Pennies To Pounds Podcast

100. Right To Buy Scheme & Buying Your Next Home ft Topsy Taiwo

• Pennies To Pounds

Share episode

Send us a text

This episode is filled with insights from Topsy Taiwo, the property guru behind Property Purchaser, guiding us through the Right to Buy scheme. We also explore the process of going from buying your first home to your next home - schemes available, the process, and how to find a good estate agent.

Support the show

FOLLOW PENNIES TO POUNDS 💸
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/penniestopoundspod/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/penniestopound
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@penniestopounds?_t=8ZGvHcCqLIs&_r=1
LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/company/pennies-to-pounds
Website - www.penniestopounds.co.uk

Contact - info@penniestopounds.co.uk

Speaker 1:

Hey guys and welcome back to the Penny Spouse podcast with your host, keir, and this is the podcast we aim to dispel your myths, some quite difficult financial jargon, and rectify your own personal problems.

Speaker 2:

Happy New Year.

Speaker 1:

I know I said it last week, but happy New Year. It feels good to be back in the studio. It's actually been six months since I was last in the studio recording oh my gosh. But we are back again with another amazing episode to get you ready for 2024. And this episode is all about property. Now, we cover property quite a bit on the podcast in different ways. So first-time buyers, renting versus buying. However, today we're covering a topic that we haven't really touched on much, and that is the right to buy scheme. So some of you may know of it already, you may have even gone through it or you may be talking to your parents about what that means. We're also gonna be talking about second-time buyers. It's always about first-time buyers getting a ladder. But once you've done it and you wanna move on, what does that process look like for you? Is it the same thing? Do things change? To answer those questions, I have got a superb guest who is a wealth of knowledge in this field. Guests who are you?

Speaker 2:

Thank you very much for the introduction. Good to see you again, by the way, you too. My name is Topsy Taiwo. I am the founder of a platform called Property Purchaser, which provides knowledge, guidance and services to home buyers and home movers to make better informed decisions on what they eventually wanna go and buy. I've been doing it for about three or four years or so. In terms of my background, I've been in the industry for about 10 or 11 years now as an estate agent, also a property investment advisor and, I wanna say, sort of TV market commentator as well.

Speaker 1:

You definitely have. We've seen you on TV, so yes.

Speaker 2:

So I've done a few bits and bobs in that field too and, yeah, my main mission is essentially just to make it digestible, make people make better decisions and put content out there. That's really gonna inspire people to go off and buy their first time.

Speaker 1:

Which is why I think you are the best person to talk about these games. But before we get into it, I'm gonna ask you. It's a new year.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Everyone always has that thing I'm gonna change my life, I'm gonna do these things. So let me ask you two questions. Number one do you have any resolutions? And number two if you do, what are they?

Speaker 2:

Okay. So short answer is no, I didn't. Okay, I didn't make any resolutions this year. I have done in the past what I've tried to do. Let me, in fact, let me just for first and foremost, I actually think you shouldn't wait till the new year to make any resolutions anyway. I almost think it's counterproductive to do so, because it puts too much pressure on you to make sure you've hit that goal by a particular timeframe. And secondly, if you really wanna do something, I think you should just act on an impulse right away. I read this thing where the likelihood of you going forward with a goal or achieving that goal is less the longer you leave it. So the moment you have that impulse or you have that itch that you wanna scratch, you should scratch it there. And then, whether that's March, april, july or August. So to answer your question, no, I didn't make any resolutions, but one thing I have done. One thing I have done is I've created some sort of I haven't finished yet, but I've created a vision document.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I like that.

Speaker 2:

Which is sort of like a more long term with no specific timeframes on it, but a more long term document about things I just want to achieve in general, whether it's in five, 10, 15 years, just things that are important to me. So that's what I'm working on creating at the moment, but no resolutions for 2024.

Speaker 1:

No resolutions, but we've got goals in mind. But we've got goals in mind and things I wanna do. It's interesting that you haven't got any timeframes to it, because I'm such a goal oriented person and anyone who knows me knows I vision board, I goal set, I do all of that, but I always have a timeframe and that's why I'm like my one year goal, my three year goal or like in the next month, I wanna achieve this. It's interesting that you've got your goals but you don't have a timeframe.

Speaker 2:

I haven't. And it's not to say I disagree with setting a timeframe. Everyone's heard of that acronym smart goals, where specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based right. And the reason I haven't done that is because, again, it's just a pressure thing, because I remember I sort of set myself a specific date by which I wanted to have my show on TV. I literally made it September, the third, 2027. I was like hold on a second. That's very specific. It almost puts too much pressure on you. So the reason I haven't done it is because of the pressure, and what I'm going to do moving forward is just say what I want to do and make sure I do everything, day in, day out, in order to increase the likelihood of it happening. So I don't have any specific ones for a year or two years or three years, but I have things that I wanna do within a general timeframe as opposed to a very specific date. But that's not to say I disagree with setting a specific date. I think that's what's helpful too.

Speaker 1:

I like your approach though.

Speaker 2:

It's a cool approach.

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna consider it. I think I'm gonna set some goals that are just open-ended and not really a timeframe. If I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and change to your side and give it a little go, because you know what I really want to do, though.

Speaker 2:

Like you know, when people tweet on a day and they say, oh, I'm gonna have this done by, this day and then, five years later, they bring up, they get to come back to that tweet. I would love to do that, yeah, but it's just it's setting yourself up.

Speaker 1:

It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure.

Speaker 2:

It's a lot of pressure, so I've written some things down, some personal, some I'm happy to share, but no specific dates just yet.

Speaker 1:

We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. That's really good to hear, but let's get into this episode now. So, right to buy, obviously. What is it and how does it work?

Speaker 2:

So right to buy is a government initiative that essentially gives eligible council tenants the right to buy their home, but, most importantly, at a discount. Now that discount depends on the type of property. It is where the property is, how long you've lived there for, and whether or not you were secure or not a secure tenant. So the most interesting part about the right to buy scheme is when it comes to the discounts, and that's where it gets really, really exciting, because most people have to buy on the open market or they've got to use a government scheme which has to make sure that they're buying it at a certain value, whereas right to buy can give you a significant discount. So that's an overview as to what the scheme is essentially being able to buy a house at a discount when your accountant's a tenant.

Speaker 1:

Okay, what does that discount look like? What were we talking in? There's sorts of numbers I like that.

Speaker 2:

Let's talk some numbers. Let's talk some numbers. So the discount really again depends on the type of property that it is and how long you've been accountant, a tenant for. I guess we'll touch on eligibility a bit more later on, but you basically have to have been living there for three years. Now if it's a house, that discount is up to 35% if you've been there for three years or more and after five years that discount increases by a percent each year that you've lived there, up to a maximum of 70%.

Speaker 2:

Wow, 70%, 70% and it gets more interesting when it's a flat, because if it's a flat that discount increases by 2% each year after five years the longer you've lived there. Again, up to 70% Now there is a cap. So in London that cap is 127,900 and outside of London I think it's around 90,000 or so. So there is a cap. Whichever number is lower, that's the discount that you're gonna get, but for some people, having the opportunity to buy your property at a 70% discount potentially is is in fact there's not a word I can really use to describe it. That will probably do it justice but it's incredible.

Speaker 2:

It's an outrageous scheme that I think a lot of people don't really know about and it's been around for a long time. I think when I was looking to it A few months ago, it was part of a wider scheme of privatisation in the 80s. So in the 80s the government sold off British gas, british telecoms, british airways, british petroleum, rolls Royce and lots of things were getting sold off, and this is part of the wider scheme of that, and I think since then there have been about two million homes that have been sold as part of the right to buy scheme, but there are still four million homes which sit under council ownership. So there's a lot of people who have sat in those homes who probably aren't aware of it or think they can't afford it. So it's something you should absolutely look into if you were a councillor.

Speaker 1:

To tenant I think it's a great scheme. I have friends who are having conversations with their parents and that's been put forward to them right to buy. Should we consider it, should we not? I think a lot of people just don't understand how it works, which you explained to us and a big thing is are they eligible?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so let's get into the eligibility criteria?

Speaker 1:

Yes, what does that look like, that criteria?

Speaker 2:

So the most important thing is that you have to have been living there for three years. That used to have been five years, but they've reduced it now. So if you've been in a council home or if you were part of a housing association that used to be a council home, you can also get what's called a preserved right to buy. So that's the first thing the property has to be your main residence, so it can't be some investment property.

Speaker 1:

No, you really have to be living there. I know some people are probably thinking I'm going to get that and I'm going to rent every bit.

Speaker 2:

And they will check. It has to have been.

Speaker 1:

Will they come and check?

Speaker 2:

You have to have proof that you've had bills that have been going there.

Speaker 1:

That makes sense, right? They're going to check to make sure it's your main residence, that you're actually using it.

Speaker 2:

You're actually using it and you can't be in the process of being evicted as well. So that's what a secure tenant means. So if you're in the process of, you know you haven't paid your rent, you're getting benefits, but you're using it for something else, you're going to ruin your chances of trying to get that council home. So eligibility is super important. Those are the three main things. And you also, if you've got another person who was living with you, who doesn't necessarily live there for three years, but they've been there for 12 months, they can also be alongside you to help you with that mortgage application when you come to buy it. They don't have to have been there for the whole three years. So it really just depends on when you're checking with your council. Make sure that you're looking into it so you know that you're eligible.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, okay. So when we talk about that, then how does that look like when it comes to mortgage? Because it's a similar process right, so you get to this count. We've spoken about that. That was really exciting, but naturally there are still percentages that needs to be paid. So deposit wise what we're looking at, how does that mortgage process? Does it differ? Is it the same as like buying a property normally? What does that look like?

Speaker 2:

So maybe have you touched on that. So, when it comes to getting a mortgage for a right to buy property, there are so many learners out there that are going to be able to help you out. So we'll take a basic example. Let's say you're buying a property at £200,000, but because you have a 35% discount, you've been there for three years it's now worth £130,000. So that's the property that you are going to be buying and the value you're going to be buying it at. And let's say you haven't got the income to support getting the whole amount up to £130,000,. You can only support it up to, let's say, £60,000. You still need to work out that £70,000. However, you can use the discount of the £70,000 as your deposit to make up the difference to go up to £130,000.

Speaker 2:

So you're essentially buying a house with no deposit and the only thing that you need to pay for is the legal fees, and you have to have the income to support up to only £60,000. So not saying that's going to be relevant in London, but for other parts of the country, you've got a potential to buy a house there without putting a deposit down at all.

Speaker 2:

That's mind-blowing, which is mind-blowing, right so, and you only have to have been living there for three years. Even if you haven't got the income to support the £60,000, you can also use something which is called Joint Borrower sole proprietor, which essentially means that you can buy the property with somebody else. You're on the title deeds, but they're not on the title deeds. They're just helping you boost your income affordability.

Speaker 2:

So like parents for example, parents, and I think you can have up to an additional three people on your mortgage application as well to help you try and buy that property. So there's a number of ways in which lenders and banks are going to try and help you to get onto the ladder because they know you're getting a discount and the moment they've helped you buy that property on paper at saying £130,000, but we all really know it's worth £200,000.

Speaker 2:

So for them. There's risk attached to it, but it's a high reward on the other side of it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, let me ask you this question, then, because that all sounds great and this is coming off the back of conversations I've had with people that I know when it comes to this. So I'm going to give you a scenario.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

There's a family home, right? Yeah, you know mom's there. Mom wants to buy the house and she wants her kids on. You know. To help her with the right to buy a game, yes, she has three children. For example, one works, so one can contribute, like is an air, income can be contributed. The other two don't work.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

Maybe the students. You know they're just not working, but she wants all of them to be an application.

Speaker 2:

Okay, okay.

Speaker 1:

Does that make sense for this?

Speaker 2:

For this scenario.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

The way in which the lender is always going to look at this is income and affordability and also credit. So, just like you'd get any other mortgage, they're going to look into what your income is, what your outgoings are, and do an income and expenditure, as well as a debt to income ratio, as well as all the other ID checks that you've got to do. And because you have, you can have up to an additional three people on that mortgage. You can spread your risk. We can spread the application across those three people. So in this particular scenario, if you just want to use one income, you can do that. If other people have also got incomes, you can also use that.

Speaker 2:

But the best way to look at it is to use everyone as a team in order to transport that application. So whoever's got the income, whoever's got the relevant ID checks, whoever's got the relevant eligibility, it's fine. But the most important thing to remember is, if only one person is eligible for that council home, you can still use the other people to try and help you support that mortgage. So in your scenario, I'm assuming the mother might be the only one who's qualifying to have been there for the three or five years or whatever, she can use her children to support her mortgage application because there have been a few scenarios where someone's maybe 50, 60 years old and most lenders want to give you maybe 10, maybe 15 years max on the mortgage.

Speaker 2:

So your repayments are going to be sky high. So you can use your kids and they're going to use their ages instead of your age in order to use that mortgage application for you to go and buy that property at a monthly amount and that's actually affordable to you. So there's ways around it and in that scenario I'm sure she spoke to a good broker They'd be able to find a product for us, so long as they weren't in the process of being evicted.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's good. I like to position scenarios sometimes, so some of my listeners who may think that's where I'm at, does that make sense? People can kind of get that. Yes, definitely the right to my scheme. Yes, all sounds amazing. Right, I want to go and move into council place now and be there for years.

Speaker 2:

Right, all sounds great yeah.

Speaker 1:

Let me ask you, then are there any pitfalls or anything that we should be aware of? Because I think there's a lot of government schemes out there that all look shiny and bright on paper and then when? You actually get into the crux of it. There are things you're like, oh, but you've got to realise it's this or actually it's that. Is there anything like that with the right to buy scheme?

Speaker 2:

There's always fine print with everything. Yes, it's never just a rosy scenario, and the exact same applies to right to buy as well. For me personally, I think it's a net gain. It's a net win-win situation if you're in a council, because one of my favourite quotes is choose your hard.

Speaker 1:

Everything's hard.

Speaker 2:

Like. Which one are you going to do? Do you want to suffer now or have a reward later, or do you want to have your rewards now and then suffer later? Both options are going to be hard for you and it's the same with right to buy. So, yes, there are pitfalls, but I think it's overall a net gain. So the first one to be fully aware of is if you sell your council home within 10 years of you using that discount and using the right to buy scheme, you have to give the housing association or your first refusal.

Speaker 2:

That's right so they get the first eight weeks and if they haven't sold it then you can put it on the open market. The second one is a bit more punitive or stringent is if you sell it within five years you may have to pay back all or some of the discount. So first year, if you sell it within the first year, that discount is going back. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1:

Because, I mean, you haven't done anything with it. You never won it. Really, if you sold it in the first year.

Speaker 2:

That discount is going straight back, because why are you buying it and then selling it and trying to think you're going to make some profit? Look, if the market's risen so much so that you can give the discount back and you can make some profit, then fine, no worries. But you're giving that discount back and it's going to be the discount at the value of that property at that time.

Speaker 2:

Right, so if it's like 70% and it's gone up, it's going to be 7% of the new value, of the new value, not the old value. So they're getting their money back in some way or another. But that discount that you've got to pay back reduces over time. So, for example, if you sell it after two years, it's not 100% of the discount, it's 8% of the discount 3, 4, 5 years. So after five years it will be none of the discount at which you can sell it back. So those are the two main restrictions that you're going to find. The other question I always get asked, or have been asked in the past about this, is can you rent out your right to buy property after you've bought it? Now, this is a topic.

Speaker 1:

Everyone's always interested in that. Everyone's like how can I make some money?

Speaker 2:

What can I do? What can I do? This is a topic that's quite interesting because it's not so much to do with the council. The council, once they've got their money, don't really care to be honest with you, because they're looking to use this money to then find other operations that they've got. So it's more so with the lender, because if you're getting a residential mortgage, you're in essence committing mortgage fraud If you don't rent out.

Speaker 1:

You're telling them I'm going to get this mortgage, I'm going to live here.

Speaker 2:

Correct, correct, and a lot of lenders don't look. If you're asking me, will they find out? No comment, yeah, no comment. But on paper it's not something that you should do. However, you can get something which I'm sure you know about is called consent to let. So why did my property so? I first bought it on a resume and then my circumstances have changed and then I had a consent to let my property out and then eventually I put my equity up enough. Where I've got it on an actual buy to let mortgage. Now and it's rented out, I can live there when I want, I can use it for service accommodation. So that's something you can use or you can look into in the future as well. So those are the main stipulations when it comes to your right to buy.

Speaker 1:

Okay, do you know what? Overall, even though there are some pitfalls, like you mentioned. I don't think it's that bad. So if you are in a council house and you do have the chance to use that discount, I think it's a great thing to look into or talk to your parents. Sometimes parents get letters and they have no idea what it means to dismiss it. Have the conversation with your parents, see if you can do that, see if you guys can band together and make it happen. I think why not?

Speaker 2:

100%. I think I saw something on the shade borrower recently where some lady bought her right to buy property and then a year later the council did you see that?

Speaker 1:

Yes, I saw that.

Speaker 2:

They said they were going to knock it down. And she was like oh, I should never have bought it.

Speaker 1:

She got back more than what she paid Hold on a second.

Speaker 2:

You've just been given basically a free house and they're going to buy it at the value it's worth at today, even if they didn't you've got a discount on it like a significant one, at least 35% off, so you've made money. Either way, they were going to knock down that building anyway.

Speaker 1:

Regardless, because a lot of these council homes.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they say ask for permission, but it's getting knocked down.

Speaker 2:

Well, honestly, just be nice it's not nice to say, but I've rarely seen situations where their council hasn't won because ultimately it's for the greater good of society, for the greater good of that community and yes, they'll rehouse you. It might not be where you want to be, but ultimately it's probably going to happen. So I sort of say to people like that, if you're worried and you buy a place and then it's not going to be there after a while, it's a lesser of two evils. That's the way I would like to look at it.

Speaker 1:

I would look at it Do you know what that's reminding me when I was. I remember when I was like four right. The first place that we ever lived in was a council block and I was at the top of the council block and I remember vividly.

Speaker 1:

Obviously I'm four, I don't know the ins and outs right, but we obviously the council said you gotta get out, we're gonna get rid of this, right. And I remember. I remember my mom said we're gonna go out for breakfast, like the council's doing something. Do you know where we went? We went to the council block, across the way from where I lived.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but remember we had been rehoused at this point but across the way from where I lived. I remember eating a croissant at four years old. I'd be counted down from 10 to one and I watched my family home fall down. I found the pictures the other day. Man, I sent me the pictures of that day, when I'm there just like a young girl eating a croissant watching my family home Right.

Speaker 2:

That's from back then.

Speaker 1:

It was ingrained.

Speaker 2:

That was like 21 years ago and it's ingrained in my head Wow, the way they talk, they're ingrained. That's the kind of watching. Just go for breakfast, just real quick. Yeah, yeah, we'll come back.

Speaker 1:

I remember my mom gave me orange juice on the cross-on and I watched my family home just fall down. I was like this is insane.

Speaker 2:

You know what this is. My name is. I don't know what it is. It's just black. Parents do this all the time. It's like when the kid is about to go to Nigeria and they're not coming back. We're going on holiday to Nigeria. 10 years later, mom Went on flight Back to. It's not happening, it's not happening bro.

Speaker 1:

It's not happening.

Speaker 2:

I've literally got friends and cousins. That actually happens to your mind. Why are we still here, though? Honestly, that just reminded me, that's what we're doing. I mean, it is what it is. It is what it is.

Speaker 1:

But let's now move on to the other part of this episode. So we're going to talk about second-time buyers. Everything's all about first-time buyers Right Get on the propezoid. We've done a lot of episodes on that thus far. Now I want to talk about second-time buyers, so that's people who have bought their house I don't know Maybe three, five years ago. They're going to sell it Now. They want to go through that process again.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

So what does that process look like? Is? Does it differ from first-time buyers? Just talk us through that.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. So the main difference I like to say when it comes to being a home mover, why you own a property. You're looking to sell it and move on. You suddenly go from being a buyer to also being a seller. That's the main difference. And when you're selling a property, there's so much more that comes into it. You're basically spinning two separate plates now. So you need to bear so many more things in mind. How are you going to present your property, the estate agent that you're going to choose, also the finance options that you're looking to use. So those are the main differences.

Speaker 2:

The good thing is that you've probably, in most circumstances, built up a good amount of equity. I will say, getting on the first wrong the property ladders is the hardest thing you can possibly do. But when people are moving on to the next place, all of a sudden, those deposit requirements they're large numbers, but it's probably sat in the bricks and mortar in your home as well, so you're able to probably find it slightly easier in order to get what you want. But I would say the main difference is that you go from being a seller to being a buyer as well. Sorry, you go from being just a buyer to being a seller as well. The other thing I'll say on this is you lose your snapdT benefits.

Speaker 1:

Yes, oh, the good old snapdT.

Speaker 2:

You're no longer a first-time buyer, so if you plan on keeping your property, not only are you paying normal snapdT rates, but you're also paying the additional 3% snapdT rate as well. I've seen some horrific because I was an estate agent for I don't know if I said I was standing for six or seven years in total and I've seen some horrific snapdT bills man Like sometimes I'm like that's a deposit, bro.

Speaker 1:

Really, oh my gosh, that's a deposit bro, Especially in London as well whereas on the estate agent.

Speaker 2:

So you're talking significant sums of money but again, luckily, the pressure should be taken off of you if you've bought well in the right area and you've built up a good amount of equity within your property. So those are the two main differences.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that makes sense. So we can discern the difference between being a first-time buyer and a second-time buyer. So, when it comes to the actual financing, of this then? What options are available? Because, like I said, we've spoken about a lot of things for first-time buyers. Are there schemes for second-time buyers? Is it just you've got to have the money and you just go for it? What does that look like then?

Speaker 2:

So one of the big myths I want to dispel is sometimes people think every scheme is just a first-time buyer. That's not actually true. When it comes to shared ownership good example you can also have owned a property in the past and still use that government scheme. I'm not sure, off the top of my head, of other schemes that allow you to do that, but there are also schemes that help you as a second-time buyer. But in terms of finance options, this is where our mortgage worker becomes literally non-negotiable For people who just go straight to a lender or their original bank.

Speaker 2:

As a second-time mover, I just think why are you doing that? Because you're talking bigger sums of money here. So that is difference is an interest rate, they mean a lot. A half-percent base they mean a lot. It means a lot. You're talking a huge amount of money that you're going to be putting out every single month. So always go and speak to a broker, even if you think your bank is the best bank in the world. And then also when it comes to if you're keeping your property and you want to rent it out, all of a sudden you potentially become a landlord as well, which a lot of people I know are going to be in that situation. I was in that situation myself. So you then need to think about how much equity you're leaving in your property. I mean the rental requirements and the calculations when it comes to buy-to-letts. It just Like I'm usually quite good with sort of going off the top, but even in my head like sometimes I need to go back in my eye.

Speaker 2:

Let me go through this criteria again of what it means to be a landlord how much rent they need. The interest cover ratio.

Speaker 1:

Like there's so many different calculations to go into it.

Speaker 2:

So you really want to speak to a broker to make sure that they are giving you the best advice possible, because we're talking small percentages but big differences, that's the thing I would say, when it comes to being a second-time mover. Last thing I'll say on this is estate agents. I wasn't staying for a long time.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so you know the internals.

Speaker 2:

I know the internals. When you're a second-time mover like you really want to. You need to choose where your agent sell your property Like.

Speaker 1:

How do you know?

Speaker 2:

Okay, look, let's get to that, then how do you know?

Speaker 1:

who's good and who's not. I've mentioned before in a podcast. My dad is a landlord. So, he's got a fair few properties and he's had experiences with estate agents and because of his proximity to them so have I.

Speaker 1:

Yes, they're not always great. No, sometimes he'll come to be angry, like I'm going to be on a phone today. He's not always happy, right, so I know from his experience. I know what that looks like. Yes, but how do you know who's gonna be good, who's gonna work in your favor, who's just gonna just do what they need to do and take their percentage Like, yeah, how do you pick?

Speaker 2:

It's a great question. There's so many things you can touch on. I think friendly recommendations are always amazing. I think in any industry that's always gonna be massive Google reviews always look at that. A lot of agents are gonna have them on there and a lot of people when they're disappointed with the service will say something.

Speaker 1:

They will review. It's funny isn't it?

Speaker 2:

Because when you're happy you tend not to really leave a review Not really but when you're disappointed in the service, you're gonna make everyone know about it.

Speaker 1:

I have done that. I've written a complete letter that I found that you know and I did not enjoy my service yeah.

Speaker 2:

So you can look at that as well. The other thing I'll say is ring up an estate agent as a buyer Mystery, or get your friend or cousin to right, because if that person's gonna be selling your property, you wanna know how they're gonna treat incoming buyers. And it's amazing how many agents just don't pick up the phone Really. So imagine your house is on the market. You've got a really hot cash buyer who's looking to buy something. They're in the country for three or four days, for example and this literally happens quite often in London and they wanna choose out of the best thing that they've seen of four or five properties they see on that day. Now you're an agent who's got two people who work, who only work. Maybe nine to five don't work on the weekends. A property in their books is what that cash buyer might like. The phones ring and they still pick it up. And then they bring another agent. They pick up and they go buy their property Do you see what I mean.

Speaker 2:

Like little difference is that can cost. You know you can potentially cost you a sale. So those are my three tips Reviews for any recommendations. Ring up as a mystery buyer and there's loads of questions. You can ask an estate agent as well what's your marketing strategy? How many of you sold? What comparable evidence have you got that you sold that property and just go off of your gut Like remember, this is the person who's representing your biggest asset. You wanna make sure that it's a good person representing you.

Speaker 1:

I like that. That's some good advice you gave them, especially ring up a mystery buyer.

Speaker 2:

I like that.

Speaker 1:

I can put them in my acting hat, I can be like hello, I'm interested. Yeah, that's good, that's a good tip there.

Speaker 2:

I would recommend that highly yeah.

Speaker 1:

I definitely. I like that one. I'm gonna ask you then. So you mentioned it's second time mover. So I'm saying second time buyer, but you're right, second time mover. What should the process be like? If someone's looking to move and obviously the seller current property, should they sell first, complete that way and then by? Should you do the two simultaneously? Like what does that? What would you say is the best way to go about it?

Speaker 2:

So there's no right or wrong answer and of course everyone's situation is gonna be different in terms of the priorities whether it's actually feasible to move out and to rented. I would always say, if possible, if you're selling a place and you're looking to buy another place, move what's called chain free. You can find yourself in a situation where there's seven different links in a chain and agents as a whole are likely not to be very good at keeping communication throughout that process.

Speaker 2:

Imagine dealing with seven different parties and trying to coordinate dates, because when completion happens you remember it's got to be the same day of completion for everyone.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

yes, Because the money is literally going plop, plop, plop like across the chain. So to try and organize that can be a nightmare. So I always say if you're selling and buying, try and secure your sale first. If you're lucky enough to be buying a place that's vacant, then I say, okay, fine, no problem at all, you can tie in. But if that person's also buying somewhere else, try and break the chain. So whether it's moving into rented, whether it's I don't know going abroad for a year, staying with family, staying with parents, it's just gonna put you in a much better position. The other thing I would say is, once that seller who you're buying from knows that you need to sell, you sort of lose a bit of bargaining power and a little bit of leverage, because they say, well, you've got to complete on this day anyway. So now you've got a bite for this price and there's nothing you can really do about it so.

Speaker 2:

I'm not saying it's gonna be feasible and possible for everyone, but try and move chain free if you can. It gives you more leverage and it also gives you a bit more peace of mind where you don't have any pressure to satisfy the buyer and satisfy the seller Because it's not in the middle.

Speaker 1:

That makes sense. It reminds me of when we moved.

Speaker 2:

So from.

Speaker 1:

London to Ipswich. We were. Obviously. We had a house in London and I remember we found out that the sellers were moving somewhere, like Scotland, wales are moving, so we they were trying to like buy their property and then complete with us. But the good thing was, I think it wasn't working out on their timeframe. So they went to go and say family instead, so we can just complete. And then they could figure out on their end, cause they're trying to say, well, we can't go into ours until blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1:

They just said we'll say family, we can complete on this day, and then you guys can get the keys. Everything can just move on.

Speaker 2:

And it was just a smoother process. It was way smoother. Cause. I thought it was never gonna happen.

Speaker 1:

I thought we're never gonna make the move, it's just gonna take forever. But that was way smoother. Like he said, once you break that chain.

Speaker 2:

It makes it so much easier.

Speaker 1:

So much easier.

Speaker 2:

The convincing process as you've been through it yourself. Like it's just, it's just a nightmare. Like on average, sales are taken about three or four months to go through. And imagine all of a sudden and I've been in this situation before where the day of exchange still says you know what? I don't know if I can put on this day anymore. So I'm gonna come back to you when I can complete and then I'll let you know in a few weeks time.

Speaker 1:

So hold on a second. Hold on a second.

Speaker 2:

It's like no, that can't be done, Because there's always someone in the chain who just isn't that desperate. Like they just don't really care innit, or maybe it's an investor who lives abroad who just says, oh, my son might be coming to stay in that flat now for the next month, so can we just push to no? No, we can't just push to conditionate by a month. Everyone's line up removals. I've got my furniture ordered. My kids start school in September.

Speaker 1:

Like, we can't like, so people just do that.

Speaker 2:

So that's why just remove yourself from being facing this situation and just move chain free if you can, if you can, because chains are a nightmare. Staying in this. Don't like them. Sellers don't like them. Buys don't like them.

Speaker 1:

No more chains. We're breaking free from the chains. Break free If you can. Top C. This has been such an insightful episode, but before we end I want to ask you what are the three tips that you'd give to anyone who's either up to you looking to pursue the right to buy scheme or a second time mover looking to go down that process you can give a mix of tips, but it's up to you for the three tips.

Speaker 2:

Okay, first tip I give is I've written a book recently, so go and buy my book.

Speaker 1:

Shameless plug, shameless plug, go for it.

Speaker 2:

But I touch on a lot of things in there. I touch on whether you shouldn't buy. Actually, there's a whole section on why buying is a terrible idea, like maybe you should just stay renting and really think about why you're doing it in the first place and not just giving it to societal pressures and keeping up with the Joneses and figuring out what your why is Not your property why, but just your why in general and whether or not home ownership fits into that. So that's the first thing you should do Buy my book and read that section specifically. The second thing I would say, or the second tip, is Check out your podcast and just dive more into what you do, because I feel like in the whole finance space, I specifically focus on property, but before you get to that stage, you need to work out how to save your money.

Speaker 2:

I need to work out how to grow your money and nurture it as best as you can and, like a lot of people I speak to, haven't even got anywhere near the stage of what I can even think about home ownership, and it's Inextricably tied to being able to save while. So I would say that dive into keys content is very consistent and makes amazing content to dive into that. And third tip what can I think of Environment environment? I spoke about this recently on another panel as well whereby not just who you hang out with, but our digital environment is pretty much where we spend all of our time. Now I was thinking about the other day about how like influential is on our lives, like just the things you follow on Twitter, the things you follow on Instagram, things you follow on Snapchat.

Speaker 1:

I'm not saying Completely remove your friends. Yeah, everyone. No bad vibes just keep.

Speaker 2:

That's unrealistic and it's actually not something you should do anyway. But just be a bit more mindful. Even because I've got two pages on my personal page, I saw that I follow everything, yeah, but my property, where I spend more time, it's all about property and it's amazing how much I've learned just by the proxy of having a property feed site. I would just be scrolling along it and most of its value and not all of it is just celebrity gossip, right. So I would say, like, think about the environment. Digital is just as much as you do about the people you spend time with, and I promise you you'll be more likely to reach your goal faster than if you wouldn't, because those moments where you've got downtime and you're just Subject to your environment, you're gonna be getting value as opposed to just getting gossip from something that's not gonna add to your life. So those are my three tips by my book Dive into your content and figure out your digital environment amazing.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, topsy. This has been such a great episode for everyone watching it. Where can they find you?

Speaker 2:

You can find me on Instagram at topsy Tywo. Yes, tywo is my real surname, because it's actually Nigerian for twin, but it means it means it is my surname and the topsy Tywo and my platform is at property.

Speaker 1:

Amazing, and the links will also be in the description, so you should check that out as well as topsy's book. Yes, thank you so much, everyone for watching back in next week with another episode. Next week episode. We're all about life insurance, so if it's something you've been considering or don't know much about, make sure you come back next week. Bye, guys.