The real estate market is hot in many areas of the country today. With that being said, there are a lot of opportunities to invest in various areas of the economy. Flipping homes has long been a great way to get started investing in real estate.

Although it sounds easy, there are a lot of things to keep in mind about this process. Not only that, but it can carry a lot of risk for your financial situation if you do not do your research. If you are going to flip a home for profit, there are several things that you need to keep in mind during this process. Not only do you need to spend your time finding a great deal, but you also need to work with a quality team on selling the property.

Finding a deal

When it comes to real estate, most of the money is made on the purchase. If you can purchase a property at a discount, you are well on your way to increasing your overall wealth. A lot of people today are excited about the changes that are taking place in the industry. Not only are homes selling faster than ever before, but they are going for more than the list price. This is why flipping homes is so appealing. In a rising real estate market, it can seem easy to make a lot of money. However, you need to work with a quality realtor who can help you find a home for a great deal. During the process, they can educate you on the types of homes that make the most sense for your financial situation.

Upgrading a home

One of the fun parts of flipping a home is the upgrading portion. Many investors will buy a home in need of repair and spend a significant amount of time and money upgrading it. The hope is that the overall value of the home will increase more than the amount of money that was put in to get it to the next level. If you do not have experience in this area, you need to make sure you are careful with the upgrades that you decide to invest in. A lot of people today are excited about the changes that are taking place in the industry, but that does not mean to rush into something just because you think it is an easy way to make money.

Planning for the future

Overall, investing in real estate can be a great way to make money. However, you need to make sure you have a quality plan in place to do so. Over the long term, a lot of people have decided to start investing in a variety of areas in this market. If you want to flip a home quickly, you need to make sure it is upgraded and priced to sell. There are many people who are excited about the changes that are being made to the business, and you can profit from them if you work hard and do your research.

An industry study has revealed that despite ongoing efforts from the government to boost the sector, SMEs in the construction industry are struggling to access funding. Housing supply has been a firm priority point for the government for several years now, as affordable inventory in the UK continues to dwindle. Nevertheless, the inability to access funding is making it difficult for smaller housebuilders to make any real difference to the bigger picture.

The report, published last week by the Federation of Master Builders, detailed how more small and medium-sized builders are facing problems accessing funding this year than they were in 2016. Whereas around 50% pinpointed difficult access to funding as a significant roadblock last year, this has now increased to 54% for 2017.

“Almost a decade after the financial crisis, access to finance for small house builders is getting worse instead of better,” commented Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB.

The details of the report paint a picture of an ongoing governmental push to improve and expand the housing sector that simply isn’t working. Several schemes and policies have been rolled out over recent years, one of which is the £3 billion Home Building Fund, which was created specifically to assist this part of the sector.

According to the Housebuilders’ Federation, approximately 12% of British homes were built by SMEs last year, equating to around 20,000 properties. Over the past 25 years, the number of SME housebuilders operational in the UK has declined by around 80%. While it had been expected that things would begin to show signs of turning around following the financial crisis, evidence would seem to suggest this simply wasn’t the case.

As of 2015, no more than around 1 in every 8 homes built across the country was the work of SMEs, suggests a report published by the HBF. If things were taken back to their 2007 standards, this would result in around 25,000 more annual home developments from this part of the sector alone.

Back in February, the government published a white paper affirming its commitment to the SME construction sector, though the inability to access funding continues to stand in the way of many.

“The White Paper quite rightly emphasises the need to diversify the housebuilding sector, so it is less reliant on a few large house builders. To do this, we need the government to make good on its proposals to improve the availability of small sites and speed up the planning process for small sites,” Mr Berry stated.

In turn, a growing number of developers have begun turning to alternative financial products and solutions, development-bridging loans, having seen a significant spike in popularity. Intelligent financial solutions tailored to the needs of the property sector are becoming an important lifeline for hundreds of businesses up and down the country.

For more information on bridging loans and alternative financial solutions for property development and construction, get in touch with the UK Property Finance customer service team today.

It’s becoming clear that, as far as the average would-be home buyer in the UK is concerned, one type of property takes precedence over all others. We’re not talking about the size, shape, or specification of the property either, but rather the all-important matter of whether it’s new. While it may not necessarily be within the financial means of all home buyers, it seems that new-build properties represent the properties of choice for the vast majority.

According to the results of a new survey carried out by the Skipton Building Society, two in every three home buyers prefer the idea of moving into a brand-new property. Along with this, 38% of respondents said that they would love to have their new home built from scratch to their own specifications, if money wasn’t an issue.

When quizzed further on their reasons, more than half of those who favour new-build properties cited their primary explanation as being able to decorate and personalise the place to their own tastes prior to moving in. Interestingly, around 45% stated that they would not even consider a property that was more than 46 years old, while over 20% said that they would be far less likely to buy a property if they knew that a person had died in it at any time.

Speaking on behalf of Skipton Building Society, communications manager Rebecca Willey talked of the reasons why new homes seem to be appealing to more would-be buyers than ever before.

“It seems it’s not just the unexpected costs associated with buying an older home that is scaring the nation; a fear of ghosts, mysterious property pasts, and even dead pets buried in the garden are enough to put people off buying an older house,” she said.

“While it may spook some, purchasing an older property full of historical charm is a real treat for others.”

“However, it’s not hard to see why so many people want a new-build home, as they provide an opportunity to create the home of your dreams without the hard work and baggage from previous owners.”

For those on the business end of the spectrum, such demand paints a picture of a golden era for those working in property development. Demand for high-quality new-build properties of an affordable nature is accelerating at a previously unseen pace, all across the United Kingdom. For many developers, simple financial restrictions or challenges in sourcing capital at the opportune moment can stand in the way of what could be an incredible opportunity.

The team at ukpropertyfinance.co.uk specialises in intelligent, affordable, and immediate financial solutions for all property development purposes. By removing the complications and red tape associated with major banks and lenders, gaining access to essential funding when and where it is needed has never been easier.

In the last few months, UK Property Finance has substantially increased its involvement in locating the funds needed to cater for the surging demand for development and major renovations requiring finance. UK Property Finance, which is a trading style of Penuptra Consulting Ltd., is a directly FCA-authorised and regulated business focusing almost entirely on niche area funding. The company has an enhanced reputation of being a “one-stop” financial shop where brokers and members of the public alike can, with one simple telephone call or email, access a wide range of property-related finance expertise and money. The offering includes brokering for residential, commercial, BTL, and equity release first charge mortgages, secured second and third charge loans, general insurance products, and first, second, and third charge, etc., regulated and unregulated bridging loans that can be secured on solely or a mix of land, property, or commercial units.

As part of its drive into the development funding arena, UK Property Finance has in recent months become involved in a multi-apartment, mixed-use, 3-stage development on the south coast of England. The client, a recently formed limited company where the directors have a huge amount of experience and specialise in obtaining planning permission for difficult sites and projects, agreed to a purchase price for the brownfield site, subject to eventual planning approval. They then spent the next 2 years putting in much time, effort, and money to obtain formal approval. With the planning now agreed upon, the value of the land had increased substantially, way beyond the price our client had originally agreed to pay the seller, and as such, this made the proposal very advantageous to our client, and, as you would have thought, many lenders. Our client then trawled through the normal high-street bank culprits in an attempt to locate the development finance required to complete the project before selling the already pre-sold units, but unfortunately, for one reason or another, our client was rejected.

Luckily, UK Property Finance was then recommended to our client via his local bank. Due to the increase in valuation, we submitted the case to one of our large and varied panel of commercial lenders and managed to enable the size of the purchase loan available to be based on the actual valuation of the land (with planning), not the purchase price (which was without planning). This pretty much meant that our client, who had already spent a substantial amount of time and money obtaining the planning permission, could now purchase the land without any further down payment from themselves.

The achievement of planning also increased the land value to such an extent that our client required minimal remaining financial input to complete the build prior to the properties being sold off to pre-agreed purchasers.