All subscribers of Just Do Property are already entered into the 2011 Competition.  But you can gain more entries by recommending friends to subscribe to our site.  The more friends who subscribe the more entries you will get.

http://www.justdoproperty.co.uk/2011_prize_competition

We have 8 amazing prizes to win in the competition.

Our 3rd prize, to be drawn in November 2011 is a coaching call with Mark Jackson

- 3rd Prize –

30 minute coaching call with Mark Jackson of Lease Options Made Simple and a copy of his Working with Estate Agent Course.

“Mark Jackson is a prolific Property Options Investor and educator, author and problem solver. Having had outstanding success in the UK using Property Options he founded Property Option Expert in 2009 and founded Lease Options Made Simple with  Wendy Patton shortly afterwards from a strong desire to share his knowledge and experience.”

For a chance to win, simply subscribe and recommend your friends:

http://www.justdoproperty.co.uk/2011_prize_competition

They guarantee to show you how you can earn a fortune from property by giving you New, valuable and never-before-revealed Lease Option and Tax Lien ‘inside information’.  If you are not 100% satisifed they will give you a refund.  Oh and you also get some great freebies too:

A six week step-by-step lease option plan; Free Prize Draw to win FREE mentorship which guarantees a lease option; Get Close & Personal -(First 30 registered) ‘Fireside chat’ with Mark Jackson & Wendy Patton Saturday evening after the event! – Imagine having time in a comfortable and intimate environment where you can “grill the experts”

Here are the details of the event:

Learn Lease Options Live Seminar – 14th – 15th May, 2011

Crowne Plaza Hotel, London – Heathrow, Stockley Road, West Drayton, London, UB7 9NA

I had the pleasure of interviewing both Wendy and Mark a couple of weeks ago, they very kindly shared some of the mistakes that they had made during their career in property investing.  It makes interesting listening!

Click here to listen: Download audio file (rec_mgjwa68_04_Apr_2011_19_46_00.mp3)

As well learning from Mark and Wendy, they are giving an EXTRA amazing and profitable BONUS.  They are bringing a special guest from the USA, who has something very exciting to share.  Mike Warren will be talking about Tax Liens.

“Learn How to Own Property Debt Free For Just £10 -
And ALL Guaranteed By The USA Government!”

I love the idea of this investing strategy.  I had a chat with Mike about this recently.  You can also listen to this audio by clicking on the link below.

Download audio file (rec_mgjwa68_04_Apr_2011_20_05_13.mp3)

I hope you take action and book onto the course, as it’s going to be a fantastic event.

The power of this lies in the fact that the seller has granted you an exclusive right to buy within a defined and agreed time period.  Notice the word “exclusive”.  The seller is not able to sell to anyone else, except you.

At the same time you are able to sell the contract on to another purchaser, transferring the right to buy at the discounted price to them for a fee.

Let’s look at a real example from a North East town.   The seller had been marketing a very large and now empty house for nine months.  With no rental income the monthly mortgage payments of £475 was crippling.

Having started a new business recently and with a need for capital to support it and very little time to cope with an empty property, the seller’s motivation was keen.  After some discussion a purchase price of £93,600 was agreed which was below the marketed price of £110,000 and still enough to clear the mortgage and inject funds into the seller’s start-up business.

The seller was very concerned that he would be unable to make the mortgage payments before the house sold.  A four-month purchase option at £93,600 was agreed and a maximum of four monthly mortgage payments to be made by the buyer, which would be credited to the purchase price at completion.  Once the simple paperwork was signed the option was assigned to a waiting developer-investor for a modest but welcome fee.

Confident that planning would be granted, the developer exercised the option and later successfully converted the building into two flats achieving an end value of £200,000 and about £80,000 in equity after costs.

This case shows how you can profit from property deals that don’t really fit your personal buying criteria, or if as a finder you want to create quick cash.  Simply put, it shows how you can use a purchase option to lock in a discounted price.

Thanks to Mark Jackson, Lease Options Made Simple for this article.

They have an event coming up in May ( Lease Options Live Event, May 14th/15th in London) so I wanted to find out why this one is different.

I also asked them about some of the mistakes they had made during their career.  It’s so good to hear people admit that they have made mistakes, and to talk about it so other people can learn from them.  One thing is for sure, lease options is a great strategy but you need to know what you’re doing – by educating yourself!

The event sounds like it’s going to be a great one.  They’ll be talking about: Co-operative Options; How to find sellers fast; How to use Rent to Buy and flip the property without even owning it and many other things.

Have a listen to this audio clip to find out Lease Options and the forthcoming event.

Download audio file (rec_mgjwa68_04_Apr_2011_19_46_00.mp3)

If you are the sort of person that takes action (I like you already) then why not get along to the Lease Options Live Event on May 14th/15th.

Here are a few negotiation tips that can help:

1. Set your rules.

Many people likely have a set of rules or values that they just won’t compromise. If you find negotiations breaking your rules and going against your values, it may not be worth negotiating.

2. Ask.

Don’t be afraid to aim high but do not make any ultimatums. Usually these types of offers are out of place. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

3. Be willing to compromise.
Expect to make compromises and plan what terms you are willing to compromise on.
Even if the first offer is better than you’d hoped for, do not take it. Take time to “think about it” or make a minor change back.

If you accept the first offer they might not feel good about the deal they made with you.
Everyone wants to negotiate and feel they got a good deal.

With thanks to:
“Top 10 Negotiation Techniques for Buyers and Sellers: Tips for Negotiating Real Estate”, By Wendy Patton

If you want to learn more from Wendy, she’s in the UK in May.  She has a live event with Mark Jackson on May 14th/15th at London Heathrow.  They’ll be covering negotiation techniques, Lease Options & Tax Liens.    To learn more click here.

I have just found out that Mark Jackson and Wendy Patton will be running a 2 day seminar in May.  We attended one of their one day seminars last year and it was fantastic.  During this seminar they will cover information about Lease Options and also Tax Liens.

This is something that really interests me, I’ve heard a little bit about it and I understand it can be extremely profitable.

Click here for further information.

They will cover the following on the 2 day seminar:

New, valuable and never-before-revealed Lease Option and Tax Lien ‘inside information’.

Here’s just a glimpse of what you will discover:

1. How to create a four figure monthly income from property you don’t even own
2. How to sell property which is in negative equity – for a profit
3. How to create multiple streams of income using none of your own money!
4. How to drop more than £3,997 into Your bank account in the next 29 days…

Click here for further information.

May 14th – 15th, 2011

Crowne Plaza Hotel
London – Heathrow
Stockley Road
West Drayton
London UB7 9NA

We  hope to see you there!  If you have any questions about the event please email mark.jackson@justdoproperty.com

Mark Jackson

We’ve just read this great interview with Mark Jackson from the PS Investor Services Blog.

Using lease options to control property has grown to become an investment technique being used popularly around the country – particularly as a consequence of stringent BTL finance rules impeding many business growth strategies.  As what was to be expected, many have either been sceptical about their medium to long term effectiveness or pointed to the fact that there is no tangible ownership being a major negative.  Nevertheless, for the time being, their use is likely to remain and so we therefore chatted to one the UK’s thought leaders on the topic – Mark Jackson of Lease Options Made Simple – on a number of subjects including legal issues; the ‘fad’ argument; benefits / risks; potential FSA intervention and protecting future interests amongst others.

1) Can you give us a bit of an outline about your experience and why choose to set up ´Lease Options Made Simple´? I fell in love with property at the tender age of seven. It was then my parents bought our first family home, which we renovated, lived in and sold. Later, when I was 14, we bought a heavily wooded plot of land and lived in a caravan for two years while we built our home from scratch. The whole experience taught me some important lessons about life and that over time property can be a great way to invest and create wealth.

When I returned to the UK after ten years of voluntary work in poorer countries in 2004 I was determined to become financially free, and was convinced that property was the best way for me. I set about learning how I could acquire a portfolio of investment property without huge amounts of cash. In fact, at that time, I had no credit history at all, and even less cash.

In 2006 I used a property option to secure and buy the tiny flat I was renting in Richmond, North Yorkshire. Then I started building a portfolio, buying property from other investors and home-owners using property lease options and other advanced purchasing techniques, like seller finance. I loved the problem-solving power of property lease options, and I found it very easy to negotiate and structure deals with motivated sellers. I wanted to share my experience, since lease options had liberated me from a struggle to make ends meet to no longer needing to work, and in a short time.

2009 saw the interest in lease options in the UK increase sharply and it was then I approached Wendy Patton to discuss the possibility of creating Lease Options Made Simple. Wendy has enormous experience with lease options in the US (more than 24 years of investing experience and over 650 deals personally agreed) and this rich experience, longevity and a refreshing approach to motivated sellers really appealed to me. We formed Lease Options Made Simple in 2010 and thoroughly enjoy working together.

The use of lease options to aquire property – particularly since investors have had increasing difficulty in undertaking no money down – has grown in popularity in recent years.  Are they really a viable strategy in the modern day property investment market or – as some have debated – a bit of a ´fad´? You make an important point here. In my experience it is only those who have yet to enjoy success with lease options who call them a ‘fad’. Without being offensive or derogatory, comments like that make me think of the Aesop’s fable about the fox and the grapes…So I suppose whether you consider lease options a fad or not would depend on your experience with them. Viability is in my mind a question of availability, sustainability, longevity and security. Do lease options done well meet those criteria? In my opinion, yes. Why? Lease options give you control without ownership and at times when ownership is challenging, lease options are a viable, solid alternative. Wendy’s 24 years of lease options experience is a powerful answer to the question of viability.

What are the main benefits of building a lease option portfolio in 2011?

• Freedom for investors to continue building a portfolio at a time when there is a sea of discounted property;
• Existing finance is often cheaper than new buy to let products available often resulting in much better cash-flow at a time of a historically low base rate;
• The number of properties you can secure is limited not by external factors, such as the availability of bank finance but by how many units you can find, manage and maintain;
• The rental market is set to be strong in 2011, meaning fewer voids and higher rents, so now is a good time to work towards replacing an income from a job and take that step towards financial independence through property lease options;
• Because you don’t need a new mortgage to get control of a property with lease options you are able to exchange more quickly and move on to the next deal.

What do you feel are the main reasons that some investors are against the strategy of lease options?

• The poor quality of some of the ‘deals’ packaged and offered as investments. I’ve seen some being sold with negative equity, huge arrears, distressed sellers and dubious due diligence;
• Sandwich options which rely on two lease options running Seller – Investor and Investor – Buyer are, in my opinion, unfair to both seller and tenant-buyer. When they are talked of as a viable strategy in the UK they do lease options a disservice. Why so? Sandwich options structured this way offer the tenant-buyer little or no security;
• Lease options are still quite new in the UK and the advantages they can bring are so enormous, they could seem too good to be true. “There must be a catch;”
• There has been a lot of hype surrounding lease options and clever marketing, and this turns some of us off. We have a limited number of experienced lease options investors in the UK who are actually writing lease options, and investors know when someone is talking from experience or selling courses. You can find lots of reliable information about lease options on our site:www.LeaseOptionsMadeSimple.co.uk;

What are the main strategies that can be used this year in order to ensure maximum profitability? For fast cash – cooperative options, where you cooperate with a seller willing to give terms and find a motivated buyer.  In many parts of the country controlling property and tenanting while you wait for the market to show its hand is profitable. If you keep your options open you can always use a tenant-buyer strategy later if the market lifts and your optioned property is worth more. Always target property with equity and agree to have at least part of the monthly payment coming off the end purchase price.

What do you see as the main risks and how can they be minimised?

• Having the seller made bankrupt, or declaring himself bankrupt;
• A seller challenging the option agreement three years down the line on the basis that it is unfair or they didn’t understand what they were entering in to.

These can be minimised by avoiding distressed sellers, having a watertight paperwork system and making sure that the seller has adequate, qualified legal representation from the outset.

As with what happened with sale and rent back (SARB) a few years back – how long will it be before the FSA begin investigating lease options deals and what will be the implications of investors using this strategy? That’s a difficult one…You can be sure the FSA is already interested to some extent in lease options. Of course, it’s good to be running your options business as if it were already a regulated activity. The implications of regulation would depend on the level of control the FSA wanted to see imposed. These things are not retrospective, though, so any regulation would be unlikely to affect lease option deals already written.

Would you recommend undertaking lease options to a beginner in property?Yes. Why not? Beginners can do better with lease options than seasoned investors because they do not have the limiting belief “Why would anyone agree to this?”  It is important to get good lease options education and have access to experienced investors for support. The first deal is always the most difficult.

Should a lease option portfolio building strategy always be combined with one of buying property in the ´normal´ way? If you can create wealth through control and without the burden of ownership, why would you ever need to buy in the normal way? If it is more profitable for now to piggy-back on somebody else’s existing finance, then that would be a good idea.

Of course, there are some advantages to ownership, but if you can’t get a mortgage, get started with lease options. There are some option properties in my portfolio I want to buy or sell on this year, possibly through a JV partner, just because they are such good deals and we are already well in to the option period.  I have already built up healthy credits and want to have that considerable created equity credited to me.

In terms of protecting the future interest in an optioned property, how can this be protected (many have criticised the legality of the contracts that have / are being put together)? There are certain fundamentals that every option investor will want to take care of to protect his interest:

• Register the option with LR once paperwork has been exchanged;
• Make sure you are using the latest lease option paperwork;
• Make sure you have control over the mortgage payments and authority to talk with the lender on the seller’s behalf;
• Tell the lender that you have agreed an option with the seller;
• Don’t deal with distressed sellers – you are storing up future problems.

Just Do Property also did an audio interview with Mark Jackson and Wendy Patton.  They shared some great tips about working with Estate Agents to get Bargain Lease Option Deals:

Click here to listen.

We have just completed a Lease Option on a small property in the North East of the UK.  We have known about Lease Options for a while like most investors and we’ve been on training courses and done home study courses.  However we were still a bit reticent to move forward with one.

There has been all talk of whether Lease Options are legal or not and that they won’t be worth the paper they’re written on when it comes to exercise them.

Due to this we decided to work with one of the UK’s leading experts in Lease Options – Mark Jackson.  We work very closely with Mark and he has been so helpful to us in providing information to the site.

We went to Mark to help achieve the Lease Option element of our property goals. We believe very strongly in mentors, it can save a lot of time if you work with somebody who is an expert in the field that you want to invest in.  Mark guided us through this first Lease Option deal step by step.  To start with it was quite confusing and there were a lot of things to do.

It was important to know what to say to the mortgage company when you call them, also to know when to call them.  It’s all about following the process, but of course you need to understand the process to start off with.  We have a positive £150 cashflow per month from this property and another £170 is being paid down on the eventual purchase price every month.  We feel this was a great deal.

We find the best way to learn is by practical application.  Now we’ve done one we feel that we could repeat the process quite easily.  Bring on the next one!

We’d love to hear your stories about lease options – are you an expert and done many or are you just getting started?  Let us know..

To grow your property portfolio with simple lease options you must understand them.  Lease options differ from purchase options.  They give more freedom.  This freedom allows you the investor to create cashflow and income.  Here are five ways you can use them in practice:

1.  Control your dream property on a simple lease option, live in it until you buy it and rent out your previous home.

2.  Consolidate your own portfolio by optioning out properties you already own but which are out of your area or no longer fit your strategy.  Be sure to agree and document at the outset the condition the property must be returned to you if the option is not exercised

3.  Take control of a property which will create cashflow.  Ensure the rent it can produce is more than the monthly amount you have to pay the owner and other costs.  Aim to generate at least £150 per property per month after all costs.  How many of those would it take to replace your current monthly income?

4.  Build an investment property portfolio which is well placed for strong future capital growth.  Do your research using sites like www.mouseprice.co.uk to target suitable pockets of property which you plan to hold long term

5.  Secure simple lease options on property to which families will aspire – then assign them for a fee for immediate cashflow.  Be careful about assigning lease options agreed with financially distressed sellers, you will quickly damage your reputation.

Positive Points to Consider

• Simple lease options allow you to piggy-back on someone else’s finance – and this can mean huge savings on interest payments
• Simple lease options give you almost the same degree of control you would have if you had bought the property with a mortgage… without the mortgage!

It is becoming clear that there are so many possibilities with the power of options that it may be difficult to know where to start.  Working with experienced option experts who are doing sustainable deals is highly recommended. We would be delighted to hear from you.

Please email me at Mark.Jackson@justdoproperty.co.uk if you want to grow your wealth with simple lease options.

Edward Lane caught up with Kevin and discussed the importance of public promotion as a property investor; the current housing market; his thoughts on the future; consumer affordability levels; his advice for newbies / the risk averse; his own investment strategies; lease options and the recent controversy surrounding their use; buying repossessed property (creating a win-win house sale) as well as his wealth training programme.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Thanks to Property Investors Hub for sharing this video.