Setting goals – the key to successful rental property investment

‘Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.’says Tony Robbins, US life coach.

I’m often asked by property investors about ‘the golden rules’ of property investment. Of course, there are many ground rules but, first and foremost, investors need to set personal goals to help them achieve their aims. But where do you start?

Five tips for setting property goals

1. Decide on your overall property investment objective. This could be capital appreciation or a good rental yield. It could be buying a single property, a home for children to use while studying in London or starting a more extensive portfolio.

2. Write down a list of 10 ongoing investment goals – a mix of short term (one to two year), medium term (three to five year) or long term (five to ten year) objectives. They can range from when to invest in your next property, when to refinance, or when to refurbish a property.

3. Set yourself a deadline for achieving each goal. If you are not where you had planned, re-visit your reasons for investing and take decisive action.

4. Read through your list of goals regularly to reaffirm your targets. They may need revising due to external factors. For example, a dip in lettings demand might mean bringing forward a refurbishment to improve the appeal of your property so its lets more quickly.

5. Assess your progress regularly, perhaps every six months, to ensure you remain on track. Get independent advice from a local letting agent. Being on the ground, a good agent should be able to advise how you can fully maximise the income potential of your property. Sometimes small things like changing your broadband provider so faster internet speeds can be achieved at your property can broaden the appeal of a flat rental, particularly to wealthy students who have this as top of their wish list.

Property investment requires a long term strategy but along the way you need to check you are still on the right path – so spending time setting and reassessing your goals will reap dividends.

We all have different property goals and it’s interesting to see how other investors approach their business. If you have any tips to share on how you set your own goals, we’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, if you need tax advice concerning your UK property investment take a look at our helpful tax guide.