As Chris Wood in our investment team always says to clients; “Get your Power Team ready” before you start searching! You need to make sure you have a solid, trusted, experienced team to work with to give you the best chance of securing the best property investment. So, who’s in your ‘Power Team’;

  1. Mortgage Advisor – Before you go offering for a property you need to make sure you’re able to get your hands on enough money to buy it! If you’re a cash buyer with money burning a hole in your pocket/bank account (likely earning very little interest!); fantastic – sellers will see you as the ideal purchaser with no lenders to worry about. However, if you don’t have a cool £150k+ sitting in your bank account or generous friends or family then you’ll need a mortgage. Work with your mortgage advisor BEFORE you start searching for a property. They’ll be able to run calculations on how far your money can be leveraged and will advise on the maximum amount of money you can spend on a property investment.

 

  1. Solicitor – you’ll need a solicitor to submit offers for investment properties on your behalf so make sure you have registered with a solicitor in plenty time before you plan to start submitting offers. Solicitors can’t act on your behalf until they have carried out AML (Anti Money Laundering) checks on you so will need to see original ID and proof of address. Make sure you do this early as you’ll kick yourself if you see an amazing investment prospect, but you can’t get an offer quickly enough before someone else takes it off the market.

 

  1. Accountant – It’s also worth speaking to an accountant before you get too far down the road with buying an investment property. An accountant will be able to assess your personal/family tax position and will advise on the best way to buy a property (in your name, in your partner’s name or within a Company; a popular choice these days). Your accountant will work on your behalf submitting future tax returns relating to your rental income and expenditure so that you don’t have to!

 

  1. Property Rental Expert – to make sure you buy the best possible property investment make sure you develop a relationship with a local property expert. Letting agents will have access to historical rental data so that you can bounce properties off them for rent levels and suitability as investments as they come available. It’s amazing how rents can vary from one street to the next. If you prefer a more hands-off approach you can instruct a property sourcing expert (such as Umega Investments!) who will do all the work for you, recommending specific property investments to you based on their experience and knowledge. A property sourcing expert will be there to take care of all negotiations, surveys and other work in the run up to completing a purchase, working with the rest of the power team on your behalf (don’t underestimate just how much work goes in between getting an offer accepted and actually getting the keys to a property!)

 

  1. Contractor – Inevitably when looking for properties, some of the ones you’ll see will need a bit of TLC before they’re ready to rent out. You’ll want to make sure you have a good handle on the cost of works so that you can build this into your calculations when appraising a property to make sure it’s a viable investment. Make sure you have a good trusted contractor who you can run properties past before making offers so that they can give you their best estimate of what any works will cost; it’s always tempting to be over-optimistic when you feel the heat of a hot property on the market so a reality check from someone with a good grip on costs is often just what you need.

 

We have years of experience buying investment property in Edinburgh and we have built a fantastic Power Team who we enjoy working with to make sure we find and smoothly secure the best possible properties for our investors. For more information on how we can help you get ready to invest in Edinburgh property just email [email protected] and we’d be delighted to have a chat about all things property and how we can help you buy a property investment in Edinburgh!

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