The one about whether to become a property developer. London, March.

Mar 14, 2023

By Jess Macaulay.

It was great to see a room again buzzing with member conversations and property project catch ups at March’s London meeting.

We kicked off the day with Ritchie Clapson, Founder of Property CEO. He told us, juxtaposed with a raft of Dad jokes, how it was ‘definitely not’ a good idea to get into small-scale property development. In seriousness, his experience of what can work and what can go horribly wrong in development provided a candid approach in terms of what could be in store and how best to approach this should you wish to become a small-scale developer. Catch up on the vault for our members.

Josh Munt from Insurance-Desk explained what’s going on within the insurance market. He suggested to work with your broker to avoid having an average house price listed on your insurance, get it valued and ensure you have the correct reinstatement values for your portfolio. Consider contents cover even for BTL landlords as it includes carpets, communal areas and any fixtures and fittings. In addition, if you’re moving away from standard BTLs and introducing alternative tenant types such as HMOs / serviced accommodation, don’t forget to tell your broker.

Peter Vandervennin from The Mortgage Consultancy updated us on the mortgage market. He outlined lots of the sophisticated property investment opportunities out there now for our members and the lending that surrounds it (short leases, social housing, commercial to residential etc). Peter also suggested considering offset mortgages as some interesting products were emerging into the market.

Paul Davis, CEO of Nimbus Maps finished off the day full of knowledge and networking by sharing more about what they are seeing within the property marketplace as well as why he set the company up. Using available data, we learnt more about the various opportunities that lie in wait for the seasoned property investor. Whether it be from misunderstandings or opportunities around EPCs, soaring energy prices, freehold blocks or commercial to residential the next 18 months should provide ample opportunities within your businesses. Paul and our other speakers and sponsors kindly shared a lot of their knowledge and time with our members within our afternoon roundtables as well to answer more project specific questions.

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 13th of April, 9.30-4pm with networking post meeting. We will be hearing from our sponsors as well as being joined by our keynote speaker’s, property developer Saif Rehan and Nico Rensch from Wunderhaus. If you’re interested in becoming a member and joining us, please visit the membership page here.

Looking forward to seeing you all next month, Jess and Des.