A guide to invest in property in the UK
Your expenses for acquiring the property for investing in the UK There are costs that go towards purchasing the property. These include: Legal fees or solicitors’ costs (conveyancing) HMRC Land Registry fees Surveys and various searches (Flooding, environmental searches etc.) Mortgage broker fees Mortgage product fees Stamp Duty setting up insurance Additional fees to Auction houses, if bought in auction Budget properly to include all the costs mentioned above, also look up government legislation for new rules that might cost money. So, would you still go ahead with investing in property? It’s a massive decision. There is a possibility for you to lose money or make good profit. Also in general, in the longer term the UK has a reputation of property price growth, so considered safe when small time ups and downs can be ignored. However, you should not stretch yourself to buy an investment property and not to fall in love with any specific property. You won’t want to struggle paying the mortgages by overpaying on a beautiful but inflated property. You should also look at other available investment options, including stocks and shares, ISA and other traditional routes and balance your portfolio along with property. Also, you need to remember, property is not a ‘get-rich-quick’ investment. House prices in the UK go up and down, so be prepared to keep invested for a longer term to ride out turbulent times. You can buy at low and sell when it goes high. Your affordability Find out your cost and expenses and do the numbers right Calculate your purchasing costs and maintenance costs to see if the investment is returning profit. You can use our cash flow calculator to find your net return and monthly cash flow. This will give you confidence that you can save some money after paying monthly mortgage repayments. After finding the purchasing costs including deposit for the property (standard buy-to-let investments work in a 75% loan to value of the property), check your finances that you have enough liquid cash available to you to complete the deal. Take advice from a mortgage broker who can validate you can get a mortgage. They usually do a soft credit check and match with potential lenders to get you an Agreement in Principle (AIP) and ensure you can go ahead putting an offer on a property. Locate the right property Location and tenants You will start your property search considering the amount of investable funds that you can dispense. With that in mind, you start searching locations where property costs are roughly about four times of that investable amount (this is because you will get a mortgage of 75% of the house value). Once you figure out the locations where properties are available within your budget, start looking at the tenant profile that wish to rent houses. You would ideally look for tenants that can comfortably pay for the rent from their income, this will ensure you won’t have tenants who can default. If you are thinking of student properties, a town with good schools or University/colleges are good options. If you want professional tenants, find the properties that are in bigger towns or at least close to transport links. Generally properties close to large offices, good schools and other facilities are sold or rented quickly than others. You will also select a location where people generally buy property to live, which means you can sell the property easily if you need to do that in the longer run. Select a property Often it takes to view more than one house before you lock in on one, this gives an opportunity for you to research the area, neighbourhood and observe property price trends. This also gets you information that you can use to negotiate prices later on. Get an accepted offer Once you place an offer, either through an estate agent or directly to the seller, most likely it will be rejected at first place, because you are no way going to offer the asking price. However, having enough knowledge on surrounding property sale will give you an idea of a price that the seller might accept, so it’s better to put a reasonable offer. Normally after a few rounds of bargaining, you get an offer accepted. Complete the sale Mortgage arrangement You would normally check out with a couple of mortgage brokers and get comparison of mortgage options from multiple lenders. You should check which one is most comfortable and profitable for you and accept one of them. Arrange surveys You will employ a property conveyancing firm or solicitor to conduct the property sale for you. They will instruct the various surveys and searches for you as dictated by the lender. You can do additional building surveys for your piece of mind, that the property is of good construction. Conducting a Home Buyers Report or a detailed structural survey could be beneficial for the piece of mind. Exchange of contracts This is the first legally binding document that both you and the seller need to sign and exchange. Traditionally you pay a certain agreed percentage of the price and agree to complete the process on a mutually agreed date between you and the seller, which is called completion. Your solicitor will coordinate the whole process for you. Completion of the sale transaction This involves transfer of the funds to the seller's solicitors. You will also start your building insurance from this day and collect your keys. This involves paying the outstanding deposit to the lender via your solicitor and receiving the keys and necessary paperwork. Start generating money from your investment Are you going to sell or rent out the property? Once you’ve completed any renovation work that needs doing on your property, you’ll need to decide what to do next. Look at whether it’ll be more profitable to sell it straight away, or to rent it out. You would be completing refurbishments if required and think of what to do with the property. Based on your previous plan, decide whether to sell or let the property out. You would have planned this while selecting the strategy in the beginning of the journey and work according to the plan. However, the situation might change since you have purchased the property, and if you are well aware of your options, you are good to switch plans. Whatever the case, after you have completed the necessary renovation/development or refurbishment work put it on sale or work towards letting it out.
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