Yields explained, rants and a new intro

This week we’re going back to basics and explaining some essential property calculations. We’ll be going over gross yield, net yield, and Return on Investment.

We explain what each means, give an example, and talk about when you might want to use it. As well as sounding a note of caution not to get too caught up in the numbers and forget about all the other factors that determine whether a property investment will be any good.

In The Telegraph this week, Kirstie Allsopp said that getting on the property ladder has never been easy.

Which was our cue to go into a bit of a “young people these days don’t know they’re born” rant. Sorry, young people.

Rob B wasted a good portion of his week creating a fantasy life in different parts of the country, thanks to the BBC’s “Where can I afford to live?” calculator.

By filling in the property type you want, and the amount you can afford to pay in rent or mortgage repayments, the site calculates which areas of the country you could afford to live in – and what percentage of the country as a whole you could afford.

It’s broad data, but could be useful in targeting areas of the country you hadn’t previously considered for investment. Or distracting you from your emails for an hour, at least.

We mentioned that to celebrate both Robs being in London for once, we’re thinking about having an informal listeners’ meetup. If you can get to London easily and you’re interested in chatting property one evening, drop us a line and let us know!

We also mentioned that our Entrepreneur on Fire interviews are now up, and gave another shout-out to Mark Alexander from Property 118 in response to his iTunes review.

Did our explanations of different property calculations make sense?

Which number do you primarily base your investment decisions on?

Tell us what you thought of the show!