Biz Update & My Response To The Middle East Conflict

In today’s episode, I’m unpacking what’s really happening in the property market right now and how I’m personally navigating a rapidly changing environment.

Just a few weeks ago, things were starting to feel stable again. Inflation was easing, rates were coming down, and confidence was returning. But with rising global instability, that picture has shifted quickly. Rates are climbing again, uncertainty is back, and many investors are starting to second-guess their next move.

I take you behind the scenes of my own business - from refinancing multi-million pound developments and selling assets, to how my HMO portfolio and trading businesses are performing right now.

More importantly, I break down how I’m thinking about the months ahead. Because in uncertain markets, it’s not just about what’s happening, it’s about how you respond to it.

If you’re feeling uncertain, hesitant, or unsure what your next move should be, this episode will help you cut through the noise, refocus on the fundamentals, and make clearer, more confident decisions.

💻 Resources & Mentions

• Join my Accelerator Programme: If you’d like my direct input on your current or next project, you can book a complimentary strategy call with me here.
• The HMO Roadmap: Feeling overwhelmed? Access 400+ tools, templates, and lessons to help you start, scale, and systemise your HMO business - all in one place. Join here.
• The HMO Community: Got questions or need support? Come and connect with 10,000+ investors inside our Free Facebook Group here.
• Social: Follow me on Instagram for daily HMO tips, advice, and behind-the-scenes updates here.

Transcript

Andy Graham (00:02.67)

Hey, I'm Andy and you're listening to the HMO Podcast. Over 10 years ago, I set myself the challenge of building my own property portfolio. And what began as a short-term investment plan soon became a long-term commitment to change the way young people live together. I've now built several successful businesses. I've raised millions of pounds of investment and I've managed thousands of tenants. Join me and some very special guests to discover the tips, tricks and hacks, the ups and the downs, the best practice and everything else you need to know to start, scale and systemise your very own HMO portfolio now.

Andy Graham (00:40.716)

Only a month ago, everything was looking pretty good from the perspective of property investors. Things looked predictable and stable for the first time in a long time. Inflation was coming down, rates were tracking down with it, lenders had a big appetite. And that confidence that had been absent for so long from the property market was finally starting to come back. But how quickly the winds have changed right now, with the rising instability in the Middle East, we're seeing pressure build in global markets. That is feeding straight into inflation.

And if inflation proves stubborn, as you know, central banks are forced to keep interest rates higher for longer or even raise them again. And then of course, higher borrowing costs reduces affordability, it weakens demand and it puts pressure on values. 

Now at the same time, the Renters Reform Act is about to come in and I'm starting to see more existing stock come to the market in response to this. And this is all making for a very unusual environment. So the question I want to answer today is what property investors should be doing right now. 

So I'm going to answer that in today's episode from my own perspective and to give you some additional context, I'm going to take you behind the scenes of my business and update you on exactly what has been happening. I'm gonna talk to you through my projects, what's been going on in my HMO portfolio and how I'm thinking about everything right now and what decisions I'm currently making with all of this in mind. So if you are feeling concerned about things at the minute, if you are second guessing yourself, if you are feeling unsure about what your next move should be, then don't go anywhere. Let's get into it.

Hey guys, it's Andy here and we're going to be getting back to the podcast in just a moment. But before we do, I want to tell you very quickly about the HMO roadmap. Now, if you're serious about replacing your income, or perhaps you've already got a HMO portfolio that you want to scale up, then the HMO roadmap really is your one-stop shop. Inside the roadmap, you'll find a full 60 lesson course delivered by me, teaching you how to find more deals, how to fund more deals and raise private finance, how to refurbish great properties, how to fill them with great tenants that stay for longer, and how to manage your properties and tenants for the future.

Andy Graham (02:37.934)

We've also got guest workshops added every single month. We've got new videos added every single week about all sorts of topics. We've got downloadable resources, cheat sheets and swipe files to help you. We've got case studies from guests and community members who are doing incredible projects that you can learn from. And we've also built an application just for you that allows you to appraise and evaluate your deals, stack them side by side and track the key metrics that are most important to you. To find out more, head to theHMOroadmap.co.uk now and come and join our incredible community of HMO property investors.

Andy Graham (03:17.374)

Welcome back gang. So my last business update was back in February and quite a lot has happened since then to be honest now What I want to do today is two things really first of all want to give you a really clear update on what's actually been happening across my business and then secondly I want to share how I'm thinking about the current economic environment the market the property space because I think the two are very closely linked now the business update on its own as Always, I hope will be helpful. I hope it will be inspiring, motivational. I hope it just helps keep things real for you guys out there investing yourselves and it holds me to account and I think it's a good reminder that I'm not just talking about this stuff on the show. I am actually out there every single day doing this myself. 

But I also want to talk to you about the decisions that I'm making. I'm going to share what it is I'm focusing on, what I'm being cautious about, what I'm feeling bullish about and the things that are shaping the decisions that I'm making for the rest of the year. So I'm going to break it down. First of all, I'm going to start with the sexy stuff, the development projects, the HMO business, the trading business.

And then I'm going to move on to what's been happening personally, how I'm managing everything. And then finally, how I think stuff is likely to play out this year and what I'm actually doing about it, what I'm actually changing in my business as a result of what's happening elsewhere in the world right now. 

So to kick things off, let's talk about development projects, the sexy stuff, the fun stuff. Now over the last 12 months, it feels a little bit like I've been telling you more or less the same thing, reporting back on lots of steady progress. But in honesty, that is largely what development is all about. It's about slowly turning the dial. It's about just putting one foot in front of the other and just pushing schemes along. These development projects do take a long time from start to finish and you have to be patient but really, really persistent. But I'm so pleased and incredibly proud to be able to report back that earlier in March, just before I went off skiing, we refinanced our 24 flat scheme at Albion Place. This is a project you might remember, we won three international property awards. 

Well, in late 2025, which is a big surprise, but to get this refinance to redeem our principal lender, multi, multi seven figures to redeem our private investors, seven figures, it underlines the project's success. We can actually look down at the page and compare it to where we hoped we would be and what our expectations were and where we were. And it's done really, really well. Such a big team effort.

Andy Graham (05:40.921)

so much involved, so much given to the project, but to be able to step back and just look at it and see how successful the project has been was an incredible feeling. Q1 January, February was largely taken up by, and I mean the whole team kind of chipping in admin, pushing it through with the lenders, creation of leases and all of that legal and financial work, all of that stuff took up huge amount of time and headspace. So it largely dominated the early part of the year and this was one of our big goals. It was to get this project refinanced and finally boxed away and we did do. So super pleased to report on that because those days don't happen often. It's not very often that you get multi, multi, multi seven figure refinances. So incredibly proud of the whole team. 

Now on the very same day that that project completed, as if we didn't have enough work to be doing in the weeks prior to that, we completed on the sale of a plot of land. This is a plot of land that we had planning for. We acquired the piece of land with a building that we developed. We severed the land off, subsequently got planning for it, and we recently decided to sell that. It just wasn't going to be worth our while actually developing that small scheme out ourselves. So we sold it, put it on the market. We weren't quite sure how it would do. It went very, very well. And we got some more cash back in the bank. Again, another really nice feeling because that does not happen often as a developer. Most of the time it's just money pouring out. 

Now that is, I suppose those are the completions, which is unique. It makes Q1 unique, but at the same time our 13 flat scheme, which is the phase two of Albion Place, the 24 flat project I just mentioned, that is very much sort of underway. It's been underway for a while now. It is behind schedule in all honesty. It is still on budget, which is good news. We are expecting to finish that project around summer. We're pushing on with the internals. We're hoping to have show flats ready very soon because we may sell a small number of these flats. That depends on what we think the economics of the whole project look like. 

We would prefer to hold everything if we could, but sometimes it's just not entirely possible. By the time you refinance and you've got your loan to value, it depends on how much equity you've created and have left on the table and what the stress testing is. So we need to sort of plan for all of these different eventualities. And of course, with other things happening in the world right now,

Andy Graham (08:07.933)

We do have to think about where interest rates might be. If we are keeping the majority of the building or even trying to keep all of it or what's the market for buying slash selling might be like if sentiment isn't there. So all of this stuff is very much front of mind at the minute, but right now the focus is on finishing the project. It is going well. Like I said, little behind schedule, but currently on budget, which is great news. Now separately, and this stuff has been going on for a while. We revisited a site that we already owned that has planning. It's for 18 flats. We did, and you might remember, have a contractor lined up to start this late last year. 

Our contractor unfortunately fell very, very unwell, seriously unwell and hasn't been able to pick things up. So we've been waiting and during that time we decided to maybe just test it out on the open market, see what the interest was like. So we came back in 2026, we put it on the market and we've been entertaining some offers. We've declined several offers.

And we're holding out for a little bit more. And I guess time will tell. Maybe we'll sell it at the level we want. Maybe we won't. We'll hold onto it. We're even thinking about going back in and revising the planning because we know there's a very good chance we could just turn what it currently is approved for into a very large HMO scheme or a small co-living scheme. It's 10 to 12,000 square feet. So that's a project that we sort of got on the back burner at the minute. And separately, looking forwards, I'm reviewing a project, a beautiful building.

All in, it's probably going to need about four million pounds, so chunky numbers. It's in an incredible location. It's a suboptimal layout. It's a deep building. So getting light into the middle of it will be a challenge. It'll leave some units probably feeling a little bit compromised. But the biggest consideration of all is the economic outlook. What will the market look like in 18 months, two years from now? What will the interest rate environment be? So from a development perspective, that's probably about everything for this month's update.

Recapitalizing Albion place and selling a plot of land was a huge milestone. just means that we can breathe again, which is really nice. A lot of Q1 was tied up with that finance and legal work, really heavy time consuming stuff. And that all drops away now. So operationally we've got less going on and it puts us in a better position and a more flexible position looking forwards. 

So moving on then, my HMO portfolio, what is going on? Well, if I'm honest, I haven't got a huge amount to talk to you about here because everything is going so well.

Andy Graham (10:36.336)

which is the way it should be right, Full occupancy, it hasn't missed a beat. Zero arrears, minimal maintenance. I mean, probably two or three or four jobs, something like that over the last eight weeks. I completed on the refinance of one of my six beds in that portfolio. Six bed student HMO, so all the tenants were on a joint AST in an SPV, sort of limited company. And that rate came down from six and half percent to four and a half percent.

That's what it's moved on to now. Saved about 300 pounds a month on that, which is pretty good. But, and I did share this on social media, a great example of some of the rates that you can, or at least could get. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I got that just, and locked in just at the right time. Separately, all of my student lets, their agreed, and they were agreed for the 2026-2027 academic year. They were agreed before Christmas. 

So all the lettings and all the pay book and all the tenancy agreements were done in 2025. And this is one of the reasons I love student let so much guys. But what that means is that oversight now right up to the 31st of June, 2027 is there. So those tenants are locked in. They'll be moving in in July this year and then living there till the last day of June in 2027. 

Now we're going to hear what the naysayers are saying right now, things are changing with the Renters' Rights Act and you're not wrong. The student market is certainly not going to be immune to some of the changes coming through in the Renters' Rights Act. We are, by the way, going to be releasing a really, really helpful document for you guys soon on the Renters' Rights Act. But you are right. What that does mean is that between now and let's say July when these tenants are theoretically meant to move in, they could hand or server notice. All of that stuff and those changes as a result of the Renters' Rights Act will come into play. 

So I guess now for the first time ever we've got to sort of cross our fingers and hope that tenants in these groups don't want to drop out, don't want to hand their notice in because that will be problematic. I'm not going to get into it all today, but for the first time that is definitely something that I am mindful of. Now, separately, I just want to flag something, but the PBSA market, which

Andy Graham (12:56.418)

has been a long time a feeder mechanism for the HMO market. Even if you don't operate student HMOs, the PBSA market is very important because it's a feeder to the student HMO market. The student HMO market by far dominates the private rental sector from a HMO perspective. And then anything that doesn't quite work well for student HMOs tends to get utilized as professional stock. So you can see that there is a trickle down effect. 

Now it's not linear in every single case like that, but broadly speaking, especially when you take the big cities across the UK and it's kind of how the market works. So the PBSA market sits at the top. Typically speaking with the highest sort of rents, the most premium standards with cinemas and basketball courts and gyms and pools and all of that stuff. But, and this is important, the PBSA market is wobbling at the minute. It's difficult to find information on it because a lot of this stuff is private equity owned and they report to shareholders and so they don't like to be publicly too sort of critical of their own stock. But there are some real challenges in the PBSA market at the minute. Real material signs of oversupply operators like Unite cutting prices. The narrative is being managed but if you look very closely I think that a lot of this is the very classics of positioning of private equity. 

I think the market, the PBSA market in some areas and some buildings more than others is definitely struggling right now. And I think that that could have a bit of an impact on the HMO market. Now, if they do decide to just slash all their prices across the board, that wouldn't be great for the private sector either. But it might be that those buildings need to come up over the next few years and get repurposed into alternative types of accommodation. I guess we'll see, but I just wanted to put it on your radar because that is definitely the case at the minute. 

So in summary, my HMO portfolio at least is as close to entirely passive as I think it ever has been. And honestly, these sorts of businesses ever really can be one to two hours a month maximum is all I spend on that portfolio. So all of that work obviously has gone in at the front end, buying the right stuff, getting it set up. I spend a lot of time making sure that we get the right tenants in. We've got really strict policies and

Andy Graham (15:21.368)

processes in place so it works and then once the tents are in and the properties are operational, things also just work lots and lots of automation and I'm always looking for ways to improve it. Now moving on to my trading businesses, the story is actually very similar to my portfolio. I spent a lot of time in the last 12 months automating things, improving systems and processes, getting the right people in place to delegate to and I'm really seeing the fruits of all of that work and planning and execution now because it's running better than it ever has done before. We're better results with less of my input than ever before. 

And what that means is I'm able to focus on the stuff in my trading business that I really enjoy, which is on the most part spending my time with my one-to-one clients, my Accelerator clients. And it's a really interesting time to be working with them because there is so much going on. There are so many offers being agreed. One of the biggest challenges that my client base is seeing at the minute is that they're actually getting more offers agreed than they thought they were likely to. And so they need to raise and utilize more cash and more capital and be prepared to do a little bit more in terms of operationally imports into their business. 

So my trading business is again, a lifestyle business, very intentionally designed. I've got the online membership. We've got lots of backend systems like payment automation and data capturing and now data reporting, lots of stuff like that going on. And there are some elements that are still manual. Recording the podcast is a great example. I still write my Friday broadcast, things like that. But utilizing AI to do so much of what we were previously doing, especially from a content creation perspective, especially from a data reporting, data management, It's really, really, really, really powerful. 

And I do feel like we're still just very much scratching the surface. But my trading business alongside my portfolio is operating better than ever before with less input than ever before. And that was always the intention when I sold my last business in 2023, which interestingly, I received my very last deferred payment for this month. So technically that sale actually completed this month as well.

Andy Graham (17:43.769)

But I very much wanted to go out and build a lifestyle business. I didn't want to, and I haven't been intending to go and build another behemoth. It's a business that I could absolutely sell. And I've been offered several times. I've been asked several times in the last 12 months alone, if the HMO roadmap and its associated businesses were up for sale. But I've built it into a lifestyle business. It's a great business. I can take it anywhere with me. I enjoy what I put into it. And everything that I don't really want to be doing is automated. It's delegated. It's brilliant.

So I'm really, really pleased with it. And interestingly, the way that my trading business and my portfolio and the sort of those income generating businesses relate and interact with my other activities, like my development business is so important, especially when things like what is happening at the minute are going on, when that uncertainty is there, because in all honesty, I wouldn't want to develop, especially the larger schemes if I didn't have the confidence in my portfolio and my trading business. 

And if I didn't feel like I have the time to put into it because the way that I've set some stuff up in these businesses and it has been very intentional, it has given me that scope and that flexibility and that choice and that freedom to allocate my time where I want to. And on very few occasions, I have to put it into areas and do things that I don't really want to be doing. The development business is a bit of a beast.

And it's kind of all hands on deck at certain times. And I'm very aware of that. That is not a lifestyle business. Certainly all of the minute that is a much bigger entity with a much bigger exit in mind that requires much more. But I can only do that because of my trading businesses and my portfolio because they're working really well. So I guess that's the broad report back on it's going really well. And I'm really pleased. I'm happier than ever before with the business and I'm really, really thoroughly enjoying it. We did a load of stuff last year, automated many more of the features, particularly the enrollment onto my Accelerator programs, the way that we collect payments, some of the additional features that we're now able to offer clients. And I feel like I am able to provide so much more value to all of our community and my clients because of the changes that we've made. So I'm really, really, really pleased with all of that. 

Now on a personal level, I am really excited about one thing in particular, and that is our own home. I've talked about this on the show.

Andy Graham (20:07.513)

for about a year maybe more. We actually completed on a house here in Harrogate over a year ago and before we completed on it we actually got the planning on it and we had agreed to buy it nearly a year before that. So actually it's a property that I've had sort of within my clutches for nearly two years now. It's maybe even just over two years. For various reasons last year we decided to put it off. Largely one of the reasons was Isla’s born I was very busy with all the development business and everything else going on. It felt like

It could have been a bit too much for me to take on and I did really want to enjoy my first year with Isla, which I absolutely did. That was my priority. I've got a bit of headspace back now. Those big sort of refinances all done and dusty, a bit of cash back in the bank, less pressure, things operating better than ever before, more automation. I'm less involved in my businesses and they're performing better, which is great. So actually I feel like this year I've got the headspace and that capacity to do our own projects. 

And I'm now really, really excited about it. So we've just been finalizing the plans over the last few weeks, bit of back and forth with the contractor, just trying to shave things down on costs. And we actually got on site for the first time, just the outside, the garden works, just some preparatory work, just ripping basically everything up, all the green stuff up. Not quite everything. We've got a beautiful oak tree in the garden and a few other things have remained, but mostly getting everything up, leveling the land, making access easy for the guys when they do arrive on site in July. 

And yeah, it's just great. It's good fun. I got that buzz being back around a site and I am not as hands on these days and I'm not going to be hands on on this other than I'm going to be much more involved in the decision making. What are we having in the kitchen and the bathrooms and the flooring and all of that stuff. And it's nice to do with Gem. Obviously she's not that involved in my commercial projects. I probably bore her to death talking about them, but this one's going to be a little bit different. I might regret that in a few months time so you can call me out on that if I start moaning that it's hard to make decisions when it's your own house and your wife or your other half is involved but I am really excited about it and now Isla's a little bit older and she's starting to walk I definitely feel like we're ready for that bit of extra space that we'll have in the new place so keep it out of socials and I'll share some plans but I'm really excited about it now what else has been going on I've been training lots came back strong this year gym three to four times a week managing to play paddle once or twice a week

Andy Graham (22:31.58)

Still not very good, but I am getting a little bit better and I'm protecting all of my time with my family as well. So on the whole, I think the whole balance between business and life is for me at least, it feels as good as it ever has been, which I'm really pleased about. I'm really proud of. I'm going to try and hold onto that for a little while before I make any decisions that kind of suck up all of my resource. But that's, I suppose where I am a really good balance, fewer hours, better results. Everything just feels really aligned.

Now I said I was going to talk to you about my thoughts on the market today and I do want to do that. And I found myself thinking about this a lot. I've been asked a lot about this, particularly by my clients in our Accelerator group sessions as well. There is a lot of anxiety in the market at the minute and we're reading the headlines every single day. Are things escalating? It's so difficult to know and it makes it very difficult to plan. But what is very, very clear is that the markets have not reacted well to all of this global instability. The bond market is in disarray. It's very, very volatile what's happening at the minute. 

And as a direct result, swap rates have shot up. And what that means, if you're a regular listener to the show, Ellie talks about swap rates regularly. They determine what the interest rates set by the Bank of England and the lenders are likely to be. And those swap rates have jumped up.

And what that means is rates have been pulled. Current rates have been pulled by lenders and rates are going up. And it looks like when you look at the swap rates, the long-term forecast, it looks like those rates are going to go up and stay up for quite some time. That's certainly how the markets feel at the minute. And that does change quite a bit. Cause what that means is that borrowing is going to stay more expensive for quite some time. Certainly that appears to be a likelihood. Now, when you're stacking deals up, you must remember that the spreadsheet is showing us what the performance will look like today at the interest rates that you plug in. 

And I do like to remind people that interest rates are a little bit higher at the minute and there's a good chance that they will be lower in the future. Now up until about a month ago and I've just locked in a rate at four and a half percent I was happy to urge people to also see what things looked like when rates were at five percent, four and a half percent four percent and not necessarily just six percent which is

Andy Graham (24:54.451)

Most of us are stacking deals at 6, 6.5 % now, which is the right thing to do. But interest rates are transient and it definitely felt like they were coming down, but it definitely doesn't feel like they're coming down right now. Now, I think it's too early to call this. I think it's too early to make any big decisions. And what do I mean by big decisions? Well, first of all, a big decision for me would be walking away from what otherwise did look like a good deal. I think we should all be stress testing. And what does it look like at 7%? Does the deal still work? Is it still making money?

The deal won't be as good. That goes without saying. But if it still works, if it will still cash flow, still wash its face, then it doesn't necessarily mean you need to walk away. It just means that you need to make sure that that margin is there. If the deal only works at 6% and there's no margin or any contingency at all with this stuff going on, that is when you should second guess. That is when you should have a rethink. On the development side of stuff, I think that this uncertainty is more important. 

Now, I do like to build and develop and hold everything. And it isn't always possible because the equity that you need to leave in the scheme just to refinance against is millions and millions of pounds. Even if you've done really well on a project, they have very large amounts of money. Typically when you're refinancing a block of flats or a large, very large commercial building, you can't do that at 75% loan to value. It might be 70 or 65%. So you're leaving theoretically much more equity on the table, even if you've added, let's say 20-25 % of the property's value in new equity, new value created, you might not have enough there to actually refinance the building off the back of some of your starting capital would still have to stay in the deal. When you're doing big deals, you have to think about how much of that is available. 

Now, an alternative to that is you sell some stock, but what if the market's not good? If the market's not there to sell to, how do you get out of your deals? How do you exit? And that's the big, big, consideration. 

So one of the big thoughts for me at the minute is be much more conservative on what I'm prepared to pay for a building or maybe the terms under which I agree to buy it. So maybe a month or two ago, I would have been a bit more confident buying unconditionally knowing that I was going to get planning. Maybe now I'd probably rather not do that. Not because I'm worried about not getting the planning, but because I'm not that keen on sitting on the holding costs for an extra year. Do you know what I mean? So all of this stuff is heavily influencing

Andy Graham (27:15.997)

The decisions I'm making, it's making me think a lot more. It's making me build bigger margins and bigger contingencies into stuff. But one of the things it is doing is it is making me feel quite bullish. It is making me, because I'm seeing and feeling and hearing this nervousness, I am confident that there are going to be some very, very, very good value deals knocking about. I think it's getting into the position to make sure that you can take advantage. And that is where my focus actually is right now. And what I'm actually doing as

A direct result of all of this and all of this uncertainty is I am preparing a very large source of funds because what I want to do is invest to buy very aggressively. I want that very clear exit. I want that very clear contingency plan built in. I'm not prepared to take too many risks and over leverage just for the sake of buying. But I do genuinely think for the first time in a long time, there could be some exceptionally good deals on the market and I'm starting to see some of it come through now. 

So I guess you've got to figure out which side of the fence you want. I feel quite bullish but at the same time cautious on numbers. I think you've got to expect that there is going to be some turbulence. There are going to be some challenges with the refinance at the back end. It is going to be expensive to borrow and go to the banks. But I do think that this is a good opportunity. So I guess you've got to figure out where you sit. That's where I am. Cautiously optimistic. Definitely thinking there are some good opportunities ahead.

Definitely starting to position myself for them. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. And actually I think existing HMO stock right now is one of the most interesting opportunities in the market. Everybody has been very, very focused on buying with a view to convert, get that change of use, but actually looking at the existing market, trying to find tired stuff, repurpose it, try and take that five to a six, put it at six to an eight bed, whatever it might be. Look at the existing stock. Cause I think It is coming and I think there's some really, really good opportunities ahead. 

But parting words, and if I were to stick my neck out, I think that the issues in the Middle East are likely to persist. I don't think that the markets are going to cool down in a great rush. I think that we're probably looking at this for a year now and some bit of turbulence from a financial perspective as well. I could be wrong. I kind of hope I'm wrong because obviously the consequences of all of this are very, very, very far reaching and

Andy Graham (29:41.609)

Theoretically, if you extrapolate all of this stuff, it could be very bad. It could push us well into the territories of a global recession, but that's not where I am. I'm not scaremongering. I don't actually think that that is how this plays out. I think that there will be a solution found, but I think it will take some time yet. And I think in the meanwhile, there will be a price to pay for all of this uncertainty and all of this instability. So that's where I'm at discipline, I suppose, over optimism. I think underwriting needs to be super tight. I think access to cash will definitely be advantageous. 

So if you can get yourself into that position, make sure you do. And yeah, the next 12 to 24 months look like it's likely to be favorable to buy and hold. So I think for me, that is where my focus currently is. I guess we'll see how it all pans out. That is about it for today, guys. That's where things are at the moment. I hope today's episode has been helpful. I hope by sharing a bit of what's going on in my business, it just gives you that little bit of insight, helps keep things real for you. I know that it isn't always easy. I hope you find it interesting. It certainly isn't always easy for me and it certainly is always interesting for me. 

No two days are ever the same. But yeah, I suppose feeling pretty good now, feeling really great about what's happened so far this year. But I guess I haven't got a crystal ball. I wish I did. But I think, yeah, just trying to play my cards right in 2026, taking all of that stuff into account.

And look, I'll keep talking to you guys about this as events unfold and as things start to become a little bit clearer, I guess let's wait and see what the next Bank of England, what the next MPC meeting looks like and where they do actually go with interest rates. There's a lot to happen yet before we need to panic or kind of react to anything, but be prepared, be well capitalized, make sensible decisions. And I think there's a lot to go after. 

Now, if you are investing in HMOs yourself, make sure you go and check out theHMOroadmap.co.uk. It'll cost you less than the price of cup of coffee every single day. And if you're investing hundreds of thousands of pounds into properties, it really is a no brainer. It'll save you hours and hours of time, weeks worth of hours, and it'll save you thousands of pounds not having to go and get documents created yourself. All the video lessons that you need are there to help you shortcut the journey, case studies from our community members, the deal stack is there to actually plug your deals into and a whole lot more. So go and check it out. And if you want to.

Andy Graham (32:02.077)

Talk about working with me and what that looks like. If you think you could be the right fit, if you are looking to really step things up, then just head to the show notes. There's a link there. Click the link. There's a video to watch and then you can drop an enquiry with me and we can get a call arranged. But that is it for today's episode guys. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you as always for listening. I appreciate it so much. And don't forget that I'll be right back here in the very same place next week. So please join me then for another installment of the HMO podcast.