Why Accreditation of HMO’s is a Good Thing For Property Investors

By Matthew Moody | HMOs

I recently recorded a video about one of our HMO properties being accredited at the highest level possibly in Derby.

Watch below to find out why accreditation can be so important and beneficial to HMO landlords.

Get Your HMO Licence Now – or Face a £3,000 Fine and Repayment of Rent

By Matthew Moody | Property Investing

There’s lots of stories in the news right now about HMO’s and some of them are grossly unfair and often prejudiced.

However, this recent story from Liverpool illustrates why its really best to get your HMO licence in as soon as possible – and if you have a 3-storey property with 5 or more tenants in it – pretty pronto.

I don’t know the in’s and out’s of the story but the landlord in this case ended up paying the council a fine of £3,000 plus costs and his tenants 3 months worth of rent which came to £3,900.

Just goes to show, don’t ignore it; get your HMO licence if you are advised to apply for one.

HMO Regulations Are Here to Deter Rogue Landlords

By Matthew Moody | Property Investing

I can’t believe some of these pictures but the reason why HMO Regulations are in place is to protect tenants and maintain standards.

It appears that in some parts of the country, this is only just beginning to happen but take a look at this recent article about a property in Strood and you might think it was a derelict house with nobody living there.

Your tenants pay your mortgage and your bills – please look after them, get repairs done and maintain your houses.

Just this last month in my houses, I’ve replaced an old radiator, replaced a boiler, repaired two other boilers, repaired an oven, had a plumber called out because of a leak and we aren’t out of November yet!

People may not like the so-called big brother mentality of HMO Regulations but I actually think its a good thing we have them because landlords like the one featured in the above article do not deserve to be renting property out in this condition.

James Caan’s The 7 Golden Rules of Property Investing – What’s Missing?

By Matthew Moody | Property Investing

I read a brilliant article in the Telegraph at the weekend featuring Dragons Den, James Caan and his take on the 7 Golden Rules of Property Investing.

There were some golden (paron the pun) nuggets in the article but I was left feeling that may’be some of the rules of property investing had been missed out, or glossed over.

You can read the article for yourself and decide but for me, the number one golden rule above all rules (and ignore it at your own cost) is Cashflow.

You can research all you like, go out on a limb and think big but unless you focus your goals on cashflow, all you will end up with is an asset class that may appreciate in value in the long-term but if you are in this game to make good decent returns every month to help fund your lifestyle, then you may need more than capital appreciation to make this work for you.

By investing in a cashflow positive property such as a HMO, you can benefit from both capital appreciation and massive cashflow – the best of both worlds.

For more details on investing in cashflow-positive HMO’s, go to the top-right and register for my exclusive mini-course – my readers tell me it gives more information than most guru’s full courses!  And its entirely free.

Don’t Wait For Property Investing to Come to You – Take Action Now

By Matthew Moody | Property Investing

In a recent book launch by one of Donald Trump’s proteges, David Lindahl made the very astute comment that buyers should not wait until the market rises again if they want to make a successful investment.

Given that the herd mentality often impacts property investing as much as any other arena, it’s interesting when I speak to lots of investors that a lot of people are “waiting to see what will happen” or “will be getting back into property next year” or “finance is so tricky right now I can’t get anything to stack up”.

Take some advice from a former gardener who has gone onto invest in more than 560 properties and taught across the USA: “don’t wait, buy now”.

Now is the best time that we have seen in the UK for tens of years to buy low, buy right and make the money today that you will live off for the rest of your live – take action today.

5 Reasons Why Property Investing Is Not Dead.

By Matthew Moody | Property Investing

I read an interesting article the other day about negative equity and how up to 40% of landlords could face themselves in this situation by the middle of next year.

Standard and Poor’s Rating Service stated that between 20%-40% of buy-to-let borrowers may owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth if prices fall between 25%-35% from their peak.

With most property investors geared around the 80%-85% mark following the recent boom years, this may indeed by true.

Furthermore, they also commented that following a review of 200,000 securitised buy-to-let loans, there arrears were running at 3.7% to the end of June verses 2.9% for prime mortgages to owner-occupiers.

But lets not get depressed right now because there are several issues at play here.

1. If you buying your properties with a healthy discount to the market value, then you are already locking in any downturn in the market.  So, it doesn’t matter if the market crashes by 20% if you have a seriously good margin already locked in – if you don’t then you may have some issues on paper.  However, this goes onto my next point.
2. It doesn’t really matter if you are in negative equity because property is a LONG-TERM investment.  The days of making a quick £20K profit from doing a quick refurb and selling it on have ended.  Its been proven by many commentators, experts, pundits and statistical evidence that long-term, property prices keep on rising.
3. Cashflow is king.  I talk about this all the time but you need to be investing for cashflow NOT capital appreciation.  If you have 10 houses making £500 pcm gross cashflow;, then do you really care if you are paying more for the house than its worth?  No, because cash is what pays the bills not capital appreciation.
4. If you are on a tracker, then potentially you might owe more on the mortgage than the value of the property but you’ll still be saving money because of the recent rate reductions.  I have a new-build property which I purchased for £340,995 a few years ago.  Given that I had a larger new-build valued in May for £40K less, I doubt that my property is worth anywhere near £340,995.  However, do I care?  Not a hoot really – I make around £336.58 gross cashflow from this property and come January, my mortgage payments drop by another £200 per month.
5. According to the British Bankers Association, buy-to-let lending in September was £3.2 billion up from £2.8 billion in August.  This upturn is good news for property buyers everywhere as it will strengthen the market and start to build-back demand and prices again.

To sign-up for my exclusive 10-part ecourse on building your own successful HMO business which gives you massive cashflow every month, please sign-up today in the opt-in box at the top of the page.