Tag: Area

Is your property investment area in a buyer’s or seller’s market?

How many people really understand their property investment area? Quite often they are told to go where the housing stock is cheap, offer below market value and build up their portfolio of buy to let houses. So off they go and put in offer after offer without understanding the local area and whether they’re in a buyer’s or seller’s market. So how can you find out if the property that you are interested in will potentially accept your offer especially if you are looking to put in a low offer? You can use easily obtained data to help you make an informed decision on your potential target property.

You start by looking at how many houses of the same type including the number of bedrooms that are within a ¼ mile radius of the property that you are interested in. This information can be found through the property search engine RightMove. Once you have this number write it down. Then within the same search engine, there is a tab called house prices, then from the drop-down menu select ’Sold House Prices’ then enter the postcode of your property. Then filter the information so that you are looking at property within a ¼ mile radius of your, and set the filter for sold in the last year. This will give you the number of houses sold, again make a note of this figure.

Now for some simple maths. Take the number of housing sold in the last year and divide it by 12 to give you an average. E.g. 36 houses sold in the last year, 36/12 = 3, then you take your current number of houses for sale and divide it by your average figure, e.g. 7 houses currently for sale, 7/3 = 2.33. This figure of 2.33 represents your current month’s supply of housing stock, if it is less than 6 then it is a seller’s market, so there is no point in you putting in low offers, because unless it is a stressed owner, the seller will know that their property will sell quickly at on or very close to the asking price. If the figure is 6 then it is a balanced market, so you have a 50-50 chance of having a below-market offer accepted. If the figure is above 6 then it is a buyer’s market, therefore you can put in a below-market offer with a good chance of having your offer accepted because the market has a lot more properties that are up for sale.

In summary, using data is the best way of making an informed decision that can make a big difference to finding the right area and property. You will not only save time but also money, therefore it is wise to spend a little time checking the data before adventuring out to put in offers.

Learning about property investing from Wolves

It may seem strange to think that we as humans could learn something from animals after all are we not the top predator due to our creative minds. Wolves are always the bad characters in stories, myths and legends, nothing could be further from the truth, as wolves are very sociable, who work as a team and are highly intelligent. If we observe wolves we can obtain some insight on how to use some of their habits when it comes to investing in property. This may seem improbable, but before you dismiss it out of hand keep reading and have an open mind.

Teamwork

For wolves to succeed in nature they have to work as a team, it is the only way to survive. A lone wolf does not last long as they are social animals and need help from the rest of the pack, so they with very few exceptions soon starve, or become victims to other predators.

For an investor to succeed they have to have a team as they cannot do everything themselves. So an investor will have his power team such as Accountant, Solicitor, Broker etc. Without this team, the investor will not last as the investor will be starved from deals and other investors who are organised with teams will become predators who will take the deals away from the lone investor as they can act quickly.

Territory

Wolves know their territory intimately, nothing will happen in their territory without them knowing about it. By knowing their territory in this way the wolves know where their prey is likely to be and they also know how to use the terrain to surprise and attack their prey.

For an investor to succeed they need to know their investment area extremely well. Nothing should happen in the investor’s investment area without them knowing about it. The investor needs to know when there are changes and use their knowledge of the area to take advantage and make a potential gain.

Travel

Wolves are hunters, therefore, they travel long distances to find their prey and they search far and wide. They may travel fifty miles or more each day in search of food they can travel tirelessly for hours on end with no energy wasted.

The investor may have to travel long distances to get to their ideal investment area. Due to either the local property prices, the stock available or strategy the investor may not be able to invest in the area where they live, so it will be necessary to travel to different parts of the country. They must do this without wasting energy thinking that they have to get up early, they may have to drive for hours, etc. travel is part of investing so the investor must learn to accept this.

Hunting

Wolves are incredibly patient animals, they will carefully watch and wait to pick out a suitable prey. They are looking for a weakness that they can exploit, such as a slight lameness. Wolves will keep an eye on their potential prey by constantly checking on them to see if anything has changed that has made them weaker. Wolves may trail a herd of elk, caribou etc. for days before making its move. During this time, they are assessing the herd, looking for an animal that displays any sign of weakness, and this is just the beginning. Wolves also factor in other conditions that will affect the outcome such as weather and terrain that can tip the scales in favour of the wolves or its prey. Once a prey has been picked out the wolves become totally focused on it until they can bring it down.

The investor must also be patient, they must search out the right type of property, put in their best offer and wait and see if it will become accepted. At first, their offer may be rejected, but the investor must stay focused and keep watching and waiting and if they see no movement the investor will remind them of their offer. Once the vendor comes back with a counteroffer that they are prepared to accept then the investor will begin to negotiate and find a weakness until an agreement is reached. The investor must remain totally focused until the deal is done and contracts have been exchanged.

Conclusion

As can be seen, there are similarities between wolves and investors. Investors can learn from wolves because wolves are sociable animals that understand their territory and are fully focused as this is the only way that they can succeed in nature. The investor needs to be a sociable person that understands their investment area has the same focus and commitment if they are to succeed with their property investment journey.