The Progressive Property Podcast Are Commercial Conversions for Everyone?
Welcome to another property mini-series with your host, Peter Jones. Today, Peter dives into Commercial Property Conversions and why this strategy can give you huge chunks of cash from just one deal. Most people think that commercial conversions are only for seasoned pros and expert investors. This is not the case. Really they can be done by anyone with the right knowledge.
There are so many commercial properties out there waiting to be converted. It's a perfect storm with incentives from the government, prior approval from local authorities and a market desperate for more housing.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
So what is a commercial conversion?
- Converting a property for commercial use - Usually turning an office building into a block of apartments
- There are plenty of pubs and corner shops readily available to be converted
Why Commercial Conversions?
- Just one deal can change your financial future because there are large numbers involved.
- Bigger projects mean bigger profits and you can get bigger returns with the same effort of converting a smaller project. Because of the scalability of commercial conversions and the potential to earn big profits from one deal, you don't need to own and manage a big portfolio or properties. Just one or two deals can make you financially free.
- Most of the time you will be converting properties and selling them on for large chunks of cash. As a result, you won't have to deal with tenants and the associated risks.
- The great thing about commercial conversion is the scalability, it's like doing a number of refurbs all at once. This means when refurbing you'll start to see economies of scale. for example, purchasing lots of kitchens will be cheaper than just buying one.
- There are tax breaks to commercial conversions with capital allowances. We can depreciate the cost and the value of plant and machinery etc. when taking on commercial conversions. We can use prior approval under permitted development from the local authority.
- Progressive Property Co-founder Mark Homer purchased a large scale commercial conversion project. He purchased the old Marks & Spencers building in Peterborough for 4.2 million and is converting them into 98 apartments with a projected worth of 15 million.
There are three main ways you can add value to a property.
- Refurbish it - As part of a commercial conversion will change the use of the property but we will also refurbish it to fit the new use of the property.
- Extend the property - You may be able to build up the property out the back or around the side to add value and create a bigger property.
- Change of use - We can add value simply by changing the use of the property. You will need to get planning consent and due to government demands, it's much easier to get approval for a change of use.
BEST MOMENTS
"Although there's still hassle with commercial conversions, it's a better quality hassle"
"It's often much easier to borrow a large amount of money as people who have the large funds want to put their money into bigger projects for bigger profits."
"With commercial conversions, it is very likely you will be able to do your deals no money down"
"Because Mark was able to buy the whole property and then sell off the ground floor as a commercial unit, he's been able to do the whole deal no money down"
“The fall of high street shops has provided a huge opportunity for commercial conversion investors.”
“You can JV with investors providing the finance by offering your time to go out there and find the deals.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Join the Progressive Property Community here:
http://www.thepropertyteacher.co.uk/
If you're interested in learning more about Commercial Conversions you can contact Progressive Property to find out more about their expert course.
ABOUT THE HOST
Peter Jones is a Chartered Surveyor, an author and a serial buy-to-let property investor. He has been involved in property for over 35 years and now owns 78 letting units. He is still actively involved in buying and renovating property, and regularly flips properties for profit. Peter has written a number of successful property books. The first, An Insider’s Guide to Successful Property Investing, was first published in 2000 and was
one, if not the very first, book of its kind which was written for what we’d now call buy-to-let investors. On the back of its success, he was invited to be a guest writer for Property Secrets and wrote Spanish Property Secrets, French Property Secrets, and Portugal Property Secrets. He has since written a number of other successful titles dealing with UK investing including 63 Common Defects in Investment Property and How to Spot Them, the highly acclaimed The Successful Property Investors Strategy Workshop and The Property Renovator’s Workshop ,in which Peter describes step-by-step how he built his own property portfolio, starting with virtually none of his own money.
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