It’s interesting how many people, when they find out what I do for a living, smile knowingly and say words to the effect of “ah, bad luck, it’s not possible to make money in property nowadays, is it?”
I usually smile back and say something like “yes, it’s not like it used to be” and kill the conversation. After all, if that’s what they want to believe, to be honest, I don’t have the time or the inclination to put them right.
Ok, it’s true that things are rarely static in property. We see regular changes in the law such as the imposition of regulations concerning HMOs in the Housing Act, and more recently, the introduction and subsequent suspension of HIPS. We see changes in the economy and economic drivers, not least regular changes to interest rates. And of course, the market itself is rarely static – sometimes falling, mostly edging up but rarely still.
If an investor has a single strategy, or a single plan, a change in any of these influences can kill their investment business stone dead. The art of an investor is to be knowledgeable enough and flexible enough, to be able to adapt and to thrive and prosper in any market conditions.
This in itself should be enough to defeat any argument that property is finished as a money making vehicle. But this is still, to my mind, a rather one dimensional view as this is really looking at the short term. But the power of property is in the long term. We’ll look more at why in the next post.
Here’s to successful property investing.
Peter Jones B.Sc FRICS
Chartered Surveyor, Author & Property Investor
