The U.K. is, and always will be a primary investment destination. This is due to many factors, the most important being that we are an island and our market operates on the simple premise of supply and demand. The bottom line is, we do not have enough housing stock to keep up with the demand fuelled by immigration, divorce, people living longer, etc.  On this little island, we have over fifty years of historical precedence to suggest that U.K. property doubles in value, on average, every seven to ten years. While the market has obviously slowed down over the past few months, we firmly believe that the U.K. is still a safe investment for those with liquidity, those that focus on cash-flow, and those investors who take a mid to long term view.

Our investment strategy is one of low risk. We minimise our financial input into deals (wherever possible) only purchasing property (houses, not flats) with positive cash flow from the rent. If you adopt this business-like strategy, you can make money in any market, and survive even the toughest market conditions.

At present, the mortgage products in the U.K. make investing in this format almost impossible. As the U.K. market is also based on the availablity of funding, it is suffering, as it becomes harder and harder to finance deals. However, if you have liquidity, now is the time to pick up some fantastic property deals.

We currently consider U.K. holiday lets and multi-lets along with high end single occupancy lets - the only types of investment we believe are viable here in the U.K. at present.

We are adopting the following strategy to get through these challenging times in the U.K.:

1. Keep in constant contact with your U.K. mortgage broker to keep up to date with new products. They are changing on a daily basis so you need to know what's available and if it can work for you.
2. Network with other investors to stay motivated and informed about the market.
3. Invest in up-market U.K. holiday lets for cash-flow and coastal appreciation
4. Invest in multi-lets for cash-flow.
5. Invest in Southern Cyprus to hedge your U.K. investments i.e. spread risk.
6. Keep a contingency fund.
7. Be price sensitive on your BTL's to get them let quickly during this transition phase where there is a lot of rental stock available. It is better to have 80% of something than 100% of nothing.
8. Look to the upper end of the market in everything you do, as this is likely to be more recession-proof than the lower end of the market. We favour the South East due to the lack of land for new developments, and also the population density - which is far higher than the north of England.
9. With decreasing LTV mortgages on new builds, we will also be looking at second hand stock in 2009.

Click here to watch a video of how Vanessa put together a multi-let deal.

Pictured below: Our U.K. holiday let "Seabreeze" at Camber Sands, East Sussex.

A new report by Halifax has revealed that Coastal areas are proving to be the most popular destinations for internal migration across England and Wales... click here to read the story.  This is good news for the stability and intrinsic value of coast property.

At 4wallsandaceiling.com we are constantly sourcing and buying property to expand our own portfolio. Over the past five years, we have built up relationships with developers at board level and are able to broker huge discount deals on new build houses.

Occasionally, we get a better outcome by brokering a deal on multiple units (up to a maximum of five on any development). We will then purchase one of these units ourselves, and investors in our network can purchase the others. So we benefit from the bulk buying power of the group, and our clients benefit from our contacts and us brokering the deal and overseeing the transaction from reservation to completion.

Clearly, this is not a "wholesale" or "one size fits all" approach as we are actively investing in the property deals that we offer to our clients.

We meet personally with all clients interested in joining in with one of our property deals to discuss their personal financial situation, goals, and what they feel comfortable in doing. Therefore, this is a personal and bespoke service where we will introduce you to a deal that we believe suits you. You can also take comfort in the fact that we will be investing in the same deal ourselves and will therefore be fully committed to it.

On this basis, we will never do anything to compromise the deal. Unlike other companies who have targets to sell hundreds of properties a month, our business model is based on quality not quantity. If you do not complete on the deal, it may compromise our reputation with the developer and affect our purchase!

Think of it like this:

When you go and buy a car off the production line, you have been sold a "one size fits all" solution.

When you buy a custom car you are buying something you actually need.

One of our deals is like a custom car. It is what you want and need, not a mass produced unit that someone wants to sell to you to achieve a sales target.

If you purchase with us, you also have the added benefit of us mentoring you through the whole process, explaining how we sourced and researched the deal, how we "stacked" it, how we negotiated it etc. right through to getting your property ready for rent, and a tenant in situ from the day of completion. We share solicitor's searches, broker a deal on blinds, negotiate reduced commissions with letting agents etc. so that we all save money from the bulk buying power of the group. There is strength in numbers.

Our fee for this deal introduction service is 1.75% of the NET price. (The industry standard is 3% of the gross price).

We want to make it crystal clear that we are not a property club. There are no membership fees, no upfront payments of any kind, and no bulk buying of hundreds of properties in the same development that will all compete against each other for tenants.

We do not entertain flats, and only source high quality, stock unit houses, mainly in the South East, which appeal to young professional tenants.

We only offer deals that we ourselves our investing in and believe in and will be actively engaged with over the years to come.

Unlike other companies, we do not charge any fees upfront. Our fee is paid as a disbursement on completion, so we are only paid when we achieve a tangible result for you, not promises that never materialise.

Your reservation fee is paid directly to the developer and is deducted from your final completion statement.

Post completion, we are available to support you throughout your investing career.

We are interested in building long term relationships with serious, committed and dynamic people who want to move forwards with us. Therefore, your success is our success as there is nothing more powerful than a happy client and word of mouth recommendations. Our marketing budget is zero because we don't need volumes of people - just a few serious investors who want to benefit from our experience, contacts, and the bulk buying power of our group. Together we all accellerate our results and achieve more as a group. There is definitely strength in numbers when purchasing in this fomat.

As our deals are "limited edition", we do not publicise them, or have need to publicise them on our website as our close relationships with our clients means we always know which of them are in "buying mode" and present the deals direct to them.  Therefore, if you are interested in joining in on one of our deals, you need to get in touch.

For further information or to speak to Vanessa about souricng a specific type of investment, or e-mail her here. Alternatively, come along to one of our informal networking events to meet us and see if what we have to say resonates with you.