Have you ever wanted to step into Rob and Rob’s shoes and know what it’s like to be them for a day? Well now you can.
This week on The Property Podcast The Robs are sharing their top seven brain hacks with you.
These aren’t just brain hacks that The Robs are dishing out from other people. They both live by these day in, day out. If you implement them they’ll make a huge impact on your life too.
So what are the seven brain hacks that Rob & Rob live by religiously?
They go into a lot of detail explaining why they live by these rules so it’s definitely worth a listen.
Who knows, in 30 minutes time you could feel more motivated than you have in a while and have completely changed your mindset.
So if you decide to implement any of these brain hacks and improve your way of living, make sure you get in touch and let us know. We want to hear all about it.
Brace yourself, we’ve actually got a positive news story! ‘Property market bounce back? Demand from buyers and sellers increases as Brexit fatigue fades, estate agents claim’.
Granted it is based on self reported data so who knows how true it is but the National Association of Estate Agents have surveyed their members and found that there’s been a 16% increase in the last month of new buyers registering with them.
There’s also been an increase in supply. Nothing significant has changed to cause this, so give the article a read and see what you think.
Keeping in theme with today’s podcast, our Hub Extra is an app called Strides, which is a habit tracking app. So if after listening to today’s episode you’re feeling a surge of motivation and wanting to take action, go ahead and download it.
Meetups are next tonight! Most events are sold out but there’s a couple with tickets left. If you’d like to attend, you can find your nearest meetup venue here on our website. Or register early for next month!
This week on our YouTube channelwe published a new video on finding the right accountant for your property business. Now obviously we have Property Hub Tax who are amazing at what they do (not to blow our own trumpet) but they might not tick your boxes. So go give it a watchand let us know your thoughts. Don’t forget to subscribe!
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channelwhere we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are answering another two cracking questions sent in by our Hubbers.
First up is Mike. He’s an avid Property Podcast listener and after just four or five months he took the plunge and invested in a great Liverpool buy-to-let deal we launched just a few months ago.
Mike is wanting more information on joint property ventures - particularly on how he can get the ball rolling. Now that he’s made his first investment, he’s got the bug and wants to see how he can secure his second property without having to wait too long to release some capital from his first.
Can an individual go into a joint venture with a limited company? A pretty decent question if you ask us. So what’s the answer? And are The Robs a fan of joint ventures?
Our second question comes from James who’s wondering what a sensible loan-to-value ratio is. Do The Robs think having a portfolio at a 75% LTV is a risky move?
Rob D explains that a 75% loan to value is pretty standard these days and for it to be a bad idea, the market would have to drop more than 25% overnight.
But there’s much more to be said on this topic. So tune in to find out what else Rob D has to say about loan-to-value ratios when investing in investment property.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast, The Robs are discussing the investments you should be avoiding in the upcoming property boom.
No, they’re not psychic. Nor do they have a crystal ball. But the property boom will come, and when it does, it’s important to know the potential risks and how to avoid them.
If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, you’ll know that Rob & Rob believe we’re currently in the mid-cycle wobble, and after the wobble comes the boom.
Quite often in a boom, people start to get excited and you could be sold something that could lose you a vast amount of money.
The perk of the property cycle is that you know what’s coming next. So you can look at the last property boom and see what type of investments people were making that went horribly wrong... and avoid them.
So what are the investments you should be avoiding in the next boom?
There are a lot of issues and warnings in this episode but it’s not just us scaremongering, you genuinely need to be aware of these issues and take them seriously.
If you’ve had a bad past experience with one of these investment types or you were affected by the last property boom, then we want to hear from you. Get in touch over on Facebook, Instagram or even the forum.
And in the news this week, The Robs have found another headline that isn’t actually news - it’s more misleading.
It comes from the BBC and the headline is ‘flats out of fashion with first time buyers’. According to the article, first time buyers are going straight for houses which is causing a fall in the cost of apartments.
So that’s it. Investors should stop what they’re doing and we need to go back and revise the podcast we did on city living.
Wrong.
Yet again, the media is blowing a simple comment made about the London market completely out of proportion. One comment about one city and naturally that means it’s the same story for the rest of the country.
Our Hub Extra this week is for MacBook and iPhone users, sorry Android. It’s an app called Soulver, and it’s essentially the same as the notepad app but it’s designed to work with numbers in a more natural way.
It’s incredibly useful if you’re trying to take notes and make calculations at the same time. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Meetups are next week! Some events are sold out but we do have some tickets left for others. Although they’re selling fast. If you’d like to attend, you can find your nearest meetup venue here on our website.
If you haven’t yet checked out our YouTube channel then what are you waiting for? One of our most popular videos is our UK hotspots one and people have been questioning our choices. So go give it a watch and let us know your thoughts. Don’t forget to subscribe!
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are answering two very different questions on the topic of HMOs.
The first question comes in from another Rob who’s got in touch for some feedback on a potential HMO in Stoke-on-Trent. The property is fully tenanted and has five double bedrooms, all with en-suite bathrooms.
On the face of it, the property seems like a pretty good deal. The monthly gross rental income is £3,870 on a purchase price of £335,000 - that’s a gross yield of over 13%!
However, his concern is the bricks and mortar valuation. The property was purchased for £95,000 at the back end of 2015 as an office with a much smaller HMO above.
Rob is finding it hard to believe that the refurb price would have cost more than around £130,000 - £150,000 considering house prices have probably only risen by about 15% over the last 4 years. His other concern is the lack of local comparables for him to do a true bricks and mortar valuation.
He’s worried that the property is overvalued as a stand alone asset. So what would Rob & Rob do in this situation?
Our second question comes in from Mahlia who’s looking to purchase more HMO properties in Manchester and Leeds, but has been put off by article four which requires planning permission to change residential property to a HMOs.
Should this be a real concern or should she still proceed with the aim of getting planning permission?
Rob D’s response is pretty clear on this one. Tune in to have a listen.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast, we’re giving you seven property tips that you can start using today, because we want you to start taking action!
You’ll know by now if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while that we love doing the big picture, philosophical and mindset episodes but now we want to give you something actionable.
So on today’s podcast we’re going to cover everything from before you buy a property, through management, through to your exit and how you run your business.
The seven main tips Rob & Rob have for you are:
Tune into this week’s episode and see how many of these tips you’re already doing and which ones you can action today.
Our news story this week comes from the BBC, just for a change. The headline is ‘soaring second home ownership is hitting young people’. Apparently the number of people who own a second home or a buy to let has doubled since 2001 and 1 in 10 people now own an additional property.
The report claims that this is hitting young people and making property unaffordable and home ownerships for young people are falling.
Now unsurprisingly the report hasn’t looked into all the facts and figures, so this is where Rob & Rob clear things up and set the record straight.
We also want to say a big thank you to everyone who has already subscribed to our YouTube channel. This week we hit 5,000 subscribers! We’re consistently pushing out more content on our channel with the aim to bring you a new video every week. So if you haven’t subscribed yet, we’d love it if you took this opportunity to do so.
Meetups are back again in a couple of weeks time and we’ve still got spaces available for the majority of our locations. Our meetups are a great way for like minded property lovers to meet each other and talk about everything property related and discuss your goals and strategies.
If you’d like to attend, you can find your nearest meetup venue here on our website.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
The Robs are back again for another fantastic episode of Ask Rob & Rob where they’re talking about property crashes and tenants staying too long.
First up we have Pete who has a question about the 18-year property cycle. He’s clearly been listening to our podcastsand taken the university course, as he’s correctly identified that we’re about 7 years away from the next property market crash.
Pete already has two properties that he bought for around £100,000 each and is hoping that in the next 7 years they’ll have pretty much doubled in value.
If this was just before the next market crash, would it be wise for him to sell up pre-crash? For Pete, his properties are all about the monthly rental income, however he doesn’t want to miss out on that potential capital growth.
So should he sell up and pocket the capital growth? Or should he keep hold of his properties but run the risk of being back to square one?
Find out what The Robs have to say on this topic.
Next up we have Bartholomew who wants to know if he should be worried about his tenant staying too long.
He has a tenant who’s been in his property for the last seven years and is wanting to know if this tenant has any long-term tenancy rights.
He’s also looking at purchasing a property that’s had the same tenants for the past three years. If they decided to stay long-term, do they qualify as sitting tenants?
So what should Bart do? Should he try and evict these long-term tenants? Or should he see it as a blessing that they’re dependable who haven’t caused him any issues for the past 7 years?
Find out on today’s Ask Rob & Rob.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on013 808 00035 and leaving a messagewith your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forumyet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast, The Robs are talking economics and looking at data to see whether rental prices really are out of control.
It’s certainly an episode worth listening to because we’ve got something exciting coming up...
Yes, we’re going to be those people who tease you about something coming up next week and make you wait a whole 7 days to see what it is - sorry! What we can tell you though is that it’s very exciting and it’s exclusively for you - our podcast listeners. So whether you listen to The Property Podcast regularly or you’re only a few episodes in. Make sure you tune in next week when we reveal all!
In recent headlines, it’s been said that renting is unaffordable, and action is needed. Maybe even rent controls. But is this true?
Zoopla has recently brought out a really interesting report. They’ve taken their own rental data, compared it with average wages and looked at the period between 2007 and 2018 to see how affordability and rent levels have changed over that period.
The conclusions are actually quite surprising, so The Robs dig right in on today’s episode.
The three main topics Rob & Rob discuss today are:
So tune into this week’s episode as Rob & Rob see whether renting really is unaffordable. Give the Zoopla report a read and let us know what you think.
And in this week’s Hub Extra, Rob D is recommending something he uses regularly. It’s a meditation app called Waking Up, developed by a guy named Sam Harris. Sam is a neuroscientist, philosopher, author, podcaster and an all-around interesting guy.
This app is a series of guided meditation and lessons - which isn’t dissimilar to other apps, but for Rob D, it’s Sam’s approach that has been the gamechanger. So if you’ve been struggling to make meditation stick or can’t seem to get into it, give this one a try and see if it helps.
And in the news this week, The Robs are loving the headlines from The Daily Express. The one which caught their attention is ‘Corbyn’s garden tax: ‘DISASTROUS’ for property market and will hit families and pensioners’.
Rob D voices a bit of an unpopular opinion on this. But both of The Robs don’t think it’s half as bad as the media are making out. Essentially it’s just a rebranding of council tax. In fact it might make things fairer!
However it was also announced that Labour are proposing that landlords pay tenants’ council tax bills. Needless to say, this sparked a bit of a heated debate, especially over on our Instagram.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channelwhere we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
The Robs are back again for another fantastic episode of Ask Rob & Rob. After a few weeks of mortgage questions with Dave Cookson, the trio is now back to a duo!
First up we’ve got Horatio who’s in a bit of a pickle. He made an offer to purchase a buy-to-let investment property in Birmingham about six months ago and has recently completed.
However, he’s run his numbers again and has realised that his investment property isn’t even making £50 a week! A situation no investor wants to be in.
So how does Horatio get out of this sticky situation? Is there a way out? Could a change in strategy make him a small profit at least?
Second up, we’ve got Nick. He wants to know if there’s a minimum purchase price to look for when purchasing a buy to let property?
He’s wanting to know which works better for a portfolio; having six properties valued at £100,000 each or 12 at £50,000 each.
Ultimately there are a number of variables to consider and, as always, it also depends on your goals.
So how low should you go when you want to buy cheap buy-to-let investment properties? And does cheap always mean it’s an instant money saver? We’ve all heard the phrase “buy cheap, buy twice”...
Find out on today’s Ask Rob & Rob.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast, The Robs are doing something a bit different and talking some hard truths. Which, if you implement them, could be a complete game changer.
On today’s podcast The Robs are passing on six lessons from one of the most impressive (and possibly insane) individuals, David Goggins.
Rob B has hailed David Goggins’ book ‘Can’t Hurt Me’ as his book of the year, after a recommendation from Rob D.
For those of you who don’t know who David Goggins is, he’s a former Navy Seal, an ultra marathon runner, a distance cyclist, an endurance athlete, a tri-athlete, a motivational speaker and now an author. He’s certainly one-of-a-kind and quite possibly like no one you’ll have ever met or heard of before.
Today we’re going to take six lessons from David Goggins that you can implement in your life, and we reckon it’ll help set you apart from everyone else.
Here’s the six lessons The Robs will go through on today’s podcast, complete with quotes from David Goggins himself:
This week’s podcast will get you raring to go - so be prepared for a flurry of self-activity afterwards. You’ve been warned!
For this week’s Hub Extra we’ve got a great video for you that’s done the rounds here at the Hub It’s called The Contrepreneur Formula Exposedand is done very nicely by Mike Winnet.
Mike has attended several wealth creation seminars, and highlights what exactly goes down at these events and reveals how they’re very cleverly designed to separate you from your money. It’s a fitting tale considering The Robs have been vocal in their dislike for courses that charge you the earthand promise you’ll get rich quick, yet fail to deliver.
Mike’s formula works for whatever seminar you attend. Go give it a watch, it’ll be well worth your time. The Robs are extremely jealous they never thought of doing this themselves!
In the news this week, The Daily Express is revealing the areas of the UK with the best recovery from the financial crash. The City of London has seen the best recovery over the past 10 years, where house prices are up 143%. What’s interesting is it shows the areas that are still yet to recover, which could be a good insight if you’re planning on investing in these areas.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channelwhere we upload new content every week!
Once again, our favourite mortgage broker, Dave Cookson is back. He’s joining The Robs to answer your mortgage questions on today’s Ask Rob & Rob.
First up we’ve got Rita who wants to know what would happen to her property portfolio should she die, and how can she protect her family? She has interest only mortgages on all her properties at 75% LTV. So she’s wanting to know if she died, would her husband be forced to sell the properties and pay off the mortgages?
It’s not a question that comes up very often, but it’s an important one that the majority of property investors should be asking themselves. Find out what advice Dave has to offer and listen to how insurance can play a key part in this!
The next question comes from Adam. He’s wanting to know what kind of questions he should be asking a mortgage broker before he works with them, to find out if they’re any good.
The Robs always bang on about the importance of working with a good mortgage broker and how it can make your life easier.
So what questions does Dave think are the most important to ask? Tune in to find out...
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast, buy-to-let is dead apparently. So will this be The Robs last ever podcast?!
Firstly, before we get into today’s podcast episode, we want to say thank you for all the lovely and positive feedback we’ve received over the last couple of weeks in terms of Property Hub Mortgages.
And on the back of that, Rob D would like to give a special shoutout to his mortgage broker, Amy at Keys Mortgages, who recently got him out of a sticky situation.
She’s a prime example of what a good mortgage broker looks like, so give it a listen to find out just what Rob D had gotten himself into.
Now onto this week’s episode, recently there’s been a lot of click bait headlines on the internet stating that buy-to-let is dead, but having nothing to back the statement up in the articles.
But this week, Money Week brought out an article headlining; ‘the death of buy-to-let property’ and it actually had a bit of substance to it. So we thought that we needed to address it.
And that’s exactly what we do in this episode. So, is buy-to-let really dead and is this goodbye? Tune in to find out...
For this week’s Hub Extra we’re bringing you Freetrade. It’s an app that’s available on both Apple and Android and allows you to buy and sell stock shares for free. Usually investing in shares involves a hefty commission fee when you buy and sell which can wipe out any gains you make. So if you decide to have a dabble, let us know if you’re successful, but remember to be sensible with it, we’re not liable for your actions.
In the news this week, not a news article, but a gentle reminder that the lettings and landlord fee ban comes into play at the end of the week! It’s already had an effect with some letting agents shutting down and some landlords saying that their fees have gone up to cover the loss. Someone got in touch and said that their fees have changed by a huge £500 per month!
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channelwhere we upload new content every week!If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
This week on Ask Rob & Rob, we’ve got Dave Cookson joining the guys again to answer even more mortgage related questions.
Maybe we should have dedicated this month’s ‘ask’ questions to Dave. But nevertheless we’ve got another two cracking mortgage related questions that you may never have thought to ask before.
So let's get started...
The first question comes in from Stuart who has more than one buy to let property in his personal name.
He’s wanting to know if there is a mortgage product where you can combine all of your BTL mortgages into one and effectively just have one lump mortgage that covers all of your properties.
Turns out it’s a pretty common question and one that Dave gets asked quite frequently; ‘can I have one lender that supports my portfolio in a limitedconpany?’ You’ll have to tune in to find out the answer…
Our second question comes from a listener who is wanting to know if he needs a limited company for every property that he purchases. He’s heard of some investors using this strategy but is wondering what’s best in terms of mortgageability.
What’s Dave’s opinion on multiple companies and what advice does he give?
Hit the play button to find out.
Tune in next week when Dave will be back once again to answer more mortgage questions.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on013 808 00035 and leaving a messagewith your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forumyet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast we’ve got a special episode for you - and it’s one that The Robs have been wanting to do for a while.
[Drum roll!] Today, you get to listen to Rob B mentoring two lucky podcast listeners - LIVE! Avid listeners will know that strategy is key, and today we’re revealing just how important we think this is by putting Rob on the spot to offer his advice.
Now don’t worry, this isn’t just specific to Ruth and Christian’s investment plans,(who are the two lucky listeners by the way) there’s so much information given out in today’s podcast that you can apply it to your own property investment strategy. So it’s well worth the listen.
The Robs (and the team at Property Hub Invest) have spent years helping people with their property journey. Many they speak to don’t even have a strategy. But that’s OK, because that’s where we excel.
And we’re all for sharing knowledge.
The first lucky listener is Ruth from Dorset. Ruth and her husband Dennis have already started investing in property in South Wales and have a couple of buy-to-let properties. Alongside their two buy-to-let properties they also have a holiday let.
Running alongside their investments, Ruth and Dennis have an interest only mortgage on their residential home. Their goal is to have £3,000 net income each month from their buy-to-let properties so that when their mortgage expires in 2023, they can service a new mortgage.
There’s a lot of numbers flying around in this one, but with their combined investments, the profit they’re currently making is around a quarter of the way to their £3,000 goal. So what should they do now? Rob B steps in with a strategy that will help them reach their goal by the time they’re due to remortgage.
Next up we have Christian. Christian is already in a nice position with his property investment portfolio. His goal is to increase his cash flow so he can continue to invest and build a pension pot, and have something to hand down to his kids.
Christian already has a standard buy-to-let property in London which produces a decent £16,000 per annum, along with 2 HMO’s. He’s now on the lookout for his next investment in the north.
At the moment Christian is weighing up his options as to when the right time might be to purchase another property, and what kind of property he should be looking at. On the plus side, he was worried about the effects of Brexit, but after religiously listening to The Property Podcast, he’s confident he can still purchase in the next few months.
So what type of property does Rob B think Christian should be looking for ‘up north’, and what should he be focusing on to achieve his goals?
Tune in to find out. Then head over to our social channels to let us know what you thought of today’s episode.
For this week’s Hub Extra we’re giving you the gift of time. No, we’ve not got a new invention, we’re simply giving you advice on your goals - for free!
You’ve just spent the last 20 minutes listening to how Rob B helped Ruth and Christian with their property goals, and now it’s your turn. You can register for your free goals callwith one of our Invest team. On the call you’ll go through your goals to determine whether they’re realistic [very important!] and look at ways to help you achieve them. It’s probably the best call you’ll have all year!
Slots are limited, so book an appointment sharpish.
In the news this week, Letting Agent Today has reported that landlords selling up made an average gain of £80,000 in 2018. This isn’t what surprised The Robs though, it was the fact that this is an average figure which means a huge 15% of landlords have made a loss! This news story certainly ruffles a few feathers. If you’re in this situation and thinking of selling, this episode is well worth a listen as it could change your mind and offer you a helping hand.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channelwhere we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
On this week’s Ask Rob & Rob, Dave Cookson is back to answer more mortgage related questions.
Mortgage broker Dave has appeared on The Property Podcast numerous times and most recently busted some of the most common mortgage mythsin conjunction with the launch of Property Hub Mortgages.
And today he’s back to answer your mortgage related questions.
The first question is from Rob (yes, another Rob!), who has two properties in his portfolio - both are based in London and have development potential. He’s pretty confident that if he does these improvements, both the rental and resale value will increase.
But how does he raise the initial funds to crack on with his plans?
Both of his properties are on a standard 75% LTV mortgage and the lenders are not allowing any further advance. Does Dave know of anything Rob can do?
The next question comes in from Hannah.
Hannah runs her own business and has the choice of how much income to take in the form of dividends, whilst leaving the rest in the business to avoid paying more tax.
She owns her home outright so doesn’t have many outgoings. But she’s heard somewhere that lenders want to see a minimum amount of personal income.
With this in mind, Hannah wants to know how much she needs to start paying herself from her business to maximise her mortgage options? She’s also been told that lenders don’t count rental income as personal income.
Is this True? Tune in to find out what Dave has to say...
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on013 808 00035 and leaving a messagewith your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forumyet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
The property world suffers a lot of noise. Everyone (mostly) considers themselves to be an expert - you’ll hear a lot of “you can do this” or “you can’t do that” - but quite frankly, a fair bit of it is rubbish.
So today on The Property Podcast, Rob & Rob are putting six mortgage myths to bed.
And what better way to tackle this subject than to get mortgage expert Dave Cookson, from Charles Louis on the show with The Robs today. The three musketeers go on to clear up six mortgage myths that might either be steering you in the wrong direction or holding you back altogether. But we know for a fact that they’re not true.
Tune into this week’s Property Podcast to find out what these six common mortgage myths are and what the guys have to say about them.
In the news this week, mortgage products for expats are improving after being ignored for so long. TML (The Mortgage Lenders) are launching the first expat buy-to-let mortgage product range. Also in the news, Precise Mortgages are making slicing available across its entire buy-to-let range. Rob D pretty much hits the nail on the head with describing what slicing is, so give it a listen.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
This week we’ve got one lucky listener Lisa, who’s having both of her property investment related questions answered.
First of all, Lisa wants to know if she should manage her new buy to let property herself or whether she should be working with a lettings agent?
She already has one property in the south that’s fully managed by a lettings agent, so she’s wanting to know if she should stick with that for her second investment property or just give it a go herself.
Whilst Lisa’s second property is in Manchester and she lives locally, Rob B doesn’t feel that she should self-manage just because she lives nearby. It’s completely Lisa’s decision but Rob’s happy to chip in with his reasoning from a personal perspective.
Secondly, Lisa is looking at buying another flat this year and has her eye on Manchester and Liverpool. However, she’s noticed a lot of properties on the market waiting to be rented out.
So Lisa wants to know if The Robs have any advice on what she should prepare herself for, and what she can do to rent out her property quickly.
Can Rob D provide some reassurance and a firm reason where there are so many properties on the market in two large (and very popular) city centres?
Of course he can.
Tune in to find out!
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on013 808 00035 and leaving a messagewith your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forumyet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast we’re bringing you a blast from the past and going back to episode 31, way back in 2013! The Robs are discussing the topic of how to search for a buy-to-let investment property.
Why are we going back? Because no matter how much Rob & Rob bang on about how important research is, people are still getting it very wrong. The guys will also be giving you a pretty solid framework to follow.
Not everyone goes back and listens to The Property Podcast from the very beginning, so this is a great opportunity to listen to what The Robs have been saying since the very early days of The Property Podcast.
Fundamentally, research will not only make you money, but will also save you a lot of money too.
So tune in and join Rob & Rob on a trip down memory lane and see what research tips you can pick up and use to your advantage. It could just be the starting point you need.
Rob & Rob are also covering their news story of the week. They’re discussing the slowdown of the property marketin light of the current political situation. Whilst residential properties appear to be much harder to sell right now, it opens up a fantastic gap for investors. Have a listen to what Rob & Rob think.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channelwhere we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
This week the dynamic duo are back together after Rob B left Rob D to fly solo last week.
On this week’s Ask Rob & Rob, we’ve got two listeners who are asking The Robs their advice on how best to invest their lump sum of cash and what they think about mentors.
First up we’ve got Tom. Tom has joined his family business and they have £200,000 sat in their current account and he’s wanting to know how best to invest the money.
He wants to find out where he should invest, how much he should invest in each property and how many properties he should stretch his money across.
Rob B confesses that Tom shouldn’t be looking at investments right now. A bizarre move considering that’s what the Property Hub is about, but he has a pretty good reason for it. Hit the play button to find out why Rob B is advising this.
Next we’ve got Danny who is wanting to know what Rob & Rob think about mentoring. How much should it cost, what should it include and what are the key aspects to look out for?
Rob D advises there are two types of mentoring to look out for. One being somebody who has followed a specific strategy and succeeded, the other is the kind of mentor that you want to just check things along the way.
The Robs aren’t the biggest fans of mentors who charge extortionate prices, because why would you want to pay for something you can get for free right here at the Property Hub?
But nevertheless, Rob D explains what to look out for when choosing a mentor. Take a listen and let us know what you think.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast we’ve got an action packed episode for you as we revisit some of our listeners success stories.
Today we’re catching up with three Hubbers who started their investment journey just one year ago.
First up we’ve got Sarah who started a flipping company in Sheffield and bought two buy-to-let properties. Sarah also teamed up with Simon, her project manager, in a joint venture (which we know a lot of you Hubbers are interested in) so this one will be worth a listen.
Next we spoke to Iain who started off with a two-bed house and then went on to convert his HMO into two houses. Not content with stopping there, he’s also building a third property onto the end. Iain is used to the developer side of things, but he’s now also dipping his toe into the world of leasehold, mixing up his strategy. But what will the outcome be? Will he stick to developing or will he eventually become a lot more hands off?
Last but not least we’ve got Steve. When we last spoke to Steve he’d been investing for 5-6 years and had four buy-to-let properties. So what’s he been up to over the past 12 months? Steve is big on doing his research and has that much experience under his belt now, he could almost do it in his sleep! Tune in to hear about how Steve has successfully built his property portfolio.
So there we go… three Hubbers, all who are doing incredibly well with their investment journeys, and all with completely different strategies.
If you have a success story, we’d love to speak to you!
Have you landed a deal, finished a refurb or simply taken your first step onto the buy-to-let ladder?
Let us know! We love hearing about how you’ve taken action. You can find us on the socials (facebook, twitter, instagram) @propertyhubuk or on the forum at propertyhub.net/forum
In the news this week, the most recent Hometrack report headlines ‘northern city house prices storm on as south succumbs to Brexit slowdown’. We hate to say it, but we saw this one coming from a mile off. The report also shows that Liverpool house prices are up 5.5% annually, just one of the hotspot locations we mentioned at the beginning of the year.
This week for our Hub Extra we haven’t got a tool for you, but more of an inspirational quote.
‘You can have anything you want… But not everything you want’.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our brand new YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
Rob D is flying solo on Ask Rob & Rob today whilst Rob B is enjoying his holiday.
So this week we’ve got two very interesting questions - and one is on a topic we’ve never covered before. That almost never happens!
First up is Marcus: He’s in full time employment and paying into a company pension scheme. He isn’t satisfied with how his pension pot is looking for when he retires so is looking at turning his hand to buy to let property.
After doing some research, Marcus found out that he could get 40% tax relief on any extra money he puts into his pension. So is he better off investing in property or putting the extra money into his pension fund?
Rob D completely agrees that pension tax relief schemes are fantastic and even better if your company matches your contribution. However, if you’re thinking of retiring early you won’t be able to access this cash, so you’ll need a back up plan.
He’s no tax expert so you definitely should speak to the professionals, but have a listen to what else Rob D has to say about pensions.
The second question comes from James - he’s found a flat that he likes the look of. It’s two years old and in a new development but it has a commonhold tenure. So, what is a commonhold tenure and what should James do? Tune in to find out.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
Welcome to another episode of The Property Podcast and today Rob & Rob are discussing how to transform your life by changing your inputs. Succeeding in property is so much more than viewing properties and crunching the numbers - it takes a “can do” attitude and a positive mindset.
So this week, The Robs are focusing on techniques, tactics and tweaks that you can use to block out the unhelpful, and focus on what you need to do to succeed.
Listen as The Robs cover:
Social media:
How can you tame it? How can you block out negativity and the dreaded topics you just don’t want to read about?
If you’re looking for the links Rob & Rob discuss on today’s podcast, look no further. You can block the Facebook newsfeed with this handy Chrome extension and use Nuzzel to extract just the links from Twitter.
Reading:
What should you be reading, and how can you make the best use of your time? Also, how can you save the content you’ve found valuable? Listen as Rob D explains how he uses Readwise to highlight important snippets of information to come back to later - a very handy tool!
Phone usage:
We’re all guilty of excessive phone usage, but it’s what you do with your phone that can make all the difference. Rob B confesses that he’s guilty of wasting time on his phone, but your phone can become a huge asset if used in the right way. He’s changed his home screen to only display the apps that are actually useful to his life, something he highly recommends. Listen as he shares his other tips on limiting life distractions so you can focus on the things that matter.
Listening:
Podcasts and audiobooks are a great way to soak up information - but what about radio? Why does Rob D recommend you block out passive soundwaves? The content you consume can massively affect your mood, so you can either arrive to work fired up and ready to go, or sit at your desk ready for an 8-hour stint with the weight of the world on your shoulders. We know which one we’d choose!
People:
The people around you really shape your life. Listen how Rob B tackles negativity from people and how he goes out of his way to find and spend time with positive ones. Not just in his life, but with the team at Property Hub too. There are no exceptions to the rule - so watch out world!
YouTube:
A video platform that has very quickly taken over the world. It’s changed the way we consume content - you don’t have to stick to a TV guide, you have the whole world, in video form, at your fingertips. You can consume what you want, when you want it.
BUT, you do need to control what you watch, and be careful not to get sucked down the rabbit hole that YouTube’s clever algorithms tend to send you down.
And whilst you’re here… it’s about time we told you about our very own YouTube channel. That’s right… head on over to the Property Hub YouTube channel so get your video fix of exclusive content. The content you’ll find on the channel is entirely different to what you’ll hear on The Property Podcast, or anywhere else for that matter, so make sure you head on over and hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out!
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
And we’re back… welcome to another episode of Ask Rob & Rob.
First up this week we have Matt from Birmingham. Matt has read an article about a couple managing to avoid paying the 3% stamp duty on a derelict building they’ve purchased. Naturally Matt is wondering if there is any evidence on landlords now being able to claim back the 3%.
Rob D is familiar with this story and is aware of the court battle between this couple and HMRC, so listen as he delves into some of the facts. But before you start to swamp HMRC with claim-back requests, listen carefully at some of the pointers and areas of uncertainty. A very interesting one to keep an eye on.
Our second question is from Aseeb who wants some tips on auction property.
He’s seen a potential investment property where there’s a regulated tenancy in place, but the rent is half the expected amount on a property of this size and type in the area.
Listen as Rob D talks us through what a regulated tenancy is and what makes it so unusual - and why a Section 21 notice wouldn’t be any help at all.
Another very interesting question this week, so hit play and have a listen.
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
On today’s Property Podcast, Rob D is looking at how you research a buy-to-let property investment in a brand new city.
Rob & Rob have talked extensively about the joys of investing in cities, but what should you do if you don’t know any of them that well and you don’t live close to them? That’s exactly what Rob D is covering today, and he’s using a real life guinea pig (and by that, we mean Dan), to explain how he approached being in this exact situation.
If you’re an avid Property Podcast listener, you’ll know that The Robs covered their 2019 property investment hotspots earlier this year, and off-air were hit with questions from Dan whilst he was doing his research.
Dan had been looking at a city that’s brand new to him, and today he shares his journey and the process he went through to understand what the city offered and whether it would help him meet his buy-to-let property investment goals.
He’s got Nottingham and Manchester boxed off already, and is happy with the steady cash flow his investments bring in. But now he’s ready to switch strategy and is looking at properties for growth… and he’s decided that Sheffield is on his hit list!
What research did Dan do? What type of properties did he look at? And what made him throw certain properties in the junk pile?
Today you’ll get to know his first impression of Sheffield as a complete outsider, what he thought of the properties he saw and the tactics he used to get to know the area and the local community.
You’ll also hear how he stayed sane, tried to avoid ‘property blur’ and built a great rapport with the agent on the 16 viewings he booked!
To paint the full picture, you can see links to a few of the properties Dan was looking at in Sheffield below:
Listen as Dan and Rob D have a chat about Dan’s Manchester vs. Sheffield dilemma, and see what you can take away from Dan’s experience of investigating a brand new city to invest in buy-to-let property.
In the news this week, you’ll have noticed a huge story! No-fault evictions are to be banned in England. This is a big change and effectively an abolition of the Section 21 procedure.
It’s not an enormous shock but it has come a bit out of the blue in terms of timing. So what should you do? It’s just a proposal right now so there’s a lot of time to adjust and plan. If you fancy a deeper delve into what Rob D thinks of this, you can hear more on this week’s Ask Rob & Rob where they covered what the Section 21 ban would mean for landlords.
And we’re back with another Hub Extra resource. This week we have Workona - a tool if you’re one of those people who have multiple browser tabs open! It’s an extension for Chrome and is completely free - it allows you to arrange your tabs into different workspaces, so you could have one for personal, one for location research and one for official work duties. If you dive into one group, it hides all the others - a seriously great piece of kit to help you stay organised.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.
Happy Tuesday! And welcome to another episode of Ask Rob & Rob. As always, The Robs are on-hand to answer any property investment related question you’re dying to know.
It’s an important one today, as Sarah from London is asking about Section 21. She’s seen the headlines (as we’re sure most of you have), and has seen that no fault evictions are likely to be banned in England.
Sarah wants to know exactly what a Section 21 ban means for landlords and what impact this is likely to have.
As you can imagine, this is a pretty big deal. If you missed the BBC headlines, you can sort that right out and read all about the no-fault eviction ban proposal here.
If you weren’t aware already, a section 21 is a no-fault eviction procedure. As a landlord you can ask a tenant to leave your property at the end of their fixed contract or when they’re in a periodic tenancy without any reason. And because you don’t have to prove fault, this has been the quickest and most efficient way of evicting someone.
So what now?
Landlords still have options - and Rob D covers them all in detail on today’s episode of Ask Rob & Rob.
And even though Sarah didn’t ask for Rob D’s opinion, she’s going to get it - because we just couldn’t hold him back!
Should landlords be panicking? And how much time do we have to prepare for this change?
Sit back and hit play to find out!
Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).
Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead.
The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.
Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.
This week on The Property Podcast, Rob & Rob are unveiling the 5 buy-to-let property investment locations you should be keeping an eye on. The Robs have talked extensively about their buy-to-let hotspots of 2019, but where should property investors be looking outside the major cities?
Sit back and listen as The Robs talk us through their top 5 buy-to-let towns you should be investing in:
Warrington:
What’s not to like? Connectivity is unrivalled - there are direct trains from London (taking just 1 hour, 45 minutes), it’s also perfectly placed between Manchester and Liverpool. The motorway networks are also great.
Now, the town needs some work - but that’s what’s most exciting about this location. Listen as The Robs talk through the plans for Warrington and how you could take advantage of this.
Doncaster:
They’re doing some interesting things in this town - they’re savvy enough to turn their weaknesses into strengths. There are many positives for Doncaster, such as the road network, that have made this town ideal for logistics businesses which is bolstering the local economy. This is fast becoming a key buy-to-let town to watch in 2019.
Preston:
This is actually a city that’s snuck its way onto the list but we couldn’t ignore the prospects this location has. The Preston City Deal is set to transform this area: a £430 million investment will severely boost the economy and drive thousands of jobs here. Investment alone isn’t enough to drive Preston onto the list, so listen as The Robs talk us through some of the other reasons they’re so excited about this city. We’d say this is a very worthy contender if you’re scouting the top fundamental locations to invest in.
Wakefield:
Not only is Wakefield one of the most accessible places in the UK, it’s benefitted from the ripple effect of Leeds. The local economy is worth £6.5 billion - a real powerhouse of an area - and it’s a commuter hotspot for those working in Leeds which really sweetens the appeal.
Crewe:
One word: transport. More trains go through Crewe than any other station in England, highlighting just how well-connected it is to other towns and cities in the north, as well as London.
Crewe is great now, but when the HS2 station arrives there, it’ll be a gamechanger for this area - London alone will be reachable in under an hour. Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds will also be under an hour, which is incredible.
There are also many large-scale employers that have chosen Crewe as their homes, so listen as Rob & Rob talk through the several other reasons why this town deserves a place in their top 5 buy-to-let towns to invest in.
In the news this week, research shows that one buyer in six pulls out - is this more fuel for reforming the entire property buying process? We already know how bonkers the property buying process is in the UK, and this just demonstrates how broken the process actually is.
If you take a look at the reasons, you’ll understand the frustrations that most vendors go through - 24% was because the buyer couldn’t raise the funds! Have a read through the article and let us know what you think over on our social channels.
And we’re back with another Hub Extra resource. Before you drift off, take a look at it. It’s called Build Your Stax: click here. Think of it as a Monopoly for investors. Rob & Rob were hooked, and it quickly outlines how your wealth can increase significantly when your tactics are right.
We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.
If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.