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Hello everyone. I’m Monica and am looking to start my property journey which I’m really excited about. I’ve the funds to invest but need a power team around me to keep me honest and steer me on the right path. I’m based in Birmingham so would appreciate any recommendations for a property accountant, mortgage broker, solicitor and builder in the Midlands. I’ve tried looking around myself but I’d rather use people who are tried and tested. Thanks in anticipation of your help.

My first post on here.... I'm looking for High Yield BTL's 8%+ I live in Leicester, which has low Yields, even in the cheaper area's of the city (Narborough Road etc) Nottingham has been my next step after listening to the Podcasts but I cannot seem to find any High Yield Property Has anyone got any suggestions? I would like to self-manage, but I am open to having my property managed if the numbers stack up. Also I am open to buying property in other locations but would like them within 1-2 hours of Leicester Appreciate your feedback PS. I do have experience over the years of managing property... upto 30 properties at a time including HMO's before a licence was needed

Hi everybody, I thought I’d write this to introduce myself and also to provide me with a little bit of motivation, as I expect this community will be great at holding me accountable for my goals. I’m currently in the middle of a live-in refurbishment with my wife and 2yo daughter. We’ve been hit by some tough times over the past three years since we moved in, so nothing has really gone to plan. I’ve been doing most of the work myself-I’m a civil engineering project manager by day and a DIY dad by day-off/evening/occasional weekend. It’s been hard balancing work, dadding, husbanding and DIYing. To date I’ve rewired the flat (had a sparky connect/test and sign everything off), had the external walls insulated, extended the kitchen units to accommodate a dishwasher that I plumbed in (relationship depended on it), stripped out, insulated, plasterboarded and redecorated my daughter’s bedroom, redecorated the dining room, stripped out and rebuilt a nightmare of a shower room (never doing a bathroom again!), had a wood burner installed and have future plans to extend, through the only way possible, with a purpose built garden office room. Admittedly, we bought the house with a naïve perception of how much work it would take to bring the house to where we wanted it to be, but the learning I’ve experienced on this project has helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses, which I now aim to put in to practise with property investments. Our saving grace with our is that we bought well below market value, so everything we do is adding value. We currently live just south of Edinburgh, so I’m interested in investing in the Lothians and into the Scottish Borders. My family home is in Sheffield so I’m using local knowledge and contacts to explore there and the surrounding areas. I also have my eye on Nottingham, Newcastle and my mum’s home town in the North West. Due to the shock death of my dad in 2018 we have a reasonable sum to invest from his estate, with the view to building a business that will support his (currently) four grandchildren as they grow up. More immediately though I aim to provide an income for my mum so that she can afford to retire to where they always planned to, but without tying up all the inheritance by purchasing with cash. The second benefit of a retirement income for my mum will be the ability to release equity from the family home by refinancing and renting out. It’s currently owned outright by my mum, so seems sensible to leverage it to increase income and allow its value to increase over the next period of growth. My plan is to take a BRR strategy utilising my project management and scope definition skills to provide clear requirements for a builder/contractor. Using this with cash purchases, I aim to be able to buy BMV, add value and then release a 10% ROI back to my mum (who will be the main investor). Where I stand right now is research, spreadsheets, research and more research. I have a goal of purchasing the first property in the first quarter of the year with another to follow in the third. I’m basing this on the minimum 6 month period for refinancing, however with buying in cash and refurbishing I expect this period to be shorter, however need to recruit a mortgage broker to discuss this with first. It’s been great reading about everyone’s journey’s and experiences on here, so will keep this updated with my progress. Please feel free to get in touch with advice, questions, critique of my strategy, or just to say hi. Thanks for reading this far! Dan

Hey guys, I'm Tom and I live in Rugby in the west midlands. I'm new to the game and have just set out my goals. I'm looking to achieve a monthly income from profit of £2000 in the next 3 years. I'm pretty busy with work so I've set the strategy of BTL with buying low and adding value, with the intention of recycling my deposits. I haven't got a lot of capital at the moment, however I have my own home with some equity built up. My first SMART goal is to buy one property in the first 12 months, which requires me to save a certain amount and release some from my home. I'd love to hear the thoughts of anyone who has gone down this route to get started with their first investment. I'm equally as interested to hear from any investors in Rugby - good idea? It seems to have all the fundamentals. Thanks in advance! Tom

Hi everyone (and hi Rob & Rob if you’re reading), Feel like I’ve been on the fringes of the community for a while as I’ve been to a couple of meetups, been listening to podcasts and checked out the forum a few times but this is actually my first post. I’m from St Albans but I’m looking at building a portfolio of BTLs and multi-lets in Coventry and I’m interested in networking with other investors and landlords in the area, sharing knowledge, contacts etc. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got 100 properties or just one (or none yet), we all need support of like minded people if we’re going to build our wealth and I’m happy to share what little knowledge and experience I have too. If you’re investing in the area please give me a shout, it would be great to hear from you. Would also like to hear where property investors from Coventry are going for their meetups? As there’s not one in Coventry right now maybe if there’s enough of us we could even get one going in the future. Look forward to connecting with you all. Pete

Hi, i'm a fairly experienced landlord of 38 years from London. I have been offering a house or apartment to rent for most of that time, usually my own while away working overseas. Currently, i have a one bed apartment in London, Docklands which i bought in 2014 and i've been renting that out for the past 2 years. I self manage remotely, which is easier for apartments it must be said, especially newer ones. I'm 60 years old and retired since renting the apartment in London. After finding a tenant i decided to travel some of the world taking in S. America, Mexico, Balkans, Turkey, Caucuses, Central Asia, Nepal, India and S.E. Asia, all financed from the single rental property.....and what a trip it's been!! :-) I'm more than willing to share my experiences with anyone who's interested and as far as the letting side goes, it wasn't rocket science! ;-) I have additional funds available and i'm interested in expanding and investing in the Midlands/North. Hopefully with other(s) investors who have experience with renovations and a view to then rent out or sell on. Thanks for listening... Robert

Hi, my name is Stephen I'm 22 and live in the Midlands. I've recently (last month or so) have been looking into property investing. I have next to no experience or knowledge or Captial. so it's looking to be a good few years before I can do anything. in the time while I think of ways to make the Captial to start. that gives me lots of time to Learn as much as I can. this is what brings me here. been listening to the podcast and love it! (any help is greatly appreciated) I plan to be a good active member on here not that I can offer much I'll try my best!

Hi All, This is my first post on the property hub. I’m a relatively small time landlord with 6 btl properties in the Derby area. I’ve been expanding the family while I’ve been building this portfolio and am now a full time mum to 3 (and part time teacher). My goal is to reach 15 properties in the next 5 years and I am thinking of branching out and doing some flips/ renovations along the way to help me achieve this target. So far we have played it really safe and only bought properties that have required relatively little work (due to ‘mum-ing’). consequently I have yet to amass a versitile team of well trusted tradesmen (bar the essential gas man/ plumber/ handyman). I’d love to chat to/ hear from anyone investing in Derby/ Nottingham/ Stoke. We have around £60k to reinvest and I’d like to make this money work as hard as it can. I’m ready to take a little more risk and branch away from relatively finished properties. I’ve love to chat areas/ tradesmen/ strategy with anyone investing in these areas. I’m eager to learn!!! thanks!

Hi - i'm new to the property game. I'm looking for properties (flats initially) to refurb and sell on... i think it's called flipping !?! Can't afford anything close to London unless I'm extremely lucky Looking at areas like the NW, Nottinghamshire and the Midlands.. I'm a cash buyer with a fair budget to make a modest start hopefully with a decent profit. I have a really good builder but he's based in London where I am so to keep costs down I will have to find reputable builders in the areas that I buy in... Basically any advice and info will be gratefully received

Hi, Been following everyone's progress for a while now whilst plotting our entry into the property investing arena. We are about ready ready to get started now. We've formed a limited company and have a few properties on our radar to look at and potentially bid for. However we we are looking for some recommendations for a good mortgage broker who has experience arranging mortgages for limited companies. We are based in the midlands (just south of Birmingham) and someone local to us would be ideal. Please help, many thanks! Greg & Michelle

Hi All, I am a 25-year-old property investor based in Essex who started out about a year and a half ago now, and currently have two properties under my belt. I have been thinking about selling my first investment property, as It is tying up a lot of my money and isn’t giving me a good enough return (re-mortgaging doesn’t release much in this situation). Once sold I should be left with £90K after fees and tax. I am looking to put this money in to a couple of HMO’s aimed at professionals in the midlands or maybe further north E.g. Liverpool, as I would like to increase my monthly income and get maximum ROI. However, I have no experience with HMO’s and would like some advice and tips. With regards to research I have done some on Rightmove and spare room, but I would like to speak someone with some HMO experience or someone who deals with or manages HMO’s in the middles or in Liverpool… etc. Sorry if this comes across vague and a bit amateur, any advice is appreciated. Thanks Mitch

Hi Guys, I'm looking to invest in Birmingham and ideally looking at buying terraced houses in Great Barr, Edgbaston or Solihull areas and would be looking for any property sourcers that deal in these areas or anyone that could recommend a property sourcers. I'm looking to buy one property every quarter of the next five years. Would also consider a JV in or around the Birmingham area with me providing the capital. Regards, Usman

We are a TV company making an internet based TV show. We are doing an article on first time buyers in the Midlands and are looking for people to chat to our hosts briefly about their experiences, and hopefully get some peer to peer advice on the day. We are filming on Tuesday 1st November, please get in touch if you would like to get involved. We are offering a small fee as a thank you.

Hi! I was wondering if anyone had heard anything good or bad about Cutlass Court in Birmingham City Centre on Granville Street? Apparently it can be quite loud there as it is close to Broad Street. I had just heard actually that it might be dangerous there due to vagrants and drugs! Would anyone have an idea? Thanks!

Hi Hubbers! I think I have asked 3 or 4 questions on The Property Hub now and I am always getting really helpful advice. I'll recap my situation... I am from London and currently living here too. I am a homeowner and I am trying to get into property investment with a friend of mine. We have looked at London - North, South, East, and West and we have decided that it is just too expensive for us. Even on the very outskirts. We have therefore decided to look further afield; in particular in the UK's second city - Birmingham. (This is actually after spending quite a long time looking at Nottingham - unfortunately we felt that we wanted stronger fundamentals). We are not completely familiar with Birmingham to be honest. I am heading up there this weekend to view some 1/2-bed flats in the city centre. So here is my question: Given that I am looking in the city centre. Is anybody able to recommend a particular area/postcode? In particular, are there any no-go areas that I should watch out for? If anybody could provide any insight we will be very greatful! Thanks a bunch, Ewan

Hi, I've just read the book 'Property Investment for Beginners' and Itake property investment seriously. I have a flat in London that I rent out as an accidental landlord, but want to expand on this and starting developing a portfolio. I have some goals, but it's early days on that front, and I would love to discuss the world of property investment with some other like minded people. Hopefully I can share some ideas of my own and learn from others. I'm looking forward to wading through the interesting information on this site and becoming an active member. If any fellow midlanders fancy a coffee and a chat I'd be very pleased to meet you. Cheers, Gareth