I really want to speak out about ‘trolling the investor’. I get it a HUGE amount would you believe? And yes some of you reading this may indeed be the trolls that do it. Or others of you may be Property Investors who are just fed up of being the bad gal/guy.
I’ve been called it all, parasite. The person who is ruining the property industry. Responsible for stopping first time buyers getting on the property ladder. And much worse which isn’t even going to feature in my blog.
So here’s the thing. I think the people who troll investors really have no idea about what goes on in the daily life of an investor and what they are motivated by.
For most investors, they won’t really start making proper real living standard cash flow from their rental income until 12-20 properties in. The real cash comes from increasing capital value and taking this back out. For most renters this will never have an impact on their rent. Rental values are set by the market and also to certain extent by mortgage rates. As obviously the higher the rate, the higher rent a Landlord will need to cover the mortgage.
For me, as I’m sure with a lot of other investors, the majority of the rent they receive from their tenants, goes back into paying the mortgage and making sure that their properties are awesome places to live.
There will also always be a rental market. There are still a lot of households out there who either don’t want to buy in a certain location or are really happy to be flexible with where they live. In which case renting works perfectly fine for them.
Here’s another fun fact for the internet trolls. Every single investor I have spoken to is out for a deal. They are not pushing the market up. Instead they are levelling it or bringing it down because they are trying to make their money stretch as far as possible. I don’t know any investor who would pay over the odds, it’s just not worth their hassle. And, if you know the property market, you will know that the value of a property is judged based on the most recent comparable. This can only be awesome for first time buyers. If you know an investor has got a deal on a certain property then why on earth wouldn’t you be out there looking for something similar?
Finally, all investors are doing is securing their future and securing their families future. They are not trying to go out of their way to make it super difficult for any first time buyer to get on the property ladder. Most investors don’t usually target the first time buyer type properties. They are usually after something more interesting, strategic, with a bit of an edge so that they can use it to increase capital value. The vanilla starter home just isn’t their cup of tea. Also, I speak for myself here, I’m very conscious of whether a property I’m buying would be suitable for a first time buyer. If it is I leave it alone and I advise my students to do the same.
I also have one more point, that I wish to make and I state it all the time. IF YOU WANT TO BUY YOURSELF A PROPERTY THEN DO IT. You can complain to me all you want about money, no available houses, awful market, housing crisis blah frickedy blah. But if you are not taking any action whatsoever to buy yourself a property then I don’t take you to be serious. So instead of trolling me, why not set up an internet search and then go and find out how much money you can borrow via a mortgage. It will give you clarity and direction and maybe even some hope.
Anyone else get problems with trolls? Anybody a troll and feel like this is worth trolling? I’d just love to hear the answer to the first question below.
To all my lovely investors, your doing awesome. Trust me you aren’t messing up the housing market. You aren’t stopping anyone from getting on the housing ladder. And you seriously are providing for your future – you are doing just great.
NC
