By Jess Macaulay
Thank you to everyone who joined us at August’s meeting in London. This month was all about our fantastic members to share learnings, deals, the positives, and the negatives of being a property developer. If you couldn’t make it, the presentations will be on The Vault or I’m sure our presenters will be happy to chat to you at next month’s meeting too.
After getting introductions from everyone in the room Eni Akindele explained how she spent 300+ hours doubling her cashflow. Eni’s presentation focused on how she decided to reinvest into one of her units, changing the strategy from a traditional BTL to a serviced accommodation unit and the financial and physical results of that. Lots of detail on what worked well and what didn’t so definitely one to watch
Peter Amayke followed Eni’s presentation discussing whether rent to serviced accommodation was a good strategy for beginners. Peter went through a case study of a property he’d used this strategy on, details on the fees, structure, management, technology etc. were all provided. He outlined the importance of really understanding the guest type, numbers, team and the exit in order to make it work and also the importance of a swift exit if it doesn’t.
Next up was Josh Munt from Insurance-Desk. Providing the latest details around property insurance he talked through the issues in the sector around under insurance and the requirements to regularly get the portfolio revalued to ensure its valued at the correct level.
Emily Shelly ran us through an auction purchase in Hampshire. She outlined more about the building, the plan to increase its value and the purchasing process. Whilst the plan was to undertake a title split and upgrade one of the flats, working with the existing tenants to increase rents, altering the plans so there was less upfront costs meant that this ended with a slightly different end point that was a win win.
Peter Vandervennin from the Mortgage Consultancy talked us through what had been happening in the lending market as we have seen another base rate rise since we last met. He mentioned that serious property players are buying now and whilst the rates remain high if you’re getting a substantial discount on purchases the rate of lending is less important if it comes with a 50% discount on the way in. He felt that the next 4-6 months would be crucial to property investors and developers and could provide some very exciting purchasing opportunities.
Michaela Thurston Anaka from My Home, Bespoke Estate Agents led the final session at Augusts PIP. She talked about the renter’s reform bill, checklists for landlords, and the expected government control which is coming in within the private rented sector. Michaela also explained more about hazards within properties and shared her go to mold removing product that she supplies all her tenants with during winter months.
All the presentations will be available for members that could not attend on the PIP Vault.
Next month we are meeting at the Dickens Inn on Thursday the 14th of September, 9.30-4pm with networking post meeting. September’s meeting will see Richard Bowser from Property Investor News speaking about the property marketplace realities in 2023 and his thoughts on prospects ahead. We’ll have an auction panel with Andrew Brown from Strettons, Piotr Rusinek from Hammered and David Leary from EIG to talk through the current state of play in auctions followed by a session from Thomas Howells from Signature Finance.
We’re looking forward to seeing you all next month, Jess, and Sue.
