#37 - 8 month property deal in the making
What I’m watching
A rapidly rising YouTube star in the watchmaking world: Wristwatch Revival. It’s just videos of old watches being brought back to life. What sets Marshal apart is the sheer attention to detail and camera work, and clear passion for the craft. One of my favourites is this video featuring a Rolex GMT Master belonging to the owner’s grandpa being worked on.
Resource of the week
As someone who likes to journal, I was very excited to see that Ray Dalio has recently released a guided journal to help you create a set of principles to tackle life. I’ve been journaling for a while. It has had an immeasurable impact on my life both in understanding myself personally and clarity in developing professional ideas. One of the main reasons people don’t journal is because they don’t know where to start, well now is your chance!
I’ve only just started using it and had a flick through, but so much of it resonates and already prompts questions I’ve not given much thought to.
Quote
Truth-or, more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality-is the essential foundation for any good outcome.
Most people fight seeing what’s true when it’s not what they want it to be. That’s bad because it is more important to understand and deal with the bad stuff since the good stuff will take care of itself.
Ray Dalio
Thoughts
After 8 months from offer-accepted, I’ve had confirmation from my solicitor that my latest property deal has gone through. It has been by far, the longest any of my property deals has dragged on for, by nearly 3 times more. Why? The main reason was that the seller’s solicitors were useless. They would just not respond to my solicitor's enquiries for months on end. There was one point the estate agent, my mortgage broker and my solicitor had to team up. The estate agent threatened to drive 3 hours to the solicitor’s office to get a response, and luckily I have a great mortgage broker team. They found out who ran the law firm found a connection and pulled some strings behind the scenes.
I also had some issues with communicating with my own solicitor.
This again reinforces the fact that having a good team around you is so vital. It has been a stressful process, if there was a swear jar related to this transaction from the beginning, I think I might have enough of a deposit for another property.
Also that communication is vital, you should always know exactly what’s going on and don’t assume things are happening. And be aware of when your mortgage offer expires! We had a manic rush not to miss it.
Anyway here are a couple of pics, it’s a 2-bed penthouse in Derby.
It’s a straight BTL, no refurb as my preference is to stay hands-off. Asking price was £180,000, got an offer accepted for £170,000. The valuation came back at £165,000 and so managed to get another £5k off.
So why Derby? I’m not restricted to any particular city but Derby has very strong fundamentals, it’s commutable to Nottingham which has a concentration of employers including Boots HQ, Experian, HMRC, universities and a lot more. Derby itself is home to Rolls Royce, so the rental market is strong and yet prices are lower than in Nottingham. To be fair I could’ve probably squeezed another £5k by dropping the offer as the market sentiment is much more negative now than in April, but I just wanted to get this over the line plus it’s a long-term hold.
I’m now much more active in the market as I think there will be more opportunities, at least all the way through Q1 next year, so I’ll keep you all up to date on this.
If you’re interested in investing in a similar deal or property in general, I’ve got one consultancy slot opening up, so hit reply and we can have a chat to determine suitability.
If you have any feedback, questions or thoughts let me know and I’ll be sure to get back to you.
Have a good week!
Hans