Ah paperwork! Why is it that such a vital part of running a business results in so much time-consuming busy work?! When I first started in the property game 20 years ago I had no idea how to properly manage my receipts, bank accounts, and insurance forms.

I lost so much time going through stacks of paper just to find some basic information. When working on ideas, businesses and projects, a good paper filing system in place is absolutely essential.

Without this filing system in place, much time, money and energy will be lost in sorting and resolving issues and problems. Today I’m going to show you guys how to create a time-saving, effort-busting, money-making filing system that I’ve used to great effect.

Property Evolution Folders (PEF)

Working in the property business, you will require a folder per property. That folder will contain the entire history of the property such as:

• The original documents at purchase
• The insurance documents
• Every upgrade you’ve made to the property
• The mortgage contract
• The last three years of ASTs (Assured shorthold tenancy) contracts

This property evolution folder is essential for verifying what you have agreed with your tenants and when you come to re-finance or wish to fight a property valuation.

Whether you self-manage or use a letting agent, the ASTs are useful documents to refer to if there is a dispute, a tragedy, or simply to check the amount of time left before the tenancy ends.

With regard to valuations, many valuers base their valuations on the most current data of existing properties, however if a substantial renovation has taken place, your property evolution folder will be evidence for you to argue a higher valuation.

PEF Top tips:

• If you invest in different areas of the UK or abroad, colour code your folders for the different areas you invest in.
• Use plastic sleeves for your documents. This will increase the life of the ring binders.
• As your property portfolio grows you may wish to consider a separate folder for your ASTs

Changing Essential Documents Folder (CEDF)

We affectionally called this folder, the “changing essential documents folder” as many of the documents in this folder will be unusable after one to three months.

Every solicitor, mortgage broker, and lender will require a specific set of documents. Create a working folder to ensure time and money isn’t wasted toing and froing with multiple emails, and multiple visits to the solicitor/post office/mortgage broker.

In the UK, this CEDF should contain:

• A scanned copy of your proof of identity – passport and driving licence (if you have one). If you can get several authorised copies (i.e. ones signed as being authentic by a bank/solicitor) even better
• A recent utility (gas, electricity, water) bill no older than three month’s old
• Your last three bank statements showing your salary (if you have one)
• Your last three months’ bank details if you are self-employed
• Your last three months’ payslips
• A spreadsheet summary of your existing properties. This spreadsheet summary should contain the following details:
  • Address of property
  • Type of property (flat, multi-let, buy-to-let etc)
  • Date of purchase
  • Current property worth
  • Mortgage lender
  • Amount of outstanding mortgage
  • Years left on the mortgage
  • Rental income on the mortgage
  • Letting costs
  • Maintenance costs
  • Insurance costs
  • Total rental income after costs

CEDF Top Tip: Create a backup of these documents on your computer and on the Internet (using a service like Dropbox, Google Drive, or One Drive) as there will be times when you will need to email these documents onwards.

Company Details Folder (CDF)

As you grow your property business, you may choose to acquire a portfolio within a company or even a set of companies for multiple joint ventures. Your CDF will contain a variety of documents that may be required by an accountant, lender, or business trades company.

By business trades, I mean plumbers merchants, furniture companies, building companies, furnishing companies. Basically, any company that you may require credit from for property maintenance and management.

The first page of your CDF folder should include these details:

• Date required to submit company accounts
• Date required to submit company status
• Dates to submit VAT (if Vat registered)
• Date of domain name renewal if you have a website

The essential documents required in the CDF include:

• A certificate of company incorporation
• Domain name certificate
• VAT certificate (if VAT registered)
• Inland revenue documents
• Last three years of accounts

CDF Top Tip: Create a backup of these documents on your hard disk and or the Internet as there will be times when you will need to email these documents onwards.

Key Management Folder (KMF)

Each property you acquire and/or manage will have a variety of keys.   One or two keys for the front door, a key for the back door, keys for windows, keys for internal bedroom doors, specialist keys for opening the meter readers, and a key to bleed radiators.  Let’s be conservative and use 10 keys per property as an example.

Let’s say you acquire two more properties for a total of three properties.  Now you have 30 keys (10 keys x 3 properties) to manage, you now have a potential key nightmare. This key nightmare will magnify the more properties you acquire. With 10 properties you now have a key management challenge of 100+ keys.

When you have a few small properties (i.e. not a block of flats, a hotel or an 11-bedroom multi-let), your key management folder can be a set of keys attached to your PEF. Alternatively, you can use a set of keys hanging from a key holder on the wall.

As you evolve your property portfolio, you will migrate to systems such as key safes, and one system master-key systems.

However, you need that key system in place. Otherwise, time and money will be lost in searching for keys to allow access to tenants, cleaners, gas, electrical and handy people.

KMF Top Tips:

• Have two copies of every key in your possession. Do not rely on your letting management company to keep your keys for you.
• Label each key. Colour code for either each area or each type of key.
• When you can afford it – upgrade to systems such as the one master key system to avoid managing hundreds of keys

Bank Accounts Folder (BAF)

Your BAF or bank accounts folder is essential especially if you are involved in multiple joint ventures (we currently have five in play as of writing). You will need folders that contain the bank cheque books and account statements. The bank account statements are essential for:

• You to verify each of your properties cash flow
• Your accountants to verify income and expenditure

Password Management Folder (PMF)

The PMF is probably the most controversial folder and will be the subject of many comments. It probably makes it worse  as I also have a business in the security field. When you work with a large number of bank accounts, business accounts, websites, emails, you will require a lot of passwords.

I work with over 50 passwords for my social media access, email access, bank accounts access, company business accounts and so on. You will need a secure system to manage all these passwords.

But be careful – don’t make your system so secure that if you lose the passwords, you are in an even worse state. For example, I have been locked out of one of my business accounts several times, which has caused delayed payments to suppliers and employees.

When you have delayed payments, people begin to worry about your business stability or your integrity. So password management is essential

Here are a few tips for your password management folder.

• Don’t name your PMF – PASSWORD MANAGEMENT FOLDER
• Store your PMF in a safe or hidden place outside of your home/office
• Use shortcodes for your passwords (i.e. don’t spell out your passwords in full)
• Perhaps have a special place for passwords in another folder
• Use a digital folder created on a computer
• Store your passwords in a password management software on your hard disk where your passwords will be secured and encrypted
• NEVER! NEVER! NEVER give out your passwords for ANY reason at all. E.g. emails from banks requesting a password change

Mobile Phone vs Paper management

Having much of your paper system on the Internet and accessible via your mobile phone is essential for looking up information when out and discussing deals. However, copies of your documents on the Internet should not replace your physical folder system. The reason for the need for hard copies of your data is that some solicitors, lenders, and mortgage brokers still work on a paper based system.

For example, at the time of writing, even though I only get on-line bank and utility bills, some lenders have required me to obtain an original statement on a bank letterhead or with the banks authentication stamp.

If you found this article helpful and useful, please do bless your friends and share it with them too and do add your own thoughts in the comments section below.

Other articles on property:

• 7 deadly sins of property investors
• Property Event Junkie or Action Taker?
• 7 Ways mortgage brokers can screw your deals
• 6 Essential questions to ask before property investing
• The best area for you to invest in property
• The ugly heads of rent arrears
• How to get a landlord into bed

You may also enjoy reading:

• Why being busy is a waste of time
• Five essential habits to reach impossible dreams
• 7 attitudes that cause success paralysis
• 5 more attitudes that paralyse your success
• 7 cures for self-sabotage behaviour
• Five simple actions that provide a major life boost

In this interview, John Mark shares how and why his mindset evolved beyond Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad strategies. As John learned more about property investing, and how to crunch the numbers to check a deal’s worth, he found that there are certain risks that the Rich Dad Poor Dad mindset did not totally cater for.

In this video interview, John Mark also shares several of his first property strategies:

• Buy and sell strategy
• First property strategy
• Live in first property strategy
• No debt strategy

For those with bad connections, we’ve written up the interview in note form below the video. When you have time and a stronger internet connection, we do recommend you listen to John Mark Wilderspin.

First property tactics

After starting with a Rich Dad, Poor Dad mentality, John focused on spending his cash on assets and bought a triplex (three flats) with his friend in an up and coming area. His strategy with this was to buy-and-hold and sell once the market increased.

However, he realised that he couldn’t live with his family forever. So his next step was buying a multi-family property. This enabled John to, essentially, live for free as his tenants paid the bills. In his home of Manitoba, if you actually live in the building then rent control legislation doesn’t apply. On top of this, because John was living there he only needed to put down a 10 per cent deposit on the property, whereas an investor would have to put down 20 per cent.

If you do this strategy, it may be for the best if you don’t tell your tenants that you’re the owner. Just tell them that you’re the caretaker and manager of the property. This will give you the authority you need to manage the property, without having to go through all the weird personal stuff that tenants have with the property’s owner.

 

When you’ve saved enough capital, invest in another property and you move into your new place. Rinse and repeat. If you are going down the route of multi-family housing, look for properties that have separate utility bills as it makes the bill paying process far less complex. Similarly, the tenant then is responsible for their consumption and will be more mindful of the utilities they use.

 

Anti-debt (anti-rich dad) property strategy

John’s second mindset shift was after reading about David Ramsey’s Baby Steps. David Ramsey is anti-debt, which John felt is a slower but less risky way of acquiring property compared to the rich dad poor dad philosophy taught by many. A lot of property investors will leverage their existing properties to buy more, however if you run out of steam and fall behind on payments your asset base will fall like dominoes.

You also need to look at where the curve of the market is i.e. how soon until house prices are going to fall. John recommends looking at the cap rate of a property, and net operating income. You also need to do a cash-on-cash analysis, which is how much cash you put into a deal, and how much positive cash flow you’ll get out of the deal.

Huge thanks to John for chatting with us and sharing his story. If you found John’ story useful, do Like the video and subscribe to the channel for more property and financial insights and strategy. And if you’re feeling super generous do write us a comment and share the article with your friends to help them become motivated and inspired too.

In the meantime, if you enjoy reading about people’s property success stories check out the following articles:

• Daniel Wood: Property millionaire in one year – part one
• How to turn £6250 into £1.5 million – one man’s incredible property journey
• Lessons from my first property lessons
• After a heated property conversation, you’ll never guess what happened next

Or if you are interested in the lessons from other successful people who attended the JT Foxx family reunion event check out the following articles:-

• Cerebral Palsy, Paralysed, Blind and successful
• Bleeding is part of success – Paul Kanofski
• Why your best intentions fail and how to fix it – Chris Okazaki

Finally, if you are starting on your own financial freedom journey, you may also find the following articles from our library helpful in spring-boarding you into a new chapter of your life’s dream.

• Understanding the gift of betrayal
• Stories illustrating the gifts from betrayal
• How to eliminate betrayal with PANDAS
• Why being busy is a waste of time
• Five essential habits to reach impossible dreams

We all self-sabotage ourselves. I see it in my actions and I see it in my friend’s actions.

For example, as much as I would love to tone up and slim down, if a banoffee pie is offered to me, I WILL eat it.  No questions asked. One of my friends has been in debt for a while, I recall her saying something along the lines of “I really need to get into shape and out of debt.” Twenty minutes later her extortionately priced pizza arrives…

It sounds dumb, and it is. But I also believe this self-sabotaging has become the norm in first world countries. We self-sabotage to stay in our comfort zone. By staying in our comfort zone we subconsciously think we are keeping ourselves safe. During caveman years that may be true. Explore outside your comfort zone and you get eaten by a bear. The priority was survival.

But guess what? The world has changed. We are privileged enough to live in a first world country. In general, we have mastered survival. Our priorities have now evolved to creating things, finding connections, and ‘fulfilling our purpose’.

Inspired by Mel Robbins talk “How to stop screwing yourself over” here are seven cures to self-sabotaging behaviour in property.

1. Stop over analysing and pick one

How many of you still haven’t picked an area to invest in yet? Or your wealth strategy? We analyse our choices to death and never pick one. That’s why we stay exactly where we are.

Want to know a secret about picking an area? IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU CHOOSE. Pick any of your options. There is no wrong answer! The point of picking an area is to help you focus your efforts in one place. Researching an area and building relationships with tradesmen and property managers is time consuming.

My advice? Do some basic research about rental demand/selling demand. Then pick the area that’s a) closest to you or b) you love visiting. If you are a property newbie you need an area to PRACTICE on. The area itself is irrelevant. The value comes from the experience; from messing up and using those mess ups to refine your property skills.

2. Stop using lack of knowledge as an excuse

Anyone else been accused of having seminar junkie syndrome? It is basically where one continuously goes to seminars  until they think they are “ready” to start achieving their goals. If we take the BS out that sentence it looks like this, one will continuously go to seminars until they get over their fear of starting.

If you are using lack of knowledge are an excuse, the root may be fear. That’s OK, property is scary. But hear this, real education comes from experience.

One thing I am trying to do is take a small piece of information, apply it, and practice it. If someone comes at me with more information I ask them to hold it until I have practiced the first bit.

The What-If syndrome is equally unproductive and annoying. You know that person at the front of the class who keeps asking the teacher “What-if this, what-is that?” What if they shut up and actually applied the basic theory. I promise you they would not ask such dumb questions  already know the answer to their questions.

The what-if girl

I was the “What-If” girl with my Dad (still sometimes am). It drives him mad. It also tells him that I haven’t even attempted to start a task if I am asking these types questions.  My view is I want to be prepared. My dad’s view is I don’t need to know how to deal with all the what-if situations my brain can conjure, immediately.

Dad’s view is to wait until those situations happen. Otherwise it will dilute the current theory in my brain with information overload. What do I do when a What-If situation actually arises?

If I have a problem and have no knowledge of how to deal with it, e.g. a tenant situation. I post it on one of the many Facebook forums. Call the National Landlords Association. or Google it. There are so many ways to find an answer to my problems. The Facebook group I find most responsive and helpful is ‘HMO – Houses Of Multiple Occupancy Network (Official)‘

3. Stop lying to yourself

We lie all the time.

One lie I find myself saying is “I can’t do this.” What I actually mean is “I have never done this before and I am scared of messing up.”

What I am changing my thinking to is “By having a go I will either get it right or I will quickly learn how.”

So how can we stop lying to ourselves? This question is a blog post in its self. Personally, when I catch myself thinking or telling myself something unproductive and limiting, I do two things:

1. Take seven deep breaths
2. Ask myself questions like; Why am I thinking this? What emotions am I currently feeling when I think this?

These two steps usually help me realise the truth about what’s going on. The answer is usually a fear of something. Then I force myself to adopt the “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” attitude.

4. Realise that your very existence is a statistical miracle

Scientists have calculated the probability of you being born at the exact time you were born, to your parents, with your DNA structure, is 1:400 trillion. What are the chances?

You are a miracle.

If you think anything else you are defying science. The probability of you being born is exactly the same as Bill Gates being born, or Richard Branson, Gill Fielding, even Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do you know how special you are?

The difference between these guys and us is they chose to make their ideas happen.

How does this piece of information stop us from self-sabotage?

Self-sabotaging behaviours sometimes happen when we don’t feel good enough or that we are insignificant. For me, having scientists say my existence is a miracle is some good reassurance that my Mum was right, I am special. Jokes aside, I usually have to spend some focused time completing the idea I am a miracle but it motivates me. But when I get this idea in my head without any opposing thoughts then it motivates me to live the best life I possibly can. While in this headspace all that flows into my mind is gratitude, positivity and a strong desire to succeed at whatever I choose.

5. Listen to your thoughts 

We have ideas that flow to us all day, every day.There is a reason why they come into your specific head. Ideas that will change our work environment. Ideas that will change how we feel. Ideas that will change the world.

My gosh what an incredible thing to have flowing into our minds! Then what do we do with them? Nothing. Even if it is an idea we really really really want to happen, we do nothing. Below I explain why we do nothing and how we can change this.

6. Just move!

When we wake up, what is the first thing we do? Hit the snooze button because we don’t feel like waking up yet, most start the day with a mini self-sabotage. We do exactly the same to our biggest wants and ideas. We hit our inner snooze button.

As much as we would love to lose weight, we don’t feel like going to the gym. As much as we would love to be financial free and attract lots of good deals, we don’t feel like putting out leaflets or goldmine adverts.

The truth is WE WILL NEVER FEEL LIKE IT! (Unless we have attended a Tony Robbins seminar. Then we will feel like it for two days.) That may sound foreboding but don’t worry. There is a cure. A cure which will help us turn any idea into reality. Are you ready?

…Activation Energy!Acti – what?

“Activation energy: the force required for you to change what you do on auto-pilot, to do something new.”

– Mel Robbins

Sounds great Jess, but how do we create this activation energy? 

Activation energy is created by making a conscious choice to do something. Start a task as quickly as possible before excuses get a chance to come into your brain.

If I have already made excuses to not do something and recognise that, here is one trick I use:

Take the emotion out and pretend I am a robot (only healthy in certain situations). For example, if I want to go to the gym but don’t feel like it, I break down the task and look at in a pragmatic way. Step 1: Put on gym clothes. Step 2: Put on trainers. Step 3: Walk to gym…

Once I am at the gym I have built enough momentum to feel like having a gym sesh. Step 1 is the hardest. But if I look at it in a pragmatic way, how hard is changing my clothes?

One VERY important point I want to make is; I mentally congratulate myself after Step 3 for taking action and make a big deal out of it (all in my head of course – I am already wearing a power rangers backpack. At my present state of evolution, I doubt I could deal with any judgement if I physically patted myself on the back and loudly complimented my action taking efforts).

Congratulating yourself after taking action is so important for the long term! It trains your brain to associate taking action with reward. Once your brain automatically associates taking action with reward, it makes it much easier to take action in the future.

7. ACTIVATION ENERGY CHALLENGE

For those keen beans, let’s practice activation energy with a fun challenge.

The second you wake up tomorrow throw your sheets onto the floor. Immediately scramble out of bed and enthusiastically shout “I’m up!” then start your day.

For you competitive folk, see how many days you can do this is a row and I will attempt to beat it providing this is not already your norm).

The key to succeeding in this challenge is scrambling out the split second you wake up. If you leave it for 5 seconds your brain will have graced you with a plethora of excuses to stay in bed: I’m cosy. It’s warm. I will get up in 5 more minutes. Or my favorite – “I’m awake I am just going to ‘meditate’ here for 15 minutes.”

For all non early birds, these excuses come to the fore front of our conscious mind within seconds of waking up. Do we have the strength or desire to argue with them first thing in the morning? Hell no. So the only way to by pass them is to TAKE ACTION before they come into our minds.

If this article has helped you stop self-sabotaging yourself please share it with your friends on Facebook. To get more insights into property tips and successful mindsets we would love you to become one of our subscribers.

Here are some more articles to help you reach your dreams:

• 5 powerful ways friends help you achieve your dreams
• Why being busy is a waste of time
• The truth about positive thinking
• 7 attitudes that cause success paralysis

Risk elimination is an essential business skill especially when property investment is involved. In this interview, Eugene Gamble and Ben Chai share several tips on how to eliminate and reduce risk in property investment. This interview was taken at the JT Foxx family reunion (now Mega Success event) for wealthy entrepreneurs and business people.

For internet connection challenged environments, we’ve written a summary of Eugene’s risk elimination tips below the video. However we recommend you listen to Eugene to hear many more in-depth insights on risk elimination than our notes provide.

How to Eliminate Risk in Property Investment

1. Identify a niche

Eugene’s first top tip to eliminate risk is to find a property niche to operate in. Finding a niche, on the surface appears like a simple strategy. However, depending on the area of property investment, finding your niche area can take a considerable amount of time.

One recommendation to find your niche, is to get some basic experience in your business or property investment. For example purchase a small buy-to-let.  The experience of buying and renting out your first property will provide you with clues about the kinds of property you enjoy investing in and how that property investment strategy will synchronise with your financial and life-style goals.

For example, several friends invest in mobile homes whilst other friends specialise in housing for people on benefits. Every niche has its pros and cons.

Investing in mobile homes has a huge advantage because you don’t need a large amount of investment capital to get started and the margins are surprisingly high. However, the downside is that whilst the margins are high, the actual amount of return is small. So, you will need to build and manage a large portfolio of mobile homes to reach your financial goals.

Through finding your niche you minimise risk as you learn who your target audience is, what they want from a property, and how best to market to them. Refurbishing a house for professionals to rent requires a different strategy to flipping a house to sell on to an investor in student housing.

2. Make money when you buy

Eugene’s second tip to minimise risk when investing in property is to make money when you buy. This means that if worst comes to worse and you are forced to sell the property, you still make money.

It’s important to know what the resale value of the property is before you buy. An estimated resale valuation of the property can be quickly ascertained by a qualified surveyor. The trick is then to buy the property at BMV (Below Market Value), but why would anyone sell at lower than what the property market suggests? Here are three possible reasons:

• The house has negative memories attached to it
• The seller needs the money quickly
• The property has been on the market for a long time

When Eugene finds a property that he thinks is a good deal, he’ll make an offer 30 per cent below the market value. Then if the seller agrees, Eugene’s made money as soon as he owns the house!

Another factor to think about is how quickly the property can be sold. It may sound great buying a property at BMV, but if that property takes a long time to be sold then a lot of your capital is tied up.

3. Don’t be greedy

The final piece of advice to eliminate your risk is to not be greedy. As long as a healthy return on your investment is made, you needn’t strive to get huge returns. Again, this is where understanding your niche comes in.

If you see a deal that you know you can easily make 15 per cent from, and you know you can do it quickly, it’s worth spending the time to make that deal work. When you focus only on large returns, you will miss great opportunities provided by easily executed smaller deals.

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Huge thanks to Eugene Gamble for sharing his insights with us. If you found this interview helpful:

• do Like the video and subscribe to the channel for more property and financial insights and strategy.
• do (if you’re feeling super generous ) write us a comment
• do bless your friends by using the buttons on the left to share the article to help your friends become better educated, motivated and inspired too.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about property investment from other people’s journeys, click the following articles:

• How to build a one million property portfolio in just 2 years
• How to turn £6250 into £1.5 million – one man’s incredible property journey
• Lessons from my first property lessons

If you are starting your own financial freedom journey, enjoy the following articles from our library. These articles will provide you with further insights in how to achieve your dreams.

• Five techniques to stay focussed
• How SMALL means big success
• Priming to achieve

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A little about Five Years To Financial Freedom

Five Years to Financial Freedom was setup to help provide entrepreneurs and people in business with the education to be successful in business and investment.

Five Years to Financial Freedom is owned by Incoming Thought Limited, a company, Ben and Nate created to produces all types of content for busy executives and entrepreneurs. If you’d like help with the creation of your own content strategy, or with the production of an ebook, physical book, or any other media related content, do contact us, using the form below.

+ Jess Chai explains the easiest ways she built up a good credit score which is essential for obtaining a mortgage in the property investment world.

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If you plan on getting a mortgage sometime in the future, your credit score is vital. When I graduated from university I had no credit cards, no store cards, had never been in my overdraft or borrowed money (bar the standard student loan). I assumed this meant I had a fantastic credit score, I was like “Yay! Look at me, I’m so great. I have never needed to borrow money. Banks are going to love me!”

Oh to be a fresh graduate! According to the banks, my credit score was crap. I learned the hard way that no credit score was just as undesirable as a bad credit score. Originally this sounded illogical to me. I never borrowed credit because I always made sure I had enough, but someone gave me an example which shifted my perspective:

“When companies hire, who is a safer bet? A candidate with no experience of a job; or a candidate who has a good track record and positive references from previous jobs?”

Here is a practical step you can take to build up your credit score:

Make sure you are on the electoral role!

This is linked to your credit score rating. Banks want to see you have a stable, traceable location. Signing onto the electoral role gives them a little confidence that you aren’t a terrorist money-launderer.

As I’m in my twenties my address changes more frequently than the banks would like. Therefore I am registered at my Mum’s address.

When applying for a mortgage, banks will ask for a proof of address. To make your life easier, get bank statements sent there and ask your kind parent to either forward on to you, or put them somewhere safe for when you need them. Nowadays we access our bank statements online so it’s no biggie to have paper copies sent to in my case, my mum’s address. Mobile phone bills are not always accepted by banks, credit card statements are better.

Use a stable address

Banks also want to know where you have been living for the last three years. It’s far less paperwork if your record shows that you’ve been living at your Mum’s for the last three years. It doesn’t necessarily impact your credit score if you’ve lived in more than one address within the last three years, but it does mean you have to fill out more boxes on their super long forms.

University was a ball ache when it automatically registered me onto the electoral role at uni accommodation. At the time I thought nothing of it but fast forward four years, if I give my Mum’s address to a bank or a credit card company it didn’t always match up with their computer searches.

They have my university address on there as I did not register at my new address. I’ve sorted it now but it was messy and time-consuming to deal with. I wish I had known the importance of being on the electoral role back then! It would have saved me a lot of hassle now.

Go for it!

In summary, if you want a smoother ride and an improved credit score, register on the electoral role at a safe and stable address that you can send and receive post from (either your own or with someone you trust). If you wish to borrow money in the future you will need to provide evidence you live there. Get bank or credit card statements sent there. It will save you so much hassle in the future.

Good luck

Jess x

Our free Financial Freedom Coaching group has hit over 1,000 members! Head over there for daily motivational advice, entrepreneur tips, and access to some of the UK’s best business minds.

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Once upon a time there was a newbie property investor. She loved buying houses and renting them. Every so often an issue would present itself and our sweet naive property investor would freak out! Oft she would scream “Curse you Coventry city tax! What is this bill for?!”, and on occasion “Why are you overcharging me?!” but her refrain was the same: “Who do I call to rectify this injustice?!”

When she wanted to buy another house, a magical mortgage broker requested she present him with details of her current mortgages. She would sulk back to her abode and sob “Oh golly, what on earth is the mortgage account number for 103 unicorn lane?”

As you can imagine dear reader it was quite the stressful time for our sweet newbie property investor. To find the details needed, she would have to rifle through thousands of (ye olde) e-mails or search intensely within property folders. It was very time-consuming. One day she decided she had had enough.

There must be a better way!

Fast forward 30 minutes into the future!

30 minutes of hardcore thinking later, she’d cracked it! The Utility Management Spreadsheet (UMS) was born! She then spent her next few hours filing in her Utility Management Spreadsheet – one for each property) and vowed to always fill it in within the first month of completing on a property:

How to create your own UMS

• Edit the UMS to suit your needs: If it’s a flat, there may be a management company who replace lost key fobs for you and sort out your insurance. I have found it very useful having their number to hand. You may wish to put on your letting agent’s details on the sheet too.
• Get the previous owner/tenants to fill in the sheet: Send a blank copy to the estate agent/sourcer/whoever you are buying the property from, and ask them to fill out as much as they can. They may not be able to do it all but it will certainly save you some researching time. The main row you want them to fill out is the utility supplier and MAKE SURE you get the landline number. You will need this if you or your tenants intend on getting Internet services (Otherwise it is a ball ache to obtain if it is not registered on BTs online database).
• Print off a hard copy and put it as the first page in that property’s ring binder: At the risk of making an ass out of you and me, I am assuming everyone has a ring binder for each property too.
• Print off another hard copy (without passwords) and give to your tenant: They will love you. In my experience, they will love you even more if you call up all the providers before and put all the bills in their name for them. Personally, I have not understood why they appreciate this but I am not one to query appreciation. Also, if you self-manage your properties, the tenant knows who to call instead of them calling you to sort it out.

And they all lived (something) every after

From then on, if council taxes overcharged her, she had the account number, property reference number and details of the person who could resolve the issue on the UMS. If tenants needed the details of the utility providers and account numbers, it was on the UMS. Finally, she was able to lead and much more peaceful and organised life, all thanks to the UMS!

Once complete, she attached it to the front cover of each property’s folder and she lived happily ever after… until the next crisis.

Hey readers, we’ve got a real treat for you today. The founder of Windsor Enterprises, writer of the Archant group’s business advice column, and all round good guy, Ryan Windsor sat down with us and discussed his journey from high-school drop out to achieving financial freedom.

His route to financial freedom was through property, and in today’s interview he reveals; how to minimise properties laying fallow, finding good tradesmen, how to deal with the “Landlord doom” tax, and how to be an ethical landlord.

A recent piece about you in the Telegraph stated that you’ve only had a two week void period in all eight years of owning property! How on earth did you manage that, and what advice do you have for other landlords on minimising down time?

Hi Nate, Thanks for having me on your site!

I often wonder myself how I managed this!

To be honest I lucked out, there is a high demand in my area, and a low supply of rental properties. On top of this is the high quality conditions I let my properties out in, and the tenant centric care I provide.

I meet with all my tenants individually at least once a month to speak to them and sort out any issues. Even if these issues cost me, it highlights I care and improves the Landlord / Tenant(s) relationship that I believe is the key to my low void periods.

I take pride in the properties I let and the service offered, I think of my business as a mini Citizen Advice Bureau (CAB). All my tenants are migrant workers whose families live in a close-knit community, so I get a lot of referrals.

Despite the other Landlords and properties available (some cheaper and larger) most of my tenants appreciate how I operate, and they often stay for four or more years. When they do move their friends move in straight away.

In the same piece you advise landlords to find a good team of tradesmen, what are the three qualities that you look for in those looking to join your team?

Nate, this is so important. You need a great team of tradesmen that you can trust to do a good job on time, and for a reasonable price. You need someone that wants to work with you to build your investment income.

My top three qualities to look for in your tradesmen are;

1. Reliability

It’s taken me a while to find my “Power Team” of tradesmen but I’m so thankful for them. My ability to trust and rely on them to do the job when they say they will keeps my business ticking, my tenants happy, and raises my reputation, as I can get most issues sorted quickly.

2. Quality workmanship

Finding someone who takes pride in their work is rare. Normally I find tradesmen take on too much work, and rush the job. This means I have to get them back for more work, or find someone else, to rectify the problem.

When you have quality workmanship it saves you money and time and reduces stress for you and your tenants.

3. Wants to work for you and build your investments

Finally, you need to find tradesmen that see this professional relationship as a long term arrangement. As such, they give it their all to provide you with the best service, fair prices and often go that extra mile to help you out.

I’ve got a great relationship with my team. They come out at a moment’s notice for no extra charge, they advise me on best practice and how to maximise my HMO investments regarding room configuration.

They even tell me about deals that are coming up, as they know if I do well their business will grow.

Once you find your team look after them! Pay the full amount early if the completed work is to a high standard. Recommend them to your friends, they will appreciate the support and start to value you more, often prioritising you and your maintenance work before others.

Think win/win.

There’s a lot of buzz recently about the government’s planned changes to how landlords are taxed, how are you planning on dealing with those changes and what should other landlords look to do protect their revenue streams?

The changes didn’t come as a shock to me. Look at other industries and all you see is increased regulation, legislation, and more tax.

Property investment is no different. You’ve got to build your portfolio on the mantra of sustainability and longevity.

Get your books in order and make sure you are the most tax efficient you can be now! I stress test my portfolio and only remortage if there is a Below Market Value deal (BVM) that I cannot afford to invest in.

As I said before this is a long term investment vehicle and I don’t want to be too risky with the money I’ve worked so hard to earn.

Finally, with the “generation rent” phenomenon many are struggling with the ethics of owning a lot of property. What’s your position on the issue, and what mindset should people have when becoming a landlord?   

There is, and always will be, a lot of negativity around Landlords and investment property. Owning property is part of the UK’s culture, but as you point out, many people cannot afford to buy their own home (let alone purchase an investment property!).

This difference in wealth has created a divide in society that’s getting larger.

So should we all just stop investing in property?

Of course not. What we should do is promote the fact that not all Landlords are the typical “slumlords”. More and more landlords are providing excellent care and services to their properties and tenants.

More and more are seeing their property portfolio as a long term investment, not just a get rich quick scheme.

Those looking to become a Landlord need to know that it’s a massive responsibility that should not be taken lightly. But! The benefits for you and your stakeholders can be massive and positive.

Think long term, make sure you know your market and do your research, cover your back and stress test the investment… then stress test some more.

Go above and beyond the legal regulations, seek out the experts, and become tenant-centric. This will ensure that everything you do, you do it with the tenants and businesses best interests in mind.

Huge thanks to Ryan for chatting with us, if you need any advice with managing your properties you can reach him on Twitter @Rywindsor89 or connect with him on LinkedIn

 

If you got a lot out of this article, please share it with your friends and colleagues using the social media links.  You may also enjoy the following interviews and articles.

Over my two and a half decades of property investing, I’ve seen a lot of mistakes property investors including myself have made in deals.  Here are seven of the most common mistakes and how to avoid these traps.

1.    Abdicate from decision-making

Deal control loss is a major mistake especially pertinent to many of the newer property investors. Deal control loss occurs when the property investor’s actions are being dictated by their property support team.

This support team consists of mortgage broker, solicitor, surveyor, builder and architect. In other blog articles, I cover how your support team can screw up your deal if you allow them to.

Remember that this is your deal. Your support team (sometimes referred to as your power team) are there to support and advise you. They are not there to make your decisions for you – making the buying, renovation, building, selling and rental decisions are your responsibility.

If you outsource your decision then you are still the person that takes responsibility for that, and you cannot blame others should the deal go wrong.

The responsibilities of your support team are:-

• The mortgage broker advises on the best deal for your particular property deal
• The solicitors is there to advise you on the potential risks to the property
• The surveyor advises you on what they find potentially wrong with the property
• The architect advises you on the designs and layouts possible with your property
• The builder/renovator advises on the materials and costs involved in taking your property forward

Note that in each case the operating word is that they ADVISE – as the deal owner you can elect to ignore their advice.

Keeping control of your property, and the decisions made that affect your property, is the most important thing you can do. It is your job to know exactly how much the deal is worth and then to accept or ignore your team’s advice.

2.    Show off

Ego is the number one cause of property investors losing their entire property portfolio. If the deal doesn’t work out – ditch it.  No matter how much work you’ve done on the deal do not feel obligated to buy or to show off.

Work with others. Share the accolades with others and ask for help on every single decision especially when you are a newbie. There are hundreds of property meetings, forums, meetups and online sites that provide you with the opportunity to network with other property investors.

Whatever the issue: property renovation, building, rental, purchasing – post the question on the forums and get a sanity check on your deal.

3.    Chase the deal (off a cliff)

Depending on whether you are selling or buying, and depending on the circumstances, try to leave some profit for the other person. One property investor I know, lost over a million pounds in profit by trying to reduce the buying price of an office block by an extra £200,000 because the seller had said that he would give him the extra £200,000.

The seller changed his mind but the property investor was determined to argue for the £200,000. The property investor’s architectural plans would allow him to make in excess of £1.5 million pounds. He could easily let the seller have the £200,000. He refused and lost the deal.

4.    Make late night decisions

Never make a decision when your mind is unclear. If you are tired or upset, no matter what is at stake, find some excuse to make the decision when your mind is clearer. As a mentor to many property investors, I have had to correct financial spreadsheets and help undo decisions made by investors under pressure.  These decisions would have ultimately cost them substantially in time, resource and finance.

It is important that you make all major decisions when you have a clear head.

5.    Shirk the little things

Many reading this article will simply read the title and think “Oh I understand this – Ben is talking about me needing to be more organised.” Yes, that is exactly what I’m talking about. However, the organisation must be in the little things.  Organisation of property files – one for each property, obtaining at least five sets of keys when you purchase a property, having a separate set of keys for each investor in a joint venture, and so on.

When you are organised in the smaller aspects of your property business, the larger aspects will take care of themselves.   This is not such a big deal if you are only buying one or two properties but when you are building any kind of portfolio, your disorganisation will negatively impact on you and your team.

6.    Become “too efficient”

You never need to respond to anyone immediately. In fact, it’s downright crazy and causes problems similar to making decisions under pressure. Yes, I know it’s the final request for a council tax payment before they send the bailiffs round, but they don’t know you just purchased the property.

Kick back, go for a drink, think about the situation, get input from others. You’ll find you can obtain a better deal elsewhere, or that a tradesman is lying to you, or that that extra insurance is over-rated. Incredibly many of my seemingly “lucky” breaks have come from me meeting the right person at the right time, why did I meet them? Because I went to a party, or the pub, or had a break.

If you are being pressured for a decision, let them know you have other things that are demanding your time and negotiate a specific time to get back with an answer at least 24 hours later or a time that gives you ample breathing room.

7.    Lack of cynicism

I’m unsure what people think “due diligence” really means. They seem to explain the words correctly and precisely, but their actions seem to dictate otherwise. They explain to me that “due diligence” means “do your own research” and then they continue to listen to their mate, or the news reporter, or the salesman.

When anyone tells you about a great deal and forwards a property deal on to you – you still need to do your own research.

Here are some phrases that have been thrown at me as to why people went forward and bought lemon properties i.e. they made a loss and needed to sell the property quickly or make a bigger loss.

• “He is a well-connected businessman and is a partner with Richard Branson and many other famous business people.”
• “She was my property mentor.”
• “They have several hundred properties already and were too busy to buy this one.”
• “She told me the property was 50% below market value and would go in the next hour.”
• “He is a prominent property investor and makes many posts on the forums.”

Here’s my response to mentees whenever they give a reason in which they have not done their own research

“Look at my face….I don’t care”

Whatever reasons you are looking to purchase a property, you must must must do your own research.

Today’s property market has so many savvy well-informed property investors, so it’s incredibly unlikely that you are buying a great deal. Normally something is being hidden in the process for example; major structural issues in the house or a dump site is about to be opened within half a mile, or the major employer for that area is closing down.

Again I restate: it is important you do your own financial calculations and research no matter where the property deal came from.

Sin round-up

So there you have the seven deadly sins that property investors are guilty of and, as a result, have lost some amazing deals or made a huge loss. For you time poor folks, here’s a quick summary:

1. Keep control of the deal
2. Keep your ego and greed in check
3. Focus on your long-term goal and leave money (even if unfair) for the other party
4. Make decisions with a clear mind and not under duress
5. Be organised in the little things
6. Don’t be too efficient in getting back to people and paying bills
7. Always do your own research.

Happy property hunting.

Our free Financial Freedom Coaching group has hit over 1,000 members! Head over there for daily motivational advice, entrepreneur tips, and access to some of the UK’s best business minds.

After reading a news story about a 24-year-old with an AUD$2.3 million property portfolio, I knew that we absolutely had to interview her. Stephanie Brennan (pictured in the header) has managed to begin her property empire early in her life and shares her proven advice here.

In this interview, we find out; how to streamline your property management, the trade secrets of estate agents, and how to snowball your property portfolio.

Looking at your (rather incredible) story, many would assume that the reason you got so knowledgeable about property is due to your time spent as an estate agent.

What are the three biggest lessons about property you learned from your time as a property manager and as an estate agent?

My time in real estate taught me a lot about the sales, purchasing, and management process involved with having an investment property. Such as, the difference in fees across various real estate agents, and the difference in the service you would receive.

My top three investment lessons for the readers are:

1. The importance of routine inspections and what maintenance items to look out. For example, you can find the areas where you can increase capital value or rental return in your property through renovations or things like new blinds, or new carpet
2. The importance of professional photos and paying for priority listing on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au as 85 per cent of people don’t look past the first page when searching for a property
3. Learn about what to buy, where to buy, and the capital and rental returns property could bring as an investment

Prior to building a property portfolio, I was very keen to invest in shares and really hadn’t thought about investing in property aside from buying a home to live in.

Property as an investment option was reaffirmed in my mind when I studied a Diploma of Financial Planning the same year I purchased my first property.

What are the best resources for those whose professions are not in real estate to learn about property?

My advice to others would be to attend as many seminars as possible and do your research. There are plenty of books on property (some of which I have written myself).

There are also plenty of free suburb reports available online that you can use to research the average growth and rental return or the demographics in the area you are looking at. This will give you an understanding of where to look and whether a unit or a house would best suit the demographics of the area.

A large amount of my knowledge came from my research and studies along with my career, but also through my own trial and error.

With investing it’s largely common sense; pick a place most people want to live or would like to live and a suburb that is largely desired. For example, the majority of people like to live near to a CBD so by buying a property within 20kms of the CBD will often result with an investment that performs more consistently over time.

Managing properties (and tenants) is one of the biggest headaches for anyone with a property portfolio, what are your favourite ways to streamline that side of the business?

I currently have a managing agent that manages my properties. How I manage this relationship is that I set myself a maintenance budget each year for each property. This way I can undertake repairs as need be (up to a certain limit) without being concerned about eating into the positive return I make on my properties.

I also ensure the agent runs all maintenance requests past me prior to arranging them, and that I attend routine inspections where possible so I can evaluate the condition of the property. If I can’t attend an inspection I have the agent send me a report and as many photos as possible and, sometimes, a video.

If the agent sends me a rent increase recommendation, I review this rent increase to ensure that it’s accurate, then I review my budget and the relationship with the tenant. Often I don’t proceed with the increase because to me a quality renter is more valuable than an extra $10 (£4.60) a week.

In my business, I often work with the same agents that manage my own properties so I can ensure that my clients are receiving the same level of service that I receive.

You tout the low deposit required (five per cent) as one of the reasons you were able to begin purchasing properties. But the value of the properties you currently own is through the roof, where did you find all that capital?

With my own purchasing, I did have the 20 per cent deposit saved but I had my Mum agreed to go guarantor [her Mum would be liable should Stephanie be unable to pay back the mortgage – Nate] for the loan so I could put my funds into an offset account.

I’ve predominantly used the increase in the property market and in turn the increase in my property’s value to release equity from one property in order to use this cash as the deposit on the next.

This is how you can leverage yourself into more properties.

Huge thanks to Stephanie for chatting to us, she can be reached on Twitter, Facebook, and shares more excellent property advice here.

Our free Financial Freedom Coaching group has hit over 1,000 members! Head over there for daily motivational advice, entrepreneur tips, and access to some of the UK’s best business minds.