PIC; Property Investment Techniques, Advice & Strategies. Assetz for Investors

Home About Us UK Property Overseas Property Information & Advice Seminars & Exhibitions News Finance Sitemap Jobs


	quick register NAME EMAIL PHONE Please register to receive regular email updates about property investment news and opportunities from Assetz. We will not share your information with any third parties. Please see our privacy policy for more information.


	the best mortgage rates for 'buy-to-let' and commercial property CLICK FOR INSTANT QUOTES


	managing director's blog on property investment CLICK HERE TO VIEW

PROPERTY INVESTMENT NEWS

13-May-2008
Bank Of England Is Now Able to Act more

13-May-2008
Cape on investing more

13-May-2008
Flint's price fears not written in stone more

12-May-2008
Where France's growth is more

12-May-2008
Location, location, location not just for buyers more

All Property Investment News

Get new properties as soon as they are added by subscribing to our RSS feed

Read more about RSS readers.

If you're interested in becoming an affiliate and getting our property details via RSS, see our Assetz Affiliate site

WELCOME! - We notice that you are not yet registered... The service is free and will allow you to enquire about the properties that you are interested in. Simply follow the 3 steps below, or fill out the quick register form on the left.
1 » Register	2 » Search	3 » Enquire

Property Investment Techniques

There are several ways to approach property investment and the starting point should always be a decision on whether you are a cautious, adventurous or speculative investor. According to this decision you would adopt one of the following strategies, or a mix of them in order to create a balanced portfolio.

Cautious :

	Buy resale, completed new-build or near completed new-build properties from reputable builders in sound areas with a genuine discount and/ or substantially greater rental income than current mortgage rates cost - a 150%+ gross interest cover is preferable, not just 130% requested by banks. Assetz for Investors has offered properties with 200%+ interest cover in the past.
	Ideally seek properties with both a discount and high return but at least a high rental income to provide safety in case of interest rises or future rental rate reductions. Genuine discounts are often accompanied by high interest cover in any case and will always be provable against other local properties.
	Obtain fixed rate longer term mortgages to minimise short term risk.
	Buy in carefully researched areas with high rental demand using specialists such as Assetz for Investors.
	Take a long term view and do not sell into short term downturns.
	Adopt repayment mortgages as soon as you can or even pay cash or at least high deposits for the properties if you can afford to.
	BENEFITS - insulation from interest rate rises, strong cashflow from the properties, capital paid off in years to come so all rent can be taken as income, good chance of leveraged capital gain. RISKS - significant interest rate rises, significant rental value reductions, oversupply of rental property in your area, significant price drops at a time you must sell. WHO FOR ? - older or risk averse investors, those with limited investment capital and little or no risk capital.

Moderate Risk :

	Buy off-plan or completed properties with a genuine discount and ideally greater rental income than current mortgage rates cost - a 150%+ gross interest cover is preferable, not just 130% requested by banks. Ensure that low interest cover now is likely to become good interest cover in the near future if an area is being redeveloped.
	Genuine discounts are often accompanied by high interest cover in any case but in areas undergoing significant redevelopment you could get great capital gains in the coming years as development is undergoing but have poor rental indications and interest cover in the short term.
	Obtain fixed rate longer term mortgages to minimise short term risk if you are worried about affordability of properties in the event of interest rate rises, otherwise obtain the best rates with minimum redemptions if you are positive about the future of interest rates or can easily cover any rises in rates.
	Buy in carefully researched areas with high rental demand currently or forecast using specialists such as Assetz for Investors.
	Take a long term view and do not sell into short term downturns.
	Consider buying some properties off-plan in order to resell prior to or shortly after completion but only where the discounts are significant against current provable market value. This will increase your investment equity if this speculative component is successful and this profit can be used to fund future deposits (after tax!).
	BENEFITS - modest insulation from interest rate rises, probable/ modest positive net cashflow's from the property that will get greater over the years, good chance of strong , leveraged capital gain. RISKS - moderate interest rate rises, moderate rental value reductions, oversupply of rental property in your area, moderate price drops at a time you must sell. WHO FOR ? - younger and less risk averse investors, those with reasonable investment capital and some risk capital.

Speculative :

	Buy off-plan properties with a genuine and provable discount to current or forecast future market value with around 5% exchange deposit and in an area that will probably have either strong rental demand, strong buy to live demand or both in the future.
	Genuine discounts are often accompanied by high interest cover in any case but in areas undergoing significant redevelopment you could get great capital gains in the coming years as development is undergoing but have poor rental indications and interest cover in the short term.
	Buy in carefully researched areas using specialists such as Assetz for Investors.
	Ensure the contract is assignable and sell before completion to another buyer or shortly after completion.
	BENEFITS - no need to apply for a mortgage, no management of the property, no stamp duty on sales before completion (at present), good chance of strong , leveraged capital gains possible of 10%-100%'s in a short time. RISKS - strong interest rate rises, mis-quoted property discounts leading to leveraged capital loss rather than gain, strong price drops or forecast price rises that do not occur at the time you sell, builders pulling out of development sales pre-exchange due to strong demand and market price rises. WHO FOR ? - very young and and/or risk friendly investors, those with reasonable access to capital and willing to put it at risk in return for large possible returns.

Finally some guidance and advice from experienced professionals :

	Always seek guidance from other investors and experienced professionals such as those who attend our seminars and training courses.
	Always check discounts against actual market value of comparable properties - it has been known for these to be inflated by vendors !
	Buy in carefully researched areas using specialists such as Assetz for Investors.
	Be careful of 'Free' seminars teaching you how to buy property with no money down - especially when they are just selling you a very expensive follow-on seminar or very expensive membership of a club.
	Beware of clubs offering a constant stream of 15%+ discounted properties - do your own research on the discounts, there are very few large discounts to current genuine market value like this in the current rising market.
	If you don't have any money to pay deposits and costs then you are taking a massive risk by borrowing it for deposits.
	Always check rental indications against actual market value rents of comparable properties - it has been known for these to be inflated by vendors !
	Always leave some capital spare for deposit shortfalls and rent shortfalls.
	Don't fall for the discounts shown on a price list from a developer or agent that was only reprinted at new prices a few minutes before ! It is not unknown for there to be a buy-to-live price list and an 'investors' price list !

In order to build a successful portfolio please feel free to contact us to discuss these points in more detail.

And remember - please seek independent financial advice before acting on any advice from ourselves or others !

See all of our other property investment articles here.

Don't hesitate - Just fill out the online form!

Risk Warning and Disclaimer : The price of property can go down as well as up. Historic performance should not be taken as a guarantee of future performance. Geared property investment with mortgages can increase risk of losing money as well as increasing the possible gains. Mortgage products referred to in the website can be withdrawn by the lender or have rates or other terms changed without notice and reference to any products does not imply they are certain to be available in the future. Mortgages referred to may also have certain applicant restrictions and are for indicative purposes only although reasonable endeavours have been used to ensure that they are available at the time of publication and are applicable to a significant number of our purchasers. This site is for information purposes only and nothing on this site should be taken as definitive investment advice for your particular situation without you seeking additional guidance directly from ourselves or from other finance and property professionals. Property particulars on this site do not form part of an offer or contract. The developer and Assetz for Investors Ltd, whilst endeavouring to ensure complete accuracy in these property particulars, cannot accept liability for any errors. All descriptions, dimensions, areas, reference to condition and, if necessary, permissions for use and occupation and their details, are given in good faith as provided by the developer and are believed to be correct. However, these are subject to change, especially, but not wholly, relating to any property that is off-plan or not yet complete. Any intending purchaser should not rely on them as statements or representations of fact but must satisfy themselves by inspection or otherwise as to their accuracy. The onus is on each individual investor to undertake their own due diligence, enquiries and inspections. E. & O. E.

For more information please call us on 0161-456-4000

Copyright © 2001- 2008 - Assetz® for Investors Limited
Manchester: Assetz House, Newby Road, Stockport, Cheshire, SK7 5DA
London: 23 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6HE
TEL (UK): 0845 400 9000 FAX: 0845 400 6010
TEL (International): 0044 161 456 4000 FAX: 0044 161 482 7588