New user

[10101010]

Hey all. Newbie here. Bit of background, have a ltd company with a couple of buy to let’s in and looking to step it and expand over next few years. 
looking for tips

 

[Guest]

It sounds like you've already done the hardest part, which is to take action and get started! From here it starts to get easier, as not only will you have money from savings which is how most people get started, but now you have extra money coming in from rent so you can save a bit faster. In addition, your properties will be gaining value. When you come to remortgage, it's likely that you will have more equity than when you started, and some of that equity can potentially be released to use towards your next deposit.

For many people, owning a few BTL's that provide some long term financial security is enough. You might be happy to just leave them to grow in value over time and bring in some extra income that you build up for a rainy day. Managing a larger portfolio is a responsibility and will take some time and effort, so it's important to consider this before growing a portfolio and fine if you are happier to keep things small.

However, if you are looking for tips to optimise your investing, I would recommend you start by setting some goals and objectives. By knowing why you are investing, what you ultimately want to achieve, and by when, you will then find it far easier to know the best approach to take. Once you are clear about what you want to achieve, you can then start to plan the steps to make that objective realistic and achievable.

If you would like advice about anything specific, please feel free to message me.

Chris (www.fintentional.co.uk)

[EvolutionBlogger]

20 hours ago, 10101010 said:

Hey all. Newbie here. Bit of background, have a ltd company with a couple of buy to let’s in and looking to step it and expand over next few years. 
looking for tips

A lot of people (myself included) find that buy to let doesn't provide good returns these days. My preferred solution is commercial property - yields are much higher and SDLT is much lower. I've written loads of free articles about commercial property and other investment strategies on this page. Other people look into serviced apartments or HMOs. 

Is there any particular problem that you're having at the moment?  
 

[10101010]

Thanks both. 
Reason for getting into the BTLs is that we want a level of financial freedom, hence why we are looking to either add more properties or maximise via changing current BTLs to HMOs to provide more month to month profit.

timeline asap really 😕

[Guest]

You've said that you want to achieve a level of financial freedom, so I would start by looking to define what financial freedom looks like for you, as it can be different for different people. Try to be really specific. How much income do you need to be financially free? Think about your living costs and anything else that you want the property income to cover. I wrote an article here that might help: https://www.fintentional.co.uk/is-financial-freedom-achievable/

Once you have a figure to aim towards, also think about how you would spend your time once you achieve that figure? Would you continue working, go part time, change career, start your own business, or stop working altogether? If you still plan to work in some capacity, chances are you'll still have some income from that even if it's less than you earn now, so then your financial freedom number required from property is less (and therefore easier to achieve).

This is the initial process I always follow with the investors I work with, because once you are clear on what you want to achieve and how you would spend your time, it's easier to model how the journey would look based on the different options available.

Different strategies will involve varying levels of work, hassle, and risk. That's why knowing how you would spend your time is so important, as some strategies can be a job in themselves. For example, HMO's will provide a higher income but involve a lot more work and hassle, so I wouldn't be recommending them if you want to spend much of your time travelling or taking long holidays. Commercial property can produce a higher income but can also be riskier than residential because it is more reliant on the economy, so if you find risk stressful and don't need to take the extra risk to achieve enough income to hit your goals, you might prefer a safer investment even if the yield is lower.

I don't have a bias towards any one strategy in particular and I have personally invested in most of them at some stage. They all have their own pros and cons, and they will each work for certain people and certain goals, but no strategy is the best for everyone. The number one best piece of advice I can give is to ignore anyone who tries to tell you the best strategy without first understanding who you are as a person and what you want to achieve!

Chris (www.fintentional.co.uk)

[EvolutionBlogger]

19 hours ago, 10101010 said:

Thanks both. 
Reason for getting into the BTLs is that we want a level of financial freedom, hence why we are looking to either add more properties or maximise via changing current BTLs to HMOs to provide more month to month profit.

timeline asap really 😕

If your timeline is ASAP,  then you will need to find more capital to invest and invest in more profitable projects. 

With BTLs, you're not going to achieve financial freedom for a long time. The yields aren't high enough. The 3% SDLT surcharge is also very costly. 

HMOs are more profitable and could be a possible solution. You need to find out if there are article 4 restrictions in your area. If so, then the Permitted Development rights for HMOs won't apply. 

Do you have a pension? You can convert it to a SSAS Pension, and then use your pension funds to invest in property. I wrote an article about it. You can also lend money from your pension to your ltd co at a rate that you choose. I was able to borrow from my pension at 0.75% in the past (beat that!). 

 

[francolerda]

Hi,

sounds really interesting as a business plan and project for the future.

As my 2cents, I suggest you to use a property management platform to help you stay on top of your assets and relativo rental yields and ROIs.

There are lot's of them on the market although you can try with the ones that are free up to X number of managed tenancies. 

Try it out and see for yourself if it's something that suits your needs.

Let me know how it goes and best of luck with your project 😎

[ramand]

Hi All,

Another newbie to the PH forum from Surrey.. Bit of quick intro - working in a full time financial services in London with a determined motivation to get 6 BTL property (got 2 BTL as of date) by 31-Dec --2026 to meet my monthly financial needs and retire from full time 9 to 5 job and expand the property portfolio full time from 2027..

Looking in to Chris_Hancox and EvolutionBlogger message and will look in to your article links and touch base soon

Cheers

Raman

 

[EvolutionBlogger]

On 7/28/2022 at 5:34 PM, ramand said:

Another newbie to the PH forum from Surrey.. Bit of quick intro - working in a full time financial services in London with a determined motivation to get 6 BTL property (got 2 BTL as of date) by 31-Dec --2026 to meet my monthly financial needs and retire from full time 9 to 5 job and expand the property portfolio full time from 2027..

Looking in to Chris_Hancox and EvolutionBlogger message and will look in to your article links and touch base soon

 

HI Raman. That is a terrific goal. You might want to consider commercial too. It could help you achieve your goals a lot faster.

Stamp duty is much lower for commercial properties. A £500k BTL has £30k of SDLT. A £500k commercial property has £14.5k. SDLT. 
 

[ramand]

Thank you @EvolutionBlogger for the information. I have not thought about commercial property angle at all.. Any pointers or direction to look in to would be good for me to explore.. 

Also, I have seen your blog on Pension-SSAS scheme.. I do have a Pension-SIPP portfolio and from your experience, is this something that can be transferred and utilised the capital for property investments??

Many Thanks

[EvolutionBlogger]

With Commercial Property, it's not difficult to find properties with 10%+ yields. Whether that's retail, hairdressers, warehouses etc. You just need to go out view properties. Find somewhere in a good location, with good foot traffic. In the part of London I live in, residential property yields are under 3%...

A more advanced (and profitable) strategy are commercial conversions. This is where you convert an old commercial properties into a modern residential property. The new residential property will often be worth 2/3x the old commercial property.

SIPP Pensions can definitely be transferred to a SSAS. 

Let me know if you want to set up a (free) call

[ramand]

Yes, Let's setup a call to discuss and explore converting SIPP pensions to SSAS..

Let me know what time would be good to have a meeting??

 

[EvolutionBlogger]

On 8/12/2022 at 9:18 PM, ramand said:

Yes, Let's setup a call to discuss and explore converting SIPP pensions to SSAS..

Let me know what time would be good to have a meeting??

 

I've sent you a personal message