Singing Pig

I recently attended Glen Armstrongs property course.  It was a one day affair held in Milton Keynes.  I heard about the course at the property networking Club.  One of the mentees pointed him out as a serious guy who had built an empire.

I researched his course on the net and found out that it was £500.  I decided that property was an expensive business to be in so I had better do as much research as I could before launching.

I was a little concerned about how much information could be passed on in a single day, especially as it was a late start.

Well the course turned out to be dynamite.  Glen packed in so much information into that single day that I was overwhelmed.  Amongst other things we discussed business set up, buying property below market value, sourcing property BMV, leafleting, websites, newspaper advertising, estate agents, deal stacking, taking the telephone call, negotiating with the vendor, paying off the vendors debt, adding value to property, and HMO’s,.

We also had presentations from one of Glens’ mentees who was now doing very well, someone from repossession Angels, his mortgage broker, and his website designer.  Glen also gave us contact details of his solicitors, accountants, and mortgage brokers.

This course gave an in depth overview of the property business.  It was delivered in a down to earth and practical manner by a man who was doing everything he was teaching.  When pressed for more information Glen launched into areas of property that many would stumble to teach on.

This is a very generous guy who I for one want in my power team.

For those who want to investigate further go to www.thepropertycourse.co.uk .  Dont let the website fool you, there's a powerhouse waiting behind it.

I'd like to thank Glenn too, and totally recommend his course and mentoring. 

Last year I was a newbie looking around to invest when I came across G&A property's stand at Septembers property investor show in london.

Some people seem to know instinctively what to do and how to do it, the rest of us have to be taught! I was one that needed teaching!

Glenn certainly seemed to be walking the walk with close on a hundred deals under his belt in a couple of years, and I thought he'd be an excellent person to learn from. 

I was right!

When i went on his course i already had a lot of the information needed thanks to a couple of weeks of solid reading after Glenn's suggestion to read as much as possible of singing pig (BMV section in particular)

But it was going on the course that put all the information in the correct place so I could go out and act on it. I already had the info in my head, but once I'd been on the course it all made sense & I was ready to go at it! To me it was £500-00 particularly well spent!!!

My 1st leaflet drop resulted in my 1st (and only completed deal to date), a rent back, but thanks to Glenn showing me how to stack deals from the bottom up I was able to purchase at 47% BMV, got a healthy amount of cash back, a years rent in advance and big smiles on both mine and the vendors faces!

I was so taken by Glenn and the people around him, like Nick, Barry and Darren and the proven methods they all use that I attended the right events & now work in his office half the time as his events coordinator - learning a HOOGE amount every day I'm there

Although I havn't personally been on the mentorship day, being in the office I've been around plenty of people that have and I can confirm that that is also a huge benefit to the people that come on it. With one lady currently locked in a challenge with Glenn to get her a million pounds worth of equity in a year. She started in Jan '07 & is currently on target! go on Ms C!

The one day course concentrates on how to get the deals, and what to do with them once they arrive and the mentoring takes it a stage further by showing you how to do a cost effective leafletting campaign and how to stack an area up (that in itself is invaluable!). Glenn also prepares your own personal plan to freedom (of the financial kind!), as well as taking you around his properties showing you how he did the deals and what he does to maximise income from them

If you are serious about learning how to buy property Below Market Value then you simply have to get involved with these guys, because once they've taught you how to get the deals, Glenn's team of solicitors, mortgage broker, bridging finance and accountant are all there for us to use to complete the deals over and over. Anyone who's had a deal go pear shaped because of their legal team not performing will know how invaluable this to be.

Jason

Hi People,

Just to say, I am going on Glenn Armstrongs course in April.

I have probably read every thread available about his course and made the decision to attend with a close friend of mine who already owns 14 properties and I have 3 and have done 2 refurbs before and own a lettings agency managing over 80 properties.

So you could say we are already doing ok, but that does not stop us from trying to gain more knowledge, knowledge is power they say.

Wish us luck

Nimala

The self congratulatory way in which you property course attendees carry on makes me sick!

Lets look at your first success

You have bought a property at 47% below market value from a vendor who must have been really desperate to sell

That vendor has had to take a drop of almost half the value of his property and pay a years rent in advance to carry on living there!!!

It is unbelievably insensitive to make the comment that the vendor was "smiling" at a deal like that and can only suggest that the poor victim was either at his wits end or mentally challenged and I feel totally sorry for them.

To suggest that you are doing some kind of service to help people in financial difficulty by giving them only half the value of their main asset AND releiving them of a years rent is morally wrong

You don't know all of the details to be able to make a sweeping comment like that though?

I can see where you are coming from on the face of things...but, for all we know, it may have had to be stacked like that to make it work? As I say you dont know enough.

An example of possible circumstances. I did a rentback deal 2 years ago where I bought the house at 50% bmv! I actually opened with an offer of 25% bmv.

So, youre probably asking....why did they sell to you at 50%bmv?

Because they were insistant on paying me a ridiculously low rent. they wanted the security of a very very low rent. I explained that the much lower than normal rent would mean that I had to make a much lower than normal offer - in line with this. Hence them forcing me to offer what I did.

I thought they were crazy - even pointed out to them the possibility of taking the higher offer/rent and suplementing the rent witht he extra monies theyd get..but no...didnt want that! So we did the deal. The vendors were late 50s..their 2 sons were present when we agreed all...everyone was happy..and still are to this day. the vendors had 5k mortgage ands simply wanted to use the profits to travel the world. The sons were self sufficient themselves (even asked one why he didnt want to buy the house..said he couldnt be bothered!)

I immediately fiixed the mortgage and i subsidise this property by £125 per month......but got 60k instant equity (30k more than I would have got with my original offer - but much much higher rent admittedly) ..and is now worth 75k more than I paid...so its worth it for a £1500 per year subsidy from me.

The point of this tale? to explain that all may not always be as it seems. The vendor in Jasons example may well have been smiling...because they got exactly what they wanted! Hard to believe maybe...but this business throws up many situations like this.

Dont make too many assumptions in this crazy business!

However, I personally think it is wrong to make obscene amounts of profit if someone had the opportunity to abuse a situation, for example and elderly person or someone who did not have all their faculties about them. I know of some though who would just take advantage of the situation and make, what I and many others, would consider unreasonable and perhaps obscene.

Therefore I think it unfair to lambast jason without maybe asking him to give some broad details of this deal

Thanks for that Rialto

Obviously you are an honest type that pointed out your vendors were totally mad to accept only half the house,s value in exchange for a paltry rent!!

I believe there are many, like you say,who are totally without shame and perhaps catch an elderly couple under threat of repossession and offer sums way under what their property is worth which are accepted due to stress!

These people advertise themselves as "angels" who are offering "light at the end of the tunnel"  as if they are some kind of charity there to save the owner victim. They are there purely to catch the owner of the property at a difficult time and stitch them up for as much profit as they can make out of them. Its a dirty business most of the time requiring no feelings or emotion for the unfortunate victim at all.There seem to be loads of websites offering this kind of salvation to these desperate people and it seems totally unethical to me.

I would personally discuss the problems fully with all my family as well as the existing lender BEFORE i went near a loan shark because really thats what some BMV people are although I wouldnt put you in that category as you were honest with your customers.If they were even then happy to lose a fortune ,thats their problem. As for the son who "couldnt be bothered" to obtain a cheap investment and help his parents to both their advantages, I am speechless !!

I should indeed have asked Jason for more info before letting off steam but when you see a firm calling itself "Repossession ANGELS" as if they offer salvation for the unfortunate home owner by divine intervention, rather than a calculated way to make as much profit out of them as possible, it makes me very angry!!

Thanks for your reply Rialto explaining your ethics which are commendable but the fact remains that the vendor would still have lost a quarter of his lifes investment which seems mad to me because they wanted to "travel around the world"

"A fool and his money are soon parted" springs to mind!!

Thanks for your post

hi all

interesting posts specs, sometimes it certainly does pay to take the time to find out the full story before ranting, especially if you don't know the person involved.

"The self congratulatory way in which you property course attendees carry on makes me sick!"

if thats how it came across i apologise as i was more trying to put across how impressed i was with glenn's techniques rather than be self congratulatory about myself

That vendor has had to take a drop of almost half the value of his property and pay a years rent in advance to carry on living there!!!

She didn't "have" to do anything. She made the voluntary decision to both sell the property AND pay a years rent in advance. The reason she accepted almost half the market value was as Greg said, so she could keep her rent low (can i suggest you go on Glenn's course to find out how that works?) She was fully aware of how much i was buying the property for AND how much it was worth after purchasing it herself 5months previously. The money factor was secondary for her after peace of mind.

"It is unbelievably insensitive to make the comment that the vendor was "smiling" at a deal like that and can only suggest that the poor victim was either at his wits end or mentally challenged and I feel totally sorry for them."

i can confirm that the vendor was not only smiling, but thinks i'm the best thing since sliced bread! the vendor certainly was at her wits end. When she contacted me it was for the following reasons:-

• she had divorced from her husband and with her divorce settlement had purchased the flat with a large deposit in jun 06. however, she got paid weekly and in the course of a few short months had got herself in all sorts of a mess due to not being able to manage her accounts. When i visited, her table was a mess of demand letters and she was constantly being hassled on the phone from creditors. Having a monthly mortgage payment and a quarterly ground rent/service charge bill when she was paid weekly just wasn't working for her and was driving her to despair. It was the first time she'd had to look after herself since before she was married over 18yrs ago. Her husband had been the one to take care of all property matters.
• Thats where I came in - she simply wanted someone to be her surrogate husband, someone to sort out the broken window or leaking tap. Someone to also take control of bills she hadn't had to worry about before. Stuff she hated, I love!
• I paid off her mortgage, I cleared all her debts and now people will call me if anything needs doing - leaving her to live in peace - and for the next year rent free

To suggest that you are doing some kind of service to help people in financial difficulty by giving them only half the value of their main asset AND releiving them of a years rent is morally wrong

If you don't believe we offer a service then maybe you should do what I did and read the whole of the BMV section of singing pig before passing comment as it comes across as a rather throwaway remark - quite simply, in the case above, she would of lost her flat eventually and ended up....  I enabled her to not only stay in the property but also made it more affordable for her at the same time

thanks for the vote of confidence Greg

I should indeed have asked Jason for more info before letting off steam but when you see a firm calling itself "Repossession ANGELS" as if they offer salvation for the unfortunate home owner by divine intervention, rather than a calculated way to make as much profit out of them as possible, it makes me very angry!!

you really should take a step back here specs and think about what you say

Repossession Angels are indeed angels to their clients

If you are about to go to court, to have your home taken off you because of whatever situation, leaving you homeless, if someone can stop that happening, if someone can help you stay in your home, then these guys would be angels to you

Don't also forget the effect a repossession, if it went ahead, would have on your credit file, and how it would affect future credit applications

Of course we're (i'm not an angel) in it to make a buck, i for one need to live, but you can do that ethically, honorably AND with integrity

I know, because I meet these investors all the time. Sure there are sharks out there, but so there are in every business, not just this one.