darren mcneill

Hi Roby, Sent me an email and I can show you some of the ones that we have available ( property@f-m-p.uk ). I have one for sale with a current sitting tenant that is returning 15%. I can answer any queries you have etc. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Yes we do, we have sourced quite a number of BTL's for clients now and our client list is growing as we also have the boutique lettings service that creates a totally hands off experience. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Hi Daniel, Congrats on the first post. Unfortunately I am absolutely no-where near you, and as I look out of the window its pretty cold, damp and miserable! lol. Great to hear that you are narrowing down your research areas. Do you have a timeframe that you have set yourself to start getting offer placed? Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

I see your issue, and yes those numbers in your area are going to be difficult. Have you considered distance investing? I am currently speaking to a client who is based in Aberdeen and is looking to buy something in my area. We have a boutique lettings agency that conducts sourcing and management of the properties. I have just sent him an example last night based on properties being purchased at £65k that return £450PCM. After all costs the return is double what you have on your example. This was his example starting at a £55k money pot and saving £2k per month. Your circumstances are similar, you are just saving half per month: I know it can be a scary idea investing away from where you live but if the market is as difficult as yours seems then it could be worth looking into. With renting each room individually how would you organise the payment of utilities etc? If you only had 1 tenant would you then have to cover the other half of the utility bills, or would you expect the existing tenant to pay the full amount? A lot of tenants looking at the shared house setup expect to have all utilities, WIFI etc included in the price. Some are also given communal Netflix accounts for example. Someone far more experienced than myself told me that ideally 4 rooms and above make it worth the hassle (if you are paying all of the bills). Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Hi Adam, I think your approach at looking for cash flow at the start is the right thing to do. Personally I have a goal of £4k per month cash flow after costs, then I may look into capital growth, but for me securing a regular income is key. What you do not want to do is buy houses in the worst areas. You are only inviting trouble. What you need to try and do is get properties in the areas that "aren't that bad." All areas have crime etc, but what you ideally want to avoid are areas that are just DSS tenants. Not wanting to offend DSS tenants as I know most of them are great people, but unfortunately these areas where the rentals are very low attract the poorer quality of tenant. What we are personally finding is that if you offer a better quality product you can ask slightly more than the local average and you will attract a nicer tenant. We only offer good quality property that we dress for the listings: 12 months ago this property was let at £450PCM, we now have £500PCM for it and it has just been revalued at £65k. You would be able to purchase decent BTL's for a little bit less than the £80k that you mentioned, and round our way you can get a £450PCM return from a £60-65k purchase. In Feb we sourced a 51k, 51k, 52k, 52k and a 55k purchase for our clients. They needed around £3k on average to bring them up to a good letting standard. They will all bring in £425-£450PCM. You could of course buy something cheap on a BTL mortgage where you can spend £10k and then rinse out some money in 2 years time once the mortgage period ends. We do also sell vanilla BTL properties that come with free white goods, 12 months free management and also gas safety and electrical safety certs. We have one coming onto the market in the next few months at £65k that returns £450PCM. Darren

Hi Kit, I think what you are doing at the moment is to be greatly commended. Renovating properties that you are living in is hard work, but a great strategy for getting good mortgage rates and only needing small deposits. You would be able to purchase decent BTL's for a little bit less than the £80k that you mentioned, and round our way you can get a £450PCM return from a £60-65k purchase. In Feb we sourced a 51k, 51k, 52k, 52k and a 55k purchase for our clients. They needed around £3k on average to bring them up to a good letting standard. They will all bring in £425-£450PCM. You could of course buy something cheap on a BTL mortgage where you can spend £10k and then rinse out some money in 2 years time once the mortgage period ends. We do also sell vanilla BTL properties that come with free white goods, 12 months free management and also gas safety and electrical safety certs. We have one coming onto the market in the next few months at £65k that returns £450PCM. You are fortunate really as your position allows you to have quite a number of options. When you aren't in a rush this is when the best deals come available. If you want to get in touch then I would be happy to have a chat with you to see if there is anything that I can help you with. If you are on Instagram you can check out what we do here: https://www.instagram.com/finnigan.mcneill.properties/ If you follow the links in my signature there are also other bits that may interest you. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

I think the first thing you should do is speak with a mortgage broker and ask them? If you need one I can send you the number of my broker, he is really good. As for the 10% ROI, yes that is possible. We have found our clients a number of these in the last few weeks but they are not Vanilla. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Ok... Had a similar chat with a client this morning. Looking at your situation is the auction route really a viable option? You have stated that you are working every hours god sends and you havent got a lot of free time, so is this really the best option for you? Your actual cash pot will also restrict you as with bridging you still need to put down a chunk of money as you will not be lent 100% of the purchase price. You would then have legal fees, renovation fees, so in reality that £30k will very quickly disappear and will not leave you much of a safety blanket. How much are you currently able to save at the minute? Here is the conversation that I have had with someone today: He has £15k in savings and can save an amazing £1k per month as he simply lives frugally. We based his numbers on a property purchase price of £60k in the area that I operate in and a rental income of £450PCM (again what he can achieve where I operate). A Vanilla £60k purchase would require: * £15k deposit @ 25% * £500 mortgage broker fee * £1,800 Stamp Duty * £1,000 legals * £500 mortgage product (this is normally the searches) * £19,000 rounded up to work with. A £60k return would be: * £450PCM rent * £45PCM Management fee * £120 mortgage * £20 Insurance £265 after the costs above, so round it to £250. This makes my clients "savings" at £1,250 per month now instead of £1000. At £19k it will take him 15 months to purchase his 2nd property. At this point he now "saves" £1,500 per month. At £19k it now takes him 12.6 months to save his deposit and he buys the 3rd property. We are now at £1,750 per month. It now takes my client 11 months to get his 4th property. So far we are on 3.25 years to buy 4 BTL's, which isnt bad going. 5th - At £2k per month saving now it takes 9.5 months - 4 years 6th - At £2.25k per month = 8.4 months - 4.7 years 7th - £2.5k = 7.6 months - 5.3 years Of course these are all rough numbers, with no voids and no tax, but all are also at £60k purchases when I have clients picking up properties at £51k.... I think what I am trying to say really is that getting on and doing something is better than procrastinating. You mention you have been looking into this for 2 years. If you had bought 2 years ago with your £30k: £30k - 19k = 11k 8k @ £250PCM = 2.6 years So now you would be 7 months off your 2nd BTL purchase and further into generating the snowball effect. I know the above is less than sexy, but property is the long term game. Yes it can be done well in the short term but this involves being very creative with your money and also having a bit of luck. I started out 2 years ago with just £20k: but I was very lucky. I was in between careers so had the time to do the work myself. I live in an area where houses are cheap, and I somehow managed to talk someone into selling their house for £25.8k and sold it for £70k after fixing it up. Would I be lucky enough to get that break again, probably not. I mention the vanilla option above because you have said about time constraints. You could of course buy something on a BTL mortgage that need some work, do the work and then refinance in 2 years to rinse some money back out of it with its increased value. I think you need to make a decision and go for it. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

I did a post on OpenRent the first time that I used them: Personally I now use them for everything. The service is great and it ensures that you are staying legal by making sure that you serve all of the correct documents, most are automatically sent by openrent. Their AST again is legal and up to date but also allows you to add your own clauses if required. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Hi Emma, Do you want to move back to London or is your plan to stay up this way (It's much nicer up here!). If you are planning on going back to London eventually then I would personally look to keep the property and let it out, as I imaging buying something in 5 years time would be rather costly? If you are just packing up and jumping ship then I would just sell it and have a bigger pot of cash. If you are moving up here to actively flip then the more cash the better. I think that decision is one that only you will really know. If you can flip now without selling the London property do that and then review selling the London property at a later date. I have zero regrets, you definitely get out what you put in, and if you can go full time it will certainly make a difference. Being hands on at the very beginning is great and an amazing learning tool. You also get to know your trades better as you are on site. I still use some of the lads now that I used on my very first job. If you never go for it then you will never know what you can achieve. I was fortunate that i was in between jobs and that I live where property is cheap, if I was southern based then there is probably zero chance i would have ever even looked at property, never mind gone full blown into it. I think you moving to where the property is available is an amazing feat on its own, and you should really give yourself a pat on the back! Darren

I have just booked my ticket for the May meeting. I am planning on staying for a few days so if anyone would like to meet up on the Thursday or Friday for a chat then it would be great to say hello and put names to faces. I am also down on the 4th and 5th April but unfortunately there are no April tickets left. If anyone cancels and would like to let me have their ticket it would be appreciated! Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Hi to both of you, I run a BTS business and yes this is something that you have to have in mind, but the good news is that there are quite a few lenders who will lend to a buyer when you have not owned the property that long. This is where you need to have a good mortgage broker at the end of your phone. When we agree a sale on a property the first thing I do is get him to check what the lender are for the sale price that will lend on my property. I get the list of lenders names and then present them to the buyer, I recommend my broker to them as well. Sometimes they use him, sometimes they use their own, either way I stress the importance that they use one of these lenders. Top tip is keep your property on the market and keep doing viewings. Explain to the buyers that as soon as they have the DIP in place from a lender that you know will lend on your property and the valuation has been completed then you will mark it as sold. I have learnt the hard way and had a few sales fall through because of this, despite me stressing that they must use a lender that will lend under 6 months. It is only recently that I got the list off my broker and I am now testing the above on the sale of the below property: I accepted an offer this week on the above property and have given the buyers the list of available lenders. They have chosen one and now I am just waiting for the valuation to take place so that I know everything is good. The property below is one where I did not do this, and the sale fell through around 4 weeks ago. I am now struggling to get that initial amount of interest that you get once you first list, although I do have more viewings on it this weekend: http://finniganmcneillprop.boards.net/thread/3/project-sell-modern-method-auction Hope the above helps! Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

Hi Conor, I think you need to make sure that whatever you are looking at that it still cash-flows at around 5.5% to give you an emergency buffer, just in case! That would be my absolute minimum. After this its all down to personal preference I suppose. I like to clear about £300PCM after the mortgage payments are made, and try to keep purchases under £60k. The most expensive BTL I have was purchased at £55k, but I owe 10% on this as it was bought with an investor, so the actual PP is £60.5k. Ignoring all fees etc this brings in £525PCM and should hopefully be revalued at around £80k so has cost me less than if I just went and bought something at £80k. Circumstances will dictate the parts about leaving money in. If you happen to be someone with a great amount of cash then getting all of your money back out might not be a priority. You might just buy well now then get some cash back out when you remortgage in 2 years time. You may however be limited for cash and getting every penny out that you can could be the priority. What was the PP of the property in your example and the PCM? Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

This is something that we have moved into this year. What we were looking to do is to offer something of a different type of service to everyone else in the market. Lets face it, there are millions of homes out there, and there are thousands of great deals. What we wanted to offer was more of a boutique package where the clients property is treated as if it was one of our own. We started our lettings business in Jan and now have 15 properties on our books. These are with clients who have worked with us previously with the BTS side of our business as well as new referrals. We are fortunate to have great properties and low prices where the PCM is around £400-£450 for a property priced between £50-£65k, so the returns and yields are great. We are able to offer a full package where we can renovate a property to a clients standard, or look for a vanilla BTL where nothing is required. We also offer turn-key properties through our BTS business where you purchase a ready made property with a tenant already in, and pay no fees for the first 12 months. So far we have sold 4 turn key properties, sourced 7 BTL's for clients and the rest have been sourced by our investors in our area and they have asked us to manage them. With our property management we like to treat the properties as if they were our own, so tenants are only accepted for referencing after a face to face meeting and a good old fashioned chat for half an hour. We do not want to be throwing anyone in a property just to make the numbers, good old fashioned gut feelings come into play. Somewhere we are different is that we dress all of our clients rental properties so that they get the maximum amount of attention from perspective tenants, we also find that due to this we are able to ask more for the monthly rental as they are buying more into a lifestyle than just a property. Here are a few examples of the properties we have let out: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-69632023.html https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-69910372.html https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-68785561.html What we are finding us that because all of our properties are dressed similar we are starting to get brand recognition. We now have potential tenants coming to us and asking when our next properties are coming available. We have a turn key property that is due to complete at the end of this month where the tenant is already lined up at £450PCM, so our buyer will have zero voids for their £60k purchase. Another way we are different is that we journal absolutely everything that we do. If you want to see all of the properties that we are managing or about to manage then you can do..... http://finniganmcneillprop.boards.net/board/9/fmp-boutique-lettings-investor-projects I think its always best to be as open and honest as you can be when you are dealing with such expensive assets, so that is what I try to do. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings

As mentioned get your agreement out and have a look at what the penalties could be. They normally start at say 2% and then decrease for every year. You may be really lucky and find that you do not have any penalties at all. Lets say however that you do have a penalty... work it out what it will cost. If it does cost you 2%, then what % return would you get investing in something? Personally I would just bite the bullet and do it, the amount of money that you would potentially be losing by waiting a few years would put a small fee into a different light. bets way is to sit down with a piece if paper, a pen and a calculator and crunch the numbers. Darren Follow our daily property updates via Instagram or Facebook: Instagram Daily Updates Facebook Daily Updates Follow each property renovation in our new forum: Our Detailed Journal Weekly Updates Have a look to see how we could work together: www.fmp-investments.com property@f-m-p.uk Boutique Lettings Service: http://www.fmp-investments.com/lettings