The Wilsons thread ---merged

[catmandu]

I would have thought that while interest rates are so low, the Wilsons would be fine.

Precisely - impossible to imagine they're in financial trouble at the moment with rates as low as they are. I suppose it's possible the bank could up their rate due to the risks but I suspect they're doing fine - even if they are in negative equity I suspect they are not having problems making their monthly payments.

According to the news reports they once had 900 houses and are now down to 700. This was done without word getting out until it was done. I would imagine they are quietly selling off a few more of their properties at the moment - after all, selling them in the regular market will get a better price than an investor would pay to buy the whole portfolio.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

Precisely - impossible to imagine they're in financial trouble at the moment with rates as low as they are. I suppose it's possible the bank could up their rate due to the risks but I suspect they're doing fine - even if they are in negative equity I suspect they are not having problems making their monthly payments.

According to the news reports they once had 900 houses and are now down to 700. This was done without word getting out until it was done. I would imagine they are quietly selling off a few more of their properties at the moment - after all, selling them in the regular market will get a better price than an investor would pay to buy the whole portfolio.

I know someone who has 7 BTLs and tells everyone he has 10. People do like to boast. Dont believe everything an ugly tw*t in a bad suit says, or Fergus either

[right_freds_dead]

be it slimstone socks. burrberry twill **** jackets for mrs w, or a tumbleweed waistcoat and goats legs for sir. albeit, a little tight fitting, sir must appreciate the candor of a ravenging seagul, yet doth mock thy own tongue when it jest.

whatever happens.

ASPIRE. CONSUME. GREEN PLANET.

[catmandu]

I know someone who has 7 BTLs and tells everyone he has 10. People do like to boast. Dont believe everything an ugly tw*t in a bad suit says, or Fergus either

Point taken! Would love to have more complete and accurate info on these two jokers - certainly their comments have always seemed like self serving simplistic and wishful thinking to me (house prices double every year etc)

[Buccaneer]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/buy-to-let/article.html?in_article_id=499590&in_page_id=56&ct=5

It seems that they are !

[slurms mackenzie]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/buy-to-let/article.html?in_article_id=499590&in_page_id=56&ct=5

It seems that they are !

Wow

This is spectacular!

Financial Mail has learnt that at least one property has been put into receivership by a major lender. The couple also face action from a number of local authorities that are owed council tax on unlet houses. Last week, from their modest-looking home in Boughton Monchelsea, near Maidstone, Fergus Wilson insisted there were no cash-flow problems. He knew about a property being taken into receivership, he said, but blamed an 'administrative error' by the lender, Bank of Ireland.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/buy-to-let/article.html?in_article_id=499590&in_page_id=56&ct=5#ixzz0fVW2rNYE

Gulp. Okay so he claims it's an admin error, but there seems to have been a lot of sloppy business practices of late. You don't just let a property get repoed because of an admin error.

Edited February 14, 2010 by slurms mackenzie

[nixy]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/buy-to-let/article.html?in_article_id=499590&in_page_id=56&ct=5

It seems that they are !

How much might they get to flog the lot at auction? 85p in the pound??

[Errol]

Fergus Wilson, 62, has even been dubbed the 'van Hoogstraten of Kent'

A bit harsh, surely?

[Giordano Bruno]

We're paying for it (if you hadn't guessed).

It looks as though the 'too big to fail' syndrome is working here. 'If you owe the bank millions then the bank has a problem...'.

He says that only 15% of the properties do not yield enough rent to cover their mortgage bills.

That sounds like a serious problem to me, losing on 15% of their props, with IO mortgages I expect. Edited February 14, 2010 by Fly by Night

[deflation]

"He says that only 15% of the properties do not yield enough rent to cover their mortgage bills."

And that's with rates where they are now.

[headrow]

"He says that only 15% of the properties do not yield enough rent to cover their mortgage bills."

And that's with rates where they are now.

Why not use the profit from the other 85% to cover it then? I'm guessing all the others are just breaking even.

Without the interest rate reduction from B&B they were finished.

Goal Posts moved yet again. I really feel for the first time buyers in this country.

Edited February 14, 2010 by headrow

[mikeymadman]

Do you know something?

I feel happy all of a sudden!

[nixy]

"He says that only 15% of the properties do not yield enough rent to cover their mortgage bills."

And that's with rates where they are now.

oh dear, is there a chance rates might go up sometime then?

he asked knowingly

[catmandu]

He says that only 15% of the properties do not yield enough rent to cover their mortgage bills.

But do the others yield enough to pay for repairs as well as council tax and other bills on the unlet properties.

This is the second time we've had an article like this

last time : cheque was lost in the post....

this time: administrative error and councils accidentally sending anything for any Wilson family to The Wilsons)

Wonder how long it'll be before this thread gets zapped by the lawyers too.

Edited February 14, 2010 by catmandu

[Scunnered]

And Kent's local authorities were also wrong in their demands, he said, claiming that the common name of Wilson meant 'we get mail for every Wilson in the county'.

Nice try, Fergus.

[Giordano Bruno]

oh dear, is there a chance rates might go up sometime then?

he asked knowingly

I guarantee that base rates won't fall by more than 0.5%! Edited February 14, 2010 by Fly by Night

[mikeymadman]

Is there a chance interest rates will go up?

In their case seemingly; they're on variable rates!

"In April 2009, B&B, to whom the couple paid a staggering £350,000 in monthly mortgage interest, allowed them to swap a fixed mortgage rate of 5.24%, maturing in 2012, for a variable rate of 2.25%. Ordinary borrowers in difficulty could only dream of similar assistance."

They're as screwed as two short thick planks with screws all over them.

At least people will be more easily able to get repairs done if there's an LPA receiver in place.

I imagine they will try and sell the properties slowly, particularly as and when tenants move out?

Edited February 14, 2010 by mikeymadman

[Concrete Jungle]

Are the cheques in the post Fergus? Did the last lot of cheques in the post turn up and all clear? Now its an admin error, what might it be next month?

[mikeymadman]

But do you not find that this happens all the time?

One month the cheque gets delayed in the Christmas post - the next month the mortgage company accidentally repo?

No?

You can just hear all the bad excuses this toad must come up with when people want repairs done.

Workman forgot. Workman let me down. Workman went to wrong property by mistake. Workman's van got buried under a truckload of frozen pizzas on the motorway...

[Rachman]

BTW, the way this usually pans out (for commercial lending) is that the proceeds on a disposal or liquidation (solvent or otherwise) are assigned to the lenders, without any formal public notifications (the banks don't need to make further charges or notices, because they already hold the first charge over the properties) - a significant part of me thinks they have ALREADY lost control of their portfolio - similar to our friend Mr Anthea Turner and him being kept in as figurehead but actually just a puppet.

It is neither the banks' interest nor the Wilsons to be public about significant defaults.....

[shedfish]

I don't want to be rung up every day by someone complaining about a dripping tap

perhaps 700 BTLs is too many then, in retrospect?

[winkie]

[Mykingdomforahorse]

IF this is true....

Buy-to-let gurus see empire crumble

Judith and Fergus Wilson, the amateur buy-to-let gurus who built a 700-strong property portfolio, have been hit by cash-flow problems...

They were the undisputed king and queen of buy-to-let whose property empire, at the peak of the market, was worth almost a quarter of a billion pounds.

Thanks to their smart property speculating, Judith and Fergus Wilson had an estimated personal wealth of almost £100m. And the two former maths teachers have been in constant demand to impart advice to other would-be housing tycoons, with regular appearances in the Press and on TV.

Now it seems that the Wilsons - who still own 700 properties clustered around Ashford and Maidstone in Kent - got their sums wrong.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/buy-to-let/article.html?in_article_id=499590&in_page_id=56&ct=5

.. I will believe there is a God.....

[Uriah Heap]

This is beginning to look promising.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

From what they say in the mail, looks like they have lost control of their empire and no one is going to be making any money from it.

something like 17% of their properties are not covering their mortgage....I read that as 83% of their mortgages are covered by all their properties. 17% shortfall on 700 properites could be something like £70K a month. ( 119 properties x 600 quid a month ). They aint going to find that easily. You'd need a lot of 0% APR credit cards to keep that going !!!

Happy days.

The real recovery continues.

Edited February 14, 2010 by TheCountOfNowhere