The following are a selection of client case studies:- 

 

 

No money left in and £2,000 a month cashflow

Client purchasing a commercial unit for conversion to a HMO; purchase price was £125,000 with £35,000 cost of works. Using another property as security we arranged bridging finance for £100,000 (this was as much as the client wanted). The property was purchased and converted and refurbished into 6 luxury ensuite letting rooms generating £31,000 a year in rental income. We obtained a remortgage as soon as the works were completed for £153,000 which meant the client withdrew all of their purchase, works and finance costs and the property was now providing a gross cashflow of nearly £2,000 a month.

 

Giving up work with only two buy to lets

Client initially contacted us to arrange a mortgage on their new home they were buying. The lady had moved into her partners home and rented out her previous home. They intended to sell their current home but the property wasn’t selling so they needed some help. Upon discussing numerous options it transpired that the lady of the couple hated her job! Her dream was to run artist workshops. I suggested that they rent out their current home as well especially as they had experience of being landlords already. We remortgaged the two buy to lets to put down a significant deposit on their new home. The new residential mortgage was put on a repayment basis over just 9 years meaning it would finish as the gentleman in the relationship retired – luckily he loved his job! The rental income and new low mortgage meant that within 6 months the lady was able to fulfil her dreams and leave her job and is now running workshops and is a full time artist.

 

Refusing to give up on the Grandad flat

Clients were moving into a new family home with granddad. Granddad and the clients had both sold their homes and had agreed a sale on their new dream home complete with granny flat! At the last minute the chain fell through and granddad lost the buyer on his home. Frustratingly the lady wanting to buy still wanted the house and still had to move to the area but had lost her buyer. We suggested that they move into the property anyway but as tenants and then granddad obtain a buy to let mortgage on the property to provide the deposit for the new home so that they didn’t lose the new home. We did this and a year later the lady sold her home and completed on granddads purchase paying off the buy to let mortgage.

 

Emigrating to Oz

Client had built up a small portfolio of rental properties and was now emigrating to Australia. Added into the mix the client’s mortgage lender had offered to reduce the mortgages on several of the properties if they were redeemed. He did not wish to manage the properties from overseas and didn’t have the time to arrange several sales to take advantage of the discounts being offered. His father was also a buy to let investor so we arranged for the sale of the properties from son to father with no deposits required and a total saving of over £50,000 on the mortgage discounts. As the client was moving overseas there was no Capital Gains Tax to pay either.

 

Retirement Dreams Realised

Client’s relative was moving into a retirement home. As the client was a property developer the intention was to refurbish the relative's former home and sell it for a profit sufficient to purchase the new retirement home and give the relative savings for her retirement. However they couldn’t complete the works with the relative still living in it so had approached us to arrange a mortgage on her new home in their names however the property was an unusual construction as well as a retirement property and no lender would lend on it. So alternatively we arranged a bridging loan on the relative's former home to be put in place as soon as she moved out and arranged for the clients to be guarantors as the relative had no real income until the house had sold. The relative moved into her new home and the clients refurbished and sold the property paying off the bridging loan and providing the relative with a healthy cash lump sum for her retirement.

 

Three Freehold Flats and One Sitting Tenant

Client was buying a large property in London converted to 3 flats, two of the flats needed complete renovation and one of the flats had a long term sitting tenant in it and all three flats were on one freehold; all in all pretty unmortgageable without going for commercial finance. We suggested the clients separate the titles into three long leasehold flats while carrying out the refurbishment and put the freehold into a separate company. We then arranged a buy to let mortgage on one flat in one clients name and a buy to let mortgage on the other flat in the other clients name. They pulled out all of their purchase and works costs and left the flat with the sitting tenant in it unencumbered. Even with the sitting tenant in it, it proved extremely valuable as security for bridging finance for other projects.

 

Helping the grandkids onto the property ladder

Grandparents really wanted to help their two grandkids onto the property ladder but the only large sums of money they had were in their home. They were too old to remortgage but could raise a significant sum via equity release. They raised enough money to provide their two grandchildren with the deposits required for their first homes and in addition after further discussion also decided to raise more money to buy two buy to let properties. Their thinking behind these decisions was that the grandchildren needed help now not when they inherited the money, maybe many years from now, and also that the buy to let properties would provide them with an additional income to enjoy now. Our calculations revealed that even extremely cautious capital growth and rental income far surpassed the cost of the equity release still providing their family with a sizable inheritance.

(Please note that we do not offer equity release products or advice ourselves; we will refer you to and work with specialist equity release providers.)

You don’t even need a property

Client had lost his business due to the credit crunch and was starting a new business, due to his past credit problems he could not raise any capital for his business even though he had several rental properties. He raised the money he needed against two Rolex watches and a classic sports car in just a matter of days allowing him to rebuild his life and business ventures despite his credit history.