Jael Spooner was my first student ever and has been a property millionaire for some time now. Recently, I toured her latest £1 million property purchase in London. She is planning to convert the property into a luxury family home and extend it using permitted development rights (which means she won’t need planning permission). I liked the property so much that I am going to be investing in the deal.
Jael Spooner is an experienced investor, and she knows how to add value to a property. I highly recommend watching the full video (above) as it contains very important information that can help you grow your property portfolio. In this article, I will briefly summarise 3 lessons to learn from her £1,000,000 property deal.
1. Permitted Development Rights
Permitted development rights allow you to do certain types of changes to a property without going through the full process of seeking planning permission. Understanding what kinds of changes are permitted in the area you are buying is an essential part of property investing. What value you can add to a property can be the difference between a good deal and a bad one.
When you are looking at an area, get to understand the planning landscape. Is the location a conservation area? What sort of changes have been approved for other properties on the same street? What is the attitude of the local council towards the type of changes you have in mind? Make sure you get answers to these questions before buying properties that you are looking to refurbish/develop.
2. Multiple Exit Strategies
When you are looking to buy a property, it is important to have multiple exit strategies. If you are planning to flip a property, what happens if the market crashes? If you are planning to use the property as an HMO, what happens if you can’t rent out the rooms? You need to have back-up plans in place. This is particularly true when looking for investors. Investors will want to know that their money is as safe as possible, and they will want to know what happens if things don’t go to plan.
Jael intends to flip the London property. However, the property is also approved to be used as an HMO. This means that if the market drops before she sells the property, she can profitably keep it for years to come.
3. Assignable Contracts
Jael has bought the property on a delayed sale agreement. That means that while she has time to make payment, she is committed to buying the property. If something goes wrong, and she couldn’t get bridging finance, this could be a problem. Jael has ensured this isn’t a problem, however, as she has made the deal assignable. This means she can potentially sell on the deal to another investor if she isn’t able to finance the deal herself.
If you want to get started building your property empire but don’t know where to start, why not book on to my next training event? Tickets for the Property Investors Crash Course are only £1 and you can get one here. I hope to meet you soon and maybe have a chat about your investments.