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Investment Property - Part 3
Foreign Property
Because of price increases, more and more would be property investors have been squeezed out of the UK market. They have therefore started to look overseas to provide them with property that will give them a decent return, at prices they can still afford to pay. Although there are huge gains to be made by choosing the right developments in the right city centres around the world, exceptional care needs to be taken. Most average people lack the expertise to make an informed choice on their own and good advice should therefore be sought before a decision is made.
Lifestyle Versus Investment
One of the most common mistakes made by private property investors, particularly when buying abroad, is in confusing the aims of lifestyle with those of investment. It is very tempting to buy that holiday apartment on the beach in the latest property hotspot and to convince yourself that it will rocket in value, rent for a fortune and provide endless cheap holidays for the family. The reality is usually that there is no resale market and renting the property is difficult. The returns are often low and well below expectations and in many cases, after the first two years you never even go there, not good! This scenario is not a universal one but in general it is wise to separate the two goals of lifestyle and investment and keep them separate.
The Profit is in the Purchase
Once you have chosen the market in which you want to invest, the profit will be as much as in the purchase as it will be in the appreciation over time. The aim is to buy your property as much underneath normal market value as possible. In order to buy property below market value you can either go it alone or seek help. As demand for property as an investment increases and becomes ever more sophisticated, it becomes harder and harder for the lone investor to identify the best deals on their own. Therefore, the more compelling it becomes to join with others and thereby increase your resources and bargaining power.
Property Auctions
Property auctions are a great place to go to pick up a bargain but they are not for the ill informed, the faint hearted or for those requiring a lot of initial finance. If you are going to seriously look at auctions as a source of your property investment it would be wise to join an auction information service like that provided by Choices. In this way they will do the hard work of sifting through the thousands of properties which come to the market every month and only send you the ones that fit your criteria. Choices as a company offers its information service for a lifetime membership fee of £250+vat followed by an annual subscription of £60.
Below Market Value
Unlike their competitors, in addition to auction properties you will also have access to general help and advice from their trained consultants at no further charge. You will also receive details of below market value opportunities in the UK and abroad which have been found by Choices, who advertise constantly for these properties on behalf of their clients. If you go on to buy any of these properties Choices charge a buyer’s commission. As an upgrade to the information service, Choices also offers a retained client service, retained clients are allocated their own advisor and will receive details of below market value properties before general subscribers. The cost of this service is £1500 lifetime membership plus £30 per month plus VAT.
To find out more about Choices service and for a further insight into the property market and how it works, we recommend you watch Choices free property investment tutorial presented by Sarah Walker of BBC 1’s ‘To Buy or not To Buy’.
We hope you have enjoyed reading about property investments on LOOK4APROPERTY.COM and we wish you every success and good fortune with your future plans.