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The rest of this article is available to members only.
Please Login or go to the homepage where you can enter your email address and name to become a member

I hope that each of you had the Christmas that suited you.

Well, here it is - the last blog in the last week of 2009. Almost time to put the chairs on the tables for the last time before I turn the sign on the door to ‘closed’ in a few days time. From next week our produce will have passed its end-of-2009 sell-by date.

Well that’s how I have been viewing this email, but I hadn’t reckoned on the sudden interest in our service - the stream of new and existing customers suddenly dropping into the shop to ask advice - even suggesting topics that I should cover in blogs. They are all very much appreciated and I will be only too pleased to help any member for the foreseeable future. I am still passionate that you invest wisely and effectively, so please feel free to knock on the side door even though the blinds are down in the widows onto the High Street.

However, the lease on the premises is paid in advance, so I have decided to freeze the website for the moment. I will be watching the market as usual and, as a consequence of your sudden interest in my offerings, I might be persuaded to update the site…so watch that space. But if not, in April I will open the doors for anyone requesting access to the training seminars. No charge. You can come in and clear the shelves of old stock. So those of you who are non-members can get access at a time when members will have taken any advantage by being early birds. That stated, I’m confident that much of information is appropriate to the market at any time. How to find a bargain; where and how to do yourresearch; how to negotiate; how to communicate with agents and builders - these are lessons that will always work.

Remember that you will have to send an email to request access - it’s not automatic.

Just as last week I reviewed the year (well, sort of) in keeping with tradition, at the end of this little era, it seems appropriate to assess my performance. To assess whether I can claim to walk the walk or did I just talk the talk. You can judge. This is my personal track record which I reduce here to the barest summary of residential properties that I have bought during the last two years.

Not spectacular by many investors’ standards, but the potential growth and rental income will provide a return that £110,000 invested in a pension could not hope to emulate. Those of you who have read my biography on the website will know the significance of that statement. It’s also a lot more than companies such as Passive Investments ever promise to do for their investors.

The longer term growth will tell whether I have bought as well as I hope. Naturally I did my homework (just as I demonstrate in Module One) to do my best to have identified safe target areas in which to invest for the long term. If that proves to be the case, projecting forward, if I let the equity grow for the next decade, the profile should look something like this:

Based on my original investment of £110K, that’s a total ROI of more than 1600%.

Naturally none of that would be possible without the original £110K, but it’s not the most important investment in that summary. My greatest investment was time. Time to study what I wanted to achieve - to define my target. Time spent at seminars trying to assess what I needed to know and who was worth listening to. Time spent meeting and speaking to people who know what they are talking about. And time spent researching the market, my target locations and the business of property investment.

It’s important for you to have the confidence that if I can do it, you can do it. I’m an amateur. This isn’t my profession so I don’t concern myself with the fine detail of processes undertaken by my mortgage advisor, solicitors, surveyors or the agents. I think I understand the bits that I need to know to assess whether or not I am getting a good service from people who I am employing to work in my interest. Each is a professional in just one of the inter-related jig-saw trades. Some are great and professional but some are lacking. I consider it my job to identify the difference; not to do their job, but only to appoint the best people do the work for me. Then I assemble the pieces of the puzzle to create the picture.

If that’s sounding familiar, so it should. At the risk of repeating myself, I will tell you that the most important thing you will bring to investment is not your money, but your brain. The processes that you will follow are not as much financial as intellectual. If you have the latter you will learn the former, but it doesn’t necessarily apply the other way around.

I know very little if anything about you, dear reader. There are some clues in some of your email addresses and from that evidence I think that the majority of you are professionals. Some from property-related companies, banking and the media. So you take your intellect to work every day. To decipher briefs, solve problems, work in teams, communicate well, meet deadlines and budgets. You just have to adapt those talents a little to do this thing called ‘property investment’.

And I can tell you something else without fear of contradiction - you will only really learn how to do it once you do it. So don’t take too long before you do it.

Have a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.

John

I hope that each of you had the Christmas that suited you.

Well, here it is - the last blog in the last week of 2009. Almost time to put the chairs on the tables for the last time before I turn the sign on the door to ‘closed’ in a few days time. From next week our produce will have passed its end-of-2009 sell-by date.

Well that’s how I have been viewing this email, but I hadn’t reckoned on the sudden interest in our service - the stream of new and existing customers suddenly dropping into the shop to ask advice - even suggesting topics that I should cover in blogs. They are all very much appreciated and I will be only too pleased to help any member for the foreseeable future. I am still passionate that you invest wisely and effectively, so please feel free to knock on the side door even though the blinds are down in the widows onto the High Street.

However, the lease on the premises is paid in advance, so I have decided to freeze the website for the moment. I will be watching the market as usual and, as a consequence of your sudden interest in my offerings, I might be persuaded to update the site…so watch that space. But if not, in April I will open the doors for anyone requesting access to the training seminars. No charge. You can come in and clear the shelves of old stock. So those of you who are non-members can get access at a time when members will have taken any advantage by being early birds. That stated, I’m confident that much of information is appropriate to the market at any time. How to find a bargain; where and how to do yourresearch; how to negotiate; how to communicate with agents and builders - these are lessons that will always work.

Remember that you will have to send an email to request access - it’s not automatic.

Just as last week I reviewed the year (well, sort of) in keeping with tradition, at the end of this little era, it seems appropriate to assess my performance. To assess whether I can claim to walk the walk or did I just talk the talk. You can judge. This is my personal track record which I reduce here to the barest summary of residential properties that I have bought during the last two years.

Not spectacular by many investors’ standards, but the potential growth and rental income will provide a return that £110,000 invested in a pension could not hope to emulate. Those of you who have read my biography on the website will know the significance of that statement. It’s also a lot more than companies such as Passive Investments ever promise to do for their investors.

The longer term growth will tell whether I have bought as well as I hope. Naturally I did my homework (just as I demonstrate in Module One) to do my best to have identified safe target areas in which to invest for the long term. If that proves to be the case, projecting forward, if I let the equity grow for the next decade, the profile should look something like this:

Based on my original investment of £110K, that’s a total ROI of more than 1600%.

Naturally none of that would be possible without the original £110K, but it’s not the most important investment in that summary. My greatest investment was time. Time to study what I wanted to achieve - to define my target. Time spent at seminars trying to assess what I needed to know and who was worth listening to. Time spent meeting and speaking to people who know what they are talking about. And time spent researching the market, my target locations and the business of property investment.

It’s important for you to have the confidence that if I can do it, you can do it. I’m an amateur. This isn’t my profession so I don’t concern myself with the fine detail of processes undertaken by my mortgage advisor, solicitors, surveyors or the agents. I think I understand the bits that I need to know to assess whether or not I am getting a good service from people who I am employing to work in my interest. Each is a professional in just one of the inter-related jig-saw trades. Some are great and professional but some are lacking. I consider it my job to identify the difference; not to do their job, but only to appoint the best people do the work for me. Then I assemble the pieces of the puzzle to create the picture.

If that’s sounding familiar, so it should. At the risk of repeating myself, I will tell you that the most important thing you will bring to investment is not your money, but your brain. The processes that you will follow are not as much financial as intellectual. If you have the latter you will learn the former, but it doesn’t necessarily apply the other way around.

I know very little if anything about you, dear reader. There are some clues in some of your email addresses and from that evidence I think that the majority of you are professionals. Some from property-related companies, banking and the media. So you take your intellect to work every day. To decipher briefs, solve problems, work in teams, communicate well, meet deadlines and budgets. You just have to adapt those talents a little to do this thing called ‘property investment’.

And I can tell you something else without fear of contradiction - you will only really learn how to do it once you do it. So don’t take too long before you do it.

Have a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.

John

Good Monday Morning Folks

I was in a French village with my family a few years ago at New Year, which is celebrated more on the Continent than Christmas here in the UK. So we wrapped up and gathered the fireworks to play our part in what would undoubtedly be pyrotechnic extravaganza as the village clock struck midnight.

The anticipation and mulled wine heightened our sense of expectation …. The bells chimed …. The matches were struck …. a … n … d …. NOTHING!! The village was as quiet asa grave, save only for our modest phut – phut – woosh offering. With the emphasis on ’phut’.

That was then, this is now. And another New Year approaches as did my intrigue when, in my blog-but-one ago, I asked for your reaction to this site’s imminent closure on 31st December when 2009 becomes 2010. Should I shut the doors or adjust my 2009 product offering for the New Year? My expectations may not have been quite as high as for the New Year celebrations in France (no mulled wine for starters) and that was just as well because the people have spoken…or rather, they haven’t. The village was as quiet asa grave. The message is received and understood, folks, so the shutters will come down at the end of December. The shop will shut. Apparently it will not be missed as the village becomes a dormitory once again.

(Incidentally, thank you to my band of regulars who did respond. I particularly appreciated the comments from those of you who kindly praised the consistently high quality of my writing. We’ll all keep in touch).

Meanwhile, I have a weekly blog to write…

The Story of the Flat in Mitcham - Episode Three

I trust you recall the first two instalments. I spotted this two bed repo in an auction in March with a guide price of £90K. But it was pulled the day before the auction. Drat – this one stacked up!

I already had a quote of £6,700 from a builder to upgrade it to a respectable, rentable status. And researched local RICS valuations indicating the upgraded value to be £135K to £140K at that time. So the numbers suggested that it could stack up with a good top-end valuation for a remortgage after six months ownership that would have come up during this autumn. Meanwhile the rental value was over £700 a month so it would yield at least £250 pcm.

That was back in the spring since when it’s been boarded up, unsold. Then I spotted it back on the market three weeks ago with an asking price of £135K with no work or improvements since March. At that price it doesn’t stack up for a BTL investor but could just be interesting to a home-buyer. I had in mind that if it wasn’t sold by early December I might offer £110K with the promise of a fast transaction by Christmas.

That’s no longer an option because of this….

2 bedroom maisonette for sale, Mitcham

£135,000

PUBLIC NOTICE
We are acting for the mortgagees and have received an offer of £126,500 on the above property.
Any interested parties must submit any higher offers in writing to the selling agent before an exchange of contracts takes place.

So it’s virtually gone, but thereare two lessonsto be learned - the first being to keep a very close eye on activities in very small areas. Knowthose target areas and all activities relating to property within your price bracket.

Regarding this specific property, we now have the crucial purchase cost so let’s consider this deal fora purchaserusing my system. The approximate numbers for a BTL investor buying this flat are:

Numbers for a Home-Buyer:

Not a bad investment for your own two bed flat in Greater London – evenproviding the option to rent the second bedroom to help pay the mortgage. Okay, this one is off the market, but there are more when you know how and where to spot them…so get spotting. And if you don’t know where to start, it’s time you revisited my training modules while the shop’s still open.

Have a goodweek y’all.

John

It’s not too late to wish you that I hope. Just four weeks since my last communication, but in case you think this means we are about to return to business as usual, let me correct you…well sort of.

Just days into this month I received more calls to keep the shop open - or at least on reduced hours. That made me reconsider whether the end of 2009 had any relevance to the content of my training programme. The conclusion is that it doesn’t. What is clear is that the residential property market across most of the country is flat. Very buoyant in places but prices are generally where they spent the last couple of months of last year. That means that the turn of the year had no significance for the prospects of making a profit from my investment system.

So after consideration, I have decided to do as you suggested and reduce the hours… and the cost. That means that you will only get regular communications from me if you are a member. No change there for those of you who have bought and completed the training course who I will do my very best to help with one-to-one advice. But the window shoppers amongst you will not get regular weekly blogs.

The good news is that you can now invest in the training course for just £15 per module. A 50% reduction in cost down to just £45 for the full course of almost three hours of training and information. I’m a little embarrassed to value so much for so little. That price is simply because I think that I should reflect the fact that the system has passed its original 2009 sell-by date.

A more important consideration for any prospective trainee is how relevant the content of the seminars is a year on from when the course was created. The answer is that it has hardly dated in any respect. These are the only key differences:

1. - Financing your investment is probably more difficult now, but there is a silver lining because the credit crunch has also impacted dramatically on savings in deposit accounts. You can read my response to this aspect of the funding process in my ‘Important Q & A’ blog at the website.
2. - The market has stabilised across the country so it’s easier to make accurate calculations about remortgage values wherever you are investing in the UK. That’s a great advantage - however…
3. - As a result of the above, professional BTL investors have grown in confidence since the autumn, so there is more competition for the ideal investment properties. Residential property auctions are as busy as at the height of the market, so you have to be more inventive about your methods to locate BMV bargains. But I teach this in Modules Two and Three and can provide one-to-one help on this point.

And that’s about it. Just a handful of differences in the market since the training modules were recorded. My personal guidance for members will overcome such variations.

There’s a more important point that I want to make. It is that most, if not all visitors to the website have arrived after investigating property investment opportunities. Perhaps you typed some words into Google or came through our intro on YouTube. Whatever the route, I assume that you are considering various investment methods rather than simply saving a deposit to buy a house or flat as most people do. And if that is the case, my training modules will provide a wealth of information to help you to help yourself – now and for the foreseeable future. I know from our members that the course helps them to think like investors. How to find finance; how to crunch numbers; what properties to look for - and which to avoid; how to approach agents; which to approach; alternative ways to find your property; and so on. All factors that should open your eyes to a new way to approach buying residential property for maximum return.

So whether or not you use my investment system, the modules will provide you with an understanding of the investment process. I love being able to help others to make their investments and would like to use the information in my training modules to do just that for as long as the content is appropriate.

My very best wishes to all of you.

John

It’s not too late to wish you that I hope. Just four weeks since my last communication, but in case you think this means we are about to return to business as usual, let me correct you…well sort of.

Just days into this month I received more calls to keep the shop open - or at least on reduced hours. That made me reconsider whether the end of 2009 had any relevance to the content of my training programme. The conclusion is that it doesn’t. What is clear is that the residential property market across most of the country is flat. Very buoyant in places but prices are generally where they spent the last couple of months of last year. That means that the turn of the year had no significance for the prospects of making a profit from my investment system.

So after consideration, I have decided to do as you suggested and reduce the hours… and the cost. That means that you will only get regular communications from me if you are a member. No change there for those of you who have bought and completed the training course who I will do my very best to help with one-to-one advice. But the window shoppers amongst you will not get regular weekly blogs.

The good news is that you can now invest in the training course for just £15 per module. A 50% reduction in cost down to just £45 for the full course of almost three hours of training and information. I’m a little embarrassed to value so much for so little. That price is simply because I think that I should reflect the fact that the system has passed its original 2009 sell-by date.

A more important consideration for any prospective trainee is how relevant the content of the seminars is a year on from when the course was created. The answer is that it has hardly dated in any respect. These are the only key differences:

1. - Financing your investment is probably more difficult now, but there is a silver lining because the credit crunch has also impacted dramatically on savings in deposit accounts. You can read my response to this aspect of the funding process in my ‘Important Q & A’ blog at the website.
2. - The market has stabilised across the country so it’s easier to make accurate calculations about remortgage values wherever you are investing in the UK. That’s a great advantage - however…
3. - As a result of the above, professional BTL investors have grown in confidence since the autumn, so there is more competition for the ideal investment properties. Residential property auctions are as busy as at the height of the market, so you have to be more inventive about your methods to locate BMV bargains. But I teach this in Modules Two and Three and can provide one-to-one help on this point.

And that’s about it. Just a handful of differences in the market since the training modules were recorded. My personal guidance for members will overcome such variations.

There’s a more important point that I want to make. It is that most, if not all visitors to the website have arrived after investigating property investment opportunities. Perhaps you typed some words into Google or came through our intro on YouTube. Whatever the route, I assume that you are considering various investment methods rather than simply saving a deposit to buy a house or flat as most people do. And if that is the case, my training modules will provide a wealth of information to help you to help yourself – now and for the foreseeable future. I know from our members that the course helps them to think like investors. How to find finance; how to crunch numbers; what properties to look for - and which to avoid; how to approach agents; which to approach; alternative ways to find your property; and so on. All factors that should open your eyes to a new way to approach buying residential property for maximum return.

So whether or not you use my investment system, the modules will provide you with an understanding of the investment process. I love being able to help others to make their investments and would like to use the information in my training modules to do just that for as long as the content is appropriate.

My very best wishes to all of you.

John