- I'm starting to see lots of opportunities
for property investment in London,
where the deals really stack up.
But I believe you do need to take
a slightly different approach.
And so today, let's talk about where to buy in London,
and also what kind of deals
you should really be looking for.
(relaxing jazz music)
Hi, my name's Anthony Law from Your First Four Houses,
and I teach people how to build a small property portfolio
that generates a great income for them
so they can give up the day job if they wish,
because they're now financially free.
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Over the past two decades, the population of London
has been growing by roughly 100,000 people a year,
so there's obviously, therefore,
a huge demand for pretty much every type of accommodation.
But also, obviously,
it's not a cheap place to invest (laughs).
If you live in London, I'm sure you already know that,
and there's currently some real concerns
about whether the values of properties in London
are gonna be dropping.
So, could this mean a fantastic opportunity for you,
to get out there and grab some really great deals
that are gonna give you a really good cashflow?
So today, I wanna share a few ideas
that are gonna help you find those really great deals,
and let's start off by considering
where to buy in London.
I honestly think that the location
that you ultimately choose
should really depend on the strategy that you're following.
So, for example, if you're looking at single
(mumbles) type units, I honestly think
you're gonna wanna find the bests yields
or the best return on the investment that you can
for the investment that you're buying.
So maybe check out the Portico Yield Heat Map.
This is a fantastic little tool,
and it will show you, really quite accurately
where you can get some great yields,
although you should always do your own due diligence.
And I'll put the link to this in the description box below.
Or if you're looking for HMOs,
honestly, you need to focus on, I would suggest,
where there is a tremendous demand,
because in some areas of London,
the demand is absolutely huge (laughs).
As an example, I was just looking at Lewisham.
It's just one particular area,
and there's currently 146 rooms available,
but there's nearly 4400 people looking for rooms.
Honestly, that's just mad!
Huge demand means less viewings,
it means less voids, and of course,
you're gonna be able to probably
get a better income on that property.
Other obvious things to consider would be things
like child support links in the area,
the local employers, especially if you're looking at HMOs.
Facilities around the property that you're looking to buy.
Also, maybe you could consider
looking for commercial opportunities.
Rather than residential,
could you maybe invest in some office space
or some warehousing, or maybe some shops.
The cost per square metre can be considerably less
than the same cost per square metre
on a residential-type property.
Or better yet, could you maybe convert
a commercial property into residential?
Now, there's some real advantages to this type of strategy.
So you could maybe convert a shop into residential.
There's some planning and some tax advantages.
These include VAT and stamp duty,
although speak to your accountant about this.
You've gotta get out there and walk the streets (laughs).
I know I talk about this a lot,
and one quick example,
I was recently up in Barnack
'cause I'm originally from Potters Bar,
which is just outside the M25,
and I was in Barnack, and I was walking around Barnack,
and I found some fantastic opportunities,
like, loads of them, just by walking around
and looking for potential properties
where I could add real, real tangible value.
Now, I'm not suggesting that any of these
were actually on the market at the moment,
but when you find a place where you can clearly add
some substantial value,
make sure you've got some little leaflets with you,
ideally handwritten, I would always suggest,
though I don't like using yellow paper.
I know a lot of people do that,
I just use normal white paper,
but they look like they're handwritten,
and you'll wanna go and put those
to the property that you're actually thinking of buying.
Now, obviously,
probably it's not gonna be on the market now,
but will they be selling a little bit down the line?
Maybe so.
But you're then gonna put that property onto a spreadsheet,
and you're gonna follow-up, follow-up,
follow-up, follow-up, follow-up forever (laughs).
Just keep writing to that property,
and at some point down the line, they will sell.
If you do this enough, you may have loads of properties
on your spreadsheet, and ultimately,
they will start to generate
some really good potential deals for you.
Also, if you're walking around the streets,
A, look for empty houses,
but also don't assume, when you walk past a potential site,
and it's maybe got some signage up there
but no one's working on it for about a year,
don't assume that somebody's actually doing that deal.
Make your own inquiries.
Don't just sort of walk on by and say to yourself,
"well, obviously somebody's
"already doing that particular property,"
don't assume that.
Download the title deeds, write to the owner,
and maybe start an interaction with the owner,
because maybe you can get a fantastic deal
where others have just walked by.
Work with existing landlords.
Goodness knows there is so much negativity out there
at the moment in the landlord type community.
Of course you are probably fully aware of this.
Tax changes, legislation changes,
changes in demand in some areas,
many landlords, to be really honest,
they're kinda throwing the towel in.
This could be a huge opportunity for you,
and there are a number of ways
that you can help these landlords
to create a win-win deal,
a deal that works firstly for them, I would always suggest,
but also works absolutely fantastically for you.
I don't wanna get to heavy here,
but this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to connect with those landlords
who are really unsure
about what they wanna do moving forwards.
Maybe they're gonna think about retiring early,
so you've got to take a whole load of action
to connect with these.
Lastly, can I encourage you to think outside the box.
What do I mean by that?
Well, there's a number of things we could talk about here.
But what about maybe taking that house,
and converting it into two or three flats?
I've done that.
It can create a fantastic return on investment.
I'd also encourage you, in London,
to maybe start thinking a little bit smaller.
There are some amazing properties out there,
or tiny homes, as I call them,
and I love tiny homes (laughs)
with some really amazing design ideas
that have been incorporated into them
to make these tiny homes work fantastically well.
But ideally, you wanna try and get a place
that's gonna be bigger than 30 square metres,
because if it's less than 30 square metres,
then in many areas it can become unmortgageable.
Also, learn how to use creative solutions
and find and help truly motivated sellers.
This is a fantastic way to get real equity in properties,
but also create some really great win-win solutions,
and it's certainly how I started out investing.
If this type of strategy interests you,
can I suggest clicking here
and checking out my free mini-course,
because I cover this extensively,
and it's completely free.
Could you maybe buy with friends
who are also in the same kind of boat?
Maybe you sort of pool your resources.
But if you're gonna do this, please do it legally,
please go to a solicitor, get it all drawn up
properly with a contract.
A handshake simply isn't good enough.
Also, while we're talking about thinking outside of the box,
I've gotta ask the question,
"do you really have to invest in London at all?"
Don't get me wrong, there are obviously
lots of opportunities in London,
that's the kind of point of this video,
but if you're not tied to London,
are there maybe some better deals outside of the capital?
(relaxing jazz music)
In my completely free online property mini-course,
I can teach you how to put a small property portfolio
that generates a great income for you,
but importantly, without needing to put in big deposits.
Simply click the link here to find out more.