Now That’s What I Call a Property Podcast! 100th Episode Special!

Hello there. This is episode 100of expat property story, the podcast for expats, and remote investors, and anyone else remotely interested in UK Property. and you are most welcome.You're listening to expat property story, a podcast in which I share my story to smooth the way for you to have your own.Yes. We've reached episode 100. And if you've been with us from the start, it'd be great to hear how you heard about the show, what you like,what you don't like, what you'd like more of and what you'd like less of. So don't be shy. Get in touch at www.expatpropertystory.com.In this episode, I'm going to reflect on the story so far to remind you of some of the highlights and lowlights and features that have fallen by the wayside.And to top it off, I'm gonna play my top 10 favorite excerpts from the first ninety nine episodes. From time to time, people ask me why I started a podcast. and there were 4 main reasons. Firstly, I wanted to grow my network.Secondly, I wanted to learn from my guest be they expats like me, or experts not like me. I was very clear from the start that I was a curator of content as opposed to a self proclaimed property guru. The third reason was so that my wife and I could scale our property business by working with private investors, and the podcast is a great way for you to get to know us and find out if you like us and trust us enough to have a chat about finding a way to work together. And the 4th and final reason was because I thought I'd enjoy creating a podcast, and I wasn't wrong. Although,if you've ever tried to put one together yourself, you'll know that you really need to love it given how much time and effort it takes.They say that most podcasts die around their 7th episode.So my first target was to get to 7, and then to double figures, And now we're at 100, I'm as happy as Larry, who apparently was an Australian boxer who never lost a fight. I'm proud to say that we've been able to release an episode a week since day 1, and occasionally, an episode a day in short bursts. I can hardly believe it's 18 months almost to the day when we released our first episode featuring Rob Dicks of the property podcast. And although Rob's podcast is far more well known and has far more downloads than our humble little show, and seeing as we've reached a century of episodes, I think we've earned the right for a brief little humble brag. I heard recently that the property podcast has listeners in 127 countries.Now as I record this, we have listeners in131 countries, which probably makes us the most widely listened property podcast in the world. If you'd have offered me that 18 months ago, I'd have snapped your hand off. starting a podcast was probably the smartest move we've made since our property story really got going after we ditched our supposedly independent financial adviser cashed in our pension and remortgage the family home to build a£3,000,000 portfolio that now consists of 5student HMOs a block of flats, and 2 serviced accommodation units, as well as our original family home in London. And if you're new here and you're wondering how we did it,certainly wasn't smooth sailing, as we grappled with deal sources who sold us a flat they'd already sold to someone else, and then repeated the error 3 months later. Project managers who tried to overcharge us, banks that tried to credit blacklisted and lots, lots more, all of which is laid out with warts and all over the previous 99 episodes, interspersed with contributions from some of the sharpest mines in UK Property Investing. And if you've been with us since the start, maybe you've forgotten some of the features that have disappeared in a bid to keep my wife listening on her way to work every Thursday morning.Although it used to be Wednesday mornings, until 1 mad week in November 2022, When we exchanged on a property, 6 business hours after being presented with it,and then did the same the next day. We then set about looking for investors to finance the deals ahead of completion 20 business days later, the full story of which can be found in episode77 to 79. Well, something had to give,and it was the podcast, which got delayed by a day And it seemed to make my week marginally easier by releasing on Thursdays, so ever since we've kept it like that. But I'm veering off pace here, I was talking about some of the features that have long since disappeared. When I started the podcast, and I was suffering from impostor syndrome, I tried to compensate my lack of knowledge with humor and invited my gallant guests to bring a joke. Here is my favorite which was told by Peter Meek all the way back in episode 12. Did you bring a joke for our listeners? What do houses like to wear? I don't know what do houses like to wear. Address.Another feature from the early days was Monopoly Challenge.And we had 2 winners. The first was Ivan from episode 3. So Ivan, in this part of the show, I like to ask my guests to take the monopoly challenge. Oh, no. Okay.Where the object is to name as many squares on the monopoly board as you can in just thirty seconds. If you repeat any squares,then that square will not count towards your final total. So,Ivan, are you ready to take the monopoly challenge?Yes. Okay, Ivan. Your time starts now.Okay. Go, Old Kent Road, White Chapel Road, Angel, Islington,Pentonville Road, Euston Road, Vine Street, Marlborough Street, Pall Mall, Strand, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus,Leicester Square, Regent Street, Bond Street,Park Lane, Mayfair, jail, Chance, Community Chest,Fenchurch Street station. 21. That's fantastic.thing. Amazing. Amazing. You go straight to the top of the leaderboard.No one was able to beat Ivan's score, but Helen Godbold Eve from episode 7 matched it. My wife soon told me that monopoly challenge was starting to get boring, so I looked for a new feature and came up with postcode challenge. This is my favorite edition, and it comes from episode 32,featuring Mike Stenhouse. Postcode Challenge.your questions for postcode challenge are all going to be auction related, if that's okay. Here is your question. There was a property that was sold at an online or in SK 4 1nl in November 2021.Oh, You know what? I want to say c, but I'm gonna go middle of the road and say b. Am I hedging there? I'm gonna go for c. I'm gonna go for c. I'm gonna go 77. -- last choice. Yes. it was77 bids. There were about 6 bidters -- Okay. -- and it went to77 bids. That's a lot. Yeah. Okay. Question number 2, how much did the building sell for in the end? So the guide price is £300,000.Was it a, £355,000? B, £375,000 or c £385,000.Good question. So you said it's about 400 square meters. I would say that's all quite cheap commercial property in Stockport for less than a £1000 a square meter is a good price. So I'd say whoever got that, that's that's fairly good.I'd say with the amount of beds again, I would go for the higher end there because I still think that's a good price. I would go for the 385.You should've gone down the middle of that one. 375 I think that's a good buy at that price. Well, interesting.You say that.Question number 3, was the property put back in the auction a, 1 month later, b 6months later or, c, not at all.not at all. Oh, no. No. I know it it's for sale again because somebody in our team sent it to me on Slack a week or so ago, I'm sure. I'm confident, and I dismissed it because I said, no. They probably wanna silly money for it because the log garbage planning for something that doesn't make any sense that we'd -- I can see to your due diligence in Stockport, but that is not one of the options, Mike. So it's 1 month later,I think 6 months later. Well, we're in July. So what would that be like? 8 months. Okay. Fine. I think this is a trick question. I'm gonna go for see, not an auction. I come afraid you've lost postcode challenge. It was put back in auction just 1 month later. Oh, really? Yeah.Interesting. I wonder why because they couldn't have got planning in that amount of time.So unless it the sale fell through maybe. Probably. They just kinda wanted to make a quick profit. auction trader. Yeah. Well, like I say, I think it was a good price at that purchase. Okay? Well, maybe you should buy it. Yeah.Maybe. Yeah. Watch this space. I'll keep you posted. There were lots of versions of post code challenge that I could have chosen. But in the end, I settle for this one because it provides a neat link into the next main feature. Or should I say, season. In episode 19, I interviewed John Howard of property elevator and property graduate fame, who told me that if you're serious about property investing, you need to be buying at wholesale rather than retail prices. But how do I do this as an expat I protested? And he suggested the auctions.So I hit upon the idea of starting a new season of the podcast in which I challenged myself to buy a UK property within 4 months from my home here in Hong Kong. The season eventually ran from episode 35 to 49 and documented my progress or lack of progress as I attempted to kick start our portfolio in what was at the time a very challenging market that favored sellers rather than buyers. Season2 was like a reality podcast. Along the way, I spoke to auctioneers, podcasters, auction traders, solicitors,expats, letting agents, and other investors with auction experience.You name it. Anyone who could help me achieve my objective, and with 2 weeks to spare, we got our hands on a block of flats in Darbyshire which, if I'm honest, in retrospect, has not been our best purchase, but that's a story for another day.The main thing, however, was how much I was learning by trying something new, holding myself accountable via the podcast,embracing the fear of stepping into the unknown. And then after the disastrous mini budget, at a time when most property investors were spooked, opportunity came my way in the form of an off market deal being sold at massive discount to anyone ready to take action at incredibly short notice and exchange contracts within hours. Aided by a solicitor,I paid good money to headhunt. The deal went through with minutes to spare and incredibly did the same the very next day.The whole story was documented in episode 7778 titled how we made a 126 k in2 days. followed by an episode explaining how we use private finance to fund the deals. Sandwish,between when these deals took place and when the episodes were released, we went daily for a mini season celebrating the 12 days of Christmas which ran from episodes 57 to 68. The main feature of which was my top 10 books for expat property investors. This was the second time we had released a season of pocket sized daily episodes. Back in June2022, We released a mini season running from episodes23 to 29, in which friend of the podcast shorn the property tax accountant walked us through everything you would need to know about property tax through an expat lens. These episodes are great resources for expat So if you haven't already done so, check them out. And if you have, go back for a refresher course on all things tax. One of my favorite episodes is expat mortgage disaster, which does what it says on the tin. This was not your run of the mill property glory story that see plastered all over Instagram saying, look at how easy property is. No. This was a warning of how important it is to keep on top of your credit files.So here are my top 10 excerpts from the first ninety nine episodes of expat property story. Let's start with a theme that for expats is particularly tricky since many of us live so far from the UK. Trust. And what better place to start than episode 1 with Rob Dicks?I do think trust needs to be earned. I approach things from a kind of like a a default position of good trust level. Some people are extremely trusting. Some are very, very suspicious, you know, to earn their trust. I kind of from the general position of everyone's basically fine doing their best and not gonna screw you over. But the only way to really test that assumption is repeated actions over time. So if somebody has consistently done a good job for the last 5 years, they're probably gonna keep on doing a good job in in the future. So I think where that becomes relevant for for expats is to try to start small. obviously, difficult because properties are big purchases. Right? So if you're buying through an agent and that agent sells you a dud, it's obviously a lot of money. But as much as possible, try to start with small stakes and see if that person does consistently do what they say they're gonna do. Maybe that's as simple as you know, ask questions and see if that person follows up and things like that. Start with low stakes, and that's what I did with Rob Pence Business partner. Like, we didn't like so, oh, well, let's today,employ fifty people and start doing all this mad stuff. We started by doing a podcast. And, like, as we each turned up every week, we're, oh, we'll hear someone who does what he says is gonna I think that's a part of it. The other part of it for expats is educating yourself because by knowing your staff, then you're in a position to kind of know if you're being bullshitted or not, and you can go ask some pointed questions and see what answers you get. You're not gonna be able to be hands on and do the same kind of verification of the property that you're buying and exactly the way it's being managed as you would do if you live down the road. So in place of that, you need to do that on the people that you're working with. So the research that you would normally put on the property, you kind of have to put it on the person. So even though I'm not an expat. I own properties that I've never seen or I've never visited and have done that because I'm comfortable with the person who recommended that deal to me. If I'd been sent, I can email out of the blue from someone I've never met with that exact same opportunity, I wouldn't have done it.So it's your job to work with the right people and do your research on those people. Another important theme in property is education. Now don't get me wrong. I'm a massive believer in education, but I'm not an advocate of people spending£30,000 on a course only to find out that they're not really cut out for property, actually. Without naming names, there are property education course providers out there that can obviously point to people who have been on their courses who are now doing really well, but I wondered out loud a few times Whether these success stories weren't from people who were so motivated that they would have succeeded in property, whether they'd attended these courses or not. Now I'm not against spending money on property training or mentorship or being part of an action based community,but not from the start. Anyway, when I interviewed Richard Brown in episode 33, I was happy to hear him say exactly what I had said a few times in passing in previous episodes. What I normally say to people is don't start with property education paid for through the courses and things like that. Definitely don't do that. I normally say, 1st 3 to 6months, get some of the magazines that are out there. There's plenty of books I could recommend a number. I've written a couple that people could also read. Tune into some podcasts such as this one and other property podcasts.Join some of the forums out there. There's about 3 major ones. possibly,as an extra go and attend some network meetings, some of which are actually hosted by some of the property education providers but leave your credit card at home. You know, put it in the freezer. So,you know, read a bit, listen to some stuff, network a bit online and in person. you know, just sort of soak up the information and the contacts and ask people who are involved in property. What do they do? How do they do it? Things like that. I spend 3 to6 months doing that. You can scratch the surface of property,and you can go really, really deep. Now after that, if you feel that you could benefit from additional support in some way or you wanna get a little bit more specialized knowledge in a certain area, then by all means, consider what is out there. And there's, you know, general courses that you could look into. And then there are more specific ones around certain areas or certain strategies. But equally, you can get an insight from working alongside someone else in some way. Let's call it mentoring or accountability group or partner or something. It doesn't necessarily have to be paid for either. So I would start there. I'm not a massive, you know, property education fan. Have I done it and paid for it? Yes. I have. So it's not that I'm really against it. I just think it's you know, don't start with it. Start with something and then be a little bit more selective after you've immersed yourself a little bit,and then you might know what your priorities are. The number of people have come to me and said something along the lines of, what property strategy should I follow? I wish I had a pound for every time somebody came to me and said that. And I said that's the wrong question to start with. So don't start with what property strategy. at all. Start with what is the outcome you're striving for. And that will be a clue to what kind of property strategy is more likely to suit you So start with what you want, which is your objective, your goals, and then that will help direct you. And it will also help you direct you with education. And education, it could be self directed,self learning, immersive community based. It could be low cost with things like magazine subscriptions books, and then possibly it could lead on to some paid for property education. At the start of this episode, I outlined 4 main reasons for starting my podcast. But within that, there were a few subreasons, if you like. One sub reason was that I wanted to show expats through mine and my wife's own story that you don't have to buy an off plan new build development of a dodgy developer sold by someone flying business class from the UK and staying in a five star hotel in Dubai or Hong Kong. The money to be made from these types of properties goes to the people's selling them rather than the people buying them. And that's if it goes well,which my guest from episode 7, Helen Godbolded,brilliantly highlighted in this excerpt. The one that causes the most problems and potentially costs the most money. is buying a property via a selling agent and not doing the right due diligence. I always say it's easier to get divorced than it is to get out of a bad proxy investment. I have probably 10 investors a week who contact me looking for probono advice because they have fallen into this trap. The marketing agents, which I know you've covered a little bit in your previous podcasts.set up in a particular location or target a certain client, I mean, that the packages they sell sound fantastic.this is a great property. Most often, the investor will go ahead pay a reservation fee, which is usually nonrefundable. All the due diligence they tend to do is through that selling agent. So when I get these distressed investors coming to me, I see straight away that it's what I call a red flag investment. And I ask them what due diligence they've done.In most cases, due diligence consists of asking the selling agent questions. The selling agent is motivated to get the sales so that they get their commission.And although they shouldn't be actually giving people false information, they can omit information. And unless somebody is a really seasoned investor, they don't know what questions to ask. so they won't see what they're missing. And that's probably the most expensive mistake that I see investors make is not doing their due diligence. I get probably 20 or 30 emails a week from these marketing companies. They're really impressive.They're very persuasive. They really tune into the investor's fear of missing out. This could be a really good deal. So I understand why people fall for it. But when I look at those kinds of emails, nowhere on that email does it say who the developer is? And if you're selling an off plan,that's probably the most important factor when I'm doing my pre investment evaluation for a client I really drill down into that, who the developer is, what their track record is, how they're funding the development,Where is the investor's deposit held until completion? Is it being used to fund the development? What's the finance track record of that developer? There's so much there that an investor can look at to avoid getting into the wrong deal.Very often a developer will build each development under a separate SPV, a special purpose vehicle. So you can't instantly find the link between the two. and that's where having a good network comes in because you speak to the people in your network. Have you come across this developer? What have you heard about them?You do your research. to find out who it is. Whether a development is mortgageable, as a leaseholder, can I purchase this by way of a mortgage? That needs to be a very direct question to the selling agent. I've had investors come to me who have said we asked the agent that, and the agent said, oh, shouldn't be a problem. That's not very -- That's not It's not an answer.Fair enough. Exactly. Sometimes, a development is a problem for investors getting mortgage Sometimes it's to do with the developer themselves. Sometimes they've been unofficially black marked by lenders. Sometimes it's the construction of the building. especially if it's a conversion from a commercial, say,an office block into housing. Sometimes that doesn't meet the mortgage lender's criteria. even if somebody is intending to buy as a cash buyer, when you come to sell it,your buyer may want to get a mortgage. if you're buying into something that is only ever going to be a cash purchase,you're losing a proportion of your potential buyers that's quite a common one that I come across. So you're far better off buying a beaten up old house on a good street with solid infrastructure,good transport links. Lots of employment prospects and an increasing population forecast. Perhaps on the edge of an area with recent capital growth to benefit from the ripple effect, And if you hold it for the long term, you won't go too far wrong. Vicki Wauschay from episode 5 agrees. So the difference between Liverpool and Manchester is Manchester's heavily developed in terms of flats. So, really, Manchester, I think, covers the core, is high rise and flats.And I'm not a super fan of high rise flats.I think smaller developments or bespoke developments is completely different because you're just another sweetie in a packet. How do you differentiate yourself? Whereas with a house, you've got more options. Even if your house is one in a row of terraces,you still got the chance to put a different front door and you're not paying for a management company. You've got direct access to your property.I think the key thing with the new build development is that you don't have any history of, let's call it, the culture of the building. So it's all too easy for investors to pile into a new high rise development.It's full of tenants The tenant type starts off well. And then over the next couple of years, one landlord doesn't take care of their property or gets greedy on the rent or something. They have a void period. The void period is too long that all of a sudden They take in a less desirable or less well screened tenant. And before you know it, Because you're all in rooms effectively off a central corridor type of thing, the nature of the building deteriorates.And it's very easy to to get the culture or or the climate of a building determined by just literally a few bad tenants in a property.and then you will be dropping rates. The other thing that happens with new builds is, quite frankly, some of the builders will con investors, particularly foreign investors.So I even had one English client who put down a deposit on Three Flats in the center of Liverpool. when we looked at what the flats were, the prices were hugely over egged. He was being asked to pay a 150,000 for a one bed flat He was being told that the one bed rental was 9 50 a month.Now a one bed rental is determined by market conditions. And while maybe in the very beginning, they might get that, it's not gonna last. Because A tenant is basically a client who's looking to buy something, a room. And the room is one of many rooms out there in the marketplace. And if the marketplace for a one bed property is 450Why would I pay you more than double that to live in your flat?So what's happened is when we looked at it because the terms were that 950 was guaranteed for 2 years, What the developer had done is over egged the purchase price so that included in the purchase price was a supplement to over egg, the rental. So you were being sold a deal that on paper looked good, 9.50 a month on a150,000 investment, but that the truth of the matter was that you were only getting 4.50 rent.You were getting 500 supplement from the developer for 2years. and then the rents were gonna drop. And then you would be getting4.50 a month, but you would have a mortgage on a£150,000 property that actually was worth a 150,000.Plus, you've got all the service charges. So you could easily be looking at another 100 a month and service charges. So, you know, at the end of it, the cash that was coming out of it was unreal. And so for that same amount of money, you could buy 1 and a half houses and genuinely be getting close to 900 a month. You'd get600 on a whole house, and 300 would be half a house. Not that you buy half a house, but you know, principally, you could get that, and you wouldn't be paying the service charges. You would be in control of the property who went in there? And that's the key to this.It's about good management, but it's before that, good investment decisions. And New build flats are small. You're paying for the furniture. You're actually paying, in some cases, the builder to build the property.So Vicki's philosophy around building a UK property portfolio is that you're probably best off looking for good old fashioned terrorist houses.Some 84 episodes later, Adam Lawrence agreed with Vicki's philosophy and argued that if you can keep buying property over a period of 10 plus years, Ideally at discount in areas with strong population growth forecasts, then the miracle of compound interest would do the rest for you.what do investors look for? They look for total returns. So they might come from in residential buy to let, they're gonna come from some in terms of cash flow. in the layout, some in terms of capital growth. If we bought it really well, some in terms of a discount on the way in. perhaps difficult to achieve,especially from abroad, but potentially possible. Right?And be careful when you look at returns because If they just pile the load of money in the 2019, then there was a pandemic in all the prices went up. Or do you know what? The debt hit us all in the face if we owned any property in that period. Right? Any skill involved in that pandemic? No. Of course not. Like, at the end of the development, I will always look at. Right? What did the market do for me? and then what what value did I add. And if the answer is, well, you know, what I added my value and then the market did loads, well, fantastic. probably won't happen next time. Right? But but great. But don't put myself on the back for all of it, but only this much of it was really down to look. Have we got extra returns because we did our research and we invested in a good area like an out of risk or wherever wherever that might be for you? and we held it to the 5 or 10 years that we plan to. Instead of getting the UK average over the next 10 years of two 0.8 percent of the year, which, of course, I'm pulling that out of somewhere, but, you know, a loose, accurate figure. You got 3.7.Will you know that? Laura Trump had interest in shows you've outperformed gigantically of the life span of that investment. Use the miracle of compound interest to your advantage. That's what the whole game is about. We don't want to be an obscure investment charity on this system might be thinking I must invest in property so I can make an extra 250 bill a month that I have a buy to let or something. let that company propagate so you can be invested because you then I I describe it to people a bit like to have an artsy sequence. You know? You get 1, and then it leads to 2, and then it leads to 3. But then it leads to 5, and then it leads to 8, and then it leads to 13, and you be surprised what you can do in a 5 year cycle without a gigantically ambitious amount of capital that I do in the first place. And, look, if you're earning a few quid and you can afford to put some more money in every 6 months or whatever, so much the better. Like, a pension start at 25if you put 100 quid a week away, you're better off doing that than at55 putting a 1000 quid a week away. You've got so much more money to start moving and it's all down to the miracle of compound interest.So utilize it because there's a reason why Einstein called it the Eighth Wonder of the world. little down to the mirror for the compound interest. So utilize it because there's a reason why Einstein called it the 800 in the world. One of the significant factors Adam alluded to there was the importance of buying well, and he wasn't the first guest to point this out, but most of them were based in the UK. For us, expats, buying at discount is easier said than done. I frequently grilled my expert guests on how this could be achieved. One of them was Bronwyn Vancom in episode 14.Buying blow market value from a motivated seller.How is that possible? Is it possible for an expat?Yes. Of course, it's possible. It's all about network and who do you know who is able to to find sellers either direct or they've got very good relationships with agents? Again, this is something that's just so important because you can look on right move and assume that the price on right move is what they're going to sell for. Well, we know that that's not the case.and especially in a very buoyant market as we're in at the moment. Everyone's like, oh, it's too expensive, but there are still motivated sellers out there.So let me give you an example only 2 weeks ago. Somebody is going through a divorce. They need to sound quickly. They've been head in the sand for a long time, and they've got into a situation where they need to sell. They don't want to pay agents fees. They come through friends to say who who do you know who can help?And I need to sell quickly, and I'm happy to sell below market value. So that happens. As an expat, yeah, and I live in Africa a lot of the time. I've actually had people go view properties on my behalf. But if somebody I know and trust, then they will come back and they will come back with the answers to the questions that I've asked. And then for me, it's about either working through the agent if it's an agent or if it's direct to vendor, Zoom,Skype, all works really well. Everyone's really happy and comfortable now to actually speak on video. So I could still negotiate from afar. It's about knowledge knowledge and and network. Have you actually done that then? You've actually got through on a deal, and a deal has all gone through that you'd negotiated with the seller via Zoom?Yes. I bought properties I've never never seen. But I do know the area really well, and that's really you know, I'm not gonna buy in an area I don't know at all. When I started out, I knew every street and still do to a point You know, you do need to know the area and know the little streets and your little gold mine areas that you're familiar with and target those. I asked Bronwyn how expats could build their network from the other side of the world.Well, a lot of the network meetings have been online. That's where I started at We went along to our local one in Southampton. It was literally the first place I went that I thought, oh, there's lots of people here. Normal people like you and me And they're really enthusiastic. So I sort of got the buzz of property investing as not an elite sport. These are places to meet other people who are doing this stuff so that I could understand and learn and meet people. Now, obviously, the last 2 years, they've not been face to face. So it's a massive opportunity for expats.And I joined a few meetings myself from Africa.No one knows where you're from, and it's great. You can get to chat of people, but you can then follow-up, and that's the important thing about networking,is then following up with people. It saves a huge amount of time doing it remotely, doing its using technology, and I think more and more people are comfortable with that. So I think networking is still gonna be relatively easy to do for hats, much easier than it used to be. But there are some good Facebook groups, some,not not all of them. But, yeah, there are more groups,supportive groups coming up all the time.The importance placed on networking by Bronwyn was a theme that reoccurred frequently. And together with Dean, who appeared on episode 87, to talk about prop sourcer, his property sourcing platform, which is well worth checking out, we started a property meetup here in Hong Kong and offered to publicize other self organized expat meetups. We were soon contacted by investors in Dubai who meet on the 1st Wednesday of each month, and investors in Singapore, who like us Hong Kongers, meet on the 1st Saturday of each month. Details of all three meet ups can be found in the show notes. 1 of the most obvious advantages of these networking events is the way in which they help us all keep abreast of all the changes in the property landscape. I recently heard another previous guest Vanessa Warwick, saying that there are now 168regulations that landlords need to comply with.Some would say that this is evidence that the days of the part time or hobby landlord are over. Here's Danny Edmund from episode 71. I think it's no longer worth being a hobby landlord. It used to have a value of was relatively simple, but I wanted two powers sit on them for 10 years, rent them out, hobby landlords for 20 years previously have kind of been able to fudge their way through it, but I think there's no value in that now. And I think it's actually quite high risk in that you could get caught by a legislative policy. You could get caught by taxation that you weren't expecting. Now I see people love going, oh, I wanna properly, and you go, like, do you know there's an extra3% stand for him? In Scotland, an extra 6% stand out, do you know all of these policy changes Oh, I might manage it myself and you go,bloody hell. The legislation now, the tenancy legislation is so vast that that's a massive risk. and there's so much political currency being used in supporting tenants, which actually, you know, you'll see on my social media. I talk about how A lot of the policies designed to help actually end up hindering the people they were designed to help to. There's so much information now for tenants to try and take against the landlord.But, ultimately, if you're a hobby landlord, you're probably quite exposed in today's market as well. So I think a lot of those guys, 1 to5 properties, they will be making a decision on whether it has the value for them to stay in the market. You mentioned just there about Hobby landlords, and there are quite a few time poor expat property investors. They've got quite a lot of money they've saved up.So what would you say to those expert investors who've maybe got 1or 2 on the side? What would you advise them? When I talk about a hobby investor, I literally talk about somebody who's watched homes under the hammer, and they go, it must be easy to buy a property. I'm gonna do a viewing. I'm gonna make an offer. They've not done any calculations. They don't understand that there's additional stamp duty. They've never heard of section 24. You know, all of these additional policies is not a good place to be an uninformed up a minute.Definitely not. I mean, you need to make a decision on whether you're gonna scale further. It's an incredible place to grow a portfolio if you're informed. you know, great opportunity, great returns.Rental income versus asking prices are still very strong. Tenant demand is incredible. It's the highest it's ever been. If you're buying an asset, property in the UK ticks a lot of boxes in the return it gives you and the security of the return potentially and, you know, the the level demand and and sustainability of return is is incredibly strong. You know, the biggest tip is to make sure you're working with the right people and doing it in the right way, and you're clear on the plan, you know, being very clear on the plan and the potential legislations to make sure that you're buying in the right way. A plan for growth is important. Security of tenancy is important. We work with a lot of international investors. They're buying the 5, 7, 10 year leases. FRI leases with social housing providers and things like that. Ultimately, you're passing a lot of the legislative liability onto the provider is a bit more work in getting this set up. But once it's set up, you know you're positioning for 5, 7, 10 years. So I think any investor, but most so an international investor understand your objectives and your reasons for getting into the UK market. Understand the market itself and where your potential exposure points are by working with the right people and then invest in a way that's gonna fulfill your outcome and satisfy what your outcome goals are There's still a huge interest in the UK market because of the market itself. The returns and the demand are absolutely incredible compared to other international markets. We also dedicated a fair few episodes to different models, including multilets, which is no surprise given that season 1 focused on our own acquisition of 5student HMOs. And because our own expat property story has been moving towards short term lets, There were several episodes on holiday lets and serviced accommodation. Some of the best advice on this came from Mark Simpson in episode 80.Every management company should be looking to increase their diabetics. They should be looking to increase the network that is full of contractors,companies, etcetera. And if you find that your management company that you're working with isn't, and they've got over 80% that are that you're an OTA, then you should be putting a bit of pressure on him, giving him30 days to actually sort it out. Because if not, there's a plethora of other management companies now in the UK who are actively looking to build their networks who are actively working with contractors,corporate companies, you know, health care workers, professionals, building a database,building a list. who are, you know, increasing their direct bookings that aren't just working in one specific area. They are working all over the UK. So if you are an expat and if you've got property in the UK and you've handed it over to a management company, I would100% be buying the book direct playbook and what everybody should be doing.And you can literally then go to your management company and say, are you doing this? Are you doing that? Are you building an email list? Do you have a Google business list do you have a a direct booking website? Who's your property management?And you'll catch loads of them off guard because everybody just wants to snap up that passive homeowner that doesn't really care who just wants to get better returns than if we're gonna do a long term loan. So if you man it with a little bit of knowledge and you catch them off guard, They're not a red flag for me instantly. I'd be handing in my notice as soon as possible. I'm looking to get somebody else in. As a nation, as a as a generation, we are always focus on new money. We are always focused on new customers.When if you look at it from a logistical point of view and just from a common sense point of view, The true profit is in the people that have already given you money. The people have already jumped that barrier that no like love and trust factors there. And what you're gonna do, you can go to anybody who's done any business with you over the last 12 months. You can reach out to them via a text message, a phone call, an email and just say, hey. We like working with you. You're awesome. Do you know anybody who is just like you but needs help at what we provide?And, again, you can substitute those words for whatever industry you're in,but it works time and time and time and time again, especially in hospitality.because if you've got a essay a business guest that you've honed and you've looked after and you stayed with you for, like, a couple of months and they've left the property in a great condition. They spent a good chunk of money with you because it's a business guest. The business world is very ancestral. Everybody knows everybody. Now that guest, that person may not be coming back to your town or your seat, but somebody else in the company might. Or they may know somebody else who's coming to your town near sea. And if you go to them and say, yeah, Bob, Listen. Do you know anybody who's coming who needs a place to stay? Do you know anybody who's coming to the area that needs a place to stay? Could be for an event. It could be for a catch up,meet up, whatever. If you do, Please set up an email, Fred, a WhatsApp chat, a text message, Fred, and just introduce me. If they book on the back of your referral, then we will send you x. x could be anything. It could be called hard cash. If you know that person, you know what they like, football tickets, football shirt, sign football shirt, whatever.£50, £60, £100 spend. If that ends up being a 4grand, 5 grand booking, that £100 spend in comparison to the commission cost that you would pay if they come from another 3rd party is minor. And, again, because it is a referral,social proof equates to 93% of all purchasing power in the world. So that social proof is so much better than you just cold calling somebody. So tap into the people at a stage order last year. If you don't wanna go through every single person, then just work out the 8020 look at the 20 percent of guests that have brought an 8% of your profit and start there, and then you just whittle it down. But another business model that perhaps got Berry deep within the auction season in episode 44, was supported living.This is a model that has lots of advantages as Lisa Brown of the supported living property podcast explained. So at the moment, why I think supported living is a really powerful way to invest in property in the UK is because it gives you certainty of income, particularly if you're looking at investing in HMOs. I think with HMOs, we're looking at really quite some scary rises in utility bill pricing. The majority of the providers are gonna take properties, and they will cover the utilities. They're gonna cover the voids. They're gonna cover generally wear and tear within the property. Quite a lot of damage within the property will be covered under the lease. It depends on your lease terms and what you've agreed with the provider. But, generally, you're gonna end up having certainty of what your net income is gonna be each month, and I think that's a really powerful way to invest in property and know what you're gonna actually be making each month at the moment. That gives you some certainty that you don't get when you're looking at investing in properties in other ways. The other thing to add into that was it will in a time of market uncertainty. We don't quite know where where it's gonna go. We don't know what that's gonna mean for job losses,and we don't know what that's gonna mean for people being able to pay their rent effectively at the end of each month. So knowing that your income is coming from a provider which is backed by government backed benefits, again, gives you that certainty that you should be getting your rent each month when perhaps other sources are looking a little bit more uncertain. So I kinda think at the moment, it is quite an interesting time for all of us looking at property investing, but I think it's making supported living look like an even more powerful investment strategy, I think.But the final word, and my favorite excerpt goes to Rod Turner,who inspired us to finally get our portfolio kick started.after 2 years inactivity at a time, which was admittedly perhaps not the best time to buy. But sometimes, you've just gotta get on with it. it's about performing. Realistically, an auctioneer is not gonna be calling you as first number on their in their black book for something come up and needs to be sold, unless you bought from them before and you've transacted and you proved a concept to them that actually you're a decent buyer. So my advice is do. Yeah. Don't talk just do of a fool, and then people will start to think, actually, this person is someone that does what he says he's gonna do, and I know he can perform or she can perform. And so they're gonna start to move up my list in the back book,and I think that's so so important. People will just get so fed up with getting calls from people that don't before. They're just gonna feel this is a massive waste of time. Now that's easy set, but if you gotta start somewhere, you just gotta start with more rolling. Start buying stuff, and then you're gonna get to that point later in your kind of career the better deals will come later, but maybe the first one you just gotta accept. You've got proof of concept, haven't you? It's like you've gotta get out there and do it.Look. 5% return is gonna be better than 0%return. You gotta be in it to win it and all that sort of stuff.Don't go and risk the farm on something, but go and do something where Ashley.Okay? got this. I'm gonna transact. I'm gonna prove the concept. So you're gonna learn so much from it as well. Just get on with it.I hope you've enjoyed this episode as much as I've enjoyed making it, and that it inspires you to relisten to some of the episodes.I hope we can do it all again if and when we get to 200episodes. But in the meantime, there's another couple of compilations coming up. During season 1, at the end of each interview, I asked all of my amazing guests one simple question.What does the word risk mean to you? Well, in the next two episodes, you can hear the best answers. These are great episodes on a really important topic, so tap follow on Spotify or plus on Apple Podcasts to make sure you get these episodes as soon as they're out. In the meantime, please do one thing for me. for our 1 100th birthday, a birthday present if you like. There must be someone you know who's interested in UK Property and needs to know about these 100 episodes of expat property story. What's at them? Facebook them, DM them on Instagram. You can even write them a letter, but just tell them about the podcast and share the show to spread the word. You've been listening to -- Expat Property Story.