How To Get into Property Development

A property developer makes money by improving a property to enhance its value. He can work in many different sectors, like building new homes, converting a property from one type to another, renovating old homes, and selling them at higher prices. Property developers can build residential homes or invest in storage, warehouse, or commercial properties like shops, hotels, and care homes.

Strong buyer demand due to lack of needed supplies, inflation hitting construction cost, the growth of equity-rich buyers, growing demand from overseas buyers seeking secure options, political instability in the other parts of the continent, and speculation on the economic factors continue to drive the UK property market. 

Though the cost of living continues to grow in urban and rural areas as the interest rates are increasing, people are investing in the property sector to gain reliable returns in the future.

In addition, there are many other benefits of investing in properties, like the value of property holding increases over time, so you can realize a substantial gain when you sell the property. Further, you get a steady rental income if you decide to hold onto and rent it out. 

To become a successful property developer, you can start with residential properties. The requirement for residential properties will continue to grow as government plans to build 300,000 new homes each year, and in 2020-2021, it was found that only 216,000 new homes were supplied.

However, since many complex work and financial transactions are involved in such a business, your money may be at risk, while there are plenty of ways to control factors affecting your projects. 

To know how to get into the property development sector, first, let us try to find out what getting into property development is all about. 

What Is Property Development?

Property development is about building flats, apartments, or land to raise the value. The residential units with shops in the same buildings or the community areas, the mixed-use properties, the office cum home apartments, the joint ventures with the builders, and property development finance are part of the same business.

You earn through rent and property appraisal, but there are potential obstacles that you need to be aware of, like an unpredictable house price crash, an increase in rates and delays in the completion of construction projects, or budgeting issues. In addition, many property developers who refurbish old properties face legal issues due to disputes in land ownership or delays in getting planning permission approvals.

There can be other issues like changes in regulations related to property buying or renting that affect the project costs, weather conditions may halt work for prolonged periods, and disputes may lead to management issues.

In addition, a property is not risk-free; even the simplest works may take longer than expected. As a result, the cost may increase, but the rewards can be great when you plan for all the risks beforehand and execute the strategies efficiently.

How To Get Into Property Development With No Money?

To know how to get into property development with no money, let us first try to find out about the various financing options. 

• Most property development projects borrow money from specialized lenders. A lender may only put money into your project if you have some money, like you may get 100% of the construction cost if you own the land. The lenders determine the loan to-value needed for each project to determine the loan amount. 

• Before the economic crisis, the lenders granted up to 100 percent to the developers, but in the new economic condition, you may not get 100 percent approval. A first-time developer may get 65 percent LTV depending on various factors. Lenders are often cautious with people who do not have a proven success record; hence you may have to pay more for financing than those with experience. 

• If you have money tied to the home, you can apply for a secured loan or remortgage to release equity. 

• The property 100% funded by debt puts you in a vulnerable position, but you can use this option if you do not have any money to spend.

• Some lenders may provide 100% if you have additional security, which is often a property the lender takes possession of in case of a failure to repay. 

• If you are applying without planning permission, it can be a considerable risk. No matter how much you research, the lender will keep you waiting unless the approval of the planning application is accomplished. 

• Also, the build time significantly impacts the cost of finance even after getting approval for the design and planning. 

Tips To Get Into Property Development With No Money

1. To start a new property development project, consider a specific company structure if you are worried about financial factors. For example, you can start a property development business as a limited company with a structured type of company that involves a group of shareholders and a legal structure that ensures the liability of the stakeholder is limited. 

2. You can join joint ventures where you get partners who can provide a security deposit for the mortgage for property-related opportunities. The purpose of such an arrangement is that one of the partners manages the project, and another provides the resources. 

3. Property developers often sell properties on a lease when they cannot afford to extend the lease, and such properties are sold at a discounted price compared to the true market value on a short lease. However, if you can extend the lease, the property rate will increase when the purchase completes, even when you fund the purchase and lease extension through debts. Again, you can contact legal experts to learn more about such partnerships in the market. 

4. To lower costs, you can start by investing in renovating or converting office space into residential, saving money on purchasing the land and avoiding the cost of connecting services.  

How To Start In Property Development?

The demand for properties continues to increase as the population grows, and the government must find ways to increase the supply of homes. 

• For a newbie who wants to know how to start developing property, the option of buying out-of-date or run-down apartments or houses that could be swiftly fixed and given a makeover is the best where you do not need expert knowledge of the property sectors, including many regions and sectors like student homes or office or storage units.

• You can start by having a fix and flip margin, and you need to negotiate the price you pay, and the market determines the sale price of a renovated property. 

• Each property has a ceiling value, the maximum the property will sell for. No matter how high-end you go, you can only push the price below the ceiling with refurbishment. Instead, you can create open-plan space to add value to the home or seek expert guidance to reduce the cost of refurbishments.

• If you want to invest in a BTL, you must determine the mortgage amount to purchase depending on the locality and rental income the house will generate. Monthly rental income may cover the costs for the BTL mortgage installments and the additional management or maintenance cost, while the remaining may be your monthly profits.

• Therefore, you must search for a property in areas with a low risk of void periods and plan and evaluate the annual profitability considering the related risk factors or costs like relationships with the tenant, management cost, and void periods.  

• You can join the arrangement of a house of multiple occupancies (HMO) where you let out individual rooms in the house to the occupants who share your bathrooms, living room, or kitchen. 

• Multiple individual tenancy agreements can generate higher monthly rental income in such cases. But in the case of multiple tenants, the management responsibilities and costs can increase. 

How To Become A Property Developer?

To become a property developer, before starting your work, you must write a plan where you identify the competitors and determine your strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the plan must mention whether you will construct properties from scratch or refurbish existing ones. 

• You must sort out the finances by getting mortgages, angel investors, crowdfunding, or secured or unsecured loans. 

• Research to find out the best areas for investment if you want to buy or let in the properties. If you want to renovate or construct, list the contractors and people who will provide materials for your building projects. 

• You must build relationships with stakeholders, planning consultants, architects, quantity surveyors, accountants, solicitors, interior designers, estate agents, tradespeople, etc. 

• You must have an exit plan for timely exit to enhance your prospects to gain profits when you sell, let or hold over a period.

How Do You Get Into Property Development UK?

To start a property development project, you need to plan the projects from the start, where you do a SWOT analysis to identify the weaknesses, opportunities, strengths, and threats, conduct market research, identify how to fund the venture, get a projected return, know who will be involved in the project, how you will acquire the property or the land, what developmental strategies you will integrate into your plan, how to find contractors, plan the administrative aspects, sales and marketing and an exit strategy. 

If you want to buy a plot of land to build a project, your lender may finance 50 to 60 percent of the plot purchase and 70% of the build, depending on the scope of growth, location, and other aspects. Developers require money for unexpected expenses, and most experienced developers use their existing property to secure lending. 

Many property developers have a full-time job when they start, and then they determine if they will spend on commercial, residential, ground, or light refurbishments. But, first, they need to explore opportunities and exit strategies, and if the strategies look promising, the lender deems them eligible, and you can get a loan for your project. 

The property development business is liable to income tax and national insurance on trading profits after deducting all expenses with certain exceptions. However, any losses can be relieved against other income, and if the property development continues for over a year, the income is spread across those years. 

Starting a business can be exciting, but you must always remember the location and timing of buying properties as socio-economic-political and geographical factors severely influence the prices. You must know the trends to make the best decision. Zoning and title deeds provide information to determine whether the conditions fit your plans. 

How To Get Into Property Development At A Young Age?

Though becoming a successful property developer requires much work, you can get financially and professionally rewarding job experience with a proper plan. Before starting as a real estate developer, you must search for projects to renovate existing buildings, manage construction projects, negotiate deals, fund projects, get permits, attend public hearings to get public approval, oversee projects from the start, and execute real estate projects. 

Law, finance, architecture, construction, urban planning, and asset management professionals are part of the real estate business. You can join as an executive or a broker, a project manager, an analyst, or a consultant in the middle tier at a young age. Then after a few years of work experience, you can become a principal product manager, chief risk officer, director, or senior investment analyst.

Property developers face the highest risk in any project but gain the most after successfully implementing it. Without much experience, one can start working on residential projects or property refurbishments or invest in the land market. 

If you invest in property development, you can join troubleshooting, visit land plots and properties, meet workers, contractors, and investors, and balance the books or research for new projects. Initially, you may have to fund a new residential housing project or participate in a regenerative initiative.    

Is Property Development Worth It?

Property development requires a lot of investment, and you must consider multiple factors to determine the profits. A property investor must pay CGT on the difference between the original cost, enhancement cost, and disposal proceeds. 

Other costs are associated with the acquisition and sale, but mortgage interest, maintenance, and running cost cannot be deducted from profits. Also, when you create a limited company structure and if you are a director in such a company, you cannot claim child tax credits and other benefits like a salaried employee. 

Hence, it would help if you planned the short-term and long-term goals, the costs, the predictions of gains, and other factors. Once you know the risk and challenges, you can earn a lot by planning strategies to increase ROI. For residential development, you must pay tax RDPT 4% and the corporate tax of up to 29% (April 2023).

How Much Do Property Developers Make In The UK?

Research claims the operating margin targets for property developers for an economic cycle can be 15 to 20 % on GDV. However, the overheads vary from 5 to 12% depending on the type of work and sector. An entry-level developer can earn over £40K a year, and those with experience of more than eight years can earn over £70K a year in the UK.

How To Become A Property Developer With No Money UK?

How to start developing property? To start without money, you must research to ensure the local market conditions and then apply for different financing options. You can use private property finance if you need immediate funds to invest.

You can apply as a private individual or property developer, and the eligibility depends on various factors like the business plan and credit score. A proper investment strategy can help you get a better rate. 

If you want to borrow-to-rent, you will require a BTL mortgage, and a bridging loan can be taken if you want to get a new home, even in the case when you have not sold the preexisting or if you want to buy a home and renovate by paying a full loan amount and interest on the subsequent sale. You can get large renovation funded using long-term bridging finance or commercial mortgage. 

How To Get Funding For Property Development?

Depending on the type of project, you can choose the finance options like a 3 -24 months refurbishment bridge, or you can opt to cover the light and heavy refurbs. 

There can be extensive projects and ground-up developments where you can use development finance to cover the land purchase and building costs.