Earlier in the week, I had already given you my thoughts on the dreaded CV and the noise around it. When I first left to head to Dubai it was barely a thing in the UK (298 cases and 3 deaths). It has gathered pace like nothing I have ever witnessed in my life, even the growth of Angry Birds pails into insignificance.
And I have to admit, I, like many, called it wrong. I knew it was bad, but it seems to be a fair bit worse than I had thought.
I still believe that the frenzy isn’t helping, and that we can get through this quicker with sensible and reasoned minds and approaches.
People are falling into one of two categories, neither helpful. They are either preparing for the zombie apocalypse and aggressively belittling someone who moves outside as they call for a global lockdown OR they are cuddling people in queues at Tesco because “nobody gonna tell me what to do.” It is frustrating to watch.
Surely, we can all agree now that this is a thing.
And the better that we react, and respond, the sooner it will pass, and then we can return to our “normalities” that we all of a sudden crave and miss (isn’t that a lesson)
Hey, Imagine being the idiot that wrote this as your Insta Story, and then it practically comes true. Yep, that would be my Insta story from a couple of weeks ago.
It was very swiftly followed by a period in self isolation, two weeks of following the UK’s increased measures and mass hysteria online (be wary of this) and endless cancellations of our return flights due to the BA crisis.
Anyway, I am on the flight now, writing this. Just the right side of lockdown, and our last opportunity to get home before we were stranded in Dubai (nobody seemed to have any sympathy for this). I am sanitised, gloved and masked up – landing into Heathrow, getting in a rental car and getting.the.hell.home. where I shall stay until we have a clear plan.
I believe in our government.
I love what they have done and the actions that they have taken.
Boris is a ledge.
They are doing all they can to protect us, health wise and economically.
We just need to listen to them.
Anyway Danny, get to the point. Well to help, here is an email that I sent a few days ago to all of my coaching clients. I found that communication is key during this period, with EVERYONE that you work with and who follows you. So you will be seeing and hearing plenty from me. The contents are below…….
Things are changing every day, as we struggle to understand what the hell is going on, we will never see another time like this in our lifetimes as business owners and property investors in my opinion.
However, rightly or wrongly, I am still not panicked. More on this later.
Lettings – we have 9 cases to date of confirmed CV in our properties.
If you need access for gas certificates, inspections etc, and someone is self isolating and cannot give you access then please use this approach – this is a great video – you dont need to panic it is all about you trying
Mortgage holidays – my understanding is that these apply for both sole trader and ltd company landlords, in regulated lending. There have been many mortgage broker shares on this. The most comprehensive I have seen is from Lisa Orme.
I have attached.
The key seems to be communication and transparency, and that it should not affect your credit file.
Rental Concerns
We are not yet being impacted by non paying tenants (in fact the opposite), but we think it may well come as the situation worsens.
We have found that the key is very consistent communication with both landlords (for us) and tenants. The main things we are doing is CLEARLY explaining the legislation changes that will benefit them or will cause them the problem (or us).
For instance when the ban on eviciton’s for 3 months, and mortgage holidays were announced we had a lot of people ringing saying “does this mean we don’t have to pay rent?”
First thing in the morning after, emails and texts were sent out to all landlords explaining that if they do not pay then the issue will only be delayed, explaining what a mortgage holiday is (not free money just something to be paid later) and pointed out the benefit of them not getting in arrears for as long as they can avoid it.
This was a bigger concern until the governments announcements yesterday, that will help rent payments continue, even if they are laid off (guess what email is going out this morning)
We expect arrears to grow as we have said, but communication at all times is absolutely key here, and I am confident it may not be as bad as first feared.
Government support
The government have quite literally gone balls deep in the support of business, and the employed here. Self employed are more concerned currently, but as a property investor (and human) I am thinking more about our tenants (to get paid), my friends and family, and the general economy.
In looking at what has been offered this is the most conclusive lists there are:
For Employees (our tenants and/or staff)
For Business (us)
I think these are pretty clear, but any specific questions on how they apply to you individually let’s talk separately.
This is an unprecedented level of support, at an unprecedented time in history.
Why am I not too worried then?
I touched on it before, we are all scared of the unknow, and it doesn’t get much more unknown than this does it?
However, purely from a reasoned perspective.
– Usually you would say they have thrown so much money at it there is bound to be a massive recession. EVERYONE HAS, ALL OVER THE WORLD. Level playing field. What I think this, and quantitative easing has actually done, or will do, is devalued money. This is not a bad thing for the property market.
If £100k feels like less money in the coming years, we should be able to sell more stock (or values hold)
– Supply and demand. Mentioned in the last email.
– Lenders are still lending freely, and in fact are being heavily encouraged (and backed) by the government to do so. I was pre approved for a £50k personal loan from Lloyds this morning at 3.4% for instance…..I have never seen money so liquid in the market in my life.
– Government changes as above, we are all, as a nation being propped up by the state. Never been seen before.
I think taxes, when this clears, will only go one way…….but I am willing to pay more to get through this personally.
Lets get through the next 12 weeks or so, stay alive, look after our business and loved ones – and come out the other side better people and investors.
My current priority is to get home from Dubai, then self isolate (again). But I am weirdly enjoying the time. You will never get an opportunity to focus on business and process like this undistracted (unless you choose to be) for a VERY long time. My focus is business, business growth and you guys.
No excuses for not doing social media strategies, business plans, completing operations manuals, planning for a new business strategy etc at times like this.
Lets stay in touch one on one, I will continue to send these out during the process, but if you need anything individually please reach out.
Its not like we don’t all have the time……
PS you know times are different when you are DESPERATE to get home from Dubai to get to Warrington…..
Cheers, Danny!!! x
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I think that’s a good point to leave it.
More to come soon.Here is to ongoing success, and making things work through this challenging time.
And to sign off, a pic of my new found wealth, and a fantastic business lesson on supply and demand.
DANNY INMAN PROPERTY 
Welcome home Danny. Great Blog.
Stay safe, Andy & Julie
Welcome back Danny, yet as already been said another great blog!! Looking forward to the online yes meeting
Take care & stay safe. Jason
Hope you get home safe Danny. Thanks for all your information and support. Stay safe and thanks again for sharing 💕