This month the new financial year kicked off. All of my companies and my personal portfolio are tied to these dates so it makes it easier to get all of my accounts done at the same time. I have spent some time making sure my accounts are up to date so we can take stock of the last financial year and perhaps more importantly, forecast the year ahead based on the data we’ve collected over the past 12 months. So many people do ‘back of the fag paper’ calculations without revisiting those numbers to see if they were accurate. However, especially with HMO properties, market conditions do change and numbers need to be monitored and updated. After all; you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

The end of the financial year also presented an opportunity to invest some of the funds we’d built up over the past year. Peer to peer lending is becoming more and more popular for both lenders and borrowers. I am currently writing an article on the subject and as part of that I have had the opportunity to talk through various projects and the pros and cons of using peer to peer lending – more on that next month though.

The relevant point here is that most peer to peer platforms in the property space are now utilising Innovative Finance ISAs, which allow you to invest in property projects via your ISA. For me, I like to keep a varied portfolio which means alternative income streams. However, this is a chance for many investors to see the journey from the other side. As I say, we’ll have an in depth look at this in next month’s edition.