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One Property a Week Turns to Despair Then Success

Kelly Lemon interviews the north-east based property investor, Duncan Belton

Early on in this month's investor interview the following comments were made: "Why won't it work? What will it take? I just got to the point where I was so fed up."

It's hard to believe that the period being referred to was not that many years ago, so I am intrigued to know how someone who was buying a property a week at one point with a portfolio of 180 houses ever got to the point of near despair, and perhaps more importantly, how he's managed to turn it around.

As I start to delve into Duncan Belton's story I can see this is a man who is used to adapting. In fact he tells me he isn't a 'what if' man, far from it. He's spent his twenty plus years in property learning that you can never predict the turn in the road but you have to be ready to adapt to it, and Duncan certainly is adapting.  

Based in the North East region I am rather reassured by Duncan's direct no-nonsense style. When I ask how he managed to build up such a portfolio he simply says, "I just did". Like any good journalist I now see the opportunity to delve into this man's story, one that is filled with highs and lows and with plenty of nuggets to learn from along the way.

Ironically it all started when a change in government policy and its imminent implementation drove local house prices higher. It was an opportunity Duncan spotted and took advantage of. "I bought my first house in 1989 to rent out. There was no such thing as buy to let in those days, so it was bought on a residential mortgage. The house cost £25,000 and I put down £1,500 as a deposit. At the same time my brother bought a house in York whilst he was training to be a chef and rented out some of the rooms to help pay for the mortgage. My dad bought a house in the same street and we rented the rooms out to other people working at the same hotel as my brother. My dad had also bought an ex-council flat a number of years before and we were renting that out because he worked away a lot. So there we were with four rental properties."

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