How to build a property portfolio,
a guide by Asset Academy
If you are seeking to give up your day job or create financial freedom through property income, knowing how to build a property portfolio will likely be worth your while. Safety and success are at the heart of everything we teach at Asset Academy, so if you want some straightforward and honest tips for success, the following two minutes of reading are for you.
Why own a property portfolio?
Broadly speaking, a property portfolio consists of four or more rental properties. The amount of rental income you will seek to earn from property will determine the size and constitution of your portfolio. Rent and property prices will vary, however, it should be reasonable to aim for £250 – £300 cashflow per month from a three bed buy-to-let house, once the expenses have been deducted from the rental payments. It is therefore easy to understand why multiple properties will be required to generate adequate income for a property investor.
A portfolio can also bring with it heightened security and stability. Within a portfolio, if one property experiences a void period (empty with no tenants), the income generated by the other properties will help to offset any temporary losses. If you own only one or two rental properties, losing income from one for a period could cause a more significant problem.
Owning rental property is a great strategy for wealth creation, something you can read more about in our blog article: Why Invest In Buy To Let Property. However, it will be critical to the success of your investment portfolio to do things the right way from the start.
Next, we shall delve into the key stages to grow your portfolio for positive results and longevity.
How to build your property portfolio
1) Clearly defined outcomes
The very first stage of building your portfolio will be to very clearly define your outcomes or goals. Without knowing your destination, a map and a compass will be of no purpose to you. It is not until you know the end point that you can begin plotting the best route to get there from your starting point. Makes sense?
Your end point may simply be an income figure; however, it will be beneficial to understand what that figure represents. Will it allow you to spend more time with your family? Or pursue a life-long ambition or passion? Or even retire at an age of your choice? Whatever your reason, starting from the destination and working back to the start point will have advantages, as we shall see next.
2) The right strategy for the right job
Understanding your desired outcome will help you to breakdown your plan into segments. As a very simplified example, if you wish to earn £3000 per month from your property portfolio in five years’ time, it may require owning ten buy-to-let properties. So, you may set yourself the target of buying two investment properties per year for the next five years. This is why your strategy will be important.
There are many different investment strategies, each with their own pros and cons. These include variations of buy-to-lets such as leasing to local authorities, student lets, houses in multiple occupation (HMO) and holiday lets, plus others. Some will have greater cash flow potential but higher risk or workload, whilst others will have lower rental yields but may be more passive and hands-off.
It will be critical to find the right strategies to meet your needs and level of comfort and experience. If you need to generate capital with which to buy rental properties, you may wish to trade a number of flip properties (buy, renovate and sell for a profit). How to select the strategy that will be right for you is something that we focus on in detail throughout our Advanced Training Courses, so do not be dismayed if it feels overwhelming right now. The trick is, start small.
3) Learn the basics well
Starting small means cutting your teeth with basic buy-to-lets before moving up to HMO’s or even buying land and building a property for investment purposes. Knowing the property market and buying property to build a successful portfolio will only come through experience and making mistakes. Those mistakes will be much easier to rectify and less costly with small investments, such as two bed flats, than it will with developments involving multiple properties.
4) Get your team in place
Property investment success cannot be achieved alone… ask any successful landlord. Your team will be crucial right from the start, whichever type of property you begin your portfolio with. At the very basic level you will need a good accountant, mortgage broker, letting agent, a landlord insurance broker and a good teacher and mentor. Be sure to research each potential team member to ascertain that they have the relevant qualifications, experience, and licenses for their field.
On your journey to building a portfolio it is likely that you will also need building contractors and trades people, architects, structural engineers, tax advisors, estate agents and maybe even sourcing agents. Investing in the right people from the outset will save you time, energy and costs in the long run.
The nucleus of your portfolio
A clear theme from these basic steps is a need for knowledge. Having a solid education will be central to building an income-generating and long-lasting portfolio. From developing a mindset to understand your goals, to knowing the strategies, to learning the basics and finally building your team. Each step will require enough knowledge to be safe and successful.
An abundance of both free knowledge and paid-for courses are available, however, be careful not to be fooled by misinformed amateurs or unscrupulous course providers. We have a guide that will help you to choose a property education provider safely, which you can read here: Are Property Investment Courses a Scam? If you want to learn more about our courses, you can read what others think about us here or why not book a FREE one hour Discovery call to learn about the possibilities available to you.