Do Free Property Courses Offer Something For Nothing?

Buy to let meets are an ideal forum for expats and foreign investors to find out more about property investment in the UK – but are they worth the money?

Property training courses can cost more than £30,000 a pop, which is a significant slice of the price of a rental home in some parts of the country.

Many property investment gurus offer ‘free’ introductions to buy to let, but there is no such thing as a free lunch.

These events for prospective landlords are often honey pots dressed as meet and greets to mask the true intention of selling more expensive courses or ‘below market value deals’.

The question that anyone contemplating one of these courses should ask is why is someone who purportedly knows how to make so much money from property wants to tell others rather than do the deals themselves?

Not so secret strategies

The reality is many of these courses are sales driven and the so-called property secrets pedalled behind closed doors are freely available at other landlord shows up and down the country.

The veil of secrecy is just a ploy to make the information on offer seem more valuable than it really is.

Expats are a target for some of these firms with courses available in more than 100 countries.

According to media reports in South Africa, one property course suggests buying a home to let with a credit card and then remortgaging to a buy to let mortgage.

The other key factor for potential buy to let investors to consider is the uncertainty stalking the UK property market.

Uncertain property market

Many industry experts are predicting a post-Brexit drop in prices and a tougher tax regime that will siphon off rental profits is on the way from next April.

The worst case scenario is home values could drop by up to 18%, according to former Chancellor George Osborne.

The government is also restricting tax relief on mortgage interest for higher rate taxpayers and has scrapped the 10% wear and tear allowance previously offered on furnished buy to lets.

An economist sitting on the Bank of England’s financial policy committee has also warned that buy to let mortgage availability will ‘cool’ later this year.