The Clapham Property Blog

I've been speaking to many of you over the past months, and thank you for all your lovely comments. I get great feedback on the blog so I certainly will be keeping things up. My aim is to help everyone invest wisely and of course make the most return on their investment (big or small).
Some critics however had asked me when the last time was that I did a deal myself - not orchestrated, sourced, pointed someone in the right direction - just myself. I had to confess it was indeed some years ago that I had bought myself. I had been busy building a portfolio of loyal landlord customers that are customers of my estate agency, XanderMatthew. Now that I am not so actively involved with that side of things any more (I am of course still involved, but less directly), I thought I'd get out there and show my clients first hand how things are done.
Today I have completed on the second flat in as many weeks. How did I do this so quickly? Well truthfully one was bought through an agent - I…

I was speaking to one of my investor clients the other day and we were discussing the possibility of offering his property for short let instead of the usual long let. He had a friend who claimed he was earning £700pw from his average two bedroom victorian conversion in Clapham, so naturally he was all ears.
Apparently his friend had been telling all about his new found fortunes and my client wanted to go the same way. "Get rid of those pesky, cheapskate long term tenants and short let my property on a nightly basis through AirBnB!" he exclaimed. I was interested at the proposal, as naturally I want the best for my clients which usually (but not always) means getting them more money for their investments.
I sat down with my client and drilled down the figures. Quite surprisingly all wasn't as it seemed....
For one, things to consider with short lets is a high turnover. Every booking will require a clean of the property, washing the linen, putting flowers on the table an…