The Property Podcast

This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are discussing what one caller should do with the property she hates, and what the new electrical regulations mean. Our first caller this week is Nancy. She’s a GP who's taken a step into the world of property investment.  Nancy owns a property that’s located about 15 minutes away from Liverpool Football Club. It’s a property that’s performing well, however it’s a serviced accommodation property which she’s now come to realise she hates.  Between the hours that Nancy puts in at the GP surgery as well as doing private consultations, she’s found that the amount of time the property requires and what she gets back from it, really isn’t worth it.  So now she’s questioning if she should just sell the property or whether she should keep it and outsource a company to manage the property for her.  The second caller this week is Jake who, along with a friend, manage a few properties in a portfolio that they own.  They’ve been looking into the new EICR rules that came into play on the 1st July. From what they’ve found, it looks as if you had to have new EICRs done before this date, regardless of whether you’ve had them done previously or not, to make sure you’re compliant with the regulations.  So, do you need to have brand new electrical certificates in place or do previous ones still uphold the regulations?  Tune in to find out.   Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).  Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead. The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.  Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back by popular demand, Rob & Rob have returned with a market update podcast!  Yes, we said goodbye to weekly updates BUT, we were inundated with requests to bring them back. So for now, we’ll be resurrecting them on a monthly basis so you can get your regular fix of the latest developments across the property sector.  Today they’re talking about the hot topic of the month: stamp duty. They’re covering the latest changes and what they mean for the property market now and in the long-term.   If you’re thinking ‘hang on - they’ve already covered this....’ - you’re right. They did recently cover it on this week’s episode of Ask Rob & Rob but today they’re delving deeper, and they’re also giving you their opinion on the latest market activity and of course, the rental market.  Trust us, if you’ve missed the Friday market updates, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!   In other news, it seems that not everyone is happy that the new stamp duty charges are applicable to everyone. The Shadow Housing Secretary says it’s a £1.3 billion bung for landlords. However they’ve not pointed out in the article that the 3% surcharge remains in place and where that tax increase came from in the first place.    This week’s Hub Extra is something of our very own and it’s sticking with the stamp duty topic. Ideally when you’re now looking at property prices you want to know how much you’ll be saving.  Well, we’ve put together an article that not only explains the stamp duty changes but there’s also a handy calculator in there too that you can use to work out just how much you’ll save on your next property purchase.   We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.   Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week was a shocker, wasn’t it? It’s not often property investors are dealt nice little surprises from the UK government, so when Chancellor Rishi took to the stage last week and announced a stamp duty cut, we had a flurry of questions from Hubbers.  The Chancellor announced that (for England and Northern Ireland), the stamp duty threshold would now increase to £500,000 until March next year. So if you were buying a home to live in, up to this value, you’d have zero stamp duty to pay. The big question was - would this cut apply to property investors? And the answer was a surprising ‘hell yes!’ Before you run out the door, the 3% surcharge for additional properties is still there, but still, we’ll take any small wins that we can, right? We’ve explained it all in detail right here - and there’s a handy calculator that you can drop straight into your downloads folder and see how much cash you’re likely to save.  We’ve also had LOTS of questions from those who have exchanged on their properties but not yet completed.  So what’s the deal with this?  Do the new rules apply to you or not? Rob B gives us the run-down on this in today’s Ask Rob & Rob episode.  And if you’re sat there thinking… ‘These cuts are great, but what will this do to the property market in the short (and long) term…’ We’ve also got you covered on this episode.  And if that wasn’t enough, we’re bringing something back by popular demand. It’s coming this Thursday, so make sure you set your alarms for 6am! That’s a lot of excitement for a Tuesday. Happy listening! Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).    Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead. The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.  Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Robs have another special guest this week. This time it’s billionaire investor Stephen Schwarzman. Sadly, he’s too much of a big wig to actually be on the show so The Robs are going to be picking apart his book instead. You might never have heard of Stephen Schwarzman before, but after this podcast episode it’s certain to be a name you’ll remember.  After reading his book, Rob & Rob found that there are seven lessons that we can all learn from him.  Now, you might be thinking ‘how can I possibly relate to a billionaire investor when I’m just starting out?’ Well don’t worry, we promise that these seven lessons will be invaluable to you no matter what stage of your property journey you’re at. Here’s the seven lessons Stephen will be sharing with us: Failure is the best teacher in an organization The best executives are made, not born Identify problems and bring solutions How to raise money It's the same effort to work on a big thing as a small thing Group decision making Building a team of 10s There’s plenty to learn from today’s episode and it’s even a learning curve for Rob & Rob, so hopefully there will be a number of takeaways for you too.    In the news this week we’ve got a big headline for you, ‘PM pledges biggest planning shake-up since WW2’. Like usual, it’s a headline that’s been blown out of proportion, however if you are a developer or you build properties then this could be good news for you.  According to this article from Mortgage Strategy there are now going to be more things that you can do without having to acquire planning permission. Included in it are converting commercial premises to residential, demolishing an old home to replace it with a new one and if you want to extend or add floors there’s going to be a fast track method for that. So again not quite as drastic but certainly good news for some.    Naturally this week’s Hub Extra is the book that we’ve just dedicated this podcast episode to, What it Takes by Stephen Schwarzman. If you have any interest in business or investing then this is a book that you’ll enjoy, and there’s plenty more lessons that you’ll learn from it.   We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do. Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Tuesday and Rob & Rob are back again to answer more of your questions. First up we have a question from Lauren. She’s a 23 year old graduate who is looking to get into property investment for the first time. At the moment Lauren is fully educating herself before she gets stuck in - good shout, Lauren! Her aim is to achieve capital growth as the market recovers from the coronavirus, with the aim of her and her brother affording deposits for their first personal houses in seven years time. Lauren currently has £126,000 and location-wise she’s looking at Birmingham for the capital growth prospects. So now she has two questions that she needs a bit of guidance on.  Should she purchase two more expensive properties with around a £50,000 deposit each, or should she choose quantity over quality and go for cheaper properties? She’d also like to know if she should buy these properties in one place or spread them out across the country? So, is it better to have more properties in your portfolio or have less of them but of a higher, more expensive quality?  Next we have Tom from Stanford who has a rather interesting question.  He says that just south of him is Peterborough where there are some cheap properties, although they are situated in less than prime areas. He’s noticed that the local council are advertising to take on private properties for a fixed 3-5 year income.  So Tom is now wondering if this is a viable option to gain a guaranteed income for at least three years and a long-term tenant? Do Rob & Rob think this would be a good strategy to sub-let to the council? Tune in to find out.    Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).  Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead. The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.  Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Property Podcast, The Robs are joined by special guest, Chris Ryder, who is a serviced accommodation expert.  Serviced accommodation has been an ever-developing strategy for a number of property investors over the years and it’s becoming increasingly popular.  But a twist of events this year (we’re talking about you, coronavirus!) has seen investors struggle to get tenants through the door of their serviced accommodation. Some unlucky investors are looking at at least 3 months of no rental income up to now! So today we have serviced accommodation expert, Chris Ryder, dropping the truth bombs on what’s happening in the (slightly battered) sector at the minute.  If you were to believe the media, you’d have seen many investors pivoting away from short term lets towards long-term during the pandemic, in a bid to avoid lengthy void periods. But interestingly, Chris hasn’t had to do that. It’s actually quite amazing how quickly he adapted his business model to make the best out of a bad situation. If you’re thinking of going down the serviced accommodation route, you’ll certainly want to listen to this episode first and note down all the tips Chris has to offer.   For our news story this week we’re sharing the latest HomeTrack report. We know our listeners enjoy hearing the latest updates on where’s performing well and where isn’t. We know you’re also all dying to know if The Robs were right about their predictions at the start of the year. It’s interesting to look at the data from the last three months. According to the report, house price growth is up 2.4% compared to last year - which has climbed even higher over the last month. Incredible for what’s currently going on across the world.   This week’s Hub Extra is something that Rob B has been using against his son to beat him at chess! It’s a website called chess.com and it’s a great tool for improving your logic and your chess skills.  There’s lessons on there if you’re a complete beginner and want to learn how to play and there’s sections where you can work on your strategy. Then you can play a game against a random person that the system matches you to based on your ability and put it all to the test.   We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do.   Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are answering two more great questions and also taking a look into the current investing habits of Warren Buffet. Our first caller this week is Matthew, he has £100,000 saved up in the bank and he’s wanting to get into property.  He’s looking for a property to buy for around £250,000 (hopefully less), and he’d like to buy one that he can live in and let out.  So he’s wondering if The Robs think now is a good time to buy a personal house, or should he hold off for a bit?  Next up we’ve got Jay who’s got a question about the stock market.  He’s been keeping an eye on it and has seen some slow incremental rises in the stock markets as a whole.  So rather than questioning if he should be investing in property, Jay wants to know if Rob & Rob think he should invest in the stock market or is there potential for them to drop again in the next few weeks? The Robs love discussing the stock market, even more so at the minute when many other people are interested in it. But do they think Jay should be investing now or should he hold off? Tune in to find out.   Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).                        Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead. The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.  Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the second episode in our two-part series on the important topic of inflation and deflation. Last week in the first episode Rob & Rob looked at how inflation and deflation impacts you as an investor. So this week they’re going to look at those impacts and see what it means for the future.  It’s another episode where Rob & Rob are being bold, so hold onto your hats for this one. And it turns out, at the time of recording these episodes, The Robs were also predicting the future.  They talk about quantitative easing and said they wouldn’t be surprised if the Bank of England would pump more money into the economy. And low and behold, a recent news story appears ‘Coronavirus: Bank pumps £100bn into UK economy to aid recovery’.  Even before this announcement, the amount of money that has already been pumped into the economy this year alone is more than the financial crash back in 2008! Which means the information from this episode has just become even more important than ever! Last week The Robs demonstrated why inflation is good for investors and how deflation could be damaging. So there’s one question we now need to ask: Are we currently heading towards a period of inflation or deflation? Tune into this jam packed episode to find out.   This week we’ve got a couple of news stories for you, the first coming from The Times and the headline reads ‘tougher times for buy-to-let landlords’. The article is stating that Barclays have said they’re going to stop giving mortgages to landlords who buy through limited companies, which seems crazy since all other big lenders seem to be getting back on track with mortgages.  But that wasn’t the most shocking news to Rob B - he didn’t even realise that Barclays did buy-to-let mortgages, but that’s probably down to the fact that they only offer 65% LTV on an interest only basis. So this probably won’t have too big of an impact on investors.  The second news story is ‘court of appeal sides with landlords in landmark case ruling’ and it’s in line with Section 21, when you want to end a tenancy without your tenants having done anything wrong.  In previous times, to evict a tenant you had to provide them with a gas safety certificate before they moved in. If you didn’t you could never use Section 21. Now, things have changed - find out why by listening to today’s episode.    For Hub Extra this week we’ve got a few resources that Rob & Rob used to help them put together these episodes, and they’re likely to help you in your understanding of everything that’s been covered over the past two weeks.  So, we have:  A lengthy article that isn’t as daunting as it looks A podcast on inflation and deflation Another podcast A YouTube video from the Bank of England on quantitative easing Hopefully these will help you in your continued learning.   We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do. Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy Tuesday! We’re back with another Ask Rob & Rob.  First up this week is Jonathan who recently got married (congratulations!).  His wife had purchased a property a few years ago but unfortunately it’s now worth 10% less than what she bought it for.  But she does have 50% equity tied up in it. So here’s the big question: Should they sell the property at a 10% loss and purchase their ideal property, or do they release some of the equity and then rent it out?  Which is going to be the more profitable option for Jonathan and his wife?  Our second caller is Serena. She has £100,000 to invest and knows that a vanilla buy-to-let is probably the best strategy for her. She doesn’t want to commit a lot of time and her goal is to have a decent income stream so she’s got pretty much everything sorted.  But what she isn’t sure on is the location and the type of property she should be investing in.  At the minute Serena is wondering if she should buy one, or a couple of new build flats in either Leeds or Manchester city centre - if she can stretch that far. But she’s concerned the service charge is going to be astronomical on these kinds of properties.  So, should Jonathan sell or keep his property and does Serena need to be worried about service charge?  Tune in to find out what advice The Robs have for them.   Do you have a buy to let or property investment related question for Rob & Rob? You could feature on the next episode by giving us a call on 013 808 00035 and leaving a message with your name and question (normal UK call rates apply).  Or if you prefer, click here to leave a recording via your computer instead. The next question on Ask Rob & Rob could be yours.  Have you joined us over on the Property Hub Forum yet? Our online community is friendly, informative, and the members are waiting to welcome you with open arms. So get yourself over and introduce yourself.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Property Podcast, it’s the first of a two part special on the important topics of inflation and deflation. These are two things that every property investor should know and understand. Why?  Because they’ll both impact you massively.  Most people don’t understand the basics - and that’s what Rob & Rob are fixing right now with today’s episode.  Are we heading into a period of inflation or deflation? That’s a question that you should be asking yourself at the minute.  First, you need to go back to basics and understand exactly what inflation and deflation are. So in this week’s episode you can expect to learn: What is inflation? Why investors like it Why do we need inflation? How inflation works What causes deflation? The difference between good and bad deflation If you’d like to learn more about inflation, you can go back and listen to this podcast episode and you can take this course over on the Property Hub University. Be sure to tune in next week as The Robs are going to be taking a look at the last 10 years since the financial crash, what’s happened since then, what’s likely to happen in the future, and what that'll mean for you.  You’re not going to want to miss it.    In the news this week, we’ve got some interesting data from Hometrack. Their usual report focuses on the main 20 cities across the country, but once or twice a year they take a look at all 65 cities they gather data on. It’s a PDF document so while it’s difficult to share, Rob & Rob delve into the findings on today’s episode.  One interesting finding was that areas in the south (that had previously performed strongly) are starting to struggle; like Milton Keynes, Southampton, Luton and Reading. Rob D is putting it down to a reverse ripple effect from London. The biggest surprise was the town that’s seen the biggest growth in the last 12 months which was Rochdale, growing by 4.8% - phenomenal! Other areas performing well are Birkenhead, just outside of Liverpool, Bolton and Mansfield. Some areas you might not have considered before.    We’d love to hear what you think of this week’s Property Podcast over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a topic you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do. Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t enough, you can also join our friendly property community on the Property Hub forum.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.