Firstly, property is a business.  Secondly, run it as one, because it is not just an investment.  

There is money to be made in property.  Therefore before money starts rolling in there’s lots to think about, including:

Tax return- do you need one?

Decide whether you’re going for capital growth, income or a mix

Ownership of properties

Individual, partnership, LLP, single company or part of a group 

Property Types

Residential property, property development, commercial or mix

Funding

Do you use your own money, borrow it or get other investors involved?

Tax

You can’t escape it, but you can mitigate it.  Therefore the main taxes to think about are Income tax, Corporation Tax, VAT, Council Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty, and (even) Inheritance Tax

Business approach

Mindset

A mindset is a set of assumptions, attitudes and behaviour. It effects how you handle situations in business and in life.  A fixed mindset is one that is happy with the status quo and is reluctant or unable to develop, diversify and adapt.

A growth mindset looks at things slightly differently, creating a culture of not being overtly wary of change or employee empowerment. It’s happy being innovative, developing new skills and techniques and effectively using business and financial information.

Businesses with growth mindsets is about measured and appropriate risk-taking.  Such people appreciate that some projects may not work.   When developing a growth mindset don’t ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’.  Don’t discard what works with something that is undesirable and dysfunctional. Fixed mindsets play their part, such as project assessments, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” 

Risk appetite

Risk appetites (attitude to risk) are either risk-neutral, risk-averse or risk seeking.  Rewards follow attitude, just like tick follows tock.   

Motivation

Business Success is hard work to achieve, keep & improve. Typically, it’s 1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration.    

Money is one of the primary motivators for getting involved in property.  But remember and focus on the other things that could push you towards your goals.  These motivators set the tone for your vision and mission.  It could be a better standard of living, future pension, something for your children

Finding your primary motivating factor will help you achieve and exceed your goals.

It’s going to be hard. Challenging. Demanding.  You can become overexcited about your ideas, but don’t set reasonable expectations.  Don’t let your heart rule your head.  Avoid making decisions based on emotion, you can end up over-paying

Setting expectations and milestones is important.  Measure, compare and react to those milestones and outcomes are more likely.

Planning

“Failing to plan is planning to fail,” Benjamin Franklin;

Planning is vital to help us navigate an uncertain business landscape and reduce the risk of failure.  A plan is essentially your future business activity expressed in numbers.  

It is about understanding business risks and uncertainties.  Planning looks at how to deal with those risks and is a great way to help achieve our end objectives.

Produce a cashflow, monitor and manage it

A key planning document is the cash statement, ideally a rolling 12 month one. The cash flow forecast looks at:

When do you receive and pay cash?
What do you receive and pay cash from/to?
How much do you receive and pay cash from/to?
What is the shortfall/surplus each month?

Monitor, measure and respond

Because mindset and motivation are important, remember so are the numbers.  You can lose sight of the importance of our Business Numbers.  That’s a mistake because Business numbers are bloody important.

Besides numbers telling you what things cost, profits, capital yields, returns, Gross Development Values, ROI.  Therefore you need to keep an eye on how these benchmarked numbers shape up against what you thought would happen.  Where material differences occur between reality and plan, find out why and react accordingly. 

Make sure you can easily capture and connect to your numbers.  Setting up an online system is a great investment and will save money in the long run.  It’s easier therefore more powerful to record, access and use the numbers. 

We’d love to help

Contact us to see how we can help you with your property business numbers.