looking at purchasing a uk property with "imagine homes"

I'm looking at purchasing a uk property with "imagine homes" and was wondering if anybody has done so?
They do 4 year rental yield of 5.5% on some developments. I know this isn't net yield but looks attractive.
If anybody has or had any dealing (good or bad) with the company, it would be of great benefit to hear from you?

Re: Uk Property

The yields seem good as the average from all the stuff I looked at was 5%.
I guess the one thing to ensure is that you buy in an area with capital appreciation potential and good long term rental prospects so after 4 years a ready supply of tenants are there. The area's I am still looking at are Ebbsfleet (new Eurostar Terminal) Thames Valley (loads of Blue chip companies) and Colchester/Ipswich/Norwich (undervalued and being regenerated)

Re: Uk Property

Contact Darren Costello at [broken link removed] Darren acts as an Irish agent for Imagine Homes and may be able to assist you with your investment.

now what would be point in asking the person selling the stuff what he thinks of it? the reason why Lyonsa3 has come to this site is to get some impartial advice. Lyonsa3 if it is a 5.5% net yield why is it attractive. If you're financing it through anything other than cash then your finance is going to cost you more than the investment is paying you, so you'll end up having to provide additional funds to your investment on a monthly basis.

Guaranteed rents only mean you are getting your own money back and even then it isn't at a very good rate. This company is aimed at Irish investors so you're going to have lots of similar investors chasing the same tenants you are and meanwhile you're paying an Irish agent who is taking his cut.
Cities in the UK are swamped with apartments, I'd stay away from them other than in Central London.

The UK is still a great place to invest, but not if you use this route.

A couple of months ago I advised people on this board to buy in Gorton in east Manchester, red brick 2-beds going at 70k or less and renting easily at 400 stg per month. I felt that as new buld in the same area was fetching 120 and 140k, the second hand stuff would be dragged up. This week the same houses are fetching 90k, and still rising.

So, I disagree that London is the only place to go, you can do ok in parts of the UK if you are canny and use your head. Stay away from anyone offering this kind of guarantee though.

Can anyone remember the name of the company in Newcastle that had a similar caper going about three or four years ago, ended up being busted by the fraud squad and loads of people lost money? Basically they were selling crap houses in sink estates, at multiples of true worth, and using the funds to pay a "guaranteed rent" for same. The more they sold, the bigger the houise of cards, and eventually they ran with the money. They were called something with three letters, ABC, or DEF or something like that -- its killing me to try to remember!

auto320 where do you get your information regarding the manchester deal what uk websites are you using?

Have u invested over there and if so what finance option are you using and with whom?

Im sure the info u have is of benefit as storm clouds prevail over ireland....

I spoke with a broker only yesterday who advised to steer cleer from manchester claiming that there is an oversupply of apartments so maybe issues with yields.

Just dropped in as he just mentioned it yesterday

City centre has an oversupply of apartments certainly, the money is to be made in the first-time buyers area in places like Gorton. Try Edward Mellor (best) or Sanderson james for lists of what is available around there. I have no further interest in the UK but from previous experience Bank of Scotland are very easy to deal with. I merely posted the tip on Gorton in response to someone starting out investing who wanted to buy a "fixer-upper" in Portugal (I think), and I advised Gorton instead as havng more potential. I was right from the way the market has gone there. At the time there were a few places neeeding repairs, priced below 50k even, and in nice condition these now make more than 90k.

Sometimes the less glamorous investments pay better than the "next big thing."

With regards to taking advice from brokers, often they have no interest in these small one-offs, no commission to be made is the issue.

By the way, getting back to the thread, was the company in Newcastle called PPI? Anyone remember?

Auto I wasn't saying London was the only place to make money on property in the UK far from it, this was in relation to apartments, it was just with so many cities being swamped then for apartments London is a safer bet for people who don't know the country as well. There's loads of other opportunities in the northern cities in Manchester (glad you've managed to talk your Gorton investments up by the way) such areas like Chortlon, which have a fantastic rental market and are due to benefit from a new tram network.

geordie said:

Auto I wasn't saying London was the only place to make money on property in the UK far from it, this was in relation to apartments, it was just with so many cities being swamped then for apartments London is a safer bet for people who don't know the country as well. There's loads of other opportunities in the northern cities in Manchester (glad you've managed to talk your Gorton investments up by the way) such areas like Chortlon, which have a fantastic rental market and are due to benefit from a new tram network.

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I agree re London being a good safe bet by and large, projected population growth keeps demand strong. Also agree about Chorlton, just mentioned Gorton in the context of a previous poster starting out with small capital but renovation skills. If he listened to me at the time he would have done very well; if he went to Portugal as he planned, he would still be on the starting line at best.

I don't have anything in east Manchester any more, I'm out of the small stuff in most places, winding down to doing nothing hopefully.