Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa July 2016 | Page 56
UK INVESTMENT
Top tips for London
Buy-to-Let
The essential advice for investing
in London from abroad
BY JAMES GLEW
I
f you are considering investing in London buyto-let it is vital to do things right from the start.
Investing in a London buy-to-let one-bed
apartment typically involves committing at least
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of your own
money and taking out a 50% mortgage loan for the
same amount.
London property investing has paid off handsomely
for many people, both in terms of income, capital
gains and as a ZAR hedge but it is essential that you
go into it well informed.
Here are my top tips.
Research the London market
1
Choose a promising area in London - this
does not mean the most expensive or cheapest.
Promising means a place where there is a high rent
demand and this can be for a variety of reasons.
Promising may also mean an area that is going
through significant re-generation.
If you know someone who has invested in buyto-let London property before, ask them about their
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JULY 2016 SA Real Estate Investor
experiences – good and bad. You may want to talk to
experts that specialize in sourcing good quality buyto-let stock and who facilitate the purchase, financing
and management thereof for their clients.
2
Calculate the full purchase cost
The main purchasing costs to consider are:
the price of the property, stamp duty (SDLT),
solicitors’ fees and mortgage processing fees. Get
an all inclusive cost of the acquisition to avoid
miscalculations.
3
Look for a price advantage
As a buy-to-let investor you have the same
advantage as a first-time buyer when it comes
to negotiating a discount as you are not selling a
London property to buy another. This can be a major
advantage when negotiating a discount.
A hassle free option to get a price advantage may be
to work through a trusted company that specializes in
sourcing top quality London buy-to-let properties in
bulk and sharing the bulk discount with its clients.
www.reimag.co.za