In this short series of videos we are looking at the twelve questions which I think every property investor should ask themselves when they begin in property and regularly as they go through their property journey to make sure that they are still on track and doing the right things. And question number four is “how much money do I have to put into my property business?” Now I meet a lot of beginner investors who have in their mind access to very little money and I fully understand that, I started with none of my own money when I first started in property I’d just been made redundant, I didn’t even have any savings.
So can we still get into property even if we have little money? Well yes absolutely because there is usually a way. So for example, the way that I found to get started in money was to draw the equity out of my own home. That could be a way to get you started. Or it may be that you do have some savings or it may be that you’ve got old endowment policies for example, or you can access your pension.
Now I’m not an IFA, I can’t tell you what to do but I can ask the question if you are able to access that money would it make a greater return if it was put into property? And the answer is most likely yes but obviously I can’t give any advice on that, and you’ll understand that. But usually when we think about it there are ways and means of increasing the amount of money that we have access to and one of the things which has really taken off since I started in property for myself about twenty years ago is JV funds; joint venture partners, you know family or friends for example who will fund deals. Or finding business partners at network meetings who will fund deals and that’s become much more mainstream and much more common. Many beginner investors are using JV funds and accessing JV funds to either get themselves started or to accelerate their progress.
And the reality is there are ways and means of making sure that we perhaps have more money or access to more money than perhaps we could imagine when we first start. But when we start it will probably be a good idea to actually sit down with your tablet or if you are a bit like me, a bit old fashioned with a pad of paper and a pen and actually work out how much money you’ve got. If it doesn’t look like you’ve got that much then maybe start thinking about some of these other sources and jotting them down and making a conscious decision, setting it as a goal if you like or as a task or actually go and access some of these other funds that are out there because the money is out there, there’s no doubt about that, and money is absolutely out there. Quite often we don’t get it because we either don’t look for it or we don’t ask for it.
Well I hope that helps. I’ll see you in the next video.
Here’s to successful property investing
Peter Jones B.Sc FRICS
Chartered Surveyor, author and property investor
thepropertyteacher.co.ukPS by the way, I’ve rewritten and updated my best-selling eBook, The Successful Property Investor’s Strategy Workshop, which is an account of how I put together my multi-property portfolio, starting from scratch and with no money of my own, and how you can do the same. For more details please go to:
thepropertyteacher.co.uk/the-successful-property-investors-strategy-workshop
