Property development - is it worth it ?

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What's your opinion ? Is it still worth the venture or has the market flatlined ?
 
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Depends on how greedy you are.

If you think that tarting up a tired house entitles you to mega-thousands profit, then yes.
If you are realistic and accept a smaller "mark-up", then no.

Have you got an opportunity?
 
Depends on how greedy you are.

If you think that tarting up a tired house entitles you to mega-thousands profit, then yes.
If you are realistic and accept a smaller "mark-up", then no.

Have you got an opportunity?

I could move in that direction if I wanted I suppose. I'm thinking about it.

What defines mega-thousands profit and what defines smaller ''mark-up'' ?

Personally if I could make 35-40k after tax a year I'd be happy
 
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Depends on how greedy you are.

If you think that tarting up a tired house entitles you to mega-thousands profit, then yes.
If you are realistic and accept a smaller "mark-up", then no.

Have you got an opportunity?

I could move in that direction if I wanted I suppose. I'm thinking about it.

What defines mega-thousands profit and what defines smaller ''mark-up'' ?

Personally if I could make 35-40k after tax a year I'd be happy


I'm sure you could do that. You just need to do some careful estimating first:

How many you can feasibly do per annum. Is it a second job or a weekend hobby or full time? Allow time for any planning permission or change of use to be granted - these are the real time-consumers!

Then of course you have to allow for taxes and auction fees.

The amount you can make obviously depends on how much you buy for and what the ceiling price is in that area. It is possible to overspend on a refurb and you won't necessarily get your money back if there is a ceiling on house prices in that area. But some areas (like London) can make you money if you are longer doing the job than planned - by the time you've finished, prices have moved up a notch.

The best advice I can give you is to talk to local estate agents about what buyers want in the area you are buying in: they will be able to tell you if your plans are worth while realising or whether it would be a wasted investment.

I see you are in the Smoke, but if you can travel, apparently Crewe is a good place to buy if you are willing to dip a toe into HMO - decent auction prices for suitable properties and a decent return, with a ready market of M-F workers wanting to rent a week's accommodation.
 
Depends on how greedy you are.

If you think that tarting up a tired house entitles you to mega-thousands profit, then yes.
If you are realistic and accept a smaller "mark-up", then no.

Have you got an opportunity?

I could move in that direction if I wanted I suppose. I'm thinking about it.

What defines mega-thousands profit and what defines smaller ''mark-up'' ?

Personally if I could make 35-40k after tax a year I'd be happy


I'm sure you could do that. You just need to do some careful estimating first:

How many you can feasibly do per annum. Is it a second job or a weekend hobby or full time? Allow time for any planning permission or change of use to be granted - these are the real time-consumers!

Then of course you have to allow for taxes and auction fees.

The amount you can make obviously depends on how much you buy for and what the ceiling price is in that area. It is possible to overspend on a refurb and you won't necessarily get your money back if there is a ceiling on house prices in that area. But some areas (like London) can make you money if you are longer doing the job than planned - by the time you've finished, prices have moved up a notch.

The best advice I can give you is to talk to local estate agents about what buyers want in the area you are buying in: they will be able to tell you if your plans are worth while realising or whether it would be a wasted investment.

I see you are in the Smoke, but if you can travel, apparently Crewe is a good place to buy if you are willing to dip a toe into HMO - decent auction prices for suitable properties and a decent return, with a ready market of M-F workers wanting to rent a week's accommodation.


I currently rent in the south west, having sank 100k into a terraced there some years ago. It gives me a reasonable return (around 1k) with happy tenants. The trouble is my 9 to 5 is unreliable and I'm bored with the area I work in.I was thinking about selling on and making a tidy profit from it. I kitted the place out nicely because it was my first solo rennovation. I spent way more than I should have, went to the extent of getting planning permission for an extension I had no intention of ever building simply because it wouldn't warrant the return in value from re-sale. I worked very hard planning it and putting it all together, doing most of the work myself. Got certificates etc so no problem selling on, although it wouldn't matter much anyway as the likely buyer I would get on it would be cash. It just makes sense to do another one, and the only way I can achieve that is by finance through what I'd sell with view to continually flip, gradually increasing the price on what I buy, until I'm in a position (the dream) would be to buy a piece of land and design and build a property from the ground up. Some years away, but a man can dream. Currently I make at best £100 a day, but job satisfaction is nothing like it was when I was working on my own house working to my own schedule and being my own boss. Cheers for the tips !!
 
In London yes, in Lancashire no way!
The previous owner of my house was a London 'builder' who gutted the place, replaced the rotted floor joists, rebuilt the collapsing bay window, had it rewired, all new central heating, new windows and all doors, dry lined it, external insulation on the gable end, capped the chimney, fitted the kitchen and bathroom, redecorated, ... and ended up selling it to me for £79k. I think he learned a valuable lesson about house prices in the North, lol!
 
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True about Northern house prices. Similar in Leeds - other half gutted his house and made it stunning, fixing everything that needed doing along the way and it sold for a very similar price as next door who did nothing and was a wreck.
 
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