Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37842 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Synopsis
Despite fears of a property market slump, historical trends indicate that house prices rise in the long term, and that although it means weathering some unfavourable conditions along the way, property remains a fundamentally sound investment for the future. But guidance is needed for successful buy-to-let investment. Author Ajay Ahuja is a chartered accountant and well-known buy-to-let property millionaire who offers an inside view on the subject. In this revised, fourth edition of his bestselling book, he divulges the practical techniques and financial tips that have taken him from an initial investment of GBP500, to a property portfolio of successful buy-to-let properties up and down the country worth more than GBP10 million. Ajay also advises councils and accommodation projects on social housing problems and their solutions. This guide covers: Finding the right property; Finding the right lender; Finding the right tenant; Legal issues; Lists of buy-to-let mortgage lenders; List of more than 350 UK buy-to-let hotspots, by region; and, a List of 'Top 10' hotspot locations in the UK.

About the Author
Ajay Ahuja is the founder and owner of the national accountancy practice Accountants Direct. It is the first in the UK that deals exclusively with the provision of references for the self-employed for mortgaging purposes. This experience has led to an in-depth knowledge of mortgages and the property market in general.

He currently consults with various local councils and accommodation projects, attempts to provide innovative solutions to problems being faced by the homeless and comments on issues surrounding social housing.

He now owns and controls a property portfolio worth £3m and provides housing for more than 250 people around the UK.

Customer Reviews

Concise, easy-to-read from a subject matter expert
Its easy to read foundation books on a subject and think that you haven't learnt much, because it all makes sense and confirms your own opinion. Whilst I found myself doing this with this book, I recognised that there is a well balanced coverage and rounded content in here. It doesn't go into tremendous detail about individual areas, for example a tax advisor might identify some pros and cons of your particular circumstances. However, it does include some excellent guidelines.

I found it very reassuring to start with the characteristics required to get into this type of business, and check whether you have them. There were also quick tips about how to calculate if the rent will provide enough cash to cover costs, the higher yields from different types of property, and comments on refurbishment versus lost rent.

Like most of these books, it doesn't highlight all of the potential pitfalls in the business. The author has amassed a 3 Million pound property portfolio in a few years of booming house prices, but anyone starting now has to look to the longer term for substantial payback.

basics of buying to let are covered very well with minimum w
Mr Ahuja`s book is not the most detailed and comprehensive guide to property letting that is available on Amazon (only 68 pages excluding appendices etc) but the information that is given is extremely useful and relevant for someone with no experience in this area. The basics of buying to let are covered clearly with minimum waffle and many easy to remember tips/rule of thumb calculations are provided. One very useful rule of thumb calculation for example is the "rule of 12" that enables a prospective buyer to quickly gauge without going into complex calculations whether a prospective buy is a likely bargain or not. This can make the difference between making a profit or making a loss.

If you like anecdotes of the sort "Bill bought a flat for £40,000..Etc" then buy another book as there are very few of these.

The thing however that particularly impressed me with Mr Ahuja`s book are the detailed appendices with among other things: mortgage providers, property web sites and UK property hot spots. I have not yet seen another book that has such detailed information.

I felt that my... [money] was well spent and that Mr Ahuja had put considerable effort into distilling his experience in this area into a succinct and understandable form.

Slightly trashy but very informative & direct guide
I don't normally go for this kind of American-style writing, as i do generally find it occupies the pages of the more trashy pop psychology books. However, this is actually what sets it apart from the other books on the buy-to-let market, and is surprisingly its strength. What it taught me is to look at buy-to-let as just another investment, with hurdle rates, sources of finance, and a myriad of highly practical means to extract maximum income as well as capital growth, i suppose simply hammering out the message that you shouldn't appraise buy-to-lets from the point of view of 'would you live in it', but more from 'will you make money'. Being quite anti this kind of approach [ok call me naive], it did take some time for me to even want to appreciate what he is saying!! I do recommend it for its fairly ruthless approach to reaping maximum returns from even this 'booming' buy-to-let market, and it is certainly written in a very straightforward 'expert down the pub' fashion. What particularly sticks in my mind is the lesson of not buying when the yields are too low - an obvious statement - but one that pushes you away from the fantasy land of capital growth as compensation for poor yields.