The Wilsons - 875 buy to let property empire

LittleMissAspie

People on HPC have said that they probably have it all set up as a company, so the company would go bust but not them personally.

And their website says or said that they get good mortgage rates because they buy mortgages in bulk. Would a bank ask for a margin call knowing it could topple the whole thing over? After all, it's the bank that would lose out, not the Wilsons.

Generali

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

People on HPC have said that they probably have it all set up as a company, so the company would go bust but not them personally.

And their website says or said that they get good mortgage rates because they buy mortgages in bulk. Would a bank ask for a margin call knowing it could topple the whole thing over? After all, it's the bank that would lose out, not the Wilsons.

It depends on the structure of the borrowing. I guess that they have more than one line of credit. If they do then it's worth getting the margin call in before anyone else as then you're more likely to get your money back.

Remember the old banking saw, "Don't panic. However, if you feel the need to panic, panic beofre anyone else".

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

It's better to die owing a million than to be owed a million:rotfl:

kennyboy66_2

geoffky wrote: »

race horses are very very very expensive to keep lowest you will get away with is 20k a years fees and then there is cost a low grade decent one is 50k plus.and theirs are a lot higher grade than that...

Their horses are usually horses that are a long way past their best. They probably buy them cheaply - I would imagine £25k or less, but still run them at the prestige meetings like Cheltenham.
The horses are often 1000/1 to win and they are widely viewed as a bit (or a lot!) of a nuisance - they are 20 times as likely to fall or be pulled up than be in any sort of contention.

It is quite sad to see some of the once decent horses run way above their class, so that their owners can swank about in the owners enclosure. Most true racing folk would view them with contempt.

Fergus Wilson appears to have owned 12 horses in the last 5 years, 1 of them has won once winning a huge £3k in win prize money.

Karma wouldn't you say?

I'm almost certain that you can't offset horse racing costs against tax although you may be able to claim some VAT back if they are intended to advertise your business.

baby_boomer

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

It's better to die owing a million than to be owed a million:rotfl:

Like we have a choice :eek:

Tell me where to sign up :rotfl:

Alan_M_2

These people have been building this business for a number of years, I also saw the documentary on them in which they explained they were drawing an income of £10 per property per month, all rent over and above that going straight back in capital repayments, which was quite a substantial sum at the time.

No doubt they are leveraged, however, I'd be surprised if they ever really got in trouble due to the amount of property the acquired before and during the price rises rather than once prices rose.

There seems to be a lot of unpleasant felling directed towards these tow..but who honestly wouldn't do the same if they had the foresight or ability?

Of course you may carry yourself or behave in a different manner, but don't knock them for being successful business people, it just smacks of jealousy........

m00m00

perhaps a lot of the venom directed them is aimed more at the way they have conducted their business towards tenants, and not merely at their wealth.

and I can honestly say, I'd prefer to treat my tenants with dignity which seems to be beyond the skills of this pair.

Dithering_Dad

Some people here seem to have worked themselves up to such a frenzy of jealousy and hatred that they're convinced (with zero information) that this couple are going to be bankrupted any second. Wanting a thing to happen and that thing actually happening are two different things entirely.

As long as they continue to rent out these properties, they will be fine. I'm assuming that if they managed to rent them out prior to the crash that they will continue to do so, especially given that many FTBers can't get a mortgage these days and so are stuck with renting.

They also bought many properties at a reduced rate, offering cash and a quick sale, so even a large drop probably won't hurt them. Within that article it stated that they bought some properties for 50k that were (at the peak) worth £300k or so. Even MEWing, they could still have a lot of equity left in those properties. They also sold some at huge profit, which may mean they have a large 'float' of cash in the bank to cover dead rental periods. The Duke of Westminster owns far more property but no one is expecting him to go bust, why should these guys?

While I normally have a sanguine viewpoint on 'ordinary' people who have made a fortune, I have to say that I'm staggered by the greed in this case and their cornering the market in such a small area and so if they do go under, I won't be shedding a tear.

Conrad

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

As long as they continue to rent out these properties, they will be fine.

I've worked with some very shrewd landlords in my time, that started way back when, and the general view is that you can only build your portfolio so far without getting into high loan to value debt arrangments.

The most succesful I had involvement with got up to 50 properties. He started in the early nineties and had to go highly geared. These clowns aren't magic, they must be simply very highly cleared - whats so clever about that.

Common sense and my experience tells me these 2 will be up to around 90%+ ltv in order to have kept buying property so frequently.
15% equity is nothing, it could become 15% negative overnight.

I'm sorry, smart investors I know have not been buying for some time now. These clowns seem to be unaware of cycles and 'buy low, sell high'.

What gauls is thier love of limelight as if they are something to behold, when in reality any of us could do it, if we were mad enough.

Conrad

phil_b wrote: »

Unless they have to sell for any reason they will continue to get richer in the long-run.

Phil, how so?

To follow your logic, we would have to conclude N Rock, Bear Sterns, Enron and all those new home developers didn't need to go pop. All they had to do was "not sell, and get richer in the long run"

Forgive me, but you are still one of those that cant seem to see beyond the "property only goes up" mantra.

Value is a matter of opinion, debt is real. If you keep on borrowing based on the good years harvests, you are in danger of not being able to repay it when the drought comes along.

I'm not jealous. Greedy fat b@stads