By Raj Sharma – Host PIP Birmingham
The first of the regional PIP meetings for September saw Birmingham members meeting up at their new permanent venue, Avery Fields in Edgbaston.
Given that many members were on hols and not all kids had gone back to school yet, there was still a great turnout, with members eager to network, get the latest updates and hear the speakers for the day.
Introductions
The introductions round was once again an informative insight into what our members are doing and how they can help others. And it was great to hear from a couple of new members joining us this month.
Craig Beesley – Mortgage Update
First up was Craig Beesley from The Mortgage Consultancy with the latest mortgage updates, but there was also some mindset advice and some motivation! Despite the doom and gloom in the media, August 2022 was the TMC’s busiest month – EVER! Rates continue to surge but there are still lots of products to choose from, although they are now more expensive.
Craig expects there to be a significant slowdown and for more opportunities to arise for investors. He predicted Bank of England base rate to hit 3% but reminded us that it was around 5%+ in 2007/8 – we’ve coped before and will cope now!
Roy Alexander – SERCO
Our second presentation of the day was from Roy Alexander of Serco, who are a FTSE 250 company providing public services and amongst many things, are tasked with housing asylum seekers into the U.K., covering the NW, West Midlands and SE of England.
SERCO want to work with landlords, acting as their tenant with up to 10 year leases to house the refugees. Benefits include maintenance, competitive rents, no voids and they require flats, houses and HMOs.
Serco will liaise with councils to determine if a property is suitable and will advise on the property standards required
Adam Lawrence: 2023 Predictions
Next up was Adam Lawrence with his predictions for 2023 – and you know Adam’s predictions are going to be based on solid economic theory, tonnes of research and lots of experience!
Adam predicted the base rate to eventually top 5% – the Bank of England’s only weapon against the rapidly rising rate of inflation is interest rate increases and they would keep doing it until something breaks! And with the fairly big movement upwards in the bond yields, expect 5-5.5% remortgages within 6 months at todays prices for 5 year debt.
But the message as ever was look for the opportunities – they are there – “keep calm and carry on!”
Member’s Showcase – Sarah Watt
Our next presentation of the day was a Member’s Showcase from the brilliant Sarah Watt – mother, Property investor and lover of interior design!
Sarah is currently a finalist for no less then three awards at the HMO Awards and her portfolio does have a strong bias towards HMOs, namely high end Co Living homes for young professionals.
Sarah’s presentation, “From Sydney to Milton Keynes” charted the journey from her first BTL in Sydney in 2011 to the impressive portfolio she now has of pet friendly single lets and co living homes in Northampton. Originally working as a commercial accountant, she transitioned into a full time property investor with her husband Andrew, an electrician by trade.
We learnt about a typical co living tenant – they are in their mid 20s, have moved away from home town, are career focussed, sociable and prefer not to live in an isolated flat while they save up for a bigger place of their own.
Sarah ran through some numbers from a recent project. It was interesting that a recent project worked better as a single let rather than a HMO due to increasing refurb costs and energy prices.
Their company Alt Street is focused on building community through superbly designed, sustainable properties and making renting better by landlording with a difference.
A motivating and inspirational member’s showcase.
Helen Turner COHO
Our next speaker of the day was Helen Turner, co founder of COHO, with her presentation entitled “Systemising in Property & HMO Management”
Helen asked the question – “Are your operations scalable?” COHO aims to be the HMO management software you cannot do without. It manages your compliance, new tenants, communications, maintenance, financials and performance.
It provides a non clunky, user friendly app based interface allowing you to manage at scale.
Helen also mentioned COHO’s HMO Awards at Stowe School, Buckingham where they will be recognising the leading lights in the HMO industry! Still time to book – and there is an offer for PIP members!
Round Tables
The buffet lunch and further networking was followed by the famous PIP Mastermind tables, more recently renamed Round Tables. Sarah Watt, Helen Turner and Ian Walmsley (The Planning Geek) answered any further questions and there’s always a great chance to have 1-2-1 meetings with other members and sponsors.
That concluded another superb meeting – and we’ll do it all again on 7th October – which will be our 5th birthday special – dedicated to our members with presentations from three members telling us all about their property endeavours!
To find out more about our meetings, or to become a member please click HERE
Can’t wait to see you all!
There will be cake 🥳🥳🥳
Raj and Angela PIP Birmingham, HOSTS
