Renovating property first timer - Help

Becke. This may be a bit of a long post so sorry but there is a lot you should be aware of before you think about parting with your money.

I have a few properties that I bought a few years ago before the big buy to let boom started and in my experience the best thing you can do it get involved form day1. I know you said you would like to project manage but still you need to do your homework. In effect the trade’s people do the work for you so you will be project managing. If you have the money then i would suggest doing the first project on your own. If you are organised and have done your homework then it won’t be a problem. if you don’t have the money I would not recommend doing your first project with strangers as you don’t really know who they are etc. try and find some friends or friends of friend that would be interested in getting involved.

Now on to the research....
Find an area you are looking to invest in and do your research. if you are looking at buying to let out contact estate agents and find out what the best possible price you can get for renting, (consider DSS tenants) most people run from this but I have 5 properties with DSS tenants in and they are not as much hassle as people think. The good thing is you are guaranteed your money every month. The bad thing is you don’t get as much as you would let privately.

If you are looking to buy to sell then find the area and find out what top end price you could get for a like for like property you are developing. the best way to do this is visit your local estate agents in that area and view as many properties that are comparable to the one you are developing to get ideas on layout etc. also use the web as this may save you lots of time but still visit the property where possible.

The next thing to do is find trades people. Do this by recommendation only, if you are unable to find them contact some trades companies and ask for reference, if you have a bad feeling after talking to them don’t question your instinct, move on to the next. This is the single most important thing, along with working out your budget, get either of them wrong and it can cost you a fortune and it will put you off property developing for life. (Depending what area you are in I have some good trades people that I have used so give me a shout and I will see if I can help)
there is lots more that you need to be aware of and for me to post it here would take a while but spend a few £ and buy one of Sarah beeny’s books - property Ladder, this women is a genius when it comes to developing yet people on the show tend to ignore her advise, do they not understand this women knows what she is talking about. (Big fan as you can no doubt tell )

to sum up I would recommend you do the first small project yourself, if you can't afford to do it then I would recommend friends or people you know, if not then leave it and wait until you have the money. All you need is a check list (supplied in most of Sarah beeny’s books) on what you need to do including budgeting etc and you are good to go.

The final thought on this is if you think its going to be an easy way to make money short term think again...long term maybe

Hope this helps. and has not put you of .....Good Luck

 

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