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This week I've invited Daniel Wood from Momentum Property onto the podcast to discuss the 25 ways of raising money for a deposit! Remember if you need to reach out to LionHeart you can HERE #DITLOS is Avneet Virdee a valuation surveyor Finally come and follow me @honestpropertyinvestment

This interview is one not to miss! Come and join Kath Fontana and I to discuss what it's like being the president of the RICS. I also discuss how you can work out a strategy for property investment by working backwards. Remember if you need help reach out to LionHeart  #ditlos is Andy Dodson! Come and follow the @honestpropertyinvestment Podcast on Instagram

I go through the Pros and Cons of Residential Property Investment v Commercial Property Investment and then this weeks interview is all about Property and building wealth With Kevin Whelan #ditlos is Sara Cameron a Chartered Commercial Property Surveyor for a Local Council  And you can find details about LionHeart HERE https://www.lionheart.org.uk

Part 1 - I talk through why it's important that you have a strategy AND give you some homework! Part 2 - Take a break with LionHeart  Part 3 - #ditlos is Dr Samantha Organ  Part 4 - Planning for retirement through property investment with Felicia Flinders  Come follow me on Instagram @honestpropertyinvestment P.S This episode is for guidance purposes only and does not constitute professional advice!

This is a Jam Packed Show (P.S There is some swearing in here so be warned if you don't like the F-word)! 1. I start off by talking about Mental Health Awareness Week and how perfectionism can ruin property investors 2. Break with LionHeart --> http://lionheart.org.uk/ 3. #ditlos is James Greenway, Director of Estates, Facilities and Business Services at Highways England 4. Finally my good friend Danielle Bell joins me to talk about How to avoid disasters in Commercial Property & Residential Property Investment PLUS the forecast for what to look out for post-pandemic Please come and follow this pod on IG @honestpropertyinvestment

After a few weeks of downtime to recreate the podcast, it’s back AND rebranded. I present to you… Honest Property Investment with Natasha Collins, for investors who aren’t taking shortcuts. (If you’re already subscribed to the NC Podcast, this will automatically update!) So here’s how I’m going to run this, each week I’ll start with a 10 minute catch up on the things I’ve been working on, industry trends I’m seeing and things to watch out for. This season I’ve partnered with LionHeart, who will get the break (I’m one of their mental health ambassadors, I take no £’s for this… just go use them if you need them PLEASE!!). Next up is a new feature, A day in the life of a Surveyor or #DITLOS, where colleagues and friends of mine leave me a voice note explaining who they are and what they do and why it’s so important to the property industry. Buckle up, Pasq a Project Management Surveyor is up first! Finally, you’ll get an interview with an industry expert or advice from yours truly… I listened to what topics you wanted this season so watch this space, I’ve got most of them covered. This week I have to tell you about why it’s so important to start picking up the phone more! Yes we can listen to the naysayers about the market being problematic right now and yes it’s trickier than pre-covid times, but seriously where there is a will there’s a way. I’ll tell you about how I use off the record conversations and why they should be a staple of your communication. It’s a good one!! Last request, go follow @honestpropertyinvestment on IG. That’s the community for this podcast. It’s where you can leave feedback or requests for future topics PLUS ask questions for my mailbag episodes. Woop! I’m so excited about this Natasha P.S If you don’t use IG you can always email natasha@ncrealestate.co.uk with your suggestions!

Sometimes in life you’ve gotta change things up to improve them... Right now I’m focusing on my podcast Simply put, we’re taking a 2 week break to make it better!! That’s why I need your help. I want to know how I can improve it and make it the best Property Investment Podcast. Please could you fill out these QUICK 6 QUESTIONS and let me know what’s working and what’s not! Your feedback means the world, because it’s the way I can improve my content so that you see the biggest success. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being part of my community. Natasha P.S Usual service will resume on the 4th May.

We’re in a market that is climbing steeply with so many market players outbidding one another… as an investor you’re probably thinking ‘how on earth will I ever find something to buy that’s actually affordable and makes business sense?’ Yu huh, I think most investors are there, especially in the residential world. (Side note, if you are now investing in commercial and want to learn about how to attract tenants to your commercial property you are going to want to come to my webinar on 26th April at 18:30pm. To REGISTER CLICK HERE) Which means that we have to mix it up and find different avenues to go down and ways of finding property. We have to have an edge. So today I’ve invited Simon Zutshi onto the podcast to talk about his area of expertise working with motivated sellers and helping them sell their properties… in order to buy it to pop into his portfolio. I ask the tough questions about whether this is ethical and he gives you details of exactly how to add this as part of your strategy. It’s an episode not to be missed! Are you going to be adding this strategy to your daily investment routine? Natasha

I’ve been worried for a long time about the amount of cowboy action I’m seeing on social media when it comes to investor finance. Posts which say something along the lines of ‘Guaranteed 10% returns, we’re looking for investors’ without any disclaimers or even knowing if you’re pitching it to retail, sophisticated or high networth investors… Which could get you in hot water with the FCA, especially if you mess with a retail investors money, never repay them and they get a good solicitor on your case (think bye bye investment career, credibility and status) Running a regulated firm, I know how important it is to do things by the book… but I’m not FCA regulated (We’re RICS regulated) and so I KNEW that I had to find someone to come and train my clients on exactly how to raise finance compliantly. Inside the Members club we’ve been talking about this stuff all month and there’s plenty of trainings and templates on how to raise finance compliantly. However, I wanted to carry this conversation over to the podcast to make sure that there is enough information out there to help everyone get it right! This week, I’ve invited my good friend, FCA regulated and resident coach in the Members Club, Steve Wallis onto the podcast to discuss, what you ACTUALLY need to know about investment finance. How are you going to act when you next go out to raise finance? Natasha

THE MEMBERS CLUB IS OPEN. To join click here: https://ncrealestate.co.uk/membersclub/ Have you heard this too? ‘The move to online retail is damaging the high street’ The stats say it all, in 2020, 16,000 stores were shut across the UK and 183,000 retail jobs were lost. The RICS are forecasting that values for standard retail and shopping centers will drop by 10.9% and 13.11%. There doesn’t seem like there’s much to get excited for in the retail sector right?! Wrong… I strongly believe it’s more of an exciting time then ever. Commercial trends change every 5-10 years. If you don’t keep up as a Landlord and make sure your unit is ‘new trend accommodating’, every time it becomes vacant, you’ll have an obsolete building before you know it. Which is why when you see values falling you know there’s a new trend coming and this time, it’s OMNICHANNEL RETAILING… we have to be providing units that fit this spec. This week on the podcast I delve into what omnichannel retailed is and how you can get involved in this as a Landlord. Does retailing seem more appealing to you? Natasha P.S If you have made it this far down the email, you’ll want to know about a special bonus I’ve nestled into the podcast. Make sure you listen to take advantage of it!

There is so much talk about ‘outsourcing’... Outsource your social media Outsource your property search Outsource your call handling The list goes on and on and on. When I first started out in business I had no idea how to lead and especially no idea how to lead a team. I had no idea how to hire correctly and so I got it wrong and wrong and wrong again. Which meant it took longer to get to anywhere near where I wanted to be. Then when I wanted to hire, I was too snowed under to even consider putting time aside to do it… until Rach stepped in and said ‘Tash let me show you how to do it’. So this week I thought I’d get Rach back onto the podcast to discuss how she helped me hire my team and how you can hire a team too, whether it’s just a couple of hours a week or full time, this podcast will make sure you get the help you need! Which team member are you going to hire next? Natasha P.S You need to come to my webinar on the 29th March @ 6:30pm - How to Supercharge your Portfolio via buying Commercial Property REGISTER HERE 

Property investment decisions. I would like to tell you that they are all made strategically. If you’ve not heard it before, I firmly believe that deciding on what property investment decision to make comes in ‘6 Buckets’: Growth potential - How you’re going to increase the value Demand - Is there appetite for the property and where is the right area Yield - Your net rental income Type - BTL / SA / HMO / Commercial / Mixed Use ect. Characteristics - What do you NEED the property to have Search - Ideas for finding the property - Of course you’re always going to look at this with finance in mind, how much money you want to spend, whether you need a mortgage… But I notice that investors can get all of this right in a property AND still not pull the trigger to go ahead. Why? Because they struggle to know if they are making the RIGHT decision. This week I decided to investigate this further, by bringing back onto the podcast, my Mum. Who notoriously used to get stuck with these types of decisions and has worked hard to get more decisive over the last couple of years. Plus she’s a fountain of knowledge and any chance I have to get motherly wisdom, I’m going to take her up on it! I’m asking you, what’s stopping you from making the RIGHT decision in your property portfolio? Natasha P.S My you need to come to my webinar on the 29th March @ 6:30pm - How to Supercharge your Portfolio via buying Commercial Property REGISTER HERE 

I see it, there seems to be some sort of imaginary competition in the investment world of who can ‘hustle’ hardest. Or who’s 10 X’ing things to make sure they achieve 10 X the success. If you’re a fan of that stuff and it motivates you, please be my guest, continue with it. However, if you’re like me, it completely makes me cringe. I’ve seen first hand how much working myself to the bone is detrimental for my health. Instead I see success as having gaps in my day. Time to go to the doctor if I need help. Time to take the dog for a walk if I need a break. Time to settle into a project. I HATE the thought of falling back into the trap of having to do more to be more successful… when I’m not even sure what success looks like anymore. In todays podcast I talk about this hype over 10 X’ing your goals and your life and instead looking at it a little differently… I also go through my first take ont he budget. Seriously, I recorded myself looking at it for the first time and what my thoughts were! I would like your takes on the budget please. What were your highs and lows? Natasha P.S My you need to come to my webinar on the 29th March @ 6:30pm - How to Supercharge your Portfolio via buying Commercial Property REGISTER HERE 

Optimism is in the air. The world is seeing signs of reopening and everyone is posting to social media about the holidays they dream of booking. I mean, this is of course, subject to BJ’s plans going well… What this also means is that behaviours are changing within the market place, both for commercial and residential. Residential sales are being postponed until there is room to breath. Commercial landlords are now dropping low yielding, expensive portfolios in an effort to raise cash so they can ride the next wave. However, the economy is still in the doldrums. Businesses still have 4 months of lock down provisions to contend with and the furlough scheme and other various grants aren’t going to hold the damage back much longer. Job cuts and businesses folding are the inevitable. So how do we deal with that? In todays podcast I’m going to go through it and what you can do to make sure you’re also looking after yourself! Think payment plan, payment plan, payment plan, empathy, compassion... Natasha P.S Looking forward to the budget tomorrow? P.P.S The March webinar is live on the 29th March at 6:30pm. We are doing an introduction to Commercial property. To register CLICK HERE

I assume seeing as you are reading my emails you’re a property investor. Yes, OK, next question… do you have a Business Plan? Ooh harder question to answer right.... Do you know exactly what you need to do month on moneth to hit your goals? Do you know what property you need to buy next? Do you know how much money you’ll have in your bank on a monthly basis? When you should find investors? When you can repay your investors? If you’ve answered no to ANY of the above questions then you need to listen to todays podcast. In 18 minutes and 43 seconds I walk you through how to build a Property Investment Business Plan. ...One that will give you a step by step guide of how to get from where you are right now to your goals. … One that your lenders will thank you for. … One that will stop you from getting shiny object syndrome as you see a new strategy and bounce to there (which will not get you anywhere) Now for the NEXT ANNOUNCEMENT I’ve decided to open the doors to the Members Club again. Why now I hear you ask?! Firstly because I need you to put together your property investment Business Plan so that you know what property to buy next AND most importantly when you need to find investors and how much money you need to raise. Secondly because March is Investor Finance Compliance month in the Members Club. We have an FCA regulated member of our team who will be going through all things investor finance compliance so that you can always raise money when you need to. The only way you can come to these sessions is through being in the Members Club. And as a BONUS so that you can see what it’s all about I’m offering a 7 day free Trial if you sign up before 7pm tonight The Members’ Club is a perfect fit for you if you’ve been thinking about diversifying into mixed use and commercial property investment and want to use more innovative ways to expand your property portfolio without necessarily buying more and more properties. Here are a couple of bonus features you might not be aware of, that we now offer. We can list your commercial space on the open market and have access to 1000’s of lease and sale comps- think best deal analysis ever. As a firm of surveyors we can also advise whether a deal is right or wrong for you. If you’ve been on the fence previously, now is the time to join. We’re stepping things up and you need to come along before doors close again! CLICK HERE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE 7 DAY FREE TRIAL NOW!

I’m going to be honest and say, when I first started out as a property manager I had no idea what I was doing. When I first set up my business, I had no idea what I was doing. Every morning I’d get up, put 101 things on my to do list. Try complete them all and be everywhere and then end the day at midnight successfully having ticked off about a quarter of what I needed to do. Sound familiar? The only way I have been able to grow, and grow quickly over the last 12 months, is by systemising my business. I now have a team of 7 people who work at NC Real Estate. Team doesn’t happen if no one knows what they are doing. I’ve had to step into a leadership role in a big way and make sure I slap my own wrist when I try to do the small stuff instead of look at the big picture. Everyday my business is a work in progress. I’m now OK with that. However, if I hadn’t taken bold steps to outsource and hire, I just couldn’t keep up at the pace I was going and the way I wanted to grow. In this weeks podcast I go through the 10 steps to systeming your business. Some of which might sound familiar, because its the same system I use to build property portfolios. Over to you, time to build a scalable busines!! P.S Remember to register for Mondays Webinar, build a property investment business plan in 60 minutes a day. HINT: This forms part of my systemising business strategy so I’ll actually teach you how to do it in the webinar.

Come to my webinar on how to create a Property Investment Business plan on the 22nd February @ 6:30pm by REGISTERING HERE If I could put anything in Room 101 this week, it would be Property Managers who aren’t transparent. Honesty and clarity are values which make my world go round. Who’s got time for game playing… or for people who pretend they know something but actually don’t?! (I see this far too much in the property industry) This week, I’m high fiving myself 🙌 because I successfully got £14,855.60 refunded back into my buildings service charge account. Caveat… this didn’t happen overnight. Oh no, it first started on the 6th October 2020 when we got served our end of year service charge accounts, which demanded that everyone pay an extra £1,499 for the year. My initial reaction ‘Why?’ Then after an investigation it changed to ‘Hell👏effing👏no, not on my watch!’ The property managers had: Duplicated invoices Demanded for works that had been carried out more than 18 months ago that they definitely hadn’t told us about Made mistakes and tried to charge us for it Oh… and we’d just been through 12 months of leasehold tribunal and so I was in no mood to roll over and leave this be, because: I hate my time being wasted I was fed up of them thinking I was stupid enough not to investigate. I do like a good service charge investigation 🧐 especially because I do have the memory of an elephant for these types of things Want to hear how to resolve this if this happens to you? Go listen to the podcast.

Leasehold Tribunal puts the fear of god in a lot of leaseholders… and then if it gets referred up a level to Lands Tribunal it seems scarier, especially because you end up in the Royal Courts of Justice trying to settle a dispute that can be really heated. If you’ve been a with me a while, you’ll know in 2020 I ended up in Leasehold Tribunal myself. It was a pain more than anything. I got a lot of people reaching out to me to tell me how scary they thought it all sounded. So I thought I’d get to the bottom of what the Leasehold Tribunal and then the Lands Chamber actually does, the process and why it’s vital we understand it AND alternative dispute resolution. Today I’ve invited Peter McCrea onto the podcast. Peter is a Chartered Surveyor, Arbitrator, former chair of the Conduct and Appeals Committee for the RICS and was appointed the youngest ever member of the "Lands Tribunal" at the age of 44. The Tribunal has equivalent status to the High Court in England and Wales. Peter is also Chair of the Board for LionHeart. We go through, litigation, ADR and the best way of resolving a dispute and why the Lands Chamber and Leasehold Tribunal isn’t as scary as everyone makes out! https://twitter.com/mccrea_frics https://surveyorhood.com/peter-mccrea/ Lionheart --> https://www.lionheart.org.uk/

I’m excited, this week the Members Club is open!! Woohoo… only until Midnight on Thursday 28th January. This year the Members Club has stepped up. You not only have access to masterclasses in a quick easy sequence that will build out a strategy and then make sure you purchase the perfect property in the right location. But you have access to a wealth of industry databases that surveying firms have access to, for both residential and commercial properties. Each week you will be invited to come to a commercial Q&A and residential Q&A as well as a Masterclass with either me or our resident coaches where we cover industry updates and asset management strategies. There are also co-working sessions if you want time to focus on property investment and my team and I are always at the end of an email or in our community to answer any of your questions. You’re invited to as many sessions as you want to attend, we recommend taking time to come to at least one session a month (if we don’t hear from you we will be checking in as accountability is our thing). It’s £97/month and you can stay for as long or as little as you want. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OK right, let’s get into this week’s podcast! I’m sure you’ve heard about the Governments consultation to grant PDR (permitted development rights) from E class to C3 as of August 2021. In practice seems phenomenal. Woohoo lets build resi because it’s in demand, but in reality I can see it ending up in an unregulated mess and investors loosing money, here’s why: Poses risks with messing up town centers and high streets Causing poor tenant mix Investors think this is an easy strategy without providing good quality accommodation Lack of commercial will push rents up for commercial units elsewhere More residential will bring residential prices down Commercial tenants and residential tenants are picky about where they are located Potential for loosing amenities needed by tenants - such as loading for commercial or parking or gardens So I propose a solution to this and how you can still make good money, want the answer? Listen to this weeks podcast!

Back on the 7th January the Ministry for Housing announced their radical leasehold reform proposals. Serious focus on Commonhold and the set up of the Commonhold Council Leases could be extended by 990 years rather than 90 and ground rent go to £0 An online calculator which will tell you what the cost of a lease extension will be This is on top of their current proposals for £0 ground rents on Help to Buy and Retirement Housing. Sounds great, right? Well, there’s always got to be a catch, which is why I invited Katie Kendrick from the National Leasehold Campaign to discuss what this announcement actually means. You can find Katie on Twitter @NLC_2019 / https://nationalleaseholdcampaign.org/  Also remember, my webinar on Monday 25th January @ 6:30pm, the Traps you MUST avoid in property investment in 2021. CLICK HERE to register.