Top 6 mistakes made by property investors and how to avoid them

I'd like to pay tribute to Kirsty Dunphey whose very articulate blog titled 

"Six mistakes to avoid making when buying investment property"

outlines the following mistakes investors make and I'd like to respond to the Midas Estates methodology on exactly how to address those common mistakes.

1. Borrowing an amount that's going to stress you financially to repay.
We always make recommendations where the rental income is at least 125% of the borrowing and all our investors have a financial buffer ( a nest egg) of at least £3k per property to cover all eventualities like:

a. mortgage rate increases
b. repairs
c. need to drop the rents in the event of increased competition
d. a void in the rents

2. Not having appropriate insurance
Our clients always have landlords insurance which automatically pays the rent if the tenant becomes unemployed , redundant or a delinquent rent payer and covers up to £50,000 legal cover just in case a section 8 eviction order is to be served. We also offer an emergency policy for all those call-outs to cover damage repair for things like leaks and burns.

3. Having a property manager who doesn't wait for the right tenants
Our lettings team always carry out 3 types of referencing on the tenants for our landlords - credit reference, landlord reference and employers reference which means we always get better tenants - if any of these checks does not come back positively then they are rejected.

4. Worse still – managing the property yourself
At Midas we have a dedicated manager who acts as a broker between the landlord and multiple agents in all locations to secure the same level of service UK wide. This reduces the risk, increases the income and ensures the landlord gets the same experience no matter where their properties are.

5. Don't listen to the sales agent
Our clients have come to know that their sourcing and negotiation is done for them and to trust the expertise of the team - we go the extra mile and visit all our sites and do extensive due diligence and get the best prices on properties that promise the most capital growth and high rental potential.

6. Buying a property and becoming a property investor if you're not mentally prepared for it.
At Midas the attitude to the investment is considered very carefully - we wont work with anyone who is too nervous or not prepared to work with our disciplined arrangements - We cant cut corners, skip important steps or be impatient to achieve the results we do - so sometimes we are tough with the client when they are looking to deviate from the methodology.

Take Ian Summers (click here for his testimonial video), a paramedic from Cheltenham, who was so nervous about the property market and starting his portfolio that we told him "you are too nervous" and we held him back for 2 years until we thought he was ready. You can't be getting the jitters every 5 minutes due to press headlines and the media. It's a long term plan.

We also had a client who decided it would be a good idea to spend some of her buffer on a holiday and so when it came to client review - with the rental accounts shared, we said "you have 6 months to put this money back or else we will resign you as a client". It's so important to have discipline with your portfolio and keep your buffer in place for those storms which will inevitably come.

Thanks for visiting our blog and do feel free to contact us with any of your thoughts or questions - we'd love to hear from you

Robin Campbell
www.midasestates.com