With a new series of Grand Designs launching on Channel 4 recently; Relocation Relocation continuing with Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, and the usual BBC daytime shows, there's certainly plenty of inspiration around.
But have you ever thought through the process of property development and what it actually entails?
It's not an easy process. Often these TV shows take months, sometimes years of work, and edit them down to a single hour's entertainment (45 minutes if you count the ad breaks).
And there always seems to be a happy ending where the house is finished and the couple who have just moved into property development seem to make a profit.
Can it really be that easy? Well the first step to a successful property development is to understand the process. We've broken it down into a series of simple steps, so you can assess how easy you think you'll find buying a house and doing it up, whether it's to live in, or as an investment property.
The first thing to do is to work out how feasible the project is. This is typically a research phase, and requires you to see if there are suitable properties available in the area you want to invest in, and what the opportunities are.
For example, in your target area are there plenty of properties that haven't been updated for a few decades? Or is it full of estates built in the last few years? Successful property development is about taking a house and adding value to it to boost the price. If the house doesn't need anything doing, there's little opportunity for you.
Ask local estate agents what they have on their books. Tell them you are looking for a property development project. And don't forget to look into sales from local property auctioneers.
Once you have found a series of suitable properties make a shortlist and compare the options open to you. Take time to tour properties properly; find out as many details as you can. The more information you have about your potential properties, the easier you will find it to make a decision.
When you have picked a house, the next step is to get a full survey done on it and then buy it. Often people starting a new project such as this have to find funding from somewhere, such as a new loan or extended mortgage. As with all property purchases ensure you have this in place before you start looking (or you will just frustrate yourself and sellers).
And then when you've got your hands on the keys, it's time to start planning and designing the house. What you do will depend on your end goal. If you are looking to build your dream family home, then you will spend a lot of time getting every small detail correct. Whereas if you are doing this property development as an investment, you should spend your time focusing on creating a house that will have huge appeal to potential buyers. Don't sweat every small detail; do spend time ensuring quality is high.
When the planning it done it's time to get building. Your choices here are to do it yourself or GSI ? Get Someone In. Often property developers start out intending to do the bulk of the work themselves, but soon find it can be more cost effective to hire experts as needed. If it takes you three days to plaster a wall that an expert can do in a morning, would that get your property development project finished more quickly?
Because you won't be able to sell it until it's finished. If done properly your house should have huge appeal to your target market. A recently renovated property with no chain should attract buyers quickly. To ensure you get it right, it can be a good idea to get your estate agent involved in the planning stage. They know what kind of buyers are in the market and can advise accordingly.
Finally, when the builders have gone and the cash is in the bank, do a review of the project and work out what you would do differently next time. This is an essential step that shouldn't be skipped. If you are going to have a career buying houses and doing them up, you will need to learn from every hard lesson.
Cadillac Plastic and "Chemical Company is a manufacturer of products and a distributor of products of other suppliers. When our suppliers were in town for the Safety Products premiere, we asked representatives from each company to make a half-hour product presentation in our videotape studio. These were duplicated and then sent to our district offices throughout the country. Backup in the form of supplier literature was also included.
By watching the product tapes on TV in a relaxed, informal atmosphere, learning about the new products was practically painless for our salesmen. The tapes could be stopped at any time and replayed for greater comprehension. Later, when our salesmen reviewed the supplier literature, they were already familiar with the product so the literature was more meaningful and retention of learning much greater.
Subsequent visits by suppliers rounded out the initial training program and gave the sales force a chance to ask questions' not covered in either the videotapes or the literature.
Was this approach successful? An informal poll of our suppliers found that they were extremely impressed by how quickly our people had mastered their products. All suppliers have since made additional videotapes to update our sales force.
Motivating our salesmen to sell: a triple purpose catalog
At this point, our people were knowledgeable about the OSHA-Spec line. Now came the big test. Could they sell the products?
To motivate our people, we again decided to make selling the products as easy as possible. First, we made sure that our top-quality products were competitively priced. And, of course, we made sure we had reasonable inventory levels to assure good delivery. But beyond this, which is simply sound business practice, we found aids which were indispensable in making it easy for our salesmen to sell.
Most important of all aids was our safety products catalog. We made this extremely attractive. But even more important than its beautiful appearance, the catalog was a solid selling tool.
Because many of our customers were confused and concerned about the then-newly-passed OSHA laws, we organized our catalog around the most common OSHA requirements that our products fulfilled. Wherever applicable, we quoted right from the OSHA directive. This helped our customers to learn the most common safety requirements. It also helped salesmen in organizing their sales presentations. The customer could clearly see what products were required to protect his workers and plant.
To make the catalog easy to follow, we relied heavily on pictures and illustrations. After all, many of these products were hew to everyone. Where color coding was a factor, according to OSHA, as in certain signs and warning devices, we printed that section in full color. Certainly, it was more expensive. But it made our catalog a reference source as well. We also tried, where possible, to show the products in actual use. Again, it is easier to recognize a need when one can see how the product is used.
To sum up the benefits of an-attractively designed, intelligently organized selling catalog, let me offer this advice. If you have to skimp on a budget, do it anywhere, repeat anywhere, but on your catalog. It is that important to your overall success.
Both P Green & Thotsaporn Khumwaree are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
P Green has sinced written about articles on various topics from Property Guide, Foreclosure Help and Real Estate. To find out more about please visit the Property Today website.. P Green's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.
Thotsaporn Khumwaree has sinced written about articles on various topics from Advertising Guide, Real Estate. Thotsaporn is the owner of where he provides finance information and resources.. Thotsaporn Khumwaree's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.