INVESTMENTS
If you’re reading this now, it’s likely that you either already invest in property or are looking to start. Either way, congratulations, you are taking control of your future, your finances and your freedom.
Why invest?
There are only so many hours in the day and the most popular business model on the planet is to exchange time for money, most people do this by having a job and a career, others do this by setting up businesses and selling products or services. This is all fine until you reach the limit of how much time or resources you have at your disposal and that’s where investing comes in.
Investing is the process of acquiring income generating assets that produce income on autopilot with the added benefit in some cases of increasing in value. Investing allows the investor to produce additional income to supplement their earned income without the same limitations on time and resources, some investors might look to replace their earned income purely from investment income, others will use it a vehicle to build their wealth by continually reinvesting the proceeds and compounding the results over time.
To learn more about the benefits of investing I would highly recommend reading the book – The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
“Watts and Co is the best House Letting agency you can come across, They’re so caring and concerned about your needs.”
Emmanuel Alexandre
Why invest in UK Property?
Property is one of the most popular investment vehicles for investors and I would argue that the two main reasons are that firstly it needs no explanation, a property is four walls and a roof and, with some exceptions, we all live in one. Secondly a property is a tangible object and doesn’t go anywhere, if you invest in a business start-up you are investing in an idea with no guarantee of success, if you invest in property and do nothing, the property is still there and that makes it a very low risk investment.
What’s great when investing in property is you get two bites of the cherry, the monthly income generated coupled with the
property increasing in value has meant that property owned with a mortgage has been one of the best performing as sets consistently over the last 50 years.
Due to being a small, densely populated island, UK property has always drawn interest from around the world because of the economics of the country, we have a growing population and just can’t build new properties fast enough to keep up with demand, this is demonstrated by the huge demand for all rental properties when they are advertised to let. The UK is also one of the safest and most progressive countries in the world, with little or no corruption, reassuring investors that their money, assets and wealth are protected.
Why invest in Leeds?
The City of Leeds is booming, it has one of the fastest growing populations in the UK with a thriving regional economy, you just need to look at the amount of major infrastructure projects either underway or planned to see why Leeds is predicted to experience the best growth in rent and property prices over the next 5-10 years. The government initiative “Northern Powerhouse” boosts the local economy by providing investment in skills, education, healthcare, transport, culture and innovation.
Leeds has a thriving economy, with the recent openings of two city centre shopping centres attracting tourists to the region. A new South exit of the train station opened in preparation for the
£350 million South Bank development, which will be the largest urban regeneration programme in Europe and provide 35,000 jobs and create 40,000 new homes. HS2 is the proposed new high speed rail line, which will connect the north to other regions of the UK, bringing the country together and opening up opportunities.
Leeds is one of the UK’s top student cities with over 40,000 students graduating each year from its two main Universities, Leeds University and Leeds becket University as well as other such as Leeds Trinity University and Leeds Art University. With major employers such as ASDA, Channel 4, SKY and HMRC being located in the area there is also a growing number of graduates locating to Leeds to start their careers. Average yields are also favourable compared to other areas of the UK, with 7–8% being easily achievable, it is possible to purchase a 2 or 3 bed house in the suburbs for under £100K and get £600 + rent. Of course, yields from HMO’s or developments could be much higher. With pensions performing poorly, why trust someone else with your hard earned money and put your financial future at risk? Property can be invested into a pension, which can help you retire earlier and spend more time with family doing the things most important to you.
Watts & Co have a dedicated property investment department supporting you in making your property dreams a reality; whether you are a first-time investor looking for some passive income or a seasoned developer seeking large scale developments, we can help you not just to find a suitable property, but to manage the process from start to finish over seeing any building works and finding and managing the tenants for you.
Why work with Watts & Co?
At Watts & Co, our mission is to be the number one property investment company in Leeds, we want to achieve this by nurturing long term business relationships built on a solid foundation of sustainable long term property investments.
We take great pleasure in creating quality accommodation for our tenants and share this experience with our clients going on the journey together with each purchase. Perhaps you have a single lump sum to invest or want to build a portfolio, Watts & Co can help you source the properties, over see any minor or major works and then look after the ongoing tenancies for you.
We are landlords and investors ourselves and through our letting agency division have our fingers right on the pulse of the local property market, think of us as your own personal property shoppers.
Services we offer
At Watts & Co we recognise that the best results are achieved for our clients when we work with them on a 1-2-1 basis. Working exclusively with busy professionals or high net worth individuals, not only do we physically carry out all the tangible aspects of a property purchase but we also unlock our years of knowledge, experience and contacts helping them grow their portfolio from the comfort of their own home.
Once we have sourced the property, we are on hand to advise on all aspects of planning, licensing, building regs and the compliance necessary to get a property tenant ready. Through our construction department we have our own inhouse team of project managers that look after all minor and major refurbs starting with the supply of CAD drawings, schedule of work, builders’ quotes and design and interior consultation.
On completion of the build our team will arrange for the property to be prepared for rental and will organise all the marketing ready to be advertised to the widest audience possible including:
- Dressing the property physically or virtually
- Professional wide angled photos
- Social media friendly photos including a set of square portraits optimised for Instagram
- 3D walkthrough and dolls house floor plan
- Video Tour uploaded to YouTube for quick hosting and sharing
How it works?
There are two ways to work with our investment team at Watts & Co, the first is our Portfolio Builder service on a retained and exclusive basis .Once we have established your criteria, we will take our service delivery fee and sign a contract with you. The contract will lay out the terms of our agreement with you as well as our full money back guarantee. At this point we will collate your ID, proof of address and proof of funds ready to start looking for properties for you. The money back guarantee we offer is five properties that meet your pre-agreed criteria within a 12-week period or you can request a full refund. The second way of working with us is to join our property deal mailing list, any properties that we come across day to day that are not for a portfolio builder client are packaged up and sent out to our database of investors. To secure a deal the investor pays the finder’s fee, signs a contract and provides ID, proof of address, proof of funds and solicitors/broker details.
We will only sign up a Portfolio Builder client when we believe their goals are realistic and achievable and only offer a standard buy-to-let sourcing service on this basis. Because of the intense nature of the service, we only work with a maximum number of retained clients at any one time and employ a waiting list system when this number is reached. Due to the unpredictability of available HMO or major development stock, we do not currently offer the Portfolio Builder service for non buy-to-let properties and rely on close relationships and the mailing list to offer these opportunities out.
Different Strategies
There are many different strategies and types of properties, some key examples are outlined here.
Where the property is ready to go and can be rented out immediately on completion, some may also come with sitting tenants.
We will look at what properties are currently on the market and identify properties that meet certain criteria so investors know that if we source them a property it will meet expectations. As we have the widest pool of opportunities this is the quickest and easiest way to build a large portfolio of exactly what type of property the investor is looking for.
Any commercial building that would be suitable for conversion, typically old pubs/nursing homes for example.
An office block that can be converted into residential without having to complete a full planning application. We are also happy to discuss any more specialist requirements that might not be mentioned above.
The Process
All investors are required to
register with us by completing
the following form.
One-to-one Consultative Approach
Once registered you will be invited to book a discovery call on Zoom with one of the team. On this call we will go through your requirements, answer any questions and look at the most suitable way of moving forwards together.
Joining the Ecosystem
As well as being added to the mailing list you will also be invited to join our deal delivery WhatsApp chat as well as being able to connect with us on social media and check out our library of previous projects on our Facebook pages.
Portfolio Building fact find
As a Portfolio Builder client, we will clarify what you are looking for and we will only show you properties which are suitable for your needs, not just any property on the market.
Active Sourcing Activity
In order to short-list potential properties, we start by getting out into the market, speaking to the people in the know and monitoring for new properties listed.
Potential Properties Presented
We will present you with a guide for the property, including purchase price, suggested renovation costs, potential rental returns and corresponding yields.
Strategy Provided
A strategy will be put together to allow you to achieve the best rents possible on the property, this could be through structural, renovation or decorative works.
Negotiation
If you are happy with the property and the number stack up, we will offer and negotiate the sale on your behalf. By using the same skills that enable us to sell properties for the highest price, we are able to get our clients the best possible price, a service that executed correctly covers the cost of our fee on its own.
Progression
Generally, with the sale agreed the ball is then in the court of the estate agent and solicitors but we are always on hand for advice and guidance through to completion.
Renovation Preparation
Fail to prepare or prepare to fail as they say. As the sale is progressing, we will liaise with the renovations team and begin getting our schedule of works together, start getting quotes and our contractors in place to make sure once the sale completes the work is underway with no hold-ups. For properties being ipped we will also generate the sales particulars and get the marketing ready to have the property on the market and getting interest from day 1
Getting Started
To register with us and join the property deal mailing list please fill in this form – Click Here – you will then be sent a link to our calendar to book in your qualification call.
To sign up for the Portfolio Builder service, mention this to the team member on the call and they will answer your questions, take you through the fee structure and sign-up process.
Register for Property Deal Mailing List
Investors, looking to grow your portfolio? Register on our property deal mailing list and speak to the team to get access to all our investment properties
