Mark studied the people and businesses who thrived in those tough times, developed his own strategy by modelling them, and has now been a successful landlord for nearly 25 years.
Oh, and he did it all while building up one of the UK's fastest growing businesses.
Now, Mark runs Property118.com, which has 200,00 landlords and property professionals signed up to its mailing list. I found out Mark's story, and asked him from the main lessons he'd drawn from his own experiences and those of all the landlords he speaks to every day.
In this interview, you'll learn:
- How Mark's involvement in property started with him becoming an accidental landlord
- How Mark's investment strategy came from observing people who were thriving in a difficult market
- What led Mark to make his very first investment
- Why the type of property Mark bought changed over time
- His thoughts on income versus capital appreciation
- Why Mark recommends using an agent rather than self-managing
- The types of tenant Mark deliberately targets to limit his tenant turnover
- Why Mark likes to accept tenants who have pets (but makes some checks first)
- The biggest mistakes Mark made when buying properties
- The story behind how Property 118 came to exist
- The most common questions Mark sees from landlords in his forums
- What a Deed of Assurance is, and why you might want to use one
- Mark's rule of thumb for how much cash landlords should have on hand relative to their borrowing
Episode resources
- Mark's site, Property 118