Essential Property Investment Calculations: The numbers led approach to property investment and property management

by Robert Heaton

On one recent deal, we’d reached our limit on price, but we still weren’t quite at a deal. So, we decided to pivot to other terms. We knew the seller was a single guy who was selling his flat so that he could buy a larger house. The seller was a designer and he had great taste in furniture. The apartment itself was nicely furnished and we felt we could leave all his furniture in place and it would add value in the rental process. We decided to offer two things that we guessed he might value. - We offered the seller the choice of completion date. We said we were okay to complete on whatever timescale worked best for him. The agent had told us he’d only just put the apartment on the market and he hadn’t yet found a house. So, we gave him the time and space he needed to do this. We also gave him the chance to lock in a deal and get some certainty on his financial position before he started looking. - We offered the seller £2,500 for chattels (that is, the existing furniture, washing machine, etc). We’d taken some good photos during the viewing process, and we used these to cost out what the existing furniture might have set him back. We offered 75% of the original price, as all the furniture was in good condition. And when we put this forward, we pitched it as £2,500 to help him furnish his new house. We’re not sure which of these two things sealed the deal for us, but the seller gave us a “Yes” and we completed three months later.