STEP 2: Test Your Knowledge

This is one of the biggest myths out there. To run a property project you simply need to be a good manager, well organized and methodical, with reasonably good numeracy skills and good communication and people skills. And guess what – most people have most if not all of these attributes already. There's certainly no need to become a landlord first. So why aren’t you developing property?

Another big misconception about property development is that you need to invest more of your own money than you would on a buy-to-let. The opposite is true; the average buy-to-let deposit in the UK is c£70k whereas small-scale property development requires that you invest only a fraction of that amount - yet the rewards are generally much bigger.

There are more moving parts to property development, which means there can be more risk. There's also a lot more reward. The trick is to reduce the risk as much as possible, which is where our training comes in. Employing a professional team significantly reduces the risk, and your job as the developer is to oversee that team, while they do the heavy lifting. We aim to ensure that students finish each project with a healthy profit - that's the benefit of working with people with over 40 years' experience.

A lot of people worry about where the money will come from to develop property. The answer is that there is a vibrant commercial funding market that is desperate to lend money on good development projects. Another key advantage of development is that you can also borrow from private investors meaning the amount you need to invest yourself is minimised.

These professionals ONLY get paid by people who are developing property - and new developers are GREAT business for them. You can find dozens of local professionals by searching on line (although we can teach you how to find the very best ones)

If that were the case, there would never be any new property developers and the industry would simply die out! Most of our students are first-time developers - and we show them how to look the part BEFORE they even start looking for their first deal. The trick is to create a professional-looking brand - something that can be done easily and inexpensively.

Good development deals don't grow on trees - you need to know what to look for and be prepared to look at a lot of deals before you find one that works. Luckily, each deal should net you a six-figure profit so you only need to find one - you're not looking for dozens.

Another big myth! One of the best things about small-scale property development is that you get to employ a professional project manager who manages the project for you. And they've seen it all before! You definitely shouldn't manage the project yourself - even if you think you have some project management skills. Be the CEO instead and just have your PM update you regularly by phone.

Property development definitely isn't a full-time job (unless you want it to be). The internet makes it possible to look for deals and do due diligence in your spare time, and once you are on site, the work is done by other people and overseen by your project manager. You do need some time flexibility to speak to agents and conduct viewings, but unless you're doing multiple projects, it's very much a spare time activity.

In our free training, we show an example of turning a £12k investment into £200k in 2 years. The reason the return on investment is so high is two-fold. Firstly, most of the money you'll be using is other people's - so you have amazing financial leverage. Secondly, you're forcing the value of the bricks and mortar up significantly in a very short timeframe.

We love landlord developers - it's arguably the best of both worlds. The problem that most prospective or existing landlords have is finding the deposit for their next property. This ceases to be a problem if you do a small-scale development first as it generates the cash you need for multiple deposits. It means you can grow a portfolio much more quickly than if you were relying solely on buy-to-lets.

The UK government is desperate for people to convert the huge number of empty commercial buildings into much-needed homes. So they have introduced a new set of permitted development rights that allow us to change the use of these buildings to residential WITHOUT applying for full planning permission.

If you want to do £multi-million deals you can, but we don't think you need to. Sticking with small-scale projects should still net you profits of £100k - £500k per deal, plus these deals are typically quicker and less risky.

A survey by CPRE estimated that there were enough unused commercial sites in the UK to be able to create 1.2m new homes. There are also around 17,000 shops that become empty each year as well as countless more offices and light industrial units. You only need to find one - so there is DEFINITELY plenty of opportunity!

New build can often appear less risky because you're building something new rather than dealing with an existing building. But new build has two big risks - you need to go into the ground (and no one knows what's there!) PLUS you will always need to apply for full planning permission which can take an age and there are no guarantees. Whereas conversion projects usually have no ground risk plus they don't require full planning permission to change their use.

A common and understandable misconception. Most existing developers haven't been trained, so they learn by experience and by their mistakes. Training not only allows you to avoid the pitfalls and reduce risk, it also allows you to see opportunities that other people don't see. Our students don't need to have our 40 years of development experience themselves - they simply need to learn from it and use it.

While you will be able to borrow the vast majority of the funds you need to both acquire and develop a property, your commercial lender is likely to want you to have some skin in the game. But this could be as little as 10% of the deposit - much less than a buy-to-let where you'll typically need to put in 100% of the deposit yourself.

No you won't! Your project manager will be visiting the site on your behalf and will be reporting back to you by phone. Yes, you can still visit your site - we would suggest once a month - but you are not the one managing it so you don't NEED to be anything other than the CEO.

Some students build to rent, although most build to sell. However, if you sell, you can always re-invest the proceeds into a rental portfolio - the choice is yours.

We are all different, so 'life-changing' is a relative term. The question is, 'Would £200k extra a year change your life?'. We think for most people it would, but only you can be the judge!