LKR Properties

11/04/2024

Who’s looking for a flip in Essex?

Purchase £245,000
GDV £365,000
Works £29,000

Cash required for project:
- if bridging = circa £140,000
- if full cash purchase = circa £295,000.

Estimated pre tax profit:
- if bridging = £51,000
- if full cash = £74,000

Light refurbishment
Solid comparables.

30/11/2022

27/09/2022

Keeping the ego in check is a lifelong learning process. Slow and steady wins the race

11/09/2022

I was talking to someone about investing with me the other day and the question came over ‘why do you offer such good rates of interest and why don’t you use banks for your loans?’.

Thought I’d share here in case anyone else was wondering:

- I do use banks and bridging lenders as well as other investment sources, including private investors. When I work with private investors that lending then allows me to work alongside the more traditional property financing and enable purchase, adding of value and refinancing onto a mortgage.

- I can offer the rates of return that I offer because I’m not just buying any old thing off of Rightmove - I have specific criteria, specific model that I am working to and profit levels that have to be in any project to make it viable for all and ensure investment can be returned.

- I can pay those interest rates to investors because of that profit level within the deals. And to find this takes hours of research, hours of relationship building, hours of knowledge, hours of analysis, hours of travel, months and years of learning, investment in myself in the form of training.

- We’ve used our own capital in other projects in our portfolio, to continue to grow we now work with private investors so that working together provides a win for others as well as us.

- Anything that I buy has to have facility to add value, either by solely splitting titles or by refurbing and splitting the title.

If anyone wants to talk through the above, let me know, happy to answer any questions or share knowledge.

Or, if you’ve been thinking that you’d like to work with me then give me a shout and we’ll see if we’re a good fit.

04/09/2022

Building a business isn’t a 9-5 job.

This evening I’m working on a feasibility report for a large £5m title split project for a client with a very short timeline, so I’m diving in to help (and because I love this analysis bit - my favourite part, plus I’m getting paid for it so best to actually do it 😹)

Business isn’t 9-5, it’s evenings, it’s mornings, it’s weekends, it’s middle of the night when I can’t sleep and decide to get up and do some work.

It’s doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done with the faith that the work I’m doing now will result in my vision being realised some time in the future and then I won’t be doing the do all the time (or at all because I fully expect to be on a beach somewhere).

So, off I go back to my spreadsheets to build what it is I’m building, I actually do love it, which is good because it’s 1.30am and I’m knackered 😂

31/08/2022

Excellent feeling to know that my estimates, analysis and projections were all spot on and confirmed exactly by RICS valuation 🙌

That means less risk and uncertainty about the figures before we exchange on the block. Still challenges and hurdles of course, but this is one step closer 👌

23/08/2022

I have three purchases on the go at the moment, all blocks of at least 5 flats.

Two of the blocks require no refurbishment but I’m expecting an uplift in value of £1.5m across the two. That’s circa 60% uplift, with absolutely no works required (ok, maybe just a quick paint touch up).

But, I hear you ask….How do you add value if there’s no refurbishment (*scratching head emoji*).

Because….in the case of multi-unit blocks, the sum of the individual parts is greater than the single whole if you can find the right deal, you know what you’re looking for and you do a shedload of due diligence. And I trawl through hundreds of potentials every week…..it takes a lot of time.

For me, although the numbers may be big, very big in some cases, the risk with these is lower than a single let. Still risk there, financial risk certainly, don’t get me wrong, but in my eyes less…and this is why:

Pre-exchange valuation evidences the before split and post split values so I have the evidence from a RICS valuer, before the purchase - risk is lowered.

Blocks are often bought tenanted, meaning income from Day 1 - risk is lowered.

More units means if voids there is less impact felt on profit - risk is lowered.

Multi-unit dwelling stamp duty relief means that stamp duty can be decreased, meaning costs are decreased - risk is lowered.

Less competition for the bigger stuff which gives massive opportunity if you know what you’re looking for.

For those blocks with no refurb, there is no uncertainty around building material costs, supply, trades or works timeline - risk is lowered.

And all of the reasons above are why I am solely concentrating on multi unit block purchases and title splits from now on.

If you’d like to be involved in future projects or see how I can work with you to help you build your own multi-unit block pipeline, drop me a message and let’s chat.

21/08/2022

Plans change ….

It is a fact of life, we change, we learn, we evolve, things happen that impact us, we discover information, opportunities arise and as a result, we might want to do things differently.

When I first started in project mgmt 14 years ago I thought that a plan was the be all and end all, that once I wrote those steps down that was it.

But something I learned quickly (about ten minutes in haha) is that a plan is only good on the day it’s written and even then unless you have gone into excruciating detail around constraints, assumptions, risks, issues, opportunities, detailed estimates for each variable
and have multiple contingencies included in your plan…it will likely not be correct.

Something I say to everyone I present a plan to (I have presented a LOT of plans) is …‘it will change’.

How you react to change is the be all and end all. I know that a plan on a piece of paper (literal or virtual) in a week will have likely changed to something different.

I’m not suggesting winging it and having no plan at all, they are necessary to document intentions and are valuable stakeholder mgmt tools when you’re herding cats and so valuable to provoke thoughts and discussion around risk, opportunity, assumptions and constraints etc.

But, just realise that the plan will change and you need to be able to cope with that change, have resilience, keep the outcome in mind and have procedures in place to monitor and record those changes along the way.

And the same for life…we have plans, we evolve or learn something new or something happens….our plans change.

And that’s ok 🫶

06/08/2022

Rent to Rent - listen to the big property training companies and they’ll tell you it’s a way to get into property more easily, to ‘control’ property for little capital. Most people get into property to develop a ‘passive’ income (what a joke that is 😂)

Lessons hard learned from 20 holiday let properties: One - it’s not easy, nor is it passive, it takes WORK, more than you will have ever worked before.
Two - R2RSA is NOT property investment, it is a hospitality business

If you’re starting in Rent to Rent or serviced accommodation, make sure you have that clear before you even begin and what running a hospitality business entails so that you’re clear on what you’re getting into.

📞 If you’re looking to get into R2RSA and build a business happy to chat and share learning and I also have a mastermind and coaching/mentoring available for a select few.

Photo because the colours in here speak to me

15/07/2022

An evening in Manchester meeting Alastair Hoyne .co.uk in the flesh who is doing a fantastic job of steering me through the title split projects we have going on

Lovely to meet my accounting firm Mark & Grace and then a beautiful dinner with some serviced accommodation friends

It was meant to be that we were all in Manchester at the same time 🙌

Thanks for having me, look forward to the next time.

13/07/2022

Thought I’d do a little intro.

This is me with my daughter and some appropriate bullet points to sum up me and my life….

- about to turn 38

- mum of two amazing kids aged 10 & 7

- wife to a 🚴‍♀️ mad man

- professional project manager of 15 years experience

- always been clever, I got a free place to a prestigious private school when I was 11

- always felt like I could do more with my life but didn’t really understand why I was feeling that way nor did I know any different, very much went along with societal expectations and didn’t even realise I was doing so until I educated myself

- I have been on a significant learning curve in the last 5 years to understand firstly myself a bit better and also what it is I want to do with my life, what my purpose is

- I read a book a week, I am a really fast reader learned by reading a tonne in bad lighting when I was young, I’ve got the terrible eyesight to prove it

- have loved property for as long as I can remember, from our first house in 2009 and added with others from 2016.

- ready to level up and build a property empire, working with investors as I go so that we all benefit

- ultimate aim is to be a developer and help provide quality homes to families, loving the learning and journey along the way and starting with first development in Essex this year

- veggie but haven’t eaten eggs or milk for years (unless it’s in cake or ice cream 😬😬)

- I don’t really drink now but do love a very good glass of champagne. Even better if it’s drunk in 🇫🇷 France

- have learned so much about myself in the last few years and looking forward to learning even more as I move forward

- I speak Spanish and lived in Spain and Portugal when I was younger, I see myself moving there when the kids move out

- an empath by nature and if you cry in my presence I will start crying too 😭

- passionate about equality for women 👧- one of my goals in the future is to set up a charity focussing on educating women and girls in low income families or deprived situations on how to manage finances and good financial knowledge

- bit of a speed demon and love driving a fast car 🚗