The Wilsons - 875 buy to let property empire

poppy10_2

Running_Horse wrote: »

According to today's Kent Messenger (11/11/11), Fergus Wilson is planning to stand in elections for the post of Kent Police Commissioner

Couldn't find the article on their website, but here's a tidbit from 2008 we may have missed.

Millionaire property owner Fergus Wilson has been found guilty of using a mobile phone while driving.

The property tycoon, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, told the court he had actually been holding a “cuboid” drinks carton to the side of his head and singing along to music when he was pulled over by police officers.

Magistrates said they had “doubts about his version of events.”

Wilson, 59, of Heath Road, Boughton Monchelsea, was fined £300 with £265 costs and his driving licence was endorsed with three points.

Running_Horse

Read it in the printed edition, but nothing online yet.

Think I will be voting for the Anyone But Fergus party.

atush

There seems to be little inthe way of recent news ont he Wilsons, so I am assuming they are still in business?

Turnbull2000

atush wrote: »

There seems to be little inthe way of recent news ont he Wilsons, so I am assuming they are still in business?

They were teetering on the edge in 2008, but the plunge in interest rates now has them clearing record amounts each month.

geneer

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

They were teetering on the edge in 2008, but the plunge in interest rates now has them clearing record amounts each month.

:rotfl:uh huh. Evidence please.

Turnbull2000

geneer wrote: »

:rotfl:uh huh. Evidence please.

https://www.rla.org.uk/news/news.shtml?post=725

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/06/buy-to-let-fergus-judith-wilson

And this...

"We were going to be, to put it bluntly, stuffed. The reason we were saved was the drop in interest rates," Fergus says. He is now paying an average of just 2% interest. "I earn a yield from rents of around 5% and pay 2% in interest. The average mortgage cost is about £300 per month with £800 income. This gives about £300 per unit per month after paying agent and repairs etc. The renting game has never been better.

That would give them a rental profit of over £200,000 per year. This will of course increase even more as rents rise strongly and the mortgages are cleared. Like many other property investors and heavy borrowers, the Wilson's have done very well out of the house price 'crash'.

chucknorris

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

https://www.rla.org.uk/news/news.shtml?post=725

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/06/buy-to-let-fergus-judith-wilson

And this...

That would give them a rental profit of over £200,000 per year. This will of course increase even more as rents rise strongly and the mortgages are cleared. Like many other property investors and heavy borrowers, the Wilson's have done very well out of the house price 'crash'.

I didn't even bother to look at the articles it's bleeding obvious they have got away with it. I say got away with it because they were bloody fools, they had the opportunity to cash out (or at least partially cash out) and have a bloody lot of money (hundereds of millions) in the early to mid 2000's. Yet they risked it all to make more money than they could ever hope to spend, absolutely crazy!

cotleigh

Millionaire property owner Fergus Wilson has been found guilty of using a mobile phone while driving.

The property tycoon, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, told the court he had actually been holding a “cuboid” drinks carton to the side of his head and singing along to music when he was pulled over by police officers.

Magistrates said they had “doubts about his version of events.”

Wilson, 59, of Heath Road, Boughton Monchelsea, was fined £300 with £265 costs and his driving licence was endorsed with three points.

If someone admits "fair cop, I was talking to someone on my phone while driving" then 3 points and a fine is a fair punishment.

But if I was a magistrate, and someone stood there and told me that they were, for some bizarre reason, holding a conversation with a drinks carton held to their ear while driving, I would immediately ban them from driving on the grounds that they are clearly having severe mental health problems, and shouldn't be on the roads.....

patman99

Surely, having a minor conviction will prevent him from running for office.

geneer

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

https://www.rla.org.uk/news/news.shtml?post=725

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/06/buy-to-let-fergus-judith-wilson

And this...

That would give them a rental profit of over £200,000 per year. This will of course increase even more as rents rise strongly and the mortgages are cleared. Like many other property investors and heavy borrowers, the Wilson's have done very well out of the house price 'crash'.

:rotfl:The article with the headline telling us how they need to dismantle their property empire proves how well they're doing yeah?

Right you are then.
http://www.bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/newsstory?id=925&type=newsfeature&title=britain_s_most_famous_landlords_sell_their_portfolio_bit_by_bit

Fergus and Judith Wilson – to some property villains, to others entrepreneurs – are in the process of selling their 700 houses one at a time, making a swift exit from the market having built an empire worth an estimated £225 million at its peak.

Initially the couple had wanted to sell their assets in one go, telling The Times in September last year that they had various foreign buyers interested: “There’s a Bulgarian, a Saudi, one from China, one from Japan and one from India. We’re just sitting back and waiting to see who comes forward.” They said.

“It’s only if we were unable to sell in bulk that we would consider selling one at a time, but that would be the last resort.”

But it seems that the last resort was the only resort and the windows of Ashford estate agents have since filled up with Wilson properties.

The rats are leaving the sinking ship.


All gone a bit quiet on ol' Judith Wilsons property blog. Last update 2009.
http://www.jwipb.co.uk/news.asp
Check out the tag line. "The simple approach to property investment". About the most sensible thing she ever said.