The Clapham Property Blog

    I’m back! Well it’s been a long time since I’ve done a blog post so without further ado here we are - I’m making a comeback in property, namely estate agency. After having sold my estate agency business, XanderMatthew, in 2016 it’s been quite a journey! I first stuck in to buying high yielding properties. Well, they weren’t high-yielding to start with, but they had potential. If you remember I was able to add significant rental value to them by increasing the number of bedrooms (and therefore occupants) by moving the kitchen into the living room in most cases, adding up to 33% on to the rental figure. From 3beds to 4beds I found it didn’t necessarily impact the “per room” price.   This worked exceedingly well! As you may recall I had quite a number of these under my belt before people were asking me where I was sourcing these deals. Well, with agency contacts all over south London it wasn’t difficult to come by these kinds of deals, in fact I had so many offered to me I ran out of

Time for another video! Check out this video to see if you are making these mistakes and costing yourself an arm and a leg. I focus on getting the best returns for myself and of course my investor clients; these are the top 5 property investing mistakes I see regularly so be sure to avoid these! As always I'm happy to help you so  do reach out via email!  I love to help other investors old and new find their way in the myriad of strategies that are available. Are you looking for coaching, mentoring or simply after a sourced deal? Do check out my  personal website  to choose a package for you! Don't forget to check out my  YouTube channel  for more useful information on all things buy-to-let and don't forget to subscribe!

Well, not content on sharing my knowledge with you in video and blog format, I've now also published an e-book. This book is 42 pages long and details how to make a success of buy to let in your area. Here's some of the things covered: "Best" yields Finding the right investment What makes it good? Where to find deals Letting room-by-room or as a whole Do I need an agent? And of course much much more! How do you get your copy? Well, that's the easy part --> jeroenhoppe.com/#store As always I'm happy to help you so  do reach out via email!  I love to help other investors old and new find their way in the myriad of strategies that are available. Are you looking for coaching, mentoring or simply after a sourced deal? Do check out my  personal website  to choose a package for you! Don't forget to check out my  YouTube channel  for more useful information on all things buy-to-let and don't forget to subscribe!

Continuing on my list of top investor tips, today the top 5 things that put off buyers and renters! Have a look at the video and see if you can improve how quickly you let/sell or improve the price that you're going to get by following these tips! As always I'm happy to help you so do reach out via email!  I love to help other investors old and new find their way in the myriad of strategies that are available. Are you looking for coaching, mentoring or simply after a sourced deal? Do check out my personal website to choose a package for you! Don't forget to check out my YouTube channel for more useful information on all things buy-to-let and don't forget to subscribe!

There's a rule for everything, but as most entrepreneurs, I skirt around these (legally of course) to get the most out of things. An intended consequence of the governments energy efficiency drive (in particular to outlaw letting of properties that are rated F and below) was to get landlords to sell up.  A number of landlords will have thrown in the towel upon hearing that their property can't be brought up to an E rating, and joined those who are sick of the red tape, regulation and taxation surrounding buy-to-let. Fear not, for those die-hard buy to letters like myself there is a way around having to improve your property. The government has left the door open a crack, for those who are savvy enough to know about these things. Of course these exemptions are buried in the small print. Let's discuss when and how... There's 7 ways to get around having to improve your property you know!  High cost exemption -  The regulations deem it to be unreasonable to have to spend mo

 DSS discrimination is no longer allowed! What does that mean for you as a landlord? Check out my video here:  https://youtu.be/zlbRb6SwPYk As always I'm happy to help you so do  reach out via email . I love to help other investors old and new find their way in the myriad of strategies that are available. Are you looking for coaching, mentoring or simply after a sourced deal?  Do check out my personal website  to choose a package for you!

Omer Mehmet practices what he preaches, that's for sure! Not content on being an expert at mortgages he set up for himself and now runs a 16 man strong brokerage. Being the master of creative finance allows him to truly understand property investment and development. We dive further into his progress and talk about his 8bed HMO he's building. Click here to see the interview! As always I'm happy to help you so do  reach out via email . I love to help other investors old and new find their way in the myriad of strategies that are available. Are you looking for coaching, mentoring or simply after a sourced deal?  Do check out my personal website  to choose a package for you!

 I've recently been asked about my portfolio - when I started, why I continued, but most importantly what sort of yields I achieve. Firstly let me start by saying I hate gross yield as a yardstick for how good an investment performs. If you know me, you'll know that I always look at the return on capital employed, or how much money is left in the deal after refinance. You may however be getting an infinite return - if you've refinanced after several years of ownership and price rises you may have been able to borrow more than your initial outlay - this makes it even more tricky. A good friend of mine always compares the "net equity" - the amount of money you would have in your pocket when liquidating the asset, after all fees and taxes. He then looks at other things he could do with the money. Will it get a better return? He pushes the 'sell' button. Interesting, but I digress. Let's just stick to gross yield for now, the topic du jour. I have been in

 I can't stop networking with fellow investors and developers! This time I reached out to Ben Wilson, a fellow investor who has made a name for himself with some INCREDIBLE specification flats. I discuss a project in SW7 with him and his views on the current market. A very interesting chat indeed, seen as he specialises in the higher end of the market, a segment that particularly scares me due to the vast numbers involved! check out the video below: Do stay tuned for property investment tips/tricks and updates and by all means do check out the  DownToSouthLondon YouTube Channel  for entertaining and informative videos to help you invest with confidence! I also offer coaching on a one-to-one basis so if you are looking to get into property investing and require personal guidance then head on over to  www.jeroenhoppe.com .

Well if there is one bit of good news that came out of this Covid-19 Pandemic it's the sheer amount of help displayed from the government to assist those in need. We all know by now the extent of the grants and breaks for most of those in the economy, now the housing market needs a push. Estate agents are rejoicing in easy sales now as with the axe of stamp duty up to £500,000 it certainly means a considerable cash discount on purchasing a (next) home. Imagine not having to fork out with the £15,000 required on a £500,000 purchase price certainly makes a considerable difference!  And for investors? Sadly the 3% surcharge still remains... However there's still savings to be had of course, on £500,000 we are also saving that £15,000, so still less money to park in the "deal" upfront. This can only be a good thing. Forever? Well the key question is of course, how long will this last? At the moment details such as that remain unclear, so should we all rush to buy now? We