Making 2024 your best year yet – how to set realistic property goals AND achieve them

With the opening of 2024, it is the perfect time to set new property goals for the upcoming year. Setting goals is more important than you realise – they help to motivate us towards changes we want to achieve, but only if we succeed in reaching them. There are simple steps you can follow to make sure your goals are realistic, achievable and relevant to you as a landlord and property investor.

Step 1: Assessing where you are

Firstly, you want to assess what position you are currently in. This starts with finances. Ask yourself:

• How much money do you have in your pot?
• How much debt do you have? How much of it is bad debt? (Mortgages count as good debt)
• What assets do you have (e.g. properties)? What equity do you have?

Essentially, you want to work out how much money you have access to, whilst also taking into account debts that have to be paid.

Other factors that are worth assessing at this stage are your skillset and time. If you have a skillset that can be taken advantage of in property investment – such as being a tradesman – this may be worth factoring into your plan.

And finally, time. Something that is often overlooked but is always a limiting factor to some degree. How much time do you have to spare, once you have dealt with your responsibilities (family, work, hobbies)? It is important to be honest with yourself.

Step 2: Where do you want to go

The next step is to come up with your goals. A useful framework for this is SMART. This will make your goals attainable and will set a clear timeline, eliminating generalities and guesswork. That way, you are more likely to achieve them, and in achieving them, you are more likely to have progressed along your long-term property investment goals.

• Specific – the goal needs to be clear and specific; everyone knows what it looks like
• Measurable – the goal can be tracked, and it will be clear when it has been completed
• Attainable – the goal is challenging, but should be achievable with resources available
• Relevant – the goal meaningfully contributes to larger objectives like overall missions
• Timely – the goal has a deadline or, better yet, a timeline of progress

Use the SMART framework to set clear and attainable property investment goals that, if achieved by the end of the year, you can look back and feel satisfied about what you accomplished.

Step 3: Deciding on a strategy

After coming up with your SMART goals, you now need to lay out your plan of action. With property investment, this will be deciding on which strategy to pursue. There are many to choose from, and many landlords will already have a strategy they know and love. But here is a basic rundown of each, along with their pros and cons:

Buy-to-lets – the simple property investment strategy of buying a house and letting out to a single occupant

• The most common method of property investment, due to its stability and predictability
• There are occasional refurbs or tenant changes, but most of the time it is unchanging – which benefits busier landlords
• It is important to be aware that buy-to-lets are not a get rich quick scheme – they will return on investment over the long term

HMO’s – buying a property to let out to multiple occupancies on a room-by-room basis.

• The drawbacks of HMO’s are their complexity; they require more maintenance and tenant management, there are multiples types of HMO, they require a special mortgage, and there are stricter regulations. Some areas don’t allow them at all.
• On the upside, they offer a greater financial reward than basic buy-to-lets as each room offers an extra rental income.

Student lets – HMO’s specifically for student tenants.

• Compared to regular HMO’s, student lets are in some ways simpler, as you are letting out to a group at a time.
• On the other hand, there is the downside of having a short period over summer where there is no income. Also, you have to be wary of timing, as most students find accommodation will in advance.
• There is also the locational restriction of having to be in a city with student populations. But on the upside, there will be a regularly rotating demand for student accommodation.
• Finally, you have to be aware of competition, in the form of new, fancy tower blocks.

Short-term lets – Properties for short term tenants, such as travelling businessmen or holiday accommodation

• Offers long-term cash flow similar to buy-to-lets, with higher cash reward, like HMO’s
• Only works if it is a quality property in a desirable area – short-term lets will need to always be occupied to return on investment.
• There is a lot more hassle involved compared to other strategies; such as management, special mortgages, maintenance and upkeep

Property flips – the process of buying a run-down property, renovating it and re-selling at the end for a profit.

• To do successfully, expertise or a good network of tradespeople are required.
• There is a higher risk involved, due to the expertise and capital required, as well as the risk of lost capital if done poorly.
• The upside is, of course, greater financial reward.
• There is also the option to keep the property at the end for letting out, rather than selling it

The trend here, you may have noticed, is that strategies that require more work result in the potential for greater financial gain. So, it is up to you to judge which strategy realistically suits your financial goals, expertise and time available.

One final factor that you will need to implement into your strategy is location. Not all these strategies will work everywhere. E.g. holiday lets depend on the popularity for holidays in that area.

First ask yourself: are you constrained by your own location? If you are going to be more hands on, you will benefit more from being nearby your investment properties. If you are more hands-off, such as with buy-to-lets, it may be easier to live further away. Another benefit of investing in your local area, is that you are likely to know it better.

If you are looking to invest in your own area, or another, there are several important factors to look out for:

• First look at large-scale investment in the region – such as infrastructure or residential projects.
• Take a look at the employment in that area – what job sectors are most people working in? What is the average income in that area?
• Check out the transport infrastructure – train stations, airports, motorways, etc.
• Proximity to a city – you don’t have to buy in the city centre, but check if the area is within commutable distance to a city

Before you invest in an area, you need to gain a sophisticated understanding of the property market there. One of the best ways to do this is to talk to agents that operate in that area. For example, JustMove lettings can give you an up-to-date, in-depth overview of property in the areas we operate in, such as Lichfield, Walsall and Swadlincote. We work with property there day in, day out.

Step 4: Succeed

By this stage of the process, you have assessed your capability, set clear goals and planned a strategy on how to achieve them. Now all that’s left is the hard work and drive that is needed to be a successful landlord.

To impart one more piece of advice: write your goals down.

Taking the time to set goals and write them down may seem like a waste of time, but they may also be the key difference in motivation and progression you need. Each year, you can track your progress. Each year you can reflect, look back on where you came from and, hopefully, feel a sense of satisfaction.

And when 2025 comes around, you can lay out your new plan to expand on 2024 and continue to succeed.

Here at JustMove Lettings, we can help you achieve your property goals by taking the hard work of managing properties off your hands and leaving you with the passive income.