Property investment guides for cash buyers
Buying with cash changes the whole calculation. There is no lender to satisfy, no mortgage valuation to argue with and no chain behind you — which means the discount is yours to negotiate, and the discipline has to come from you instead.
Who this is for
Investors buying at auction or privately for cash, and landlords building a portfolio without leverage.
What this library covers
- How to find stock that is genuinely below market value, rather than merely advertised that way
- The numbers to run before you commit — yield, refurbishment, exit and the costs people forget
- How to use cash as leverage in a negotiation, and when speed is worth more than a discount
- The structural risks: tenure, flood, subsidence, restrictive covenants and problem tenants
- Portfolio mechanics — refinancing, tax structure and when to sell
All 33 guides
All librariesHow to find property below market value without being sold a story
Discounted property exists for a reason. Find the reason before you find the discount, because the reason is usually what you are actually buying.
Read the guide →The cash buyer advantage, and how to spend it properly
Being a cash buyer is worth money. Most cash buyers give that money away by never mentioning it until the agent asks.
Read the guide →Gross yield is a marketing number. Net yield is the one that pays you
The yield on a listing is almost always gross, which means it ignores every cost that will actually come out of your pocket.
Read the guide →Buying at auction as an investor: the legal pack is the whole deal
At auction you buy the property you did not read about, at a price you cannot renegotiate, on terms you cannot change.
Read the guide →Section 24: why mortgage interest stopped being a deductible cost
Section 24 did not remove the cost. It removed the ability to deduct it, which is a different and more expensive thing.
Read the guide →Limited company or personal name: choosing where your property sits
The question is not which structure pays less tax. It is which structure pays less tax after the cost of getting there.
Read the guide →Why refurbishment budgets always overrun, and how to stop yours
Every refurbishment costs more than the estimate. The only variable is whether you planned for that.
Read the guide →HMO licensing and Article 4: the rules that decide if the numbers work
An HMO can be the highest-yielding use of a property and the fastest way to lose money, and the difference is usually a licence you did not check for.
Read the guide →EPC rules for landlords: the standard that decides what you can let
An EPC rating is no longer a certificate in a drawer. It is a gate on whether a property can be let at all.
Read the guide →The due diligence checklist a cash buyer must not skip
When you buy with cash, nobody checks anything on your behalf. The lender's checklist was doing more work for you than you probably realised.
Read the guide →How to value a rental property: the three numbers that decide it
A rental property has two values at once — what it will let for and what it will sell for — and the gap between them is the whole investment case.
Read the guide →Dealing with problem tenants without losing months of rent
Almost every expensive tenancy problem started as a cheap one that was left alone in the hope it would resolve itself.
Read the guide →Refinancing a portfolio: when to pull equity out and when not to
Pulling equity out of one property to buy another is the standard growth mechanism. It is also the point at which many portfolios become fragile.
Read the guide →Bridging finance for auction purchases: costs and risks
Bridging finance is the tool that lets you buy at auction without cash. It is also the most expensive money most investors will ever borrow.
Read the guide →Holiday lets: the tax regime and why the rules keep changing
Furnished holiday lettings have had a more favourable tax regime than ordinary rentals for years. That advantage is being withdrawn, and the timing matters.
Read the guide →Buying property through a SIPP or SSAS: what is allowed
A pension can buy commercial property and borrow against it. It cannot buy your house, and it cannot do you any favours.
Read the guide →The leasehold risks that turn a good yield into a bad one
A leasehold flat is a share in a building you do not control. The costs of that building arrive whether you can afford them or not.
Read the guide →Planning your exit before you buy
An investment is only as good as the way out of it, and the way out is decided at the beginning.
Read the guide →Running the numbers on a deal: the spreadsheet most investors get wrong
Most deal appraisals are wrong in the same direction: they understate the costs and overstate the return.
Read the guide →Tenant screening that actually reduces risk
Referencing is not about finding the perfect tenant. It is about establishing whether the one in front of you will pay the rent.
Read the guide →How buy-to-let lenders assess affordability
Buy-to-let lending is assessed on the property's rent, not your salary. That is why a well-paid borrower can be refused on a property that looks affordable.
Read the guide →Void periods: what causes them and how to shorten them
A void costs more than the rent. It costs the rent, the council tax, the utilities, and the confidence of the lender assessing the property.
Read the guide →Commercial property investment: how it differs from residential
Commercial property is a different asset class with a different risk profile. The yield is higher because the risks are larger.
Read the guide →Tax on a property portfolio: the charges that arrive on sale
The tax on a portfolio is not only the tax on the rent. The largest bill usually arrives when you sell.
Read the guide →Cash flow or capital growth: choosing what you are actually buying
Property pays you twice — monthly and eventually. Most investment mistakes come from expecting one and buying the other.
Read the guide →How much leverage is too much on a property portfolio
Leverage magnifies returns and losses equally. The question is what happens when both move at once.
Read the guide →Student lets and multi-let investment: the real returns
Student lets show the highest gross yields in the market and some of the lowest net ones, because the costs arrive in a different place.
Read the guide →Buying property abroad: the risks UK investors underestimate
An overseas property is a property in a legal and tax system you do not know, bought in a currency you do not earn in.
Read the guide →Property investment schemes to avoid
If a property investment is described primarily by its return rather than by the asset, the return is the product and the asset is the excuse.
Read the guide →Planning maintenance across a rental portfolio
Maintenance is not unpredictable. It is irregular, which is different, and irregular is manageable with a plan.
Read the guide →Choosing a letting agent: what to check and what to pay for
A letting agent's value is in what they do when something goes wrong, which is not visible when you choose them.
Read the guide →How property investments behave in a downturn
A downturn is not uniformly bad for property investors. It depends entirely on whether you are buying, holding or selling.
Read the guide →How property income is taxed, and what changes the bill
Rental profit is taxed as income, and the tax is calculated on a figure that is not the same as the cash in your hand.
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