The Property Podcast

It’s another Tuesday, so it’s another Ask Rob & Rob. And we’ve got two cracking property questions for you. The first question is from Dom who’s just completed on a 2-bedroom flat in South London. He agreed the price back in January before the dreaded coronavirus, and went back to negotiate on the advice of Rob & Rob and managed to snap up an absolute bargain! So he’s ended up with a new house at a massively discounted price.  Today he’s asking whether Rob & Rob reckon he should flip it, take the cash and wait for another dip.  Rob B has some solid advice today and a bit of warning about that ‘paper-profit’. Dom needs to be careful about allocating overall transaction costs and also about potentially investing on the expectation of a dip in the market.  Why should Dom be careful? Why should nobody ever invest based on assumptions? Tune in to find out. Next up is Sabrina from Newcastle. She got hooked on the podcast after reading Rob D’s book and hasn’t looked back ever since - that’s what we like to hea

When we refer to a property super-geek you may think that we’re referring to the number one Property Geek, Rob D.  But it seems that there’s someone else who is just as excited by tech and property, and that’s Chris Ryder.  You may remember Chris from a few weeks ago when The Robs interviewed him about his serviced accommodation business and how it was coping during lockdown. Well, he’s joining Rob & Rob again this week to talk about all things tech in property.  Before getting involved in property Chris was in a good corporate career that centered around software development. Chris has since gone on to deploy different apps and systems into the day-to-day management of his business. So, naturally Rob & Rob couldn’t resist doubling down and getting unashamedly geeky about property and tech. Tune in to find out how these apps have changed the way in which Chris manages his portfolio. You may pick up a few tips for yourself if you self-manage your properties or you’re thinking about doing it.    Over th

This week on Ask Rob & Rob we’ve got two great questions around location and using the bounceback loan scheme to fund your deposit. Is it a good idea? It seems a number of people are turning their head towards Liverpool for investing in property right now, and this week we’ve got another question regarding properties in the area. So let’s get to it. The first question is from Mohammad. He’s recently acquired £50,000 from the bounceback loan scheme through his limited company and he’s now wanting to know if he can use this money as a deposit for a buy-to-let property?  There’s been a bit of confusion and uncertainty around this topic as it’s not really been clear as to whether you can use the bounceback loan as a deposit.  So, do The Robs think it’s alright to use the loan as a deposit or do they think Mohammad should reconsider? Our second caller of the week is Harry from Bristol. He’s asking if £70,000 is too cheap to purchase a decent property in Liverpool?  If Rob & Rob think it’s too low, Harry wan

This week on The Property Podcast The Robs are discussing the importance of knowing what mega trends are currently playing out in the property market.  Yes, it’s important to know the tactics behind becoming a successful investor, how to get the best deal and understanding mortgages. But it’s just as important, if not more important, to understand the mega trends that are taking place. Because if you don’t understand the trends, you could find yourself on the wrong side of very powerful forces.  So today Rob & Rob are going to take you through trends that could happen, so you can put yourself in the strongest position going forward.  Here’s a look at the trends that they’re going to cover: Reversal of city centre living UK becoming less London-centric  More home-working  Death of retail More holidays in the UK “Peak HMO” If these aren’t topics that you’ve thought about already, then you’re going to want to listen to this episode. These particular trends are some that could happen off the back of a

This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are helping one caller up his location knowledge and explaining why buying with a mortgage is the better option. First up this week is Chris from London. He’s been talking to another investor about a property in Bootle, Liverpool.  However this investor has informed Chris that the street isn’t exactly the best or the most desirable in the area and that he should look elsewhere.  So now Chris is wondering if house prices can really differ that much street by street and with being based down south, how can he gain local property knowledge in different locations?  Naturally this question was made for Rob B so what does he recommend Chris do to improve his location knowledge?  Next up we’ve got Marlon who’s looking to find out what the benefits are of buying with a mortgage as opposed to purchasing in cash if you’re able to? His reason for asking is that he’s got 60% of the property purchase price and the oher 40% will be loaned to him by a family member, which he will g

A couple of weeks ago The Robs interviewed serviced accommodation specialist Chris Ryder to find out how the coronavirus had affected his business. Well now they’re back this week with another guest, Natalie Gascoyne who’s going to talk us through how she handled renovating two major projects through lockdown.  Natalie is the owner of Davis Properties and she’s no stranger to tackling plain BTL’s and HMO’s. At the moment she’s currently working two commercial-to-residential conversions and we’re keen to find out how those have been affected by what’s currently going on. When COVID-19 first hit, Natalie was due to exchange on two properties, so rather than pulling out completely and losing thousands that she’d already invested, she decided to delay the process.  Unfortunately, one project was delayed further with another party member pulling out, however, on the other property she managed to bag a £30,000 saving!  How? You’ll have to tune in and listen to the rest of Natalie’s story... We don’t often tal

This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are discussing what one caller should do with the property she hates, and what the new electrical regulations mean. Our first caller this week is Nancy. She’s a GP who's taken a step into the world of property investment.  Nancy owns a property that’s located about 15 minutes away from Liverpool Football Club. It’s a property that’s performing well, however it’s a serviced accommodation property which she’s now come to realise she hates.  Between the hours that Nancy puts in at the GP surgery as well as doing private consultations, she’s found that the amount of time the property requires and what she gets back from it, really isn’t worth it.  So now she’s questioning if she should just sell the property or whether she should keep it and outsource a company to manage the property for her.  The second caller this week is Jake who, along with a friend, manage a few properties in a portfolio that they own.  They’ve been looking into the new EICR rules that came into pla

Back by popular demand, Rob & Rob have returned with a market update podcast!  Yes, we said goodbye to weekly updates BUT, we were inundated with requests to bring them back. So for now, we’ll be resurrecting them on a monthly basis so you can get your regular fix of the latest developments across the property sector.  Today they’re talking about the hot topic of the month: stamp duty. They’re covering the latest changes and what they mean for the property market now and in the long-term.   If you’re thinking ‘hang on - they’ve already covered this....’ - you’re right. They did recently cover it on this week’s episode of Ask Rob & Rob but today they’re delving deeper, and they’re also giving you their opinion on the latest market activity and of course, the rental market.  Trust us, if you’ve missed the Friday market updates, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!   In other news, it seems that not everyone is happy that the new stamp duty charges are applicable to everyone. The Shadow Housing Secre

Last week was a shocker, wasn’t it? It’s not often property investors are dealt nice little surprises from the UK government, so when Chancellor Rishi took to the stage last week and announced a stamp duty cut, we had a flurry of questions from Hubbers.  The Chancellor announced that (for England and Northern Ireland), the stamp duty threshold would now increase to £500,000 until March next year. So if you were buying a home to live in, up to this value, you’d have zero stamp duty to pay. The big question was - would this cut apply to property investors? And the answer was a surprising ‘hell yes!’ Before you run out the door, the 3% surcharge for additional properties is still there, but still, we’ll take any small wins that we can, right? We’ve explained it all in detail right here - and there’s a handy calculator that you can drop straight into your downloads folder and see how much cash you’re likely to save.  We’ve also had LOTS of questions from those who have exchanged on their properties but not

The Robs have another special guest this week. This time it’s billionaire investor Stephen Schwarzman. Sadly, he’s too much of a big wig to actually be on the show so The Robs are going to be picking apart his book instead. You might never have heard of Stephen Schwarzman before, but after this podcast episode it’s certain to be a name you’ll remember.  After reading his book, Rob & Rob found that there are seven lessons that we can all learn from him.  Now, you might be thinking ‘how can I possibly relate to a billionaire investor when I’m just starting out?’ Well don’t worry, we promise that these seven lessons will be invaluable to you no matter what stage of your property journey you’re at. Here’s the seven lessons Stephen will be sharing with us: Failure is the best teacher in an organization The best executives are made, not born Identify problems and bring solutions How to raise money It's the same effort to work on a big thing as a small thing Group decision making Building a team of 10s

It’s Tuesday and Rob & Rob are back again to answer more of your questions. First up we have a question from Lauren. She’s a 23 year old graduate who is looking to get into property investment for the first time. At the moment Lauren is fully educating herself before she gets stuck in - good shout, Lauren! Her aim is to achieve capital growth as the market recovers from the coronavirus, with the aim of her and her brother affording deposits for their first personal houses in seven years time. Lauren currently has £126,000 and location-wise she’s looking at Birmingham for the capital growth prospects. So now she has two questions that she needs a bit of guidance on.  Should she purchase two more expensive properties with around a £50,000 deposit each, or should she choose quantity over quality and go for cheaper properties? She’d also like to know if she should buy these properties in one place or spread them out across the country? So, is it better to have more properties in your portfolio or have less o

This week on The Property Podcast, The Robs are joined by special guest, Chris Ryder, who is a serviced accommodation expert.  Serviced accommodation has been an ever-developing strategy for a number of property investors over the years and it’s becoming increasingly popular.  But a twist of events this year (we’re talking about you, coronavirus!) has seen investors struggle to get tenants through the door of their serviced accommodation. Some unlucky investors are looking at at least 3 months of no rental income up to now! So today we have serviced accommodation expert, Chris Ryder, dropping the truth bombs on what’s happening in the (slightly battered) sector at the minute.  If you were to believe the media, you’d have seen many investors pivoting away from short term lets towards long-term during the pandemic, in a bid to avoid lengthy void periods. But interestingly, Chris hasn’t had to do that. It’s actually quite amazing how quickly he adapted his business model to make the best out of a bad situati

This week on Ask Rob & Rob, the guys are answering two more great questions and also taking a look into the current investing habits of Warren Buffet. Our first caller this week is Matthew, he has £100,000 saved up in the bank and he’s wanting to get into property.  He’s looking for a property to buy for around £250,000 (hopefully less), and he’d like to buy one that he can live in and let out.  So he’s wondering if The Robs think now is a good time to buy a personal house, or should he hold off for a bit?  Next up we’ve got Jay who’s got a question about the stock market.  He’s been keeping an eye on it and has seen some slow incremental rises in the stock markets as a whole.  So rather than questioning if he should be investing in property, Jay wants to know if Rob & Rob think he should invest in the stock market or is there potential for them to drop again in the next few weeks? The Robs love discussing the stock market, even more so at the minute when many other people are interested in it. But do

It’s the second episode in our two-part series on the important topic of inflation and deflation. Last week in the first episode Rob & Rob looked at how inflation and deflation impacts you as an investor. So this week they’re going to look at those impacts and see what it means for the future.  It’s another episode where Rob & Rob are being bold, so hold onto your hats for this one. And it turns out, at the time of recording these episodes, The Robs were also predicting the future.  They talk about quantitative easing and said they wouldn’t be surprised if the Bank of England would pump more money into the economy. And low and behold, a recent news story appears ‘Coronavirus: Bank pumps £100bn into UK economy to aid recovery’.  Even before this announcement, the amount of money that has already been pumped into the economy this year alone is more than the financial crash back in 2008! Which means the information from this episode has just become even more important than ever! Last week The Robs demonstr

Happy Tuesday! We’re back with another Ask Rob & Rob.  First up this week is Jonathan who recently got married (congratulations!).  His wife had purchased a property a few years ago but unfortunately it’s now worth 10% less than what she bought it for.  But she does have 50% equity tied up in it. So here’s the big question: Should they sell the property at a 10% loss and purchase their ideal property, or do they release some of the equity and then rent it out?  Which is going to be the more profitable option for Jonathan and his wife?  Our second caller is Serena. She has £100,000 to invest and knows that a vanilla buy-to-let is probably the best strategy for her. She doesn’t want to commit a lot of time and her goal is to have a decent income stream so she’s got pretty much everything sorted.  But what she isn’t sure on is the location and the type of property she should be investing in.  At the minute Serena is wondering if she should buy one, or a couple of new build flats in either Leeds or Manche

This week on The Property Podcast, it’s the first of a two part special on the important topics of inflation and deflation. These are two things that every property investor should know and understand. Why?  Because they’ll both impact you massively.  Most people don’t understand the basics - and that’s what Rob & Rob are fixing right now with today’s episode.  Are we heading into a period of inflation or deflation? That’s a question that you should be asking yourself at the minute.  First, you need to go back to basics and understand exactly what inflation and deflation are. So in this week’s episode you can expect to learn: What is inflation? Why investors like it Why do we need inflation? How inflation works What causes deflation? The difference between good and bad deflation If you’d like to learn more about inflation, you can go back and listen to this podcast episode and you can take this course over on the Property Hub University. Be sure to tune in next week as The Robs are going to be

Happy Tuesday! We’re back with another Ask Rob & Rob.  First up we’ve got Jess who’s got a question about inheritance tax. Her parents have around £200,000 tied up in their home with no mortgage, and she’s been trying to figure out a way to make sure funds/assets are protected should the inevitable happen. They want to avoid the pitfalls of the dreaded inheritance tax! Is property the right way to go? Are there any resources Jess should be aware of? Of course, Rob & Rob aren’t accountants or tax advisers however, Rob D had some insights to share which Jess should find comforting. Only 4% of people who died last year paid inheritance tax - so should Jess be worrying? And what can Jess’ parents do now to minimise any issues Jess might face further down the line? Listen to find out.  Our second question is from Stuart who wants to talk about The Robs’ business relationship. He wants to know how Rob & Rob met and how they decided to go into partnership all those years ago.  Tune in to find out how another

This week on The Property Podcast, Rob B wants to know why Rob D decided to invest in property… in the middle of a world-wide pandemic!  Some of our most popular podcast episodes are the ones where Rob & Rob delve into their personal investment strategies, so when Rob D unveiled his latest property purchase, we had to capture this for the podcast.  So, what type of property did Rob D invest in, and where was it? We’ll give you a clue: we recently launched a Property Hub Invest deal in Nottingham and as this was Rob D’s old stomping ground… he might have just bagged one for himself! The deal was so good, it was gone in less than 60 seconds!  We know you love a good honest chat with The Robs, and you won’t get more personal than this one.  Tune in to listen, and find out why this deal was too good for Rob D to turn down….even during a pandemic!   This week’s news story comes from Landlord Today and the headline is, ‘renters will feel more secure following extension of the tenant eviction ban’. The evict

We’ve got two great questions for you on Ask Rob & Rob this week.  Our first caller is a first time buyer. He wants to know whether he should buy his first home to live in or invest in a buy-to-let property. He also wants to know if there would be any ramifications if he purchased a buy-to-let property before his own residential home.  Rob D takes the lead on this one as the answer will purely depend on personal situation. The Robs always tell investors to take the emotion out of property when investing, but is Rob D going against his own advice here? Our second question is from Jess who wants to know what’s wrong with Leicester. She thinks prices don’t do very well here and wants to know why there’s never any growth.  Rob B has a look and finds that Leicester prices are actually up 47% over the last decade - it’s outperformed the likes of Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham. Yes it’s average performance - but he delves into why in today’s Ask Rob & Rob.  Does this highlight the need for us to understand mar

It’s the last market update this week! To round off the past 10 weeks or so, Rob & Rob are having a moment of reflection.  They’re taking a look at what topics they’ve discussed during the market updates and are sharing the lessons they’ve learnt from the coronavirus situation that you can also learn a few things from.  The Robs are also discussing a report from Rightmove that has seen a spike in the number of people looking for rental accommodation. This is due to people changing jobs and moving locations, but also personal circumstances changing.  But is it just another headline, or is there actually some truth behind it? Tune in to find out. Enjoy!   We’d love to hear what you think of our new market updates over on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You might even have a question you’d like us to cover in the future - if so, pop us a message on social and we’ll see what we can do. Make sure you’ve liked and subscribed to our YouTube channel where we upload new content every week!  If that wasn’t eno