My Big Fat Property Fortune

I’ve just been glued to the TV for the past hour watching a documentary on people that have made ridiculous profits on property- ‘My big fat property fortune‘, on ITV (channel 3), at 2pm. Please tell me someone else watched this! I need to discuss the programme with someone else before I pop. It was a one-off special, as far as i’m aware; if anyone has the opportunity to get to watch it (if they missed it), it’s well worth watching.

For those who didn’t watch it, the show wasn’t just about ‘property experts’ making it big; but also about people stumbling into fortunes, by either luck, or making one good investment. Due to their ‘luck’ (if that’s what you want to call it), they are now considered to have made the best ever buys in the UK property market. The programme also highlighted the story of some smuggy-snobby fools that were simply “bragging”. To hear more about their stories, I found this interesting article.

Fuck, I was in two minds about that programme. Disregarding the snobs, I had formed mixed emotions of jealousy and inspiration, from those that deserved their fortune. After watching the show, I was heavily inspired to take my property involvement to the next level (my enthusiasm probably won’t last long), by taking bigger risks, by searching deeper for great deals.

I realised that I’m currently a small (understatement) fish in a massive pond. There is an art to property investment; experts out there spend hours and hours doing research. I’ve banged on about how important research is when it comes to property investment, but what I learnt from this show made me visualise a whole new realm of ‘researching”

If you want to be a good property investor, researching doesn’t just involve going to a few a estate agents, getting a few quotes and knowing your local market. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Real investors spend months on the prowl, gathering useful statistical data to determine which areas are going to be up and coming. They look into factors like, how good a school is in a area, how good transport is, they look into any upcoming developments prospects that may bring in a lot of workers e.g new factories opening. The list is can be endless.

On the show was a featured look at Uptown court, which I found rather interesting, because I’ve blogged about that property before, because it is currently the, Most Expensive House In The World. However, the information the programme gave was a little outdated, the house has been sold to a new owner since the shooting.

There were a lot of interesting showcases on the programme; I’m struggling to pick and choose which ones to talk about.

There was one case where a family purchased a home for £1 (YES, that’s right) in Newcastle. At that time, 1999, the area was going through a crisis; mainly due to high crime rates. Houses became abandoned and boarded, as no one wanted to make residence in such a pitt. The local authorities decided to put houses up for 50p, in attempt to encourage people to encourage people to move into the area and restore it. The plan worked, and now the area is in demand, consequently the properties are currently worth 150k. That’s over 1 million percent profit. Ordinarily the family would never have been able to afford a property of that size, so it was a nice story. The government also gave them 30 odd grand to restore the property, since it was rundown. Here’s more about that case, Seven years on, 50p homes worth £150k . This particular story was considered to be the best property purchase in the UK of all time. I agreed, simply because it was a fairytale story for a family that didn’t carry the symptoms of being smug and proud.

Among the other winning stories featured is that of of Les Brookes - a children’s party entertainer from Deptford who bought his council flat for just £15,000 - but managed to sell it back to the local authority for £176,000 just a few months later. I was happy for him, because the council were literally trying to force him out of the property so they could convert the entire block into luxury apartments.

On a sour note, there was a featured story about a car garage that sold for over £600,00 in the exclusive area of Chelsea. Parking space in London, as we all know, is a rare novelty, especially in areas like Chelsea. So when a garage came up for sale, there was a lot of interest shown. Eventually, two pretentious idiots got locked into a bidding war. I think by the end of it, it was more about ‘I have more money than you to waste’ war, and it eventually sold for over £600,000. What a waste of money. Idiots. But then again, if you have more money than sense, I guess you do end up buying a pile of shit.

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