Your Property Club

On the surface Brett Alegre-Wood appears to be offering the ideal property investment scenario.

Asking for no payment costs at all for his educational materials, simply contact his team and they will completely manage your property investments.

From sourcing the best properties to organising your mortgage deals, to finding you a solicitor to letting out your property; under their scheme you won’t have to lift a finger.

Their guarantees too are also enticing, offering you 4 unique opportunities to protect your interests throughout your entire arrangement with them. At every opportunity they back up their claims with a money back guarantee:

• Mortgage guarantee - can’t get you a mortgage Decision in Principle, they will give you your money back
• Rent received guarantee - if the rent you receive does not bring in £50 a month on a property below £200,000 or £100 a month on a property above £200,000, they will pay you the difference for 2 years
• 6 weeks to let your property guarantee - if they don’t manage to let your property within 6 weeks of completion, they will pay the rent until you do
• 24hr property sleep test – Your Property Club will give you 24 hours to sleep on the decision before you have to decide whether or not you want to proceed. If you don’t, no money is lost.

Yet despite the clear advantages of these 4 guarantees, throughout the entire website they do not mention how much these services will cost until you read the terms and conditions.

As per their terms and conditions:

• If you do not proceed with the property, reservation fees which have previously been paid will become non-refundable
• A finder’s fee of 2.5% (plus VAT) is charged per property at a minimum cost - to yourself - of £4,000 and a maximum cost of £10,000

On the outset 2.5% does not sound a lot for a finder’s fee, but if for example they were to offer you a property valued at £150,000, not only would you have to pay them £3,750+ VAT but you would have to top up this fee by £250 to match their £4,000 minimum charge.

And this unfortunately does not include the legal fees or the deposits you will have to find in order to invest in this property.

Fast Track Property

Similar to Your Property Club, Fast Track Property sources out properties on your behalf - at an already discounted price of 5%-10% below its original value – for a finder’s fee of 2.5% (minimum fee £2,995+ VAT).

Primarily focusing on London and the South East of the UK, to access these properties all you need do is register and every time a new property deal comes up they will send you an email alert.

Yet here is where the similarities end...

Fast Track Property may send you these discounted properties, but assessing their tenancy demand, monthly cash flow and long term profitability will be your responsibility.

Under their policy:

• When you register you will receive email alerts on new property deals
• Before you commit to a property deal you need to research, make sure the property meets your requirements and ensure that you have got the funding to invest. Once you are ready to commit, Fast Track Property will put you in touch with a specialist mortgage broker who will help you to arrange funding
• If you have got the funding, you can then make a reservation on this property via their website/phone number
• Fast Track Property then instructs a Solicitor to act on your behalf
• Once the contract is exchanged, they will arrange for a letting agent to market your property

Essentially for a minimal fee of £2,995, Fast Track Property will provide you with a discounted property and a few property contacts. Beyond this, you are on your own.