Former estate agent launches property investment firm

A former member of the GB snowboarding team who has worked as an estate agent for Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward has set up a new property investment firm.

Stuart Williams, who has also worked for two of the UK’s leading property investor firms Experience Invest and most recently Property Frontiers, has set up Thirlmere Deacon.

Its pitch to clients is that investors have the  opportunity to acquire buy-to-let residential, commercial and student properties in the early stages of development in the UK’s main high-growth cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.

Thirlmere Deacon, which is based in central London and operates as an LLP, claims that its team has experience of selling £200m of property in the UK and that it can help investors achieve yields of between nine and ten per cent.

The company’s business model is a familiar if you’re an estate agent. It secures pre-market discounts from developers and after investors put down a deposit of between 15% and 30%, this helps them secure a lower LTV when applying for a mortgage for the finished product.

Letting and management is then handled from completion and, it claims, can achieve yields of up to 10%.

“It is a very exciting time to invest in buy to let property, especially in the areas outside of London,” he says.

“Supply versus demand dictates that both property values and rental prices will continue to rise as demand increases at a higher rate of supply. “Manchester City Centre alone is expected to see an additional 125,000 residents needing accommodation in the city centre by 2025.”