Richard Matthews
RJM Properties is a family run business.
The business is owned by myself, Richard Matthews and my father.
We currently own 67 properties that we rent out on a buy-to-let basis ranging from bed sit
flats to 5 bed houses all producing a healthy return, all over the country.
We have now built up our portfolio to a manageable level and intend on purchasing 2-3 more properties a year. Problem is there are still deals out there that however much we would like to, we
don’t have the time or the ….. To buy.
How did I get into the property business in the first place?
Well after deciding that farming neither suited me or gave the returns a business should for the amount of effort put in, we decided to sell up and move on to pastures new. Obviously we had a huge assest to begin with however, after buying a house for my father and building a house for my family the money was soon disappearing fast and I wanted to look at safe, high yielding ways of making profits using very little money.
I first of all looked at starting a pension, then investing in stocks and shares, but this did
not appeal, as I am a practical person, who likes to be touch and see anything I purchase.
I started trying to invest in property by putting in bids for several houses in our local village, Portpatrick, but due to strong demand for second homes, anything suitable was selling for almost double its guide price!
Almost 12 months passed and I was getting increasingly frustrated, so I took time out from the business, dedicating 2 days a week to travel the length and breadth of the country to look for potential properties,
My travels soon took me to east Lancashire, where I found 2 suitable properties in a town called Nelson, just east of Burnley. I purchased the first house for £18,500 spent £3,000 on renovating it, then rented it out for £320pcm. The second property I paid £27,500 for and rented it straight out for £370pcm.
These houses fitted my criteria for rental yield, but something amazing soon happened. Property prices started rising in this town! I wasn’t the only one to have found it, and having purchased my first 2 houses for cash, I decided to re-mortgage them and buy 2 more.
That was September 2003, 6 years on and I own 67 houses and flats, still working on the original principle on buying cheap for cash, doing a simple refurbishment, then remortgaging to release all my equity.
