This is the Cash Buyer Mind-set at work – and it’s a technique very few investors use.   Most of them wouldn’t even consider this kind of negotiation – leaving the field free for the Ninja Investors who have the knowledge and know when and how to use it.

This Ninja strategy lets you buy properties with a minimal deposit and leaves your cash free for refurb, simply by delaying completion.  

Delayed completion bridging is also referred to as ‘Exchange, with delayed completion’ (EDC).  The objective is to have no money left in on the day you complete – or at least a lot less than the 25% deposit plus your refurb money.

Here’s the strategy in a nutshell:

• Find a vacant property that needs a refurb
• Exchange quickly
• Get the keys on exchange and permission to enter the property to carry out work
• Do the required refurb between exchange and completion
• Get the lender to lend on the post-refurb value, rather than the purchase...

THE QUESTION

I’ve heard that if you use the same lender for the refinance on a buy/refurb/refinance project you can get down-valued.  Does that mean you should always use different lenders?

THE ANSWER

There are very few lenders offering bridge-to-let products, essentially it requires a mortgage lender who is also happy to offer a bridging product and lenders like that are a rarity among mortgage lenders.

The advantage is that for a buy/refurb/refinance project, you can move seamlessly from bridge to mortgage without extra fees or needing to wait 6 months to apply to for refinance.

Bear in mind that, compared to a true bridger, the initial underwriting can take longer (massively longer with one B2L lender) because they are underwriting the mortgage at the back end to begin with, not just the bridging part. 

Also the mortgage rate at the back end may also not be as competitive, depending on the work you are doing to improve the property, as you could get by separating...

When you’re negotiating with either vendors or estate agents, one of the key negotiation skills is to choose words that hit their ‘hot button’.

If you’ve studied sales you’ll know that there is a process to successful sales transactions.  That same process can be applied to any situation where you want to persuade or influence someone to things your way!

The simplest formula (and it’s been around for a very long time) is AIDA.  This stands for:

Attention:  You can’t sell anything if the other party isn’t paying attention, so that’s the first step - get them to listen to what you’re proposing.  This can be achieved by making eye contact to ensure their attention is with you.

Interest:  Nobody will buy if they’re not interested.  This means you need to know what’s important to this particular person.  What will make them prick up their ears?  Ask the questions to find out...

You couldn’t describe bridging rates as ‘cheap’, they are significantly higher than mortgage rates.  You could pay three or four times the interest rate that you’d expect to pay on a BTL mortgage.  BUT, that doesn’t mean you should run away from bridging as a funding strategy for your property investments.

Understanding how to make intelligent use of bridging will move you from the fog of the mortgage buyer mind-set to the clarity of a cash-buyer mind-set (and you don’t need an abundant bank account to get started).

While you’re focusing on the cost of bridging you’re missing the profit opportunity.  Sometimes such opportunities can be substantial, even massive.

If you could make a profit of £40K, but bridging finance cost you £10K, is that a deal you would do? 

These are the three biggest myths about bridging:

1. A bridger will foreclose and take your property

With a reputable bridging lender (and I only...

THE QUESTION

I viewed a property last week and negotiated from £85k to £73k, but unfortunately my funds are tied up in another deal.  HOW ANNOYING!

I was wondering if there is another way to fund this as would be ideal for the list of tenant buyers that I have.

THE ANSWER

Certainly there is another way to fund this - bridging finance.  

This is one of the aspects of bridging that I teach to investors, what I like to call 'no hard cash down' funding.

Let’s just say your cash is tied up in a property you bought for £100k.  Now you could get this second property for £73k, but you can’t do it because all your £100k cash is tied up in the first property.  So here's where bridging comes into its own

A bridger would give you one loan over both your first and second properties, often up to 75% of each property, but you won’t need to borrow that much.  They would typically lend 75% of the £73k and the balance of...

Most mortgage lenders require a 25% deposit, based on the amount you’re paying for your property.  If you’re planning to get into property that can be a big hurdle to get over.

The days of no-money-down mortgages are long gone and are unlikely to return.  Leveraging credit cards is a decidedly dodgy way to raise funds, so where does that leave you?

There’s a strategy I call the 90% flip.

This strategy blows apart the preconception that a 25% deposit is required to buy an investment property.  Better still it works in a variety of situations. 

• It works great for smartly presented houses where no refurb is required, but the owners are motivated to sell.
• It also works if you want to buy a repossession.
• It also works if you want to buy at auction.
• Interestingly, it works if you want to sell at auction too.
• Lastly it will work if the vendor won’t go for the 100% refurb strategy covered in the next section.

This strategy can turn around a...

Converting a commercial property into a residential property is a smart move – there is an overabundance of commercial properties, many that have been standing vacant for months or years.  Equally there is a shortage of housing (and lots of media coverage about the pros and cons of new build projects) – it really is a no brainer.

Commercial properties include pubs, care homes, shops, offices, schools and many more. 

However, many investors don’t realise that a commercial property without a tenant in situ is not mortgageable.  Commercial lenders’ main concern when considering whether to grant a mortgage is ‘will the borrower be able to pay the loan back?’.  As far as they’re concerned, no tenant equals no income.  No income equals no ability to service the loan, so they won’t lend.

Many vacant commercial properties remain for sale for a considerable time.  This is simply because would-be buyers lack...

If you’ve been growing your property portfolio and have a few conversions and refurbs under your belt, you might like the idea of becoming a developer and building a multi-home project yourself.

You may have been watching Grand Designs, the Big Build and other similar TV programmes and feel ready to tackle a bigger project with homes to either rent out or sell.  However, it’s not as simple as a straightforward conversion.

Firstly, you’ll need specialist development finance - not a self-build mortgage or even a bridging loan.

Almost without exception development finance lenders want provable, documented, comparable experience that the borrower has successfully completed a project similar to the one they’re now seeking to fund.

These lenders have a policy of putting up barriers to entry and this lets them cherry-pick the projects that they see having a high chance of success.  Development finance is not given for ‘on the job’...

THE QUESTION

I've sourced a 20% BMV deal and am wondering if it’s possible to get an interest only mortgage for the purchase taking into account 80% loan-to-value, so I can purchase with a smaller deposit?

THE ANSWER

You are on a loser if you want to get a mortgage lender to lend against value and ignore the purchase price - at the point of purchase they never do.  It is always the LOWER of purchase price or value.

However, some, but not all, bridgers will lend against the value and sometimes up to 75%, but it is often not quite as simple as that.

One key factor is whether the property is or has been marketed by an agent or not. Using the example of you think the true current value is £100k but you have negotiated to buy it for £80k. If it has not been marketed a bridgers valuer may (but there’s no guarantee) value it at £100k.

However, if it has been marketed and say the asking price was £85k, then valuers would override your idea its worth...

There is one thing that can seriously dent the profit in any project and that’s overpaying for the property.  An essential part of your due diligence is to work out the maximum you can afford to offer on any property, while still giving you the profit margin you need.

It’s easier to work backwards when doing this.

Start with the end value that your property will be worth once you’ve completed any work that you propose to do to it.  You should be able to find comparable values of similar properties that have sold within the last few months.

The majority of properties that investors buy are flats, terraced and semi-detached houses.  They don’t tend to buy large detached properties in five acres of ground, this means that comparable values are much easier to obtain for these types of property.

If you are buying a commercial property this may not be so easy and you may need to engage a commercial surveyor to get a true current and future value.

...