My views on consultancy with Mark Alexander

I really had too much to say about the article offering “One to one consultancy with Mark Alexander” for a comment so I have decided to write an article of my own.

I first met Mark in 2002, he has always been very open with advice and sharing his experience believing that what you give you get back in return. There are far too many charlatans in the property market who hide their advice as some sort of ‘secret to be sold’ which often turns out to be nonsense, or just plain illegal. Investing in property has never been a get rich quick scheme for the lazy or ill informed and never will be.

After having spent 13 years indoctrinated in the Banking industry I decided on a complete change in path. Inspired by what Mark had achieved and his inclusive culture of wanting everyone around him to achieve as well, I took a leap of faith and purchased a franchise in Mark’s commercial finance brokerage in order to be a part of his success and culture. This started with a full time 3 week course run by Mark on Buy to Let, and believe me when I say I thought I knew it all when it came to financing property. Yes I was technically competent, but what I was not prepared for was the eye opening light bulb moments of combining all of that information with business strategies.

I did know my Grandparents bought their house for £2000, inflation erodes debt, cashflow is most important to businesses and how to finance property, but what I hadn’t done was combine all this knowledge into a cohesive strategy.

There is no trick or “Snake Oil” required to successfully invest in property, you just have to look at it using common business sense and strategies to minimise risk. Using interest only loans over the longest possible term to buy property is a perfect example. Some perceive this as high risk, but is in fact the opposite if you combine the old business adage of “cashflow is king”, a strategy of retaining maximum control and the fact that inflation erodes the value of loans over time whilst property generally increases in value at a rate exceeding inflation in the long term.

Yes we have tried to share everything we possibly can on Property118, but in my view collecting the information and knowledge is not the same as the “Oh Yeah” light bulb moments when you hear it from Mark, specifically target to your own personal needs.

We are in some ways very different as you can tell by our articles (Mark always jokes that nobody reads mine), but we both have a passion for imparting what we can to help get people on the right track. I speak to many readers that call in and even if they already own property it often surprises me how little they have thought about it as a business. However, that is my fault for forgetting what seems like common sense for me now was not at one time.

I am always more than happy to help and every investors circumstances are different, but if you are not sure of your path then I hand on heart know Mark can make what seems complicated at first become very simple and obvious after explaining it to you in person.

These are a few things you might not know about Mark Alexander:

In 1990 he started a commercial finance brokerage in his back bedroom. The business went on to rank #38 in The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 in 2008 before he retired a year later.

In 1992 he was a founder member of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers “NACFB”. This was a voluntary position. The NACFB is now located in Temple buildings alongside the leading barristers chambers, just a short walk from the Houses of Parliament. NACFB members are now responsible for nearly £10 billion of commercial lending a year.

Mark’s landlord taxation strategy “Milking the Buy to Let” was picked up by the ACCA and communicated to all member accountancy firms – see >>> http://www.property118.com/landlord-tax/

The “Deed of Assurance” which Mark designed was highly commended by Ombudsman Services and is now being considered by the DCLG Private Rented Sector ‘Think Tank’ as an alternative to long term tenancies >>> http://www.property118.com/?p=40949

Mark presented 30 buy to let workshops a year from 2003 to 2008. They were so popular that we had to hire the same stage crew as Robbie Williams and venues including the Reebok Stadium, Emirates Stadium, Aston Villa FC and Leicester City FC.

In 2013 Mark completed a six month Consultancy contract for a leading provincial law firm.

Mark’s training notes on website search engine optimisation are a must read for any business that wants to increase its website expose. Details here >>> http://www.property118.com/?p=33446

His strategies and guidance have inspired literally thousands of landlords to build multi million pound property portfolio’s from which they have attained financial freedom and security for their families.

He has met with hundreds of established landlords who are asset rich yet time and cash poor. It really doesn’t have to be that way. Mark has an amazing gift of being able to help people out to understand, visualise and implement alternative and often life changing strategies. Several of his former clients felt totally trapped by their property portfolio’s before they met him. They’ve since gone on to double, treble and even quadruple their property portfolio’s, have six or seven figure bank balances and most importantly, the time to enjoy life to the full. That’s the real value of professional help.

Mark founded Property118.com three years ago. It operates a not for profit model and is funded entirely by donations and sponsorships. The website is now part of the Google News Publisher Network and has nearly 200,000 subscribers.

It’s not just letting, property investment and development strategies that Mark can help you with, he is also extremely experienced in business, marketing, law, tax, funding, financial services, website development and SEO.

My view of Consultancy is that all people need some guidance at some point in much the same way as all the best sports people need a coach and mentor. Even the likes of Tiger Woods, Ronaldo and Andy Murray all have coaches. The questions posed on Property118 demonstrate the need for Consultancy.

Mark isn’t doing this for the money, but if he offers the service for free or too cheaply he will be swamped with wannabes. If he charges what he previously earned then very few people who need his advice would be able to afford it. Therefore, he’s pitched it somewhere between what an accountant and solicitor would usually charge and will take it from there. All proceeds will be reinvested into the further development of Property118 which is both my own and Mark’s passion and his semi retirement hobby. Mark has many other income streams to fund his personal financial requirements.

Further details of Mark’s consultancy services can be found HERE.

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