It is ironic to me to see the same mistake over and over again…at least in my opinion. Investors or so called investors seem to be drawn to beautiful city centre flats instead of the 100 year old terraced. However it does not matter if it is in Manchester or Miami…somewhere down the road it is the same story. In Miami you had Colombians and Venezuelans grabbing Miami Beach and Brickell condos. Now in Manchester…Chinese…Indians….Middle East buyers buying city centre flats. Guaranteed rents for 2 or 3 years from the developers….etc. However go back to 2009 what happened to these city centre flats…EMPTY…..ground lets…maintenance…Big expenses…big losses. In Miami was probably worse. Had wonderful buildings empty. Maintenance was not covered…..lights in hall ways not turned on…Basically a nightmare! This is not made up. You can go to many sites and there were no buyers at any price in Miami.

Now compare these to the 100 year old terraces. They have been here 100 years and probably another 100 years. People have to live. My colleagues have 50 terraced houses they have let to working tenants and LHA tenants. They survived unscathed the market crash in 2008.

I am concerned of the next recession. This is why we focus on lines of business that we think will survive. We do Professional HMOs which are cheaper for a single person to live in than a flat…We do social housing HMOs in which regardless of the economy there are people that are supported by the govt…and now we are expanding into Liverpool and NewCastle to provide working tenants and LHA tenants quality property. We have had 2 offers accepted in Liverpool that at he height of the market were between 70,000 to 80,000…Today we are looking to refurbish…tenant…have them cash flow….We will sell every 2 properties out of 3 properties we buy. We will offer investors a full turn key package. We can assist with mortgages…without any fees on our behalf….we will manage and have the properties maintained. It all depends on how you say BMV…these properties are below replacement value….and will cash flow in the 9-11% gross to the investor. If they purchase with a mortgage, the returns are amplified up to the mid teens if capital repayment or simply interest.

Personally I have gone through property crashes….Can not go with the crowd…only go with strategies with high cash flows. Appreciation is a gift…but buying properties that sold for 70-80k…today for in the 50k range…it should just be a matter of time.