Patrick Souiljaert

I’ve had a great time over the last couple months making my first property investment and looking into a number of potential investment opportunities.

My first purchase has been an off-plan 2 bed apartment in St Lucia – which isn’t costing me a penny!. When I first heard about this, I thought ‘it’s too good to be true’ and forgot about it. The second time the investment was mentioned to me I was still very sceptical but I decided to look into it.

I spent four months looking into the product and asked over 100 questions – and I now know the product like the back of my hand. Thank you to Terry Potter for answering all of my questions.

This investment is with Harlequin Property and here’s briefly how it works: 

• The off-plan apartment I’ve bought is due to be built in December 2013 (part of a 5 star resort). I’ve bought the property for £185K and have paid a 30% deposit.
• I got the deposit (£55.5K) as a drawdown from the mortgage on my flat (where I currently live).
• Harlequin are paying (and will pay) my monthly mortgage repayments until the apartment has been built.
• At which time the apartment will have doubled in value and I’ll get my £55.5K deposit back.
• I will get a 70% mortgage on the apartment, which will cover the £185K purchase price and all of the mortgage payments made by Harlequin.
• Harlequin have the responsibility for maintaining the property and for letting it out. There’s a 50/50 split between Harlequin and I on the rental income.
• For me to break even (pay the 70% mortgage repayments etc) the apartment would need to be rented out 30% of the year.
• The projections are the property will be rented out 85%-95% of the time, giving me a cash flow of around £20K per year.
• I will get to stay in the apartment for free 30 days per year.
• And I’ve complementary 5 star Harlequin holiday coming up in St Vincent.
• When you pay the 30% deposit, you are also buying your share of the freehold.

You sometimes hear horror stories in places like Spain, Cyprus etc, where people have lost a lot of money buying property or where new properties have been demolished. The reason why this happens is because the developer doesn’t own the land they are building on (it’s mortgaged or owned by a third party) and/or planning permission has not been given.

Harlequin own the land outright that they are building on and they acquire full planning permission before starting any construction work.

If you think this investment is ‘too good to be true’ or ‘there must be a catch’ and dismiss it – you won’t gain anything. As Phil Martin says “If something sounds too good to be true don’t dismiss it straightaway, look into it a bit first.”

If you would like to know more about this investment opportunity, please contact me – mail@sussexpatrick.com

I know the product very well and will answer your questions. If I don’t know the answer to any question, I know two people who will know the answer. I will also tell you what the risks are.

One of the risk is what is classed as an act of god (eg earthquake, hurricane) – covered by insurance, which would include the loss of rental income. However your property is more likely to be hit by an act of a dog!

The advice I give to everyone is – before making any investment, fully understand the investment. I can confidently say my Harlequin investment is a no-brainer.- it’s not costing me anything and I’ll make £20K per year.

In my next post I’ll outline how I stood to make £100K with my first UK investment – had I not been gazumped!