A bold claim?
Probably, especially as the House Price Indices are showing average property values across the UK are increasing at a slower rate than they have for a long time (mainly because of values in London going backwards).
So why is that? Is it the BREXIT effect? Probably. But let’s not get into that – we’re all bored of Brexit, aren’t we?
So does that mean that property investing as we know it doesn’t work at the moment?
If you get your (property) investment advice from the tabloid press, then you’d probably say yes.
But if you are a subscriber to my newsletter then hopefully you know the answer.
No, it doesn’t mean that.
If you are looking to get rich quick, unless you’re very lucky or very gifted, property isn’t for you. Property is about the medium to long-term, and it’s about get rich quick slowly.
Property isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It is a get rich scheme, but it takes time.
So yes, you can STILL make money from property.
At it’s simplest you just need to buy a house and wait 20 years.
Tyler Hicks, the American property millionaire and author, puts it very succinctly when he says,
“It’s almost impossible NOT to make money in property if you hold the property for a few years, maintain it and keep it rented”
When you think back you’ll almost certainly have to agree with him. I’m sure many of us have heard our parents tell stories about how their first house cost them £5000, a small fortune at the time and they wondered how they’d pay the mortgage when their wages were only £40 a week. Now the same house is selling for £500,000 or more.
But the good news is there are many other ways to make money from property.
It’s not about waiting for house prices to increase.
In fact, in many ways it’s far easier to be successful in property when prices are falling – it’s easier to do deals, it’s easier to negotiate a true discount from the real value, it’s easier to find tenants, it’s easier to negotiate and arrange No Money Down type deals, there’s more property to choose from … I could go on an on.
So a decline in the rate of house price growth doesn’t alarm me, nor does it make me think investing doesn’t or won’t work.
And when the time comes when average prices are falling for the UK as a whole (and not just London) I’ll be thinking that we are moving into a fantastic time to buy (even if the tabloid press start to tell us how terrible things are, which they inevitably will).
