Property club`s key to success

By Heather Rose
Posted: 2009/03/27

IN the world of clubs the Scottish Property Club has to be one of the more unusual.

There are no regular meetings, not even membership fees to pay. Yet its membership - around 3,000 - all have a close connection. They all share a strong interest in the Scottish property market.

Even more unusual is the fact this club came into existence almost by accident, as a practical dimension to an established investment business.
It was set up by Ken Sunter of Sunter Property.

Through his knowledge of the Scottish property market, especially the west of Scotland market, he had developed close links with other property professionals including major buy-to-let investors throughout the UK.

"You find a lot of professional people are now looking for something to supplement their pension, " he explained. "They have got some savings and would love to buy a couple of properties but don't know how to go about it. They don't know how to get funding or how to buy the right ones.

So we have opened up the club to these people.

"It was probably about three years ago that we first thought about the club. We started to get a lot of requests from brokers down south and in Ireland saying they were getting requests from clients wanting to know about property in Scotland.

"We started with a couple of clients and then it snowballed from there to what it is today. It has been a rapid growth."

Mr Sunter explained: "When someone has agreed to a sale you want to make sure it goes through to fruition.

All eyes are on Scotland as the place to invest in the UK. It is now a case of finding properties and making sure that people wanting to buy them can get funding. Obviously, they all need Scottish legal representation so we can put them in touch with solicitors, too."

Price has been a significant factor in this success story. Although the UK housing market has felt the impact of the credit crunch, property north of the Border remains comparatively cheaper than equivalent property in the south. That fact alone helps to make it a good rental market.

"We know which are the good areas and which are the bad areas in which to invest within our geographical area, " explained Mr Sunter.

"We will help them find the property, help them with the funding, help them with the legals, surveys - all the way through to letting it out, making it almost a hands-free investment. They buy blind, without seeing the properties, so a lot of trust is put in us."

In the club's early days the experts at the helm would search for properties. Now estate agents, surveyors and solicitors are more likely to bring suitable properties to their attention.

However, Mr Sunter says they may discard as many as 40 per cent each week.

Although the club operates on an informal basis, members receive regular e-mailed information about properties and there are free workshops and seminars, usually at the club's headquarters in Lanarkshire.

The Scottish Property Club may have come into existence by accident but, it seems, there are many investors who are already seeing it as a happy accident.

Information: 01698 744473; 07748 763236