The Wilsons - 875 buy to let property empire

dopester

Well the Wilsons dealt in misery in the early 90s. Not just for one house for themselves, but multiple houses.

And at least one of their deals involved lying, agreeing the deal for some desperate seller's home on Christmas Eve.

They've basked in the publicity. They were out-and-out encouraging people to buy a BTL in January 2007, which in most instances would put anyone who followed their advice in big-time negative equity, and maybe having those same people at risk of losing their main home.

Utterly irresponsible in my opinion.

They've obviously had the notion that the great HPI bubble will continue in to the future to continually double their money every 7 years, had the notion that only flats would be affected in a crash, or that they can manage any reversal / crash. Time will tell.

I hope they are left with nothing. I hope they end up living in cardboard boxes in the street.

Gorgeous_George

RM shows 72 two bedroom houses available to rent in Ashford ranging from £575 to £800. Let's say an average of £650.

Meanwhile, prices to buy range from £110K to about £250. I suggest the average selling price should be close to £145K.

I make the gross yield around 5.4% - hardly ripping off their tenants.

Buy at £145K and the interest only mortage costs £725 pcm. Repayment is £979.

Of course, many of the houses will have been bought for a lot less than £145K.

If their tenants are so unhappy, they could form a group on Facebook and hatch a plot to bring them down. 875 x 1 month's notice would hurt.

GG

Dithering_Dad

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

RM shows 72 two bedroom houses available to rent in Ashford ranging from £575 to £800. Let's say an average of £650.

Meanwhile, prices to buy range from £110K to about £250. I suggest the average selling price should be close to £145K.

I make the gross yield around 5.4% - hardly ripping off their tenants.

Buy at £145K and the interest only mortage costs £725 pcm. Repayment is £979.

Of course, many of the houses will have been bought for a lot less than £145K.

If their tenants are so unhappy, they could form a group on Facebook and hatch a plot to bring them down. 875 x 1 month's notice would hurt.

GG

Agreed. There is so much bile and spiteful rhetoric posted on these forums at people who are successful. These two ex-teachers aren't rapists or murderers, they simply bought houses cheaply from sellers who were glad to off-load quickly and rent to people glad to have a roof over their heads.

If the Wilson's were offering 20% below market value for property then the FTB's could have offered 10% below value and bought a home. If the sellers didn't want to sell at 20% below then they could have refused and sold to FTB's. No one had a gun at their heads to sell.

It's a simple case of jealousy wrapped in a thin veneer of altruism.

ruggedtoast

Why dont you start a Wilsons fan club to better promote the interests and welfare of this poor misunderstood couple.

Personally I could not care less about them. The business model that sustained buy-to-let parasites like them and the States vicarious abdication of housing responsibility is dead and hopefully unlikely to return.

There are some people I have great respect for, some doctors, nurses, community workers, counsellors, inspiring teachers and mentors. And self made people who really turned over difficult circumstances and made go of it whilst retaining their humanity.

I do not consider the Wilsons to fall into any of the above categories though I agree that this doesnt make them worse than many others.

Jimuth

What RuggedToast said.
They maximised their opportunity in making money, and seem to have an unhealthy obsession with how many properties they can get on their portfolio. That's why I think they're boring.

Because it's localised it's probably having a distorted negative effect on Ashford because of their monopoly, and that's why I think they're bad. But then again, all monopolies are.

It's got nothing to do with them being rich or successful. Well, yahoo for them. However, seeing as they've set up monopoly by lying, cheating, scamming (as they've admitted to) then I don't see them up there as role models. I really do think it's a question of responsibility - the majority don't mind Tesco's being a monopoly as if offers low prices (caveats apply, of course). Do the Wilsons offer low rents deliberately? I doubt it!

It's a simple case of jealousy wrapped in a thin veneer of altruism.

Disagree. It's a simple case of people expressing disgust at uncontrolled capitalist greed in the hands of two unremarkable no-marks who use their wealth to gatecrash horse racing and to buy minging clothes.

I think the majority on here are far more balanced in their views than HPC.

dad-of-4

fair play to them for having a go and taking a risk i say:beer: they havent done anything that any of us couldnt have done, but they got of there buts and had a go.

i think dithering dad has hit the nail on the head re a lot of jelousy and resentment towards thoes who are successfull.

i also notice no one is sparing a thought for what could happen to the tenants if things went pairshaped for the willsons, but never mind 875 families protentialy out on the street, as long as some can have a good old gloat at the willsons, and get their foot on the property ladder.

vigesimal

dad-of-4 wrote: »

i also notice no one is sparing a thought for what could happen to the tenants if things went pairshaped for the willsons, but never mind 875 families protentialy out on the street, as long as some can have a good old gloat at the willsons, and get their foot on the property ladder.

There are lots of empty rental properties in Kent. Their tenants might be glad that they at last got the push they needed to get out of [STRIKE]Trashford[/STRIKE] Ashford.

Sir_Humphrey

If it were possible for the Wilsons to keep Ashford artificially inflated (and it would only take one other person to buy in Ashford to burst that bubble I think), then Ashford is a seriously screwed town. Why rent in Ashford, when you could buy in Maidstone or somewhere else nearby?

Of course, in that case the Wilsons would end up with a very serious cashflow problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad-of-4
things went pairshaped for the willsons,

Ooh matron!

Jonbvn

Jimuth wrote: »

I think the majority on here are far more balanced in their views than HPC.

That use to be true. However, I feel that just recently that some posters on here are starting to froth at the mouth, such that they think that their views are undeniable facts.

vigesimal

Jonbvn wrote: »

That use to be true. However, I feel that just recently that some posters on here are starting to froth at the mouth, such that they think that their views are undeniable facts.

I can't really blame them. I have seen them being called losers for not having a house and cowards for not taking the risk and taking on a huge mortgage - don't ya know house prices always go oop.

Now the tide has turned, so I for one don't blame them for giving back what they received. They were right.