert freelance property writer and property speaker - and I run the well known property letting and investment blog that you are reading now.
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general property letting advice for a fee to anyone looking to buy property for themselves or to let out. I can help private individuals with any aspect of buying property or buy to let.
What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we are independent property investment advisors because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, developer, agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from these sources.
We simply give one to one unbiased advice and are often asked to evaluate other property investments.
In my corporate consulting role I also advise banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice and property training programme at my website.Copyright: David Lawrenson 2009. This blog is updated once a week.
WANT TO BE KEPT UPDATED WITH OUR LATEST BLOGS?
It’s easy.
If you are on the home page of our blog, go to the bottom of any post, and click on “LINK TO THIS POST” to bring up the page for a specific post, then hit END …and on the right you’ll see “Site feed.”
If you are already on a specific post page, just hit END and you will see the site feed.
You then just copy the link that comes up into your News Reader or News Aggregator. Even a non techie like me managed to do all this.
Please note if you have a website & are thinking of reproducing material here - that’s fine but we DO require the full links shown in each blog to be included, including also the links in this section. The full article including all links must be available to ALL VIEWERS of your site and not restricted to members.
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Letting Focus says house price bottom may be 12 months off

I thought I’d just post a quick comment on the Lehman and HBOS news and how this affects the property market.
Well, just when you thought it was OK to come out of the bunker another set of bank execs shuffle into view to ‘fess up to the mess they have made of their banking business.
As the execs go back to Monaco or West Palm Beach to check on their bulging bank balances earned in the good times, you might be asking how that alters the picture on property and the optimal time to invest to bag the property bargains that are slowly starting to emerge.
As I have said before it all depends on what type of property you want to buy and where you are because the property market is not homogeneous and moves at different speeds in different areas.
But in general terms, the Lehman collapse and the problems at HBOS will result in the money markets taking fright again with the result that mortgage rates will go up.
Exactly how much they will go up will depend upon the extent of central bank intervention.
But even in the best case scenario I think that the bottom for house prices must now be pushed back by at least another 6 months.
This means that lowest achieved prices in most residential property markets will not be reached for at least another 12 months from now.
So that will give you a bit more time to do your research, get your finances in shape and plan where and what you are going to buy.
A good place to come and find out more is to my investor seminars.
OTHER OFFERS
My next Evening London Seminar and Networking meeting is coming soon – details here… Property Seminar and Networking. Just email us at david@lettingfocus.com and give us your full name – and that’s it. Then just turn up and pay (£25) on the night.
We are also delighted to advise that we will be exhibiting and speaking at The Property Investor Show – London, 19th - 21st September 2008, and would like to invite you to attend the show as our guest. If you are available on 19 - 21 September, please visit http://www.propertyinvestor.co.uk/london/register.asp. Simply type the promotional code S190770 into the relevant field and this will allow you to print off your free ticket to enter the show. (You will still need to pay to go into seminars)
I am speaking 4 times at this show – on my own and at a workshop with Designs on Property’s Kate Faulkner.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of property experts lettingfocus.com.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property title - buy the UK's top selling landlord book.
It is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on buying property below market value.
I’m an expert property journalist, property speaker and a well known buy to let blogger
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide landlords training & education
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services and am a regular speaker at property shows.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice, property training programme at my website.What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer you help as an independent property investors coach because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, a developer, an agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
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Our home blog page should then open & you should then see my smiling profile. Then page down a bit and you come to where it says “Site feed” - click there and away you go.
You then just copy the link that comes up into your News Reader or News Aggregator. Even a non techie like me managed to do all this.
Please note if you are thinking of reproducing material here - that’s fine but we DO require the full links shown in each blog to be included including also the links in the section “ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON” Please contact us via the Contact US button at our main site http://www.lettingfocus.com/ if you have any queries about this.You then just copy the link that comes up into your News Reader or News Aggregator. Even a non techie like me managed to do all this.
Please note if you are thinking of reproducing material here - that’s fine but we DO require the full links shown in each blog to be included including also the links in the section “ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON” Please contact us via the Contact US button at our main site http://www.lettingfocus.com/ if you have any queries about this.

It’s nice to be noticed ….but!

Hey, we must be doing something right.
It’s very flattering when other companies – or maybe their overzealous internet marketing agencies - try to rip you off by using your good name and reputation to try to market their own products on line.
For the record, I approve and recommend a lot of companies in the business – people like Landlordlaw, LandlordZone and Property Investor News to name but three. All good guys with super reputations and an honest approach to marketing– and there are lots of other companies too, many of whom I list on my links page.
Plus, I’m always ready to hear from other reputable outfits too and maybe give you a link.
However, if you are from one of the “Become a Property Millionaire Overnight” firms or you are an agency representing one of these companies please don’t waste your time contacting me. And please save your adwords marketing pounds too – you aren’t fooling any potential customers of mine and you are getting yourselves a bad reputation too.

Join a Landlords Association says David Lawrenson of LettingFocus.com

If you aren't in one you are missing out on lots of information, good advice helplines, discounts on products and services and much more.
Amazingly only about 10% of landlords are thought to be members.
The cost is typically about £80 per annum and it's well worth the money.
The best three are National Landlords Assocn at http://www.landlords.org.uk/, the Residential Landlords at http://www.rla.org.uk/ and National Federation of Residential Landlords at http://www.nfrl.co.uk/
All are excellent. Join one today.

CHECK OUT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTING click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting

TO READ PAST CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!
IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?

ABOUT US

LettingFocus.com are experts on landlord issues.
Hello, I’m David Lawrenson. I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.

We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk.

At LettingFocus we pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice for property buyers and landlords both on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.

Property syndicates and property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.

With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers, at LettingFocus, we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price. We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.

We also do consultancy and write for companies such as banks, local authorities, property websites and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord or buy to let product strategies.

SELLING STUFF TO LANDLORDS – YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!
Copyright of Blog: 2007 David Lawrenson