Build your property dream team

This week we’re talking about how to put together your property dream team. What professionals should you be working with, and how do you pick the best people for the job?

So these are the team members we picked out:

Solicitor: You don’t have a choice about using one of these (unless you are one). So the key is to choose someone who suits your style of investing. We tell you what to look out for.

Letting agent: We talked about agents extensively in Episode 5, however Rob B still has a few more tips about how to pick a good one.

Mortgage broker: “Best Buy” tables will only take you so far. A good broker can save you thousands of pounds in interest payments over the years, although you need to make sure they understand the needs of investors as opposed to owner-occupiers.

Property sourcer: Why would you pay someone to find you a property when you can just walk into an estate agent’s office? We’ll tell you why it might be a better idea than you first think.

Accountant: You can do your own accounts, but what value do you put on your own time and sanity? As with all professionals, a good accountant will save you much more than you pay them.

Mentors: Do you need to pay for the services of a mentor, or could everyone in your team be a mentor? We talk the issue over.

Resource of the week

News 24 and a quick flip through the Metro isn’t good enough for Rob B. Nope, he’s got three killer apps that he uses to bring the most relevant news to his iPad.

First up is Flipboard (Apple only) which presents the news beautifully, then Trapit, which brings the news to you. Finally, Pulse (Apple and Android) makes the news easy to share.

On a less techie note, we also talked about AllAgents, which is a really useful source of genuine reviews of estate and letting agents.

This week’s news

Two news stories this week – first, Mervyn King expressing concern about the government’s “Help to buy” scheme.

Secondly, the news was also announced this week that the UK missed its house building target by a country mile. Although this doesn’t come as a surprise as it has done every year in recent memory. We put it in a global perspective, and talk about what it might mean.

Mentions and shout-outs

Rob B was in the Investors Chronicle talking about student pods this week. Spoiler: he’s not a fan.

We also made our weekly mention of Pete Matthew from Meaningful Money – yup, if ever two podcasts needed to get a room…

Tell us what you thought of the show!

Who’s the linchpin of your property team? Or do you prefer to do things on your own?

Did we miss anything out, or was there a part of the show you particularly enjoyed?

Just let us know by getting in touch.