The number of people wishing to become a property developer has grown greatly over the past ten years. With experts like Sarah Benny and other giving away trade secrets, many feel they are armed with the knowledge they need to reach their goal of a huge income from a short working week.
So how do you find that first property development that will give you the seed capital to be able to expand into larger and more profitable developments? It is estimated that as many as five million private homes fail to provide a ?decent ?level of accommodation and in theory there for require ?property development?. One of the large banks has estimated the cost of bringing these properties to the desired standard could be as high as 50billion pounds.
So the properties are out there, the potential buyers are out there although currently it is true to say that they may be somewhat short of mortgage lending. Now all you need to do is pop down to your local estate agent and announce that there is a ?new guy in town?. Unfortunately the reality is that this is about as far as most new developers get. It is an achievement to even get this far most people do not even take the trouble do visit the local agents.
Now all you need to do is sit back and wait for your friendly local estate agent to deliver you your first dream property development deal. Most estate agents will work hard on your behalf and I must say I think they are often given a hard time in the press and by the general public which I feel is not deserved. You must remember as you announce yourself as ?the new guy in town? or ?a property developer?, they will add you to the list of the three people who arrived and also announced their new careers. I know what many of you are thinking ?property auctions!? that must be the place to go, well with programs on the television like ?houses under the hammer? many of the bargains have gone from the auction rooms.
We all know that there are idea property deals coming to the market, so where do they go? The answer is to the usual suspects, they are the people who the estate agents are confident will deliver their end of the deal. That consists of looking at property at short notice never being late for an appointment and not minding if the agent is late, having a few ?100,000 in cash laid about to close a deal at short notice but most importantly having a previous track record of always delivering their side of the bargain. The estate agent has a responsibility to their clients, and if their clients have asked the agent for a quick cash sale, who will he first pass the deal to? The answer is the group of existing developers he knows are successful and will pay a fare market price for a property in their area in any condition.
So the question is not ?how do I find a property development?, the question is ?how do I become respected as a good local property developer?. The answer is to put in the hard work, know your area, know the value of a property and know just how much any works will cost to bring the property to a saleable condition. Then go and look at as many properties as you can, attend all the local property auctions and work on assembling your team of trade people and builders.
Once you have done that, the next step is to find the funding you need to make the deal happen at short notice. So when you have built some great relationships with local estate agents, assembled a great reliable team of local trades people and have a couple of ?100,000 laid about in reserve. You are now ready to start the hard work, property development budgets, managing the refurbishment, preparing the property for sale, selling the property, and finally with some luck and judgment banking a small profit.
I wish you all the best of luck!
If you would like further hints and tips, you can continue to read this blog or leave a comment and we would be pleased to answer your questions.
