The Wilsons - 875 buy to let property empire

ILW

They are doing better than 99% of the posters on here.

Zandoni

Personally I have never believed anything that I read about the Wilsons, for some strange reason the press just print whatever story the Wilsons tell them.

I think it's all exaggerated, they have a lot of houses but nowhere near the amount they make out. Which also means they are not as rich as they would like us to believe.

neas

They risked it all and won, yes they were near to bankruptcy but as time passes on, rents increase and the overpayment begings.. they will sell properties down to a more managable amount and sit with 400-500 properties chilling in mexico or usa retired in 10-15 years. can you blame them really? They made tons of money and are minted.

geneer

ILW wrote: »

They are doing better than 99% of the posters on here.

True. They know when its time to do one.

IronWolf

Buy-to-let is "absolutely dead and will never return". So say Fergus and Judith Wilson

"Lenders offer buy-to-let at such silly interest rates it cannot pay."

interesting....they're keen to get out before interest rates rise, which will see the end of the BTL boom methinks.

the_flying_pig

it's funny how things work out.

their publicly stated business model was that the rental income [vs. interest payments] side of the business would just about wash its face, & that HPI would be the real winner for them, with pwoperdee prices doubling every 7 years.

they were wrong on both counts - prices fell, of course - it won't be so very long before they're flat on a 7Y-on-7Y basis, with hefty falls from peak, but actually, thanks to ZIRP, for the time being at least they've ended up with a business that, I expect, actually generates quite a lot of cash.

i suspect that they'll be able to retire as a very well off couple now. even if they do eventually go under as a ‘business’ [e.g. if rates go up significantly with house prices still below peak].

It’s over 3 years since Lehman went down [with house prices having already started nudging down in all the debt bubble economies].

If they had any sense they’ll have [for example – I’m sure that more sophisticated schemes exist] given away huge cash gifts to their children as soon as that news broke, realising the risks they faced. I don’t know what the exact rules are for reclaiming gifts in the event of bankruptcy - clearly if my firm is about to go under I can’t just trouser as much as I want by giving away loads as ‘gifts’, but I do believe that there’s a limit to how long one can be pursued by the authorities for, a few years or something.

Zandoni

The police commisioner article is now available on line

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent_messenger/news/2011/november/16/landlord_in_bid_for_police_chi.aspx

There's also been another article about him offering a £1000.00 reward to catch someone who mugged a lady Boughton Monchelsea resident.

brit1234

There are rules on people becoming police not having certain debts or being bankrupt as it increases corruption. Surely the biggest bankrupt in Kent with a horse gambling problem is not suitable for commissioner.

The idea stinks and I will advise my police colleagues to campaign against this.

I would rather have some retired military person who is not PC and a go get attitude any day.

thor

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'.

Greedy and lucky. I suppose these are the kind of wealthy people the CONDEMS would like to see more of.

macaque_2

thor wrote: »

Greedy and lucky. I suppose these are the kind of wealthy people the CONDEMS would like to see more of.

That's ridiculous. The Wilsons were created, nurtured and saved by Gordon Brown.