What Landlords Want
Speed, Service and Stability
Landlords and buy-to-let brokers want the same things from lenders. Ultimately they need speed, open and honest communication and they don’t want to be let down
I’ve been investing in property ever since I graduated from university in 1996. Initially I worked in investment banking; first at UBS then Deutsche Bank and then Goldman Sachs. Every time I got a spare bonus, I used the spare money to buy property. That was always my passion. I quit investment banking in 2001 to go full time into property, as I’d started to build up a reasonable portfolio. I’m also a qualified accountant and in 2006, I set up The Buy-to-Let Business which is now established as probably the largest buy-to-let specialist broker in the country. The wider economy is tough at the moment, there’s no denying it. It’s affected a lot of people in the industry and there is talk about a double dip being far more likely now. But the one shining light has been the buy-to-let area because rental demand is high. First-time buyers don’t want to rush to buy a property only for house prices to fall, especially given the uncertainty in the market. Coupled with that, Britain’s demographics have changed since the 80s with Thatcher saying that we must own a home. That mentality is slowly changing and that’s good news for landlords because demand is high.
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My personal property portfolio has rocketed and tenants have been gazumping in places. I think the rental market still has some way to go as demand drives it further. Young people today want that flexibility, they don’t want to be tied down with ownership of property. The health of the buy-to-let market is good but it’s still dependent on the wider economy and while that’s fragile, the buy- to-let market could still turn for the worse overnight. But for the time being things look positive.
Supply and demand Lenders are trying to supply finance to landlords but if
there is a gap then it’s in the more niche areas. There’s still a bit of lack of innovation in the market and it’s very much vanilla products that dominate. Lending to limited companies, on houses in multiple occupation and for light refurbishment are all areas that could do with a boost. It doesn’t even necessarily make sense. Student lets for example pay for a whole term’s rent up-front. There’s a stereotype of long haired grungy students with beer cans all over the place and while that may be the case in some instances it isn’t always. The rental yields for students
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