The Clapham Property Blog

A lot of regular readers ask me where I source my property investments from. The truth is I'm something of an expert in finding deals "in plain sight..." In plain sight? You mean through agents? Yes, often times the properties that are the most attractive are the ones that have been sitting around for ages. The agent has lost interest, the owner disheartened about achieving the once "very realistic price" the agent pitched the asking price at. So then it's time to get to work...! Rightmove and Zoopla are your friend! There are many other methods of finding great investments though, and a lot of good systems exist in order to have sellers calling you! Believe it or not there are people out there that make this a business (called sourcing). They could be property investors in their own right, like myself, who don't want to take a particular property because it doesn't fit their strategy (maybe capital gain vs cash flow, who knows) and they s

An interesting question this week - I had a long standing client phone me and discuss why rents were on the slight decrease throughout his portfolio. It would seem the aftereffects of Brexit, stamp duty changes and many more things are still lingering in the south London rental market - he had to reduce some of his rents by £10pw or so. It's not massive, but a sign of the times still.  First time buyers Some may say that renting is less popular now than it was 12 months ago; more tenants are flocking to purchase their own home and stop spending (wasting?) money on rent. Let me tell you that this isn't true. Research suggests that the average age of the first time buyer has stayed fairly stable through the years, as the graph will illustrate. My common sense also tells me that tenants haven't suddenly saved enough for a deposit to go out and buy a property.  What? So what has caused rents to stagnate? Well firstly we find ourselves in late spring-ish time, whic

With works underway at my latest development in Deptford I've been inundated with requests for faces old and new to have a look around at the project in progress. I'm pleased to report that so far several visits have proven very useful and I was able to answer a lot of practical questions.  Naturally I would like to offer the same value to my readers who may not have reached out to me in the past, so if you are one of the first 5 people responding to this you can join me and a few others on a group walk-around of my project in progress.  During the walk-around we will cover: How to change a layout effectively without compromising rooms and making them useless Keep your exit strategy in mind Decor and finishing tips at builders merchant pricing, I'll show you where and how to get the prices and create the wow factor for peanuts. Remember it's got to look expensive without being expensive And much more of course So if you want to tag along then send m