Part 2: Are commercial property good investments?
I always say that YOU are your best investment, so it pays to invest wisely in yourself, your knowledge, and your future. While there is value to be found in plunging into a pursuit and learning the ropes first-hand, this can be an expensive strategy when it comes to commercial property investment. In the long run it usually pays in time, effort and money to learn from someone who is already doing what you want to do – and well.
A successful buy to let property investor can reveal to you the secrets they have picked up over time, and help you to overcome or avoid the problems they themselves have defeated.
Why do commercial properties make such good investment opportunities?
Despite the complex nature of determining viability for certain commercial properties to be converted for residential use, this kind of project can potentially offer extremely high yields for investors and there are a number reasons for that:
- The commercial property market is quite saturated and as a result, values tend to be lower than residential ones
- The majority of commercial sites tend to be in desirable areas that link well with transport and local amenities – a great selling point for residential homes
- Commercial properties are often left vacant, meaning that the owner is not earning from it and is sometimes more willing to offer it at more reasonable price to get it sold quickly
- Business premises will invariably need to be completely refitted on the inside, offering the freedom to convert into high quality homes with a higher ROI
Property investment courses
My first major investment in property education cost me £4,997, which I laid out on my credit card – and let me tell you, that hurt.
This wasn’t a face-to-face property investment course; it was a “Buy, Refurb, Remortgage” home study pack that included a folder, some DVDs and a single one-to-one session. I studied those DVDs so thoroughly that I could quote them word-for-word before the speaker had even opened their mouth, and while it was exhausting, it was also exhilarating. I was investing in my future, and I was learning a technique which at the time was revolutionary.
Mark and I still use that strategy today, and while it is common in 2017, it has bought and sold over 700 properties in our ongoing portfolio. I can’t put words to how grateful I am to that author and the investment I put into it.
Seeing it through
While I have had my fair share of tough moments, of worrisome debt, and close calls, there really is no formula or secret to my success in property management beyond persistence and attrition. There were many times when I could have given up and moved on to something different, but there is a great deal of truth to the acronym, “FOCUS” – Follow One Course Until Successful.
This does not mean to plough all your time into a fruitless endeavour, blindly concentrating on one thing without acknowledging that it has failed. Instead, it means to give a venture the realistic timescale it needs to flourish, and to keep on keeping on until it does.
Choose your strategy and then commit to it, testing, adapting over time. Once you have found success, it will be time to systemise the income stream and set up something new – but the real challenge is to be patient enough to reach this point.
FOCUS-ing on success
You too can succeed. You too can progress. You too can make the money and own the estate you desire. Sometimes, it just takes persistence and bloody-mindedness, and a long-term perspective rather than a quest for a quick fix that will never benefit your future or grow your overall wealth.
Follow that single course or that one path until you succeed, and then systemise, move on and repeat. Refuse to become another commercial property investor who nearly made it, had great anecdotes about the close calls and tense meetings they had, or what might have been if they had just kept going. Push forwards, FOCUS on what is in front of you, and never give up.
Do you agree with the concept of FOCUS? How do you concentrate on the long term without losing sight of what you are doing? At what point do you decide to move on to something new?
Does commercial property seem too good to be true?
1. Setting up: We started our partnership with a loss-making overseas property. We then swiftly moved into a loss-making off-plan property, a loss-making new-build property, and followed these with a few more loss-making shit-holes.
We finally found our property market niche and bought hundreds of properties that we still own today.
2. Letting agents: We used a letting agent who stole the deposits and who subsequently went to prison. We then moved to a letting agent who sided with the tenant. We moved letting in-house and wrestled for a year shifting them over so that they were under our control. We also bought a letting agency that “stole” our properties back from us.
Despite these setbacks, out letting agency has now over 720 let units.
3. Hiring: We began hiring way too late, when we had already been struggling for a while. We hired our mums first, and I played referee between Mark and his mum, who Mark would make cry most weeks. We hired an executive assistant who set themselves up in business with a client and left. We had 8 PAs in 9 years, two of whom slept with a staff member and both left. We gave our staff too much to do, failed to train them adequately, and had many people leave on a single day. We also created almost all of our competition and had a number of staff leave in order to set up, “Progressing Property”.
We now have 70+ staff, who are some amazing, loyal people. During our time with them we have created some amazing memories. We offer some amazing staff benefits and I’d say that we have a unique culture too. We still make mistakes, but we are trying to learn from them. Last but not least, I have the most fun and sometimes feel like I have the easiest job in the world!
4. The rest: I and some staff members crash a lot of cars, and this costs money. We send too many emails, and our printers are higher-maintenance than I am in my relationship. I also have some haters, some of whom very kindly set up a “Rob Moore Money Grabber” Facebook page. Thanks for that!
While, yes there are still these not-so-fun parts of the job, we just completed a deal for a 90,000 square-feet, colossal office block, which is our biggest deal to date by around 600%! There will be plenty of challenges ahead, but I’m ready and excited.
Commercial Property is one of the most lucrative investment strategies right now. We are offering this amazing opportunity for you to get in on this trend using little to none of your own money; how to find the best deals, how to find your goldmine area and much, much more.Interested in taking your Commercial Property Investing knowledge and cashflow to the next level? Our Commercial Property Excellence Online Course is perfect for you to discover the Secrets to Commercial Property Success. Our Customer Engagement Team can also be reached at 01733 898557, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5:30 pm, to answer any of your questions. Take action today! To your success… Cheers.
