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Location Introduction - Last updated - 20/3/09
Research is one of the most vital aspects of making a success out of buy to let, for the curious other vital aspects are covered in detail elsewhere on this site, such as, money, that is the ability to borrow the stuff, and positive cash flow, that is a rent that is greater than all the costs leaving money in your pocket with just the tax man to pay and even that, the tax, can be legally avoided.
Research includes a wide variety of topics. To check them out go to Research on this site, you will find a host of links from the BBC through Rightmove, Property Crash, CML Hometrack & EIG to mention a few.
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What none of these sites can provide you with is local knowledge on a street by street basis. Sure Google Maps can let you zero in on the neighbourhood, street and even the house but you can't tell whether the street is a good place live for your target tenant/buyer (customer).
The only person who can is someone who lives in the area or at the very least has walked the streets with an investor's eye and not subject to any local prejudice.
That person also needs to re-walk the streets regularly because neighbourhoods and streets can change both for better and worse.
I do location days with some of my students and that involves a slow, very slow drive through the neighbourhood, looking & checking what is going on, are the houses being renovated by owners, this is especially relevant on ex local authority estates. If the owners are spending money on their homes rather than selling up and moving to a "better" area then there has to be confidence at street level. That I like. By the way guys, take a lady with you if you are going to drive a neighbourhood very slowly otherwise your motives could be misunderstood!
My location days also involve getting out of the car and talking to the local people in the street to find out what is going on and you would be very surprised at some of the stories!
So a typical location day is down to the letting agent to find out who wants to rent and where, then a tour of the area and then into the estate agents to see if any properties actually stack up after the number crunching.
Now the person who can really make such a day worthwhile and cut through all the hype is someone who lives locally and is interested in property and may even be a local landlord.
Now I teach, or at least try to teach, a substantial number of both actual and want to be landlords every year. And you will not be surprised to learn that they all live somewhere.
You will also not be surprised to learn that their "first choice" as an investment location is where they live and almost without exception there are investment opportunities everywhere.
So having completed one of my courses I offer the opportunity to my students to provide a consultancy service where they hand-hold other potential investors around their, the student's, home location.
You can take advantage of this service at 2 levels:
A telephone conference, 1st call, 1st 1/2 hour is free.
A day, or maybe ½ a day depending on the location, with our consultant, gaining an understanding of their location, what works and where, plus a look at the local facilities that will be important to your customer should you invest in the area.
One day should be sufficient for most locations, obviously you could not do London in one day but a borough or at least the parts of interest, is possible. I know because I have done it, even in London.
The probability is that on your own you would need at least two if not three days or even a week and whether you gained the "inside" knowledge that one on our consultants will provide would be debatable.
Our consultants set their own day or hourly rates within guidelines that we lay down to ensure that you are not ripped off. Payment is made to buy to let.com ltd and only released to the consultant following note of satisfaction from you.
If you are not satisfied we will rebate 30% of the fee you have paid, the 30% is retained to cover out of pocket expenses as we do not see why our consultants should actually lose money, as it is highly unlikely that you will not have gained some benefit.
So, if you want to get your head around a city, town or suburb that you have never been to, but think may have possibilities from your internet based research, call our local consultant.
The 1st half hour is free, have a chat and if they confirm your hopes then arrange an inspection visit through us. Please do not arrange direct with the consultant. They have all agreed to work through us as we promote and vouch for them so if they do offer to work independently, well enough said!
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