Guest Article from Rob Moore of Progressive Property

No disrespect Mark but the whole tone reminds me of a lot of the scam emails I receive every so often for many get rich quick schemes or the latest medication/preparation to cure everything from diabetes to cancer. The separate paragraphs for each sentence, the questions every so often, the bold and/or underlined text and the drawing one down the text without really saying very much - just everything couched in general terms. Admittedly the opportunities are there now that weren't five years ago but then I could say that in a lot fewer words ( guess I just have ). So no, I am very excited about the potential for the housing market and the rental market in a reserved way but an inspirational article, probably not. The whole article just appears very cheesy to me. Sorry.

No disrespect taken at all Dennis, it’s good to have your opinion

If everyone went & just did it, then all we’d need are facts and
everyone would be on their way to the results they desire

I guess one thing about running Progressive and having a couple of
hundred thousand would-be investors through your doors is that
you’d have to be an idiot not to spot the commonalities that hold
most people back

You’d think the right (dry factual) information would be enough,
but it never is, and in fact the industry seems rife with overwhelm,

overload, too much information, too many opinions and not
enough clarity

My job at Progressive has evolved. Education is of course key,
but more often than not it’s giving investors a nudge to break
through their comfort zone and realise the opportunity in front
of them

You seem a well educated person and I’m sure you’d like to
move to your next level. Most people want to know how to
do that and in my experience it is by doing something. Often
it’s the next thing or anything

Ducks in a row, more due diligence, right time/area, getting
everything ready and in place often lead to nothing

Best of luck in your property journey

I concur Denise.

It's also quite strange that someone who has never previously contributed to this community suddenly appears as a guest post. Perhaps this was a "paid for" post?

It's all very general and appears designed to titillate without providing any real substance.

I spent the day in London on Saturday looking at shitty overpriced property and I must be doing something wrong, as there was no signs of any deals to be had. People were paying the full asking price, some without even having viewed the property!

Not moaning ... just stating my experiences from having been in London very recently.

There are no people falling over to lend you money ... unless you create copy like the above. In fact, the advent of the Mortgage Market Review in April will have a knock on affect to BTL coupled with new stronger regulation around JV's by the FCA means people will find it HARDER to get finance, not easier imho.

Sorry, but the wealth creation industry is not the same as being a landlord, and I can't help but notice the word "tenant" did not appear once in the above post. 🙁

Whenever there is a gold rush, its usually the people selling the shovels that do the best out of it!

This wasn't a paid for post, neither Rob nor his company have ever paid me or Property118 and I resent that insinuation. There were no contra deals either! I consider Vanessa's comment as being very much the pot calling the kettle black - she has recently posted links on Property118 to clients she has been commissioned to produce video's for. I don't have a problem with it, I'm just saying.

The article was submitted by Rob in good faith - no links, no adverts, just an opinion. An opinion which I happen to who wholeheartedly agree with - now is a GOOD time to buy.

Rob is a new member to the Property118 community and I felt this was an excellent first post, refreshingly different to anything else we have seen here. We all have different opinions and writing styles but I have to say that I am very disappointed with the reception Rob has encountered so far. To my knowledge I have never met or spoken to Rob so I know very little about him or his company. I am sure we will learn more in due course though.
.

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "06/03/2014 - 14:44":

Hi Vanessa

It would appear that you too were impressed enough with one of Rob's posts on another forum that you copied and pasted it onto your own - http://www.propertytribes.com/-progressive-property-wisdom-t-6372.html

Some might think your comment is a case of sour grapes - just saying.

PS - great video 🙂

Hi Mark,

Accusing me of the pot calling the kettle black is most unfair when I am a regular contributor to this forum and most of the links are automated by the commentluv system!

Can you explain what I have sour grapes about please because I have no idea what you are referring to?

Thanks for pointing out that I have previously highlighted Rob Moore's writings that I got value from and I'll also add that I interviewed him and Mark for PT TV. So that evidences that I am more than prepared to give credit where credit is due. Those are not the actions of a person who has sour grapes.

However, on this particular occasion, I thought it was weak content. Sorry if that doesn't chime well with you, but I was not the only person who thought so.

I am somewhat perplexed that you want to cast aspersions on me, when I simply commented that I did not get value from the article.

Attacking someone who has been a long time supporter of Mark/P118 because they had the audacity to suggest that this was not the best quality writing that we have come to expect from P118, suggests that you must have an ulterior motive.

You claim to not even know Rob or Progressive, yet you have definitely taken sides here and then attempted to undermine my comment by digging something up on me to try and score points. As it happens, your link proves that I don't have sour grapes and you may also be interested to know that I also contacted Rob to ask his permission to use the quote before I published it, and he agreed. I am sure Rob is big enough to respond to me rather than have you defend him.

I fail to understand what point you are trying to make and the way you are trying to make it as it all feels very uncomfortable to me. Just saying ...

By the way, there is nothing wrong with a paid for post or contra post either, as long as it is notified as such.

Wow pistols at dawn you too.
But hay it’s great to see our two main mentors in the on-line property forums are human.

But Just to pick up a few points from the front line perspective, As I think we would all agree everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, But believe me what Rob is saying is in my opinion absolutely true, certainly in relation to “opportunity time”, we all know that only 2 years ago there were about 3 maybe 4 buy to let products left in the market place, I was at a PIN the other night and the mortgage introducer said there is now something in the region of 450 and growing, there are even 90% facilities available again, yes, you may pay a little more for them, but they are there, including a couple of self certs so we must all agree that the funding is available if you are the right applicant.

Equally it is widely predicted by many commentators, including The English Homes Report 2012/13 that property prices will see increased growth, maybe even as much as 40%-45% by 2020! wow that will be nice for us with a few, but maybe a little optimistic, so we will just have to wait and see on that one, but again it can’t be argued that prices are on the move and in a Northerly direction.

http://ow.ly/uk7pC

Same with rents, we are advised to prepare for a further 1 million renters in the PRS in the next few years, maybe by 2018 as rents continue to improve across the country not just in London

http://ow.ly/uk7Rv

Here in Liverpool I have a couple of properties available (fact not a sales pitch) which we sold a few years ago in the early 40’s and the Landlord (flipper) seeing the increased in valuations has instructed me to sell on again in the 50’s, these are your standard terrace type deal, lower end but still yielding 9.5% ish so here you have it.

a) Mortgage availability
b) Capital values increasing
c) Availability, nay demand for housing
d) Property prices still at a reasonable low and available.
e) Market moving in the right direction and rapidly
So for those of us who are working in this industry on a daily basis, including of course Vanessa and Mark experts indeed, which part of this have you not noticed? or is it as said just sitting in the comfort zone!

Vanessa thank you for your response, Don, and Mark thank you too for welcoming me to your great resource here.

As stated, no links or offers, so perhaps it's just the writing style that some don't resonate with (and some do), based on their own personal experiences that they are projecting onto this article.

I accept we all have a point of view and my replies to Dennis would be re iterated.

Between my business partner (Mark Homer), myself and our JV partners we own in excess of 280 properties, we've sold another 100 or so, and our Letting Agency manages coming up to 300 properties locally; Progressive Lets.

This is not said to impress but to state that I'm an active (passive) Landlord (active in ownership but we have around 40 staff at Progressive so my personal time is spent elsewhere) - this is not the 'angle' of the article.

I'm of course happy to offer any Landlord advice if anyone thinks I can add value.

In the last decade I've seen the ups and downs, and I'm seeing all the signs of the ups now. Vanessa's personal experiences (London for a day, raising finance etc) are her own, not mine. In many/most areas of the uk getting deals, growth and finance has been a relatively easy exercise compared to many other markets and non-Entrepreneurs.

That's not to say there aren't challenges, there are but many are disguised opportunities.

May I also take this opportunity to congratulate Mark on his petition and work he's doing for the investor community.

Reply to the comment left by "Rob Moore" at "07/03/2014 - 08:43":

Hi Rob

Which Mark and which petition are you referring to please?
.

Thanks Don. I am aware of all of those things.

I am also aware of the down sides too.

One of the traits of marketing copy is that it will only ever highlight the good points, never the negatives to watch out for.

Therefore, while there is opportunity in the market, there is also the need for words of caution and to explain the pitfalls, as many people get burnt when the tide is rising because they rush in with £££ signs in their eyes without doing intense due diligence. See the previous credit crunch and property cycle for details.

Educated and informed people with cash in the current market conditions will be the real winners imho.

Far from remaining in my comfort zone, I exit my comfort zone daily to ensure newbies are not sucked in by "its all rosy" and "dive in before you miss the boat" rhetoric. I encourage them and empower them to do due diligence. This results in regular attacks from people who don't want their marketing message distorted by something called reality.

As someone with 30 years letting experience, I am sure you will agree how important a balanced view is and any forum would be a much poorer and less valuable place if only one opinion is allowed to be expressed and claims are not scrutinised and assessed.

@Rob

Could you post an example of an actual London deal you have done recently including postcode, asking price, price you paid, and rent you achieved?

I think it would be really helpful to see the kind of returns you are achieving and give detail to your claims, rather than just generalities.

With respect, my recent story about London is not for just for a day. I've been investing in London for 10 years and have a portfolio of one and two bed apartments in N4, N7, E17, E14, NW1, N19, and N9.

Which London postcodes do you invest in and why?